Page 44 of The Smoke Hour

“Sorry. I just need to handle this.”

“I know. But I’ve got your back.”

“I know,” she stated softly.

“Noel good with you sitting out here like this?”

“No. I lied to him,” Kaifiya stated as she looked up at me and chewed her bottom lip.

“How?”

“Noel walked me out here to my car. I hopped inside, started it, and told him that I was heading to your house.”

“And he was good with that?”

“Yeah. He believed me.”

“You need to tell him the truth. What if he comes out and sees your car out here? Don’t let him worry.”

“I planned to tell him the truth after I left.”

I nodded, took her bag from her hand, and grabbed her other hand with mine. I led her to my Range Rover, tossed her bag into the back seat, and pulled the passenger door open so that she could climb inside. After she was seated, I grabbed the seat belt and pulled it over and around her.

When I pulled out of her lot, I asked, “You hungry?”

“No.”

“We can swing by one of the cafés and pick something up.”

“With all that food you pump into my belly whenever we go there, I probably shouldn’t,” she stated, beaming at me for the first time since I’d seen her.

“That ain’t all I wanna pump into your belly.”

I was serious when I told her a couple of months ago that I wanted to slow shit down and get to know her. That was all we had been doing, spending time together, getting to know each other. We hadn’t had sex yet, and I hadn’t gone down on her again since all that time ago. I knew, in time, that would change. In the meantime, I was satisfied with teasing her little ass.

“Excuse me?” Kaifiya’s mouth dropped open.

I winked. “You better close your mouth, ma, before I fill that too.”

She quickly closed her mouth and turned back around in her seat to face forward.

Fiya

THREE WEEKS LATER – Saturday

“This is nice,” I stated.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty dope experience. I thought you might enjoy it.”

We had finished playing miniature golf three hours ago, and Smoke had brought me to a double-decker, luxury dinner tour bus. On the outside, it had a glossy black and silver exterior, but the interior decor was done in shades of mauve and plum.

Gauzy, mauve-colored drapes hung at the window with fairy lights strung along the top of the bus. They were designed for you to open them and enjoy the city tour, or you could close them and enjoy your meal and companion in privacy.

Plush, plum velvet double benches on one side provided seating for small groups of four with a table between two benches, and across the aisle, more intimate experiences could be had with two chairs facing one another with a smaller table in between. The seats ran the length of the bus. The bus provided a panoramic view, and the night sky with twinkling stars could be seen overhead.

Quiet conversation hummed throughout the bus from the thirty-eight guests seated. We had been served a gourmet dinner on China and Waterford crystal.

“Being on this bus is giving me a different view of Cherokee Springs.”

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