His Desired Mate

Asha I walked into Le Sarcelle Restaurant to meet Nat. As usual, I am late but this time I am pissed because I made an effort! An hour ago, I got ready like I was going out with the man of my dreams. I had showered, shaved, straightened my hair, and I even put on some makeup. I dressed in an off the shoulder, form-fitting, sexy, black dress and paired it with black heels. I jumped into my car and started driving to the restaurant only to get stuck in f*****g traffic. Seriously? It’s a Sunday night. Traffic isn’t allowed today. Are they ever going to stop construction on this highway?? Agh... I should try to think happy thoughts. What will distract me from this mess? Dancing. Yes, dancing. I go over the choreography of my latest dance in my head. I could get lost in the movements. I better be careful not to start dancing in the middle of the restaurant. I actually want to eat, not get committed into a psychiatric ward. As I approach the host, I put on my biggest smile and say, “hi, I am here to join Natasha Jamal.” “Right this way ma’am,” he replies, “are you celebrating any occasion today?” “Yes, it’s my five year anniversary,” I lie knowing well that Nat is going to have a good laugh at that. I follow him down one side of the restaurant. They decorated very elegantly with teal and gold. Two colors I never thought would go together but somehow everything fit. Bold, impressive. I wish I had an eye for interior design. My house would have looked amazing. Maybe I could have someone decorate. I see my best friend sitting and concentrating hard on the menu. I laugh to myself. Nat was obsessed with food but she was a skinny little thing. I am not sure how that worked. I see someone move in the periphery of my vision, so I step aside. However, this person keeps walking towards me. I step back and keep going until I hit a wall. I look up at the towering figure who is just inches from me. Tanned skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. He was so built you could see his muscles bulging out. This man is a treat to the eyes. His gaze is so intense that it gives me butterflies. He starts getting me hot and heavy. I can feel my heart pounding in my chest. I feel myself start dripping wet. f**k! I squeeze my legs together as tight as I can. I haven’t felt this way about a man since... I am pulled out of my thoughts as he leans in closer. He takes a sniff, yes, a long sniff. Great, he is a little crazy too. However, his crazy somehow gets me even more excited. Our eyes meet. I gulp. His eyes are filled with lust. “Umm, hi, I’m Asha. Most people take me out on a date before they get this close,” I joke. “Max, come back here!” I hear a beautiful blonde girl shout. It seems to snap Max out of his trance. He mumbles a sorry as he turns and walks back to his table. He was sitting with four people. Two beautiful women and two sexy men. It seems like he was the only sexy thing on that table without someone. Like how I usually feel when I go out. I feel for him and his crazy self. Who knows, maybe I like them a little crazy. That guy could get any girl he wanted. I don’t know why he came to me. He must have confused me with someone else. I look at my host who is wide-eyed and speechless. I walk up to Max and scurf up his hair. “Nice to meet you too,” I say as I walk back to my host. I hear some laughs from behind me. When I reach the host, he just pretends nothing happened and continues guiding me to Nat who, unfortunately, was close enough to witness everything. She didn’t even wait for me to sit down, “Who the hell was that?” She asks. I decide to ignore her and politely thank the host. “I hope you both have a great celebration,” he says with a look of relief at being dismissed. Relief. Something Nat was not going to give me after seeing whatever that was. I look at Nat. Her long dark brown hair was tied in a messy bun. She also decided it was a black dress kind of night. The lighting in the restaurant gave her olive skin a warm glow. Her dark brown eyes were looking back at me very concerned. “I have no idea. Pretty sure I have never seen him before,” I respond. “He is lucky he is sexy as hell or else I would have given him a piece of my mind. In fact, did you look at that table? All those men are so sexy. What do I have to do to get a seat at that table?” Nat asks as she shamelessly stares at their table. “Good to know if I ever get jumped, you won’t do anything if he’s sexy,” I joke. “Oh come on, you know it’s not like that. I just like to drool over sexy men. And don’t hold out on me, I want to know everything about that man,” she says with a pout. “Well stop drooling, you are married. And I pinky promise I don’t know him. Besides, I am your date tonight,” I say, feigning a hurt look. “Ooo and I am so glad I get you all to myself,” Nat says seductively. Thankfully, I have managed to get Nat back to her normal self. I sit down and relax. “How are you holding up, Asha?” “Nothing new.” “Well, I got something new. I have decided to set you up on a blind date.” I glare at Nat and say, “no.” “Oh come on, we all have to move on at some point.” “No, Nat.” “It’s been two years. You can’t keep blaming yourself. You have to move on.” “I have ‘moved on.’ I just don’t want to do that again.” “Do what? I can’t believe you have tasted the goods and deny craving it.” “Fall in love. I don’t deny my craving for the good stuff.” I try to change the subject, “did you pick an appetizer because I am going for the crab cakes.” I honestly don’t even know if they have crab cakes on the menu. I just hope the mention of food is enough to distract Nat. Nat, however, seems determined to fish out answers from the deep ends of my soul. “Why do you not want to fall in love?” “Because I can’t handle the loss, the heartbreak. I can’t do that anymore!” my voice breaks a little as I say those words. Nat sighs and reaches out to hold my hand. “May I get you lovely ladies something to drink for your special occasion?” our waitress asks.  “A Coke Zero, no ice for her. She’s pregnant. I would like a glass of your Chardonnay,” Nat replies. I didn’t feel brave enough to start talking again, so I am glad she knows what I like. “I thought that therapist was helping you overcome the trauma.” “She is. I don’t have nightmares anymore,” I pull my hands back and give myself a hug. I thought tonight was going to be a good night out but it was turning out to be a nightmare. I don’t want to be reminded of him. It was an accident they say. I get sympathetic looks. People tell me it’s not my fault. At the end of the day, nothing brings him back. It’s just me. Alone. Left all alone to pick myself up. “So what special occasion are we celebrating?” Nat asks, interrupting my dark thoughts. Teasing her always brightens my mood. I put on my most flirtatious smile. “Our fifth anniversary,” I tell her. “I am so glad you didn’t say birthday. I really didn’t want them to come and start singing.” “First of all, they don’t seem like the restaurant to come singing at the table. Second of all, why did you tell her I am pregnant?” “Well, you don’t drink. I had to make up something so she doesn’t keep asking us if we would like to drink something.” “Speaking about pregnancy, how was your visit to the fertility clinic last week?” “Well, they took a sample of Rayan’s juices. They told us it was all normal. So they are going to run tests on me next.” “Okay, we do not say ‘juices’ again. It’s semen,” I respond with a look of disgust. Sometimes Nat was too much. “How do you feel about your tests?” I ask, trying to forget the ‘juices’ comment. “You know I am a feminist. I shouldn’t feel like this, but when someone tells you that you are barren...it still makes you feel like you can’t do something you were made to do. I don’t know if that makes sense,” she says. “Of course it does,” I tell her. I reach into my purse and pull out a booklet I made for her. “I wrote down all the fertility treatments and a little description for each of them. They will first try some medicines to get you to produce eggs. If that doesn’t work, you have several types of artificial insemination or ways to put semen into your body. If that doesn’t work, you can do in-vitro fertilization or a test-tube baby. If you need another uterus, you can find a surrogate. If none of those work out, you can adopt. There are plenty of kids out there who need a good home,” I say to her. This time, I reach out and hold her hands. We have always tried to comfort each other through our struggles. “Wow, when did you find out all this stuff?” She asks as she start flipping through my booklet. “I started two weeks ago when you told me that you were going to the clinic. Did you know fertility clinics came to be when a rich man’s wife way back in the day couldn’t get pregnant? She got knocked out and a doctor injected someone else’s semen into her v****a. She got pregnant, and she never knew how. Someone published a paper after she died, and that gave birth to fertility treatments,” I tell her. “Asha, that is so f*****g disturbing. You didn’t have to share that one. And Rayan doesn’t need to knock me out to insert anything into my v****a,” she tells me. “Okay, that was too much. I only shared because you like to watch all the psychopath and murdered-mystery shows. I figured this would be right up your alley. You didn't have to share anything,” I respond as I flip through the menu trying to get those thoughts out of my mind. She shrugs. “Excuse me. Hi, I’m Riley,” a sweet voice says from behind me. I turn to see the girl who had shouted at Max. “I just wanted to come and apologize on behalf of my friend, Max. I, also, wanted to see if you both would be interested in joining us for dinner. The least we could do is treat you both to a nice meal,” Riley states. I was about to say ‘no, thank you’ but traitorous Nat got out, “we would love to” before I could open my mouth. I gave her a look and she smirked at me. “What? Don’t look at me! They have sexy guys at their table! I told you I wanted to sit there!” Nat says while Riley chuckles. Nat locks arms with Riley as she leads us to their table. Two chairs were already pulled up. One next to Riley and the other next to Max. I guess I knew which chair was for me, so I didn’t bother to ask. I sat down next to Max. He was looking at his feet, still deflated. “Hello, stranger,” I say. He looks up at me and gives me a wide smile that makes my heart flutter. “Hi, I am Max. I am really sorry about earlier,” he starts awkwardly. “Don’t worry about it! I’m Asha and that happens to me all the time,” I joke. “Who else put you up against a wall?” He asks instantly. Ummm. Well. “It was just a joke. I am pretty sure a STRANGER has never done that one to me. I was just trying to get you to not feel bad about it,” I reply honestly. He gave me another smile. Oh Lord help me! The way my body responded to this man was going to be the end of me! I focus my attention around the table as everyone introduces themselves. Riley was sitting across the table in between her husband, Jace, and my best friend, Nat. I was sitting next to Laney. Trevor sat on Laney's other side; they were another married couple. And I was sitting next to the dangerously sexy, single man. I have to try to keep the thoughts I want to have about this man out of my head. This night was going to be worse than a nightmare.