Dating The White Wolf (BWWM)

Chapter 2

"How's your sex life" (part 2)

"Camille almost missed a step. She recognized the man. Tall and broad chested, the blue v-neck shirt he wore defined the muscles of his arms and his trim waist. He was blue-eyed and the California sun hadn't added any color to his lily-white skin. His face was ruggedly handsome with a strong jaw and a five o'clock shadow that some guys could not carry off so easily.

She turned away, holding her breath. That was Richard Marquis. Here, in this little café of all places. Marquis was a local celebrity and a household name across America. His pharmaceutical company was responsible for some of the more popular household drugs. She even had a few in her medicine cabinet back in her apartment. Aspirin, and a multivitamin supposedly formulated just for women. Romulus Pharmaceuticals: making your life better is our only goal. That's what their commercials said, anyway.

Marquis hardly ever came out in public on his own. The few times that she had ever seen him was in the bank where she worked, he was always surrounded by his people. Accountants, bodyguards, and who knew what else.

"Honey, you want somethin' or you just holdin' up the line for the fun of it?"

Camille blinked. The cashier, an older black woman with pencils stuck through her hair, stood with a fist on her hip, and Camille realized it was her turn to order.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry."

She gave the woman her order and waited until the cappuccino was handed to her. She turned to the island counter, hoping for a few sprinkles of cinnamon.
Richard Marquis was still there seemingly waiting for someone. He was slowly stirring his coffee, the cap off and two plastic stir straws in his long fingers. She tried to keep her eyes away from him as she reached for the cinnamon shaker. That was why she hadn't realized he had moved until he was standing right next to her.

"Do I know you?" he asked her.

Camille felt heat rising in her cheeks.

"No," she said after a moment. "I mean, I've seen you before. You've seen me, I mean. Um." Damn. She was never tongue-tied. Ever. But this man was beautiful in the flesh.

"Hm." His voice was amused. "That really doesn't answer much."

She glared up at him. "Something funny?"

His eyes danced. "Funny? No. I was being serious. Your face is familiar but very, very pretty."

Camille saw she'd poured way too much cinnamon into her drink and thumped the container down harder than she'd meant to. "You always hit on women in coffee shops, Mister Marquis?"

"Actually, no." Marquis put the cap back on his coffee cup, calmly, slowly, all manly confidence. "Do you always get mad at men who try to talk to you?"

He turned away before Camille could say anything else. She took a deep breath, telling herself she was not attracted to Richard Marquis in the least. She could say it to herself over and over, but damn. There was some kind of special aura around him that had made her react to him, and no doubt about it.

"She watched him go off to an empty table and sit, sipping at his coffee, staring at her with a little smile as he pulled out his iPhone and began scrolling through. A shiver went through her and she had to turn away before she could breathe again.

That was weird, she said to herself. Definitely not unpleasant, though. Then she had another thought. Why did he get his coffee in a Styrofoam cup, when he wasn't leaving?

Back at the table, the girls were watching her as she sat down again.
"What?" she asked them.

"He spoke to you," Jackie said in a loud whisper.

"Girl," Moesha added, "he never speaks to nobody. Ever!"

Camille looked at them. "Wait, you two knew he would be here?"

Jackie nodded with a smile and a surreptitious glance over in his direction. "Every Saturday, regular like clockwork."

"Why do you think we come to this place?" Moesha asked her. "Because the scenery is fi-ine."

She wasn't looking at Richard Marquis when she said it, though. She was looking at a male busboy with skin like roasted almonds and a face like Vin Diesel's. Camille arched an eyebrow at her friend.

"Hey, don't look at me like that." Moesha lifted her sunglasses up. Her eyes were hungry. "You see that ass? Mmm. Bet you he isn't gentle."

"Moesha!" Camille said, trying to be scandalized, but giggling uncontrollably instead.

They talked for more than an hour, catching up with each other's lives and making promises to meet again like this next Saturday. It felt good to Camille to be with her friends again and not worry about whether Tony was going to be mad at her for not rushing home. She never glanced at her watch once. His loss, she thought at one point. This time she could let herself believe it. Good riddance to him.

Moesha's stomach rumbled loudly. She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes wide, and they broke out laughing again. "Well, I can't be expected to stare at men's behinds without food, right?" she asked.

"You tell it, girl," Jackie agreed, picking up her clutch purse. "I know this great Italian place."

"Spaghetti?" Moesha asked loudly. "You want me to eat spaghetti when I'm this hungry? Uh-uh. No way. I need real food. We need to get this girl some chicken and some fries, is what we need to do."

"Excuse me," he said as Camille stood up from his stool. She startled. She hadn't heard him come over. Richard Marquis stood very close, towering over her, smiling in a way that was very attractive.

"Uh, Jackie and me is gonna be outside, okay Camille?" Moesha said to her. She didn't wait for an answer before she grabbed Jackie by her elbow and hissed at her to shut up as she steered them both away from the table and to the exit door.