Blackout

Chapter 3

Miami

Max

Present

His hoodie reached my knees.

The man was that tall. I’d honestly never seen a man as tall as him in real life. Sure, I’d seen some NBA athletes on the TV but those guys had nothing on the man walking in front of me. He was clearly arrogant and full of himself, but he had good reasons to be like that. This soldier had to be above six feet and muscular, the kind of muscular that wasn’t built in a gym but in combat, after years of honing his body into a weapon. His entire body moved with a natural confidence that wasn’t rehearsed in front of a mirror like in the case of some guys who knew they were handsome. This guy was handsome and competent, lethal, mysterious and exuding s*x appeal. He was basically s*x on legs and I had a problem with that. A big, huge, problem.

I refused to give that problem a second thought and focused on keeping my eye on the man. His jet black hair was cut short in a buzzcut, military style. The black hair framed a chiseled bone structure, full lips and a straight nose that suited him well. His green-grey eyes were still more grey than green when he looked at me, giving me a quizzical glare the moment I stopped by the back of his jeep and studied his plate.

“Just so you know I have a good memory,” I said, crossing my arms in front of my chest while I memorized the plate number, “If you try anything funny, and I mean anything, I’m reporting you to the cops.”

“I’m not particularly intimidated by that threat,” he said in that deep voice. His words should have given me a pause and reconsider this entire situation, but I was genuinely exhausted and I knew for a fact he had been honest to me every single time he opened his mouth. This man didn’t have the time to lie to me. He was as straightforward as they came. Still, he nodded, opening the door of his car for me, “I will not take advantage of you. Not now and not ever.”

“Thank you,” what I was actually saying was, thank you for finally deciding to calm my fears down. It had been a long day and I’d been assaulted and held at gunpoint. Excuse me if I was being paranoid here. He stood quiet, only staring at me with those enigmatic, two-toned eyes. In silence I climbed inside the jeep. Emphasis in the word climbed. The military car was huge, more fitted for long legged monsters like the man holding the door for me. I gave him some brownie points when he waited for me to get comfortable on the passenger seat, averting his eyes and never checking my ass as other men would have done in his position. Our eyes met in the side mirror and sure enough he gave me a wolfish smile, before closing the door and moving around the car.

One minute later we were driving down eighth street. 

I was confident enough to admit he was one of the best drivers I’d ever seen. The man simply drove a car as if the machine was an extension of his body. And those forearms... Yeah, forearms could be muscular too. I never knew that and I’d studied human anatomy for many, many years at med school.

The man looked at me then, his green gunmetal eyes finding me easily in the darkness of his car’s interior. Did he have night vision too? Seriously, who was this guy?  A Marine? Hunter Academy? Mercenary? Did I want to know? So far we hadn’t asked for our names and something told me he wouldn’t be as open to that type of question as he was about his intentions. That was okay…I guessed. I wasn’t planning on marrying him either way and I was bound to never have one night stands. All that would ever happen between us would be dinner and nothing else. It was the way that things were with me, whether he liked it or not. I’d made a promise a long time ago to never commit my parent’s mistakes and I would not break that promise for this man.

“Where do you want to eat?” he asked me and I narrowed my eyes, not finding him as easily in the dark as he could do with me.

“Do you like Cuban food?” I asked him and the man looked back to the road, his eyes strangely calculating, as if he had found a deep secret about me that I’ve shared without realizing. Was I imagining things here? He was just so damn hard to read.

“I like food,” he said, his tone nonchalant, “any type of food. What about you?”

“Food is food,” I answered with a shrug, pointing with a hand to Flagler Street so he could make a right in the next intersection, “but tonight I’m craving Cuban Vaca Frita. You are going to love this place.”

“What makes you say that?” he asked and it didn’t escape the fact that he was actually saying  you hardly know me well enough to know my likes and dislikes. I sighed, putting my hands inside the roomy pockets of his hoodie.

“You like to eat and this place serves huge portions. I don’t need to be a genius to know that,” I tilted my chin to the right, to the wide sign that read Maruchi’s. The restaurant was my favorite place to eat in the entire city. If I craved Cuban food then it had to be from Maruchi’s. My mouth was already salivating at the idea of having a good plate of congris and platanitos. 

The army man parked the car easily in reverse, managing to fit the huge jeep in a tight spot with one fluid maneuver. I calculated that it would have taken me probably five minutes to park my small Corolla in the same spot. There were things in life that were simply not fair. I sighed, ready to get down when the man stopped me with a shake of his head.

