Page 26 of The Friend Zone
He parked the car. “Don’t move. I already know what you want. Patty melt with hash browns,” he said, opening the door.
“Smothered—”
“And covered,” he finished, sounding offended. “I know what you like, sweetheart. I got you. Be right back.”
Sweetheart. Her stomach twisted into knots.
As she watched him at the counter through the window, a male customer two seats over started chatting to Omar. Omar said something funny and made the man and the waitress taking his order laugh. A smile touched her lips. He never met a stranger and was always willing to talk to anyone. At the height of his popularity, no matter where he was or what he was doing, he took photos with fans and signed autographs until everyone was satisfied.
Dana’s chest hurt, and she refocused her attention outside the window beside her, blinking back tears.
When would the ache go away?
Sometimes she considered ending their friendship, or at the very least cutting back on the amount of time they spent together. But how could she, when every minute they spent apart felt like days, and every day like months.
She simply must accept their current relationship and take her cues from him.
Sighing, she closed her eyes and waited for his return.
* * *
Omar exitedWaffle House with two plastic bags containing their food. He picked up the T-bone dinner for himself and added scrambled eggs. When he climbed into the SUV, Dana’s eyes were closed, but he guessed she wasn’t sleeping, probably tired.
With a quick glance at her bare feet propped on the dashboard, he started the Escalade. He almost wished she had kept on the shoes. Those heels were sexy.
Although he was curious to meet her new guy friend, he was glad her date didn’t show. His absence left a void, which Omar happily filled. He had taken a lot of liberties tonight, grinding on her fat ass and cupping her hips. He’d wished he could move his hands higher and cup her breasts. Right now, her bra was doing some heavy lifting. Under the high neckline of her blouse, her wonderfully large tits sat up on her chest like they did the night of the spades tournament.
Jeez, she’d been so fucking hot that night. He cleared his throat and shifted in the seat.
Dana swung her head in his direction. “You okay?”
“Something in my throat.” He coughed for good measure and then concentrated on the road.
Dana closed her eyes and rested her head against the window, and Omar took his time driving and didn’t initiate conversation to let her rest. Before long, he pulled up outside her townhouse. “We’re here.”
The announcement roused her and she stretched, shoving her breasts higher as she arched her back, and Omar’s mouth went dry. He’d had a lot of fantasies about those breasts, like sucking on them long and hard until the nipples went taut from his warm mouth.
“You coming in?” Dana asked.
He should head home, but his greedy ass wanted more time with Dana and as usual didn’t want the night to end. “Sure. I’d rather eat my food now instead of waiting until I get home when it’ll be cold.”
He picked up the bags of food while Dana slipped on those sexy gold heels and then climbed out of the car.
Following behind her, he teased, “You did good in your heels tonight.”
“I did, didn’t I? There’s nothing I can’t do if I put my mind to it,” she joked.
“There you go,” he said, eyes locked on the roll of her hips in the butt-hugging black jeans.
A car door slammed nearby, and her neighbor, Marcus stepped out of his silver Lexus in his scrubs. Every time Omar saw him, he became unreasonably annoyed and overreacted to everything he said. They should have developed a friendship since they were both from Brooklyn, but Marcus made his hackles rise.
He didn’t like the way Marcus looked at Dana. The few times they ran into each other, he became consumed by a visceral urge to bare his teeth and snarl like a wild animal protecting its territory, possessive about what was his.
“Hi, doc,” Dana greeted him.
“Hey, Dana. How’s it going?”
Marcus was about six feet tall and dark-skinned with a full beard. When he initially moved in, the neighborhood went into a tizzy over the young, single doctor on the block. Dana told Omar at one point Marcus tried to talk to her, but she shot him down because they were neighbors. She didn’t think it was a good idea to date anyone who lived in her neighborhood.
