Try Me

13.

- Too fast or not fast enough?

As soon as we got inside, Jay had led me to the kitchen where I got comfortable on a barstool. The roles were reversed; I'd found that I was doing the staring while he cooked, instead of the other way around. He was smiling and his lips were moving but I wasn't listening, the lights of the kitchen bounced off of his chocolate skin and at that moment it made him look iridescent. We hadn't even known each other for a full week, but whatever it was that was forming between us was working quickly. My hormones were being thrown out of whack by watching him cook; I wanted him, badly but he made it clear that he had other things in mind.

"Hey, are you okay?" Jason snapped his fingers in front of my face, I nodded my head and he smirked. "I've been calling your name for a minute, what are you over there thinking about?"

"You." I responded bluntly, there was no reason for me to beat around the bush; so I wouldn't. "What's your middle name Jay?"

"It's Amir, Detective." He said as he chopped a few vegetables up, he'd informed earlier that a chicken stir fry was on the menu for dinner. He continued to chop as he stared at me, "You're very beautiful by the way."

I smiled at him and looked away. "Thank you, I think I understand the whole staring thing now because I can't stop looking at you now, Mr. Jason Amir Moore. I like that." I tested his full name on my lips, I stifled a laugh as I pictured me shouting his full name out when he pissed me off; unsure why that was the first thing that I thought of.

" I already that know yours is Nicole because Jasmine used your full name when she and Lea were threatening to kill me." He laughed softly as he cooked.

I hid my face in my hair. "They're so protective, I love that they love me though so I can't complain about that." I shrugged. "Do you need help?"

"You can get the plates from that cabinet over there, check the fridge and see if there's anything in there that you want to drink." Jason said as he quickly fried up the food, the aroma reminded me just how hungry I was.

"I'll just have water." I laughed to myself a little, we were acting so domesticated for two people who had been on one date, I got the plates out and placed them on the counter. Jason was still cooking and my makeup was still on, I needed to get it off before I did anything else.

"Where's the bathroom? I've been wearing this makeup for thirteen hours and my pores are screaming for sweet release." I groaned; my face was starting to feel gross. Jason laughed loudly and shook his head.

"Down the hall to the left, actually just go upstairs and straight down the hallway into my bedroom and use the bathroom in there. I've got all the good skincare products in there." Jason wagged his eyebrows at me and then turned the stove off. I nodded and quickly scurried away, I wanted to hurry back so that I could eat.

His loft was nice; I highly doubted that he decorated on his own, everything was single piece complemented the other. I followed his directions and soon found myself in the master bathroom; I washed my face and then checked my reflection. That's more like it. I moved tried to move as quickly as possible so that it wouldn't seem like I was snooping around.

When I came back downstairs Jason was leaning against the wall and the food was on the table along with two glasses of water. He noticed me and smiled as he put his phone away.

I checked the time and it was almost eleven. "Tell me more about this new restaurant." Jason nodded and held my chair out for me.

"I've been planning it for a while and I'm excited that it's almost ready to be opened, moms is giving me the family recipes, so that makes this one a little more special than Gianni's." Jason sat across from me; his eyes were bright with excitement and pride as he spoke not only of the restaurant but of his mother as well.

"That's amazing; your mom must be excited about that." I took a bite of my food and moaned. "And he can cook." I checked an imaginary box.

"And she's funny." Jason mirrored my actions while chuckling. "But yeah, my mom is really excited that there's gonna be a restaurant named Amira's, all the barbershops are named after my dad so it's the least I could do." He shrugged as he played it off.

"What's the barbershop called and how many locations do you have?" I asked him, I wanted to know everything there was to know about him.

"David's Old Town Barbershop, everyone just calls them David's anyway. We've got about ten locations as of now." Hearing him talk about his businesses motivated me,  I hoped that I could have ten or more locations in the future.

"That's impressive; you've done well for yourself." I complimented him, by that time my plate was completely free of any food and so was Jason's.

"Thanks, it wasn't always like this. I just had to find a better way to make money and be successful. For my parents you know. They've done too much for me to have to work another day in their lives." Our eye contact never wavered as Jason spoke. "What about your parents? You close with them?"

I stiffened a little in my seat and sighed, "Unfortunately, I have lost both of my parents; lost my mother to death and I lost my father to life." I shrugged my shoulders, "He wasn't a good parent, and TJ is the only family that I keep in contact with."

"I'm sorry to hear that, you should be proud of what you've been able to accomplish on your own." Jason came over to my side of the table so that he could wrap me in a warm embrace.

I nodded into the soft cotton of his T-Shirt. "I am, as morbid as it sounds, I might not be as successful as I am now if I didn't have to get it for myself." I let go of him and took dishes off of the table. "You cooked so I'll clean."

Jason nodded and followed me into the kitchen, I felt his eyes boring a hole into the side of my face as I loaded the dishwasher and couldn't help but smile, once I was done I made my way over to him.

"I like you Mr. Jason Amir Moore." I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck. He smiled and bent his head to kiss me.

Jason held me closely. "I like you too Miss Kira Nicole Price."

His hand went to my neck as he held me in place; the kiss grew deeper and more urgent as time went by. Eventually he got tired of bending down and he picked me up, my legs immediately wrapped around his waist as he began walking towards the stairs.

"Stay." He mumbled against my lips.

I smiled in return. "I was planning on it." I squeezed my legs tighter around him and he groaned.

"I'm still not fucking you Kira." He kicked open the door to his bedroom.

"Who said anything about fucking?" I repeated my words from Sunday.

"Oh, so you wanna play? We can play." He said as he threw me onto the bed, I always forgot how strong he was.

Betting on it...