“Never leave your car when there’s nobody walking around the parking lot,” he motioned with his head to a couple that was leaving the restaurant in front of us, “check for witnesses. Always wait to see people around before you step out. Your safety zone ends the moment you step in an empty parking lot. Crowds are safe.”

“I never gave it too much thought about the idea of stepping out of my car,” I admitted with a frown and the man only shook his head at me.

“You are beautiful,” he said easily, as if the compliment was a fact and not something special enough to set my heart into a stampede. I swallowed when he stepped out of the car, coming to my door and opening it for me. The moment our eyes met he gave me a serious look, “Beautiful women need to be careful. Remember what I just said.”

I rolled my eyes at him but accepted his hand in silence, letting him help me down. I was tall for a woman but that jeep was monstrous. And so was he. He had to be at least two heads taller than me. Which was insane. I’d never met someone as tall and strong as he was. Dressed in black jeans and a black t-shirt he shouldn’t have looked as mouth watering as he did right then. Who am I kidding? The man was clearly pure, concentrated s*x appeal. He could dress in rags and still look like a model.

We walked in silence to the restaurant. It was strangely nice to walk by his side. I didn’t know this guy, I didn’t even know his name or what he did for a living. He knew nothing about me. I was maybe deranged for accepting to have dinner with a complete stranger who I knew for a fact was dangerous. And still while we walked it felt right, as if we were supposed to be there, walking like that, sharing silence easily as only two people who knew each other very well could share silences. He opened the door of the restaurant for me and the moment I stepped in I heard Rita’s voice welcoming me in.

“Buenas noches mamacita! ¿Lo mismo de siempre?” I smiled at Rita. I’ve known Rita since I was a little girl and she had been a teenager working for her mom as a waitress. She always referred to me as mamacita and would always know I wanted Vaca Frita. She has just asked the same as always? The question made me frown. Any other day I would have nodded, but today was different.  A moment later the wall of a man behind me stepped inside the establishment. Rita, who was eight years older than me stopped in her tracks, her mouth opening in a wide O. Yeah, he was that good looking.

“Can I check the menu tonight Rita?” I asked her, passing by her side with a cool smile as if I always walked to the restaurant at the side of six feet tall men with the looks of a modern Adonis. Rita nodded, visibly checking him out, which the man in question ignored, focusing his gunmetal eyes only on me.

“Sure thing, mamacita,” she said, smiling at me while I nodded, going for my usual booth. I was about to sit down when the man stopped me, grabbing my hand and guiding me back to the front, to a small table close to the exit. The man didn’t offer any explanation to his strange behavior and I didn’t ask. He preferred tables over booths I guessed.

Rita brought us the menus and I thanked her in Spanish, ignoring my own menu and waiting patiently for him to make his mind. A minute passed by while he inspected the menu and then looked at me over the old plasticated piece of paper.

“What do you recommend?” he asked me, putting the menu down and studying the place with a methodical stare, focusing on each person around us slowly, as if he was memorizing each face. 

“For a big man like you?” I pinched my chin, giving it a thought and then waving a hand to Rita to come closer. She smiled at the military man on her way over, serving him first water and then serving me as an afterthought. I sighed, tapping her arm and claiming her attention before she started drooling all over the place, “We will take the usual for me and some rice and black beans, pulpeta, tostones, my side of platanitos and extra congris.”

“Demonios mija!” Rita laughed a bit, knowing that was a lot more food than what I would usually get, “Are you sure you two can eat all that?”

“I could eat a whole cow right now. I’m starving,” I alerted her, pointing my thumb to the kitchen, “so make sure to tell Franky I want a lot of platanitos if he doesn’t want me to get there and kick his ass.”

“No pongas el buey frente a la carreta!” she screamed the old cuban saying which couldn’t be properly translated to English. It was something along the lines of “don’t put the bull in front of the wagon” which didn’t make any sense in English. It meant to say to not rush and have patience. I took a long gulp of my water, realizing the sleeves of his hoodie were too long and covered my entire hands. It took me an entire total of five minutes to roll the sleeves back to my elbows while I did my best to ignore the news on the radio, playing over the speakers. It was a local Spanish station, informing about the robbery at the mall. Nobody was paying attention to it, but the moment the locutor mentioned the pregnant woman who had been shot I couldn’t stop myself from smiling.

“She had the baby,” I said without thinking, just sharing the news with the man. He looked at me, studying my face slowly, as if he couldn’t get enough from it. I felt myself blush and clearing my throat I winged it, speaking what was in my mind, “It was a baby girl in full term. Five pounds and healthy. The mom is stable and she owes it to you.”

