CHAPTER FIVE
Jocelyn couldn’t wait for her work-day to be over. She was humming her favorite song when Tiffany saw her at lunch. Jocelyn told Tiffany that Ramon asked her out to dinner. Tiffany’s excitement was almost too much to contain. Now she had new gossip to spread. She asked for details. She wanted to know where they were having dinner. When Jocelyn revealed her that they were going to Evelyn’s. Tiffany asked excitedly, “What are you going to wear? Is he picking you up?” all in one excited breath.
Jocelyn replied, “I think I’ll wear my black dress and silver heels. At my last job at the investment firm I had to wear low heels to appear professional and conservative. After I got home, I put on flats. Tonight I’m breaking out the new six inch silver heels.”
She added, “With a car service, I won’t have to drive around looking for a parking space and I can wear my silver heels without worrying about tripping in them. I don’t want to fall on my face walking from my car. The car service can let me off right in front of the restaurant.”
Jocelyn was anxious about meeting Ramon later that night. She wasn’t sure how he felt about her, but she knew she was very attracted to him. After work she rushed home in order to have a few minutes to get her nerves together. She soaked for a few minutes in the tub and burned her favorite vanilla scented candles while she was soaking. Finally, since chamomile tea was in her cabinet, she had a hot cup before she left her apartment.
She spotted Ramon immediately when she walked into the restaurant. He was wearing dark dress pants, a dark sport coat, a pink shirt and a pink striped tie. He was obviously a man who was assured of his masculinity.
His pink shirt reminded her of spun cotton candy. She started to have visions of pulling spun cotton candy off his chest and tasting it. Stop that, stop that, she told herself.
She blanked the candy cotton thoughts out of her mind and smiled her best smile as she walked toward him. When Ramon saw her, he stood. He was pleased to see that she wasn’t wearing one of her usual ghastly outfits. Tonight she wore a little black dress showing off her toned arms and legs. He watched those lovely legs walk gracefully to their table. She had on a pearl necklace and silver earrings in her pierced ears.
Once he had seated her and returned to his chair, he said, “You look lovely tonight. The waiter will be here shortly. What would you like to drink?”
“I’ll have a beer.”
Ramon had expected her to order a girly drink or a glass of wine. “That sounds good. I think I’ll have one too.”
Once they had ordered, they had the usual small talk two people who are getting to know each other better engage in. She talked about her three sisters. He already knew Reese. One sister was living in New York and the other in Las Vegas. She told him that she and Reese were the oldest, and about her recent layoff.
What she didn’t tell him was she no longer needed to work because she had wisely invested money in the stock market. No one knew about her stock market investments. Not even her family and she intended to keep it that way. Instead she talked about her parents and her plan to some day visit Europe.
Ramon listened as she talked. He loved hearing about her family and her dreams. He watched her mouth as it moved. He was dying to kiss her and promised himself that before the night was over he would find an opportunity to make that happen.
He talked about his family and he told her his parents were now both proud of him because he owned his own company. He told her about the lean years of only being able to afford ramen noodles for meals, like some broke college student while he grew the business.
No doubt about it, she admired his dedication to his family and his employees.
They both omitted talking about their past romantic relationships.
They found out they had similar backgrounds. They grew up in multi-racial homes. Ramon’s was a mixture of Central American and Caucasian. Jocelyn’s was African American and Caucasian. Two of her sisters had been adopted. They had come to her parents’ home as foster children. When they failed to find adoptive homes, her parents had been allowed to adopt them.
Over dessert Ramon told her about the new product he was working on. He said, “We’re trying to do something new. We’re developing a special glaze that when applied over a painted wall, will make the wall look like a piece of glass is covering it.”
“You mean like a clear glaze?” Jocelyn asked.
“No, it’s more than a glaze. It’s called ‘Brilliance’. Once it’s applied over our paint, it will be ten times more durable than conventional glaze and it will look like a mirror is on the wall. You can throw all kinds of sauces on it and it will wipe right up, like you were cleaning a pane of glass.”
“Wow, Ramon that’s exciting!”
He liked her enthusiasm for his new project. At least her eyes didn’t glaze over from boredom when he talked about paint like most of his dates.
Jocelyn listened intently. She knew he had no idea about her past as an investor. But investing in new emerging companies had been one of her specialties when she was working at Baldwin Investment Firm.
She decided she wanted to be one of his first investors if his company ever went public. She figured as a potential investor, it wouldn’t hurt to learn a little about his business.
After they finished dessert, Jocelyn thought she had waited long enough to ask him what he wanted to discuss with her that couldn’t be discussed in his office.
Ramon hadn’t really come up with anything important. Suddenly he had an inspiration. He smiled and asked her, “How about letting me use your home to be the first to test out our new product?”
Ramon’s suggestion surprised her. Then she thought it over. What better way to tell if the new product was any good. If the “Brilliance” caught the public’s interest, it could be worth millions.
She said, “I’ll let you use my house. How about you have it applied to one wall. If I like it, you can apply to several rooms.”
