Pretty Fly for a White Guy: The Complete Series Collection Read online

  I wonder what he will have to tell me and I hope it’s that Kenneth misses me and that he’s a wreck over us not being together. He is a part of the bank industries and he manages a lot of trust funds for the wealthy. He’s really down to earth and so I know that he’s not calling me for any kind of drama or gossip. I decided to call him back during a more reasonable hour; I can’t imagine that he would appreciate a phone call this early. So I text him and let him know that I got his calls and that I’ll give him a call back during the afternoon.

  I dragged myself towards the bathroom and my phone began to ring. Damn, Joshua must really want to talk to me, what the hell? The only time he tracked me down like this was the time that Kenneth has gotten into a motorcycle accident two years ago which worries me.

  “Hello?”

  “H-hey Nicole, I hope I’m not imposing on you,” he says in a timid voice.

  “No not at all, I’m wide awake. What’s up, is everything okay?”

  “Things are going just fine. I was wondering if you had time today to meet me for lunch today.”

  “Okay, you’re making me a bit nervous. You hardly ever call me and now you want to meet for lunch. Do you mind tell me what this is regarding?”

  He gives a deep laugh that disarms me. I’ve always thought that he’s had a sexy voice and his laugh is even more intoxicating.

  “Don’t worry Nicole, I’m not bringing any drama to you. I just want to talk to you. How does 11 a.m. sound?”

  I think about my schedule and I have a meeting at 9 so 11 will work perfectly. I decide to move on with my day and agree to the time that he wants to meet. 11 o’clock isn’t too far away. I ask him where he wanted to meet and we settled on the location. I had to put our meeting out of our mind and set my attention on my first appointment of the day. I was able to catch up with the designer that I was looking for 3 days prior. It was my intention to snag her designs for 2 of my client’s boutiques.

  He and I would be meeting soon enough.

  *

  I arrived at South City Kitchen in midtown Atlanta a couple of minutes late but I was riding high from my success. The designer was more than happy to sign on for the deal that I proposed. After meeting Joshua I would go to my office, draw up the paperwork, and send it to her in a fax. I knew that my clients were going to be over the moon when they found out who was going to be in their boutique. Sharia was a new designer but she’s hot, highly selective, and rightfully so. She protects her brand with an iron fist and so she’s exactly the kind of person that I want to work with.

  I spotted Joshua at the table and he didn’t look irritated so that’s a good thing.

  “Hey Joshua, how are you?”

  “I’m doing good Nicole,” he answered as he rose to meet me. He kissed me on the cheek and pulled out my chair.

  “So what’s going on?”

  “Geesh, I see that you like to cut right to the chase. You’re looking really good by the way. You work in that outfit? How do you keep the men from falling at your feet?” he asked playfully.

  I forgot about what a big flirt he was, it’s one of his many charms. I cocked my head to the side as I evaluated him. He was beating around the bush regarding what he wanted to talk about and I couldn’t help but wonder why.

  “Thank you very much Mr. Crocker, you’re looking pretty good yourself. Now please tell me what you wanted to meet about. My stomach has been in knots since this morning.”

  “Well, I spoke to Kenneth yesterday and he told me about you seeing him with Amelia. I was wondering how you were doing because that couldn’t have been easy for you,” he shifted in his seat nervously.

  I narrowed my eyes, “Of course it hasn’t been easy, it downright sucked. How dare he disrespect me like that, after all we’ve been through. When you talk to him tell him I said that he can go fuck himself.”

  “Well, tell me how you really feel about it, don’t hold back. I don’t think that you got your point fully across,” he said sarcastically after he took a long sip of water.

  His attempt at humor lightened the mood and made me laugh.

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to explode like that on you but what he did really got under my skin. I’m still processing it all.”

  “I want to take you out,” he said quickly.

  “What?” I ask, as I stare at him open mouthed.

  “I’m serious, I’ve liked you from the moment that I’ve met you and I didn’t want to say anything because I respected your relationship.”

  “Yeah, with your best friend,” I said in a high pitched whisper.

  “I know, but I had to tell you how I felt or I would regret it forever. Please, just one date and if

  I’m not for you then I’ll move on and never bother you again.”

  I sat and stared at him blankly. He has a lot of balls to ask me out, especially seeing that I’m upset with Kenneth for doing something similar. Then again, why should I be loyal to a man that has had no respect for me or my feelings? I’ve always thought that Joshua was a cutie, not as hot at Kenneth, but cute. He’s everything that Kenneth isn’t, in a good way. He’s sweet, attentive, respectful, and I deserve it.

  “

  Hmmm, okay one date. But I’m better than Kenneth is; this is something that I’m going to have to discuss with him before we officially go out. I don’t want him to be gut punched the way that I was and it’s the right thing to do.”

  A smile spreads across his face, “I can dig it, and I completely understand what you mean. I don’t want to hurt anyone; I just want the opportunity to get to know you.”

