Page 2 of Taming a Menace
“I’m Iyla. I’m pretty sure you know this is my house by now.”
“I had a feeling,” I finally muttered. “I’m Key.”
“Nice to meet you, Key. It already smells great in here.”
“Thank you. The appetizer should be ready soon. Where do you two want to be served?”
“Here is fine, if you don’t mind,” she said, motioning across from where I worked.
“Perfectly fine. If I lived here, I would never leave this kitchen.”
“Iloveit. I got away from cooking a little bit over the years, but I plan to get back to it.”
“You been here long?” I asked just to make conversation.
“I’m actually renting this place while I find something. I was ready to get out of the place I was in. Now I’m house hunting. I’ve been renting a few months. If this house was for sale, I would buy it. They use it for vacation rentals or whatever. I got a discount for extended stay.”
“Cool.” I nodded.
“Let me get out of your way. I just didn’t want to be rude by hiding out in my bedroom until you were done.”
“Is he coming down soon?” I asked, mentioning her man just to remind myself that he existed.
The sorrow that flashed in her eyes made my heart squeeze. Whatever made her look that way should be eliminated soon. It wasn’t my place to think like that, but I couldn’t chase the desire to protect her out of my head for the life of me. Her man needed to hurry downstairs before I lost all consideration for his existence.
“He’s not coming,” she revealed.
Wait a minute. Wasn’t this an anniversary dinner? Where the hell was her man, and why wasn’t he here keeping her company on their anniversary? He had to be a fool. Years of working on my tact made me hesitate long enough to stop myself from asking just that. Instead, I pivoted.
“Did I come on the wrong day?”
“Not at all. I just made plans with the wrong man. We broke up about a month ago.”
She looked away when she said that. I assumed averting her eyes was out of embarrassment. The man who let her get away should have been the one embarrassed.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” I lied.
Her admission only made me aware that the man standing in the way of me getting to know her better was out of the way. As soon as our eyes met, I’d started plotting on ways to get rid of him anyway. Step one to my plan was already complete.
“It must seem so silly to be having an anniversary dinner alone. I forgot all about this dinner until I got the email reminder. I was able to change the address, but the reservation was nonrefundable. None of my friends were able to come by to join me. I kind of figured I needed to do something that was just for me anyway. I even got dressed up which I haven’t done since the night I left him.”
“And you look beautiful,” I blurted.
My outburst was rewarded with a soft smile that caused an unfamiliar stirring in my belly. I wasn’t hungry at all, but my stomach was doing somersaults. Iyla needed to know how beautiful she was, even with a broken heart.
“Thank you.” She blushed.
“I don’t think it’s silly to want to do something for yourself. I think it’s commendable. Too many women ignore the importance of doing things for themselves.”
“Thank you again.”
I shook my head. “You don’t have to keep thanking me.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. Just sit back and enjoy yourself while I show you a good time tonight,” I said.
“I can do that,” she replied with a nod.