Ramon was pleased. He was happy his idea was one she actually liked. Additionally it gave him an excuse to take her home.
They got up to leave after they finished their coffee. Before she could protest any further, he said, “If your place will be the first place we test Brilliance, I need to see it. And as a gentleman I insist upon seeing you home safely.”
She found herself really liking this man. He was attractive and decent. He was the total package. He was so different from the men she was usually attracted to. He had no idea the battle she was fighting with herself.
Her attraction to him was frightening her. Yet she itched to get her hands on his body. She wanted to see the golden skin underneath that pink shirt. He was a walking Adonis. Each time he smiled at her; her brain swam with pictures of them lying together in a bed panting after hot sweaty sex.
After they finished dinner, Ramon paid their bill and guided her toward the exit with his hand in the middle of Jocelyn’s back.
When they were standing outside, she was so engrossed in her daydreams of taking off his clothing, she was totally caught unaware when a teenager ran up and grabbed her purse.
Ramon had never seen a woman come out of her shoes so fast. Without thinking, Jocelyn ran down the street after the little purse snatcher. She screamed, “Come back here with my purse!”
The kid was fast. He looked to be about fifteen. Jocelyn was right behind him. Ramon wasn’t too far behind Jocelyn. They were running behind a building near a parking lot. Ramon was stunned when he saw Jocelyn stop running and hurl her body through the air like a football player. The kid went down and she went down on top of him. She yanked her purse from the young thief’s hand. Then she started shaking the kid over and over and for good measure she smacked him once with the pocketbook. Each time she shook him, she would question him, “Don't you know it’s wrong to steal, what’s wrong with you?”
Then, leaning down into the boy's face she snarled, “You work for what you need, you don't steal. You ask people can you was
h their cars, can you carry their groceries, you cut grass.”
While all of this was going on the boy was twisting and bucking trying to get Jocelyn off of him. She was holding on to him like she was riding a mechanical bull in a country bar.
Ramon caught Jocelyn’s arms. He feared if he didn't stop her, the kid might end up with brain damage. He looked down at her and asked, “Do you want me to call the police?” She shook her head no and glared at the kid one more time for good measure before she let him up. He took one look at her and Ramon and then ran for his life. As he ran, he hollered, “You’re crazy lady!”
Jocelyn finally took a deep breath and looked up at Ramon. He pulled her up and hugged her to him. “Please don’t do that again. Whatever was in your pocketbook, I could have replaced it. I can’t replace you.”
He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly to his body. She almost forgot about having her purse stolen.
“Now we’d better go back to the restaurant for your shoes. You do want your shoes, right?”
The question brought her back down to earth quickly. She looked down at her feet. Jocelyn loved those shoes. She had searched for hours looking for the perfect pair of silver six inch-heels. She had finally found them in a little boutique in downtown Baltimore. “Yipes! I need my shoes! I searched hours for those heels!” She huffed angrily, “That little creep, that miniature hoodlum, I should have hit him harder with my pocketbook!”
Ramon put his arm around her waist and led her back to the restaurant. He requested quietly, “Please wait in the restaurant while I get my car. Don't come out until I come into the restaurant to get you. Okay?”
Jocelyn was a little shook up so she only nodded her head okay. Then Ramon left to get his car.
Once she was seated in Ramon’s car she asked, “Could you take me to Reese’s house?” He placed a comforting hand on Jocelyn’s knee and said, “Sure.”
He added, “I certainly didn’t plan for our evening to end like this.”
Jocelyn gave him a tremulous smile and said, “I didn’t either.” Then she pulled out her cell phone and called Reese. She told her that she was coming over.
Reese detected the distress in her sister’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll tell you when I get there.”
Ramon delivered Jocelyn to Reese’s door. As Reese opened the door, Jocelyn reached for Reese. Reese hugged her and then looked over her sister’s shoulder, “What happened?”
Ramon said, “After we finished dinner, some kid tried to steal her purse. Your sister ran after him in her bare feet like she was a linebacker, tackled the little creep, smacked him around a bit and got her purse back.”
Reese pulled away from Jocelyn and gripped her arms. Her eyes communicated, “Were you crazy?”
“Somebody had to straighten him out. His parents certainly hadn’t.” Jocelyn said with conviction. “He was lucky I didn’t beat the crap out of him.”
Reese only shook her head. Her sister was braver than anyone she knew. Jocelyn would act first and then worry about the consequences later.
Reese pulled her sister into the doorway. Now that everything was over, Jocelyn was a little shocked at her own behavior. She and Ramon could have been hurt badly, if not worse. Their evening was completely ruined.
Before Jocelyn closed the door, she turned to Ramon and said to him, a little teary eyed, “Thanks for dinner. I hope that we can do it again, but without the purse snatching part.” Then she disappeared into Reese’s house and closed the door.
Ramon walked toward his car, shaking his head. Jocelyn was certainly different from the women he usually dated. He desired her even more now. He just had to figure out a way to get her into his bed.