  “Mmhmm we will see. Just so you know, this doesn’t count as a date and you’re still paying for lunch,” I laugh.

  “What happened to that whole independent woman thing?” he joked. “Seriously though, there is no way that I would let you pay for lunch. I got you and hopefully I will be paying for a lot more in the future.”

  “That’s yet to be determined.”

  *

  It had been a couple of days since I had lunch with Joshua. He and I had been texting ever since I left the restaurant. We had a wonderful easy going lunch and it was great to talk to someone about stuff other than fashion. He filled me in on his clients, family, and what’s been going on in his football league. He plays flag football and is obsessed with winning, I think it’s really cute.

  He’d been making my life better over the couple of days. I haven’t had the time to sit around and mope and cry because he kept me laughing throughout the day. He seemed to be exactly what I needed. I called Kenneth the night after I saw Joshua and asked him if he had any free time to talk. He agreed to come over to my house tonight to talk.

  Joshua is sweet and funny but I hoped that talking to Kenneth would spark jealously. After he sees that I plan on moving on with Joshua, he’ll be so jealous, and that should maybe start the process of us getting back together. I knew that it would ultimately hurt Joshua but him and I aren’t meant to be together and have never been together so he will get over it pretty quickly. Kenneth is the man that I really want to spend my life with.

  I put the final touches on my makeup and made sure that not a hair was out of place on my shoulder length bob. I slipped into my comfortable off the shoulder shirt, and a pair of high cut shorts that showed off my nice round booty. He can’t resist me when my shapely legs are on display. I’m made sure that I looked sexy but comfortable. I didn’t want it to look as if I tried too hard.

  I poured myself a glass of wine to settle my nerves and sat on the couch. My buzzer went off shortly and I knew that it was Kenneth. He always buzzed my doorbell the same, two long buzzes and then two short ones. I buzzed him inside and offered him a seat. He wore a simple t-shirt and basketball shorts. He had clearly come here directly from the gym. He looked so good, and I could see his print through his shorts. I nervously played with my necklace as I sat down beside him.

  “Thank you so much for coming over,” I said to break the ice.

  “No pr
oblem Nicole. I figured that if you called it had to be important. You don’t make a habit of ringing my phone often.”

  “I know, and this is pretty important. I wanted to be respectful of your feelings before I moved forward with my life,” I said, emphasizing the word respectful.

  “There’s no need for you to have to talk to me about anything, I’ve clearly moved on and so I fully expect you to do the same,” he said with a cocky laugh. “Oh, wait…I know you haven’t been waiting on me for the past year?”

  “Not at all,” I said quickly. “I’ve been dating so please don’t flatter yourself. I just wanted to give you the same courtesy that you didn’t extend to me.”

  Kenneth gave an impatient sigh, “Cut to the chase please, I have somewhere to be soon.”

  “Fine then, have it your way. Joshua asked me out, and I’m considering taking him up on his offer.”

  The room grew silent and I looked in his eyes, wanting a sign of anger or jealousy. I just knew that this was about to be it. I was expecting him to completely blow the hell up so I prepared myself for the storm. Instead a huge grin spread across his face.

  “Wow, you and Josh? I’ll admit that it comes as a surprise because he hasn’t said anything but I’m completely fine with it. I’m with Amelia and I’m not going to hold the two of you back. I hope that you’re real happy. I didn’t see him as being your type, but more confusing things have happened I guess.”

  “So you really don’t care?” I asked in disbelief.

  “Of course I don’t care. I hope that it works out for the both of you. If that’s all, then I’m about to get ready to get out of here.”

  “Yes that’s all. I’m going to date Joshua and so there is no changing your mind after we start,” I say stubbornly.

  “Cool, see you around,” he said as he said as he rose to his feet. He gave me a hug and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

  I watched him in silence as he left my apartment.

  What a crock.

  #Chapter3

  “The sky is the limit Nikki!”

  Joshua

  I sat in my office in Midtown Atlanta looking at my cell phone. I had 5 missed calls from Joshua waiting on me. He knew that I finally had the conversation with Kenneth and he was waiting on the final verdict. I’m sure that he’s talked to his friend by now but I was unsure of what to say. I didn’t expect for the situation to play out that way. I liked Joshua as a friend, thought he was cute, but never saw him outside of those parameters.

  It would be ridiculous for me to not go out with him at this point. He’s expressed a clear interest and Kenneth doesn’t seem to care at all. I felt stunned after he left my apartment and I called Patrice for some advice on the situation. She said what most women would say. She believes that I need to move on and was excited that I had a date prospect. She said dating Joshua would make “more sense” anyway and I was not sure how to take that. More sense because he was Black or more sense in that he was a nicer guy?

  Anyway, that's the least of my problems. It’s hard for me to push aside my feelings for the man that I’m hopelessly in love with but it’s time to start the process.

