"What makes you think I want to sleep with you?" She asked finishing her saki.
"Really, Valencia?" I was surprised. Almost two hours had passed since she had let me know everything was ok with a laugh. We had even paid the bill and were getting dirty looks from the staff.
We had discussed her most recent trip to Spain to see family. She had asked me about how my Mom was doing. I knew she had become VP of her international consulting firm. I knew most of the men and women who work for her made ten times what I made. I knew not because she told me but because I was familiar with the company.
She knew I was less of a mess than I had been in the past. She knew I set my sites on someone. She knew I had the momentum to maintain a groove but not to get trapped in a rut.
Her question brought us back to my previous statement. 'I have decided not to sleep with you.' This was the moment where things always took the turn. Things never happen right away. A fuse is lit. An idea is sparked. A question is asked. Most people don't realize that all initial responses are knee jerk responses. Sometimes you have to take time to take in the new direction that life has given you.
"Well," I said answering her question, "there was the parking lot the last time we were here. There was the top floor of the Trump Towers - before we got kicked out. I remember your second apartment in midtown."
"Go on," she said resting her cheek in her right hand. A smile was on her face.
"The train after the going away party." I put my hands together. That was one of my great memories.
"Votre besos." She said sitting back in her chair.
"Cuando tú hablas Espanol, hablas despacio," I said digging deep in the reserve of rusty Spanish.
"And I love it when you try," she said smiling and touching my hand.
"I'm not trying to..." This time it was her turn to interrupt me.
"It's your kiss." Her explanation was simple. "I like the way you kiss me. You don't push. You don't beg. You respond. Your body listens to mine."
I felt the slick smile cut across my face. I couldn't tell if it was the unfiltered saki finally kicking in or hearing a her say that she liked kissing me.
"But just because I love the way you kiss me," she continued, "doesn't mean that I want to sleep with you."
"I'm flattered. I was always afraid that if things went too far you wouldn't talk to me or I'd just be another guy."
"You'll never be just another guy. I hope things work out with this girl," she said as we walked out to the parking lot.
"Me, too." I gave her a big hug.
"No kiss for you tonight and you know why." I shut the door to her little sports car.
Things had taken a turn. A fuse was lit. I walked back to my car taking time to take in the new direction life was giving me.
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