Free From This Day Forward: Multicultural Romance by Cassandra Black

mesmerizing gaze.
     
    “Well, I want you to know I appreciate it very much,” she said, trying to stave off the involuntary urge to blush as she melted into the familiar intense stare she’d experienced over the weeks that made her warm and fuzzy on the inside.
     
    “You’re welcome,” he said.  He enjoyed watching her as she turned around and fingered piles of décor and pieces of artwork.
     
    ***
     
    A little bit later, as Alonzo was guiding the truck back to her cottage to take her home, Loretta had a thought.
     
    “You’ve been so kind to me, Alonzo. I want to repay you. Let me take you out to dinner this weekend?” she heard herself offer.
     
    Loretta held her breath.
     
    Had she just invited him out? Yes, she had, and she hoped he’d say yes.
     
    Alonzo looked over at her, wondering if this was truly a colleague invite, or something more. There was something going on between them that was unspoken. He had in inkling she felt the same attraction to him as he did to her, but it was not his place to cross the professional line. So he hoped she was finally doing it.
     
    “Is this really a thank you gesture, or are you asking me out on date, Miss Devon?” he smiled.
     
    If Loretta could have changed colors, she knew she would have. He had seen through her ploy.
     
    She pursed her lips playfully. “That depends,” she said.
     
    “Depends on what?” Alonzo asked, pulling the truck up in front of her cottage. He turned to look at her, his deep voice rousing the sleeping petals of her passion. 
     
    Loretta wondered if he knew that just the mention of his name made her all giddy inside. They’d been working side by side for weeks now, and she knew he was just as attracted to her as she was to him, but something else was happening along with her passionate thoughts.  She found herself missing him when he wasn’t around at the worksite; she found herself wondering what he was doing in the evenings when he went home; what he was reading or watching on television at night; what he’d eaten for dinner; whether or not he prayed before he slipped into bed; and what he did to ease his sexual tensions in his down time.
     
    Her almost every waking thought was about Alonzo. She wondered if he could see that in her eyes when he looked at her.
     
    Mixing business with pleasure be-damned, she liked this man, and life was just too short to play games. She was going on 50 years old, and Alonzo was a few years ahead of her. There was no more time to waste.
     
    “It depends on your answer,” she said.
     
    “Well, my answer is yes,” Alonzo said, his lips curling seductively.
     
    She exhaled secretly.  “Good,” she said, hopping out of the truck. “It’s a date then.”
     
    He threw his head back and laughed out loud. “It’s a date indeed,” he said. “And I look forward to it.”
     
    “Saturday, eight o’clock good?” she asked.
     
    “Perfect,” he said.
     
    “And I’ll pick you up,” she said. “Because I’m taking you out.”
     
    “Alright then.”  Alonzo wasn’t used to being courted by a woman, but Loretta’s forwardness turned him on. He loved her moxie.  “You can pick me up back there,” he said, gesturing back to the estate home beyond the trees they’d just left.  He had a sudden urge to be back in the family home again. 
     
    “Will do,” Loretta said, bidding him goodnight with a casual wave, though she was bursting with excitement on the inside.
     
    Alonzo tooted his horn to say goodnight as he backed out of her driveway.
     
    ***
     
    That evening, Loretta hummed as she prepared dinner for herself, experimenting with a new seafood recipe for the restaurant.  It was Thursday, and she knew she’d be taking the next day off from restaurant work to visit with Velma. Things had been so busy that she hadn’t seen much of her friend lately. Loretta decided to pay her a visit the next afternoon, knowing Friday was usually Velma’s afternoon off. She