  In a rare moment of courage, I picked up the phone and texted Joshua.

  To: Joshua

  So when is our date? ;)

  ~Nicole

  I bit my lip as I twirled in my seat and waited for his reply. My phone buzzed quickly. That’s another difference between him and Kenneth. Kenneth will take hours to respond to a message, even when he’s not doing anything. I always hated waiting on him to text me back because I felt like I was being ignored, yet when I was with him he would always have his phone close to him.

  From: Joshua

  Tonight if you’ll have me. I’ll pick you up at 8? You can dress casual because I want to have some fun.

  I smiled because I was interested in seeing what kind of fun he was talking about.

  To: Joshua

  Sounds good. I’ll see you at 8.

  TTYS

  ~Nicole

  I breathed out a sigh of relief because I’d finally got it over with. I can finally move on with my life and work towards a real romantic future. I had only been on a few dates since my breakup. I had sex a couple of times and it absolutely sucked. I couldn’t stop thinking about Kenneth and the guy’s dick left a lot to be desired. I only slept with him again because I was lonely. He really liked me and so I let him go because I knew it wasn’t right to allow him to hang out to the idea of a relationship that was never going to happen.

  I got up from my desk, gathered up my things and headed out to see one of my clients. My job has been the only thing that’s kept me going. It’s always been a constant for me, and it’s something that my mother and I connected over. My mom wasn’t in the fashion industry but she was obsessed with it. My mom was a high school principle but she always looked like she had stepped off of a runway. She’d taken me to New York Fashion Week every year since I was 7 up until she passed away when I was 18 in a car accident. My dad and I have been there for each other while dealing with her death. It’s not something that you ever get over but we take it day by day.

  My day seemed to drag by because I was watching the clock the entire time. I couldn’t wait to get home to prep for my night out. Even though it’s casual, I wanted to make sure that I looked really good. I put on a black form fitting tank top with thin straps, and a skinny pair of blue jeans, and a pair of cute strappy heeled sandals. I went and took my make up from day to night and poured myself a glass of Merlot. I sat at my kitchen table as I thought about what I was doing. I felt a little scandalous going out with Kenneth’s best friend but I knew that I wasn’t doing anything wrong. In fact, I had done everything right.

  Joshua said that he had been interested in me from the moment that he met me. He did a great job of covering it up. I never noticed his interest at all. He just always seemed liked the happy go lucky side-kick. Now he wanted more from me. Joshua buzzed my door as I took my last gulp of wine.

  I buzzed him in. He walked in wearing a fitted grey v-neck t-shirt, jeans, and casual shoes. He looked pretty good and I could tell that he put just as much thought into looking casual as I did. I gave him a hug and felt his body melt into mine. He audibly inhaled my scent and nuzzled my neck.

  “Getting a little frisky?” I laughed.

  “Well can you blame me? You’re looking and smelling all good, you can’t blame a brother for getting a lil’ excited,” he gives a boyish grin and I giggle.

  “No, I can’t blame you at all. I do look and smell pretty good today,” I say as I spin around giving him a full view. “Where are we going anyway? I’ve been pretty patient and you know that’s not like me at all.”

  “We are going to have some good old fashioned fun at Dave and Busters. I plan on whoopin’ that ass in some air hockey.”

  “Don’t bet on it Mr. Crocker, I play a mean game of air hockey. Isn’t your ego still bruised from the last time I beat you at that bar?”

  “Okay, let’s make a bet,” he says as he invades my personal space, “You win, and then I’ll owe you a favor, and if I win then you owe me a favor.”

  “What kind of favors are you speaking of?”

  He licks his lips suggestively, “The sky is the limit Nikki.”

  My lips parted as I felt heat enter my cheeks. If I was light my cheeks would be fire red.

  “OOOOOh, did I make you blush?” He grinned.

  “Shut up and let’s go. You just get ready because you’re going to owe me a whole lot of favors.”

  “Somehow I see this as a win-win situation for myself.”

  *

  The sexual tension was high on the way back from Dave and Busters.

  We had a great time at the arcade. We drank quite a bit, played some games, and had a great dinner. We played best out of 3 twice in air hockey. He won one game and I won the other. I don’t know if it was the adrenaline of the competition or just our attraction to each other but we couldn’t k
eep our hands off of one another after that game. His hands stayed on my hips and ass, I kept brushing my ass against his center and his bulge was hard to ignore. It felt good to flirt and have fun again.

  When we arrived at my house, we sat in an awkward silence. I wasn’t sure as to what I should do and so I went with my gut.

  “Would you like to come upstairs for a bit? I’ve had a really good time and I don’t want it to end,” I licked my lips nervously and felt my hands moisten.

  A moment of panic settled in because I was nervous that he would say no. If he turned me down I was going to feel like a complete idiot.