“She owes it to you,” he said right away, cracking his neck and then rolling his shoulders back. It was maybe my imagination but something told me he wasn’t used to staying still for too long. His silver eyes scanned the room again while he talked, “Not many people are able to react fast in a situation like the one you faced today. What you did for that woman was brave...and stupid, but brave above everything else.”

“Why stupid? If I hadn’t acted like I did that woman could be dead. That baby could be dead.”

He shook his head once, “Your reaction to the attackers was what made them shoot her in the first place. Staying still and waiting for the backup is the best thing you could have done back then.”

“That makes no sense to me,” I rebuked and the man’s lips curved up in a half smile.

“Trust me on this,” his eyes connected with mine, “I hope you are never in a situation like that again, but if you are, flying under the radar and waiting for help are your best options. Don’t be a hero.”

“I wasn’t planning on being one,” I shrugged, “I just...acted on impulse I guess. I can’t even remember being scared when everything happened. I was mostly angry at those men and so damn hungry.”

At that the man laughed, making me look back at him in surprise. His laugh was easy and honest. Masculine. It made his Adam’s apple move in a way that attracted my eyes to his cordoned neck. I cleared my throat again, looking away fast.

“You are dangerous when hungry, duly noted,” he said with a nod. I smiled, licking my lips while I watched him drink his water. A moment passed in silence and then I was asking him before even thinking about what I was doing. He had this effect on me, like a button to a detonator, like gas to the fire and light to the moth. I couldn’t help myself from wanting to know more about him. Nothing personal, nothing that serious, just more.

“Are you always dangerous?” I asked and at my question the smile that had been hanging on his lips thinned. He narrowed his eyes, staring at me as if I was a battle ground he wanted to win.

“Not around you,” he said slowly, making me lift an eyebrow at him.

“Is this your way of trying to reassure me?”

“Am I succeeding?”

“Not a chance,” I admitted with another shrug and he gave me another nod.

“I don’t have the time to reassure you like you want me to do,” he said, conceding that fact at least, “If you let me f**k you before the night is over I can promise I would give you more than the reassurance you need.”

Damn, he was good. Straightforward, direct, honest. Against any logic I liked him. I was blushing now and I knew for a fact that if he looked down my chest he would see my hardened n*****s. It was impossible not to react physically to his unabashed honesty. The tension between us escalated another notch making me thirsty. I gulped the entire glass of water down before looking back at him.

“I’m not sleeping with you,” there, the ball was down and rolling. He intercepted it easily, arching one of his dark eyebrows at me.

“Why the hell not?”

“I don’t do one night stands,” his eyes darkened a bit while he crossed his long fingers over his lap. I felt the strange sensation of being a cell being inspected under a microscope. Another second passed while he watched me silently, analyzing me like one would analyze a chess move. He finally opened his mouth, dropping another bomb I hadn’t seen coming.

“Tell me what you do then. Relationships? The boyfriend and girlfriend act? Is that what you want?” he asked me and I could sense by the derision in his tone he hated the fact I was into that kind of thing. I shook my head because the truth was I wasn’t that kind of girl. I was much, much worse.

“You can’t give me what I want,” I said frankly and his eyes narrowed again, darkening a little bit more as if his anger was a catalyst to the storming color of his irises.

“I can give you what you need,” he grumbled and damn it, I could almost taste the honesty in his words. I nodded, not missing a beat.

“I’m confident you can give all the women in this place exactly what they need. Then again, what I want and what I need are two different things. I’m telling you, you can’t give me what I want. So let’s have dinner and call it a night, should we?” I smiled at him and his eyes zeroed on my mouth with hunger written all over his heavy stare. The air seemed to crackle with the electricity pouring from our pores. I swallowed nervously and he tapped a finger over the table.

“Nah, I can’t have that,” he said finally, his tone serious, “tell me what you want, woman, and I will make it happen for you. It can’t be that impossible to get.”

Rita returned then, carrying our food easily. She chatted excitedly with me in English to respect my guest, since I knew we would have already switched to Spanish a long time ago if not for the army man’s presence. I waited until we were both served and then started eating fast, ignoring the heavy stare the man was directing at me.

I sighed, placing my fork down and looking him in the eyes.

It was clear he was not going to let those sleeping dogs lie down and I was starving so someone needed to give up. I sighed, crossing my arms over the table and giving him my most honest, truest look.

Now, let’s drop this bomb, should we?

“I’m waiting to have s*x until marriage. Unless you are all aboard with that plan you can’t possibly give me what I want. As a matter of fact I don’t think any man can give me that right now. Don’t take it personally, okay?”