Page 10 of Becoming His Muse
“So, I have to ask, but that doesn’t mean you have to answer me,” Elion restarted the conversation. “What’s a beautiful woman like you doing filling out dating surveys on a website whose end goal is marriage?” He took a drink from his glass. “It’s hard for me to believe that no one’s put a ring on your finger yet.”
Olani smiled at him. “Traditional dating wasn’t working out for me. Why not try something else, right?” She played with the stem of her glass. “It was something different. A way to connect with someone whose end goal was the same as mine.”
Olani had struck out with her last two dates; however, she would keep that tidbit to herself for now.
“What about you?” she then questioned. “What made you send in your survey?”
“Honestly, I didn’t. My niece filled it out for me without my knowledge. She thought I needed to get out and date more.”
That made Olani pause. When she’d been selecting the candidates she was interested in and narrowing them down, it never occurred to her that someone may not have completed their own survey. It made her wonder how much of what was in his was true if someone else had filled it out for him. It also made her question: Was he here because he felt like he had no choice once it was filled out and submitted?
“Though, I will say I’m not as upset about it as I was due to present company.”
Olani bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. This man was smooth, which was a dangerous combination with his looks and personality so far. Though she had to admit, they were only half an hour into the date, and it was already one of the best she’d had in a while.
Elion watched her take another sip from her wine glass as a lull in conversation settled. His eyes dipped down to her delicate fingers as they held the stem of the glass. He knew that while most men tended to be attracted to other parts of a woman, other assets, Elion had always found something sointriguing about a woman’s hands. That wasn’t to say he also didn’t enjoy those other assets.
Her fingers were slender, and a part of Elion knew they’d be soft, smooth like silk, were she to touch him. Her nails were a shade of mauve, and the color complimented her rich, penny-colored skin.
Elion should probably thank Clara for minding his business instead of her own. However, he felt that would give her the idea that she could do it more often, and he did not want that. So, instead, he decided to buy her something nice and tell her it was for no reason.
He hadn’t told her he’d decided to go on the date. Elion had chosen Wednesday because it was the day Clara had night classes. So, she wouldn’t be there to bug him about why he was getting all dressed up and where he was going. He’d been able to leave the house in peace. He’d also gotten to the response before she had, screenshot the information, then deleted the email.
“How long have you been sculpting?”
Elion returned his eyes to hers from her hand, only to find her looking at him as she placed her glass back down.
“Professionally, about fifteen years. But overall, about twenty-three years. I started when I was eleven.”
“What kind of sculpting do you do?”
“For the most part, marble or granite. I occasionally make clay sculptures when I’m feeling creative but want to make something small. Or wood sculptures, but those are rare for me.”
“How do you choose which material you will use for your sculptures?”
Elion tilted his head at her question. He hadn’t been on a date in a couple of years, and even then, he hadn’t remembered them being this interested in what he did for a living, other than the fact that he made six figures a year. Let alone his process.
“It depends on the type of collection I want to make and how I want it to look. I can use either material for sleeker sculptures as long as I coat and polish them once they’re done. For something rawer, I sand them but otherwise leave the material in its natural state.”
Elion watched her nod at him slowly. “I get it. So, if you’re sculping Egyptian-inspired statues, you’d want them to be polished and refined, but if you were sculpting an arrowhead and wanted to keep it close to the original, you’d sand it.”
Elion found himself smiling at her because people didn’t often get what he meant when he explained the difference, unable to envision what he was explaining to them. Olani had, however, and had presented it to him in a way that made sense to her.
“Yes, exactly like that,” he responded.
“You mentioned your niece earlier. Is she the only one you have?”
Elion shook his head. “No, I have one other niece and a nephew. Clara is the oldest of my sister’s three children.” He leaned back in his chair. “What about you? Do you have any siblings? Nieces, nephews?”
“I do not. I’m an only child, and unfortunately, my cousin, Xola, is stubborn and hasn’t given me a niece or nephew yet.”
“Wish for a nephew when she does decide to give you one. Nieces like to mind your business instead of their own.”
Elion listened to her laugh at his statement, and he enjoyed the sound of it. He found himself smiling again.
Their server returned with their food and placed it on the table, asking if everything was alright before they turned and left once Elion and Olani told them they were fine.
Silence fell over the table as they tucked into their food, and it wasn’t uncomfortable, which surprised Elion because usually, any silence he was in with other people tended to be that way since he typically wasn’t one to progress a conversation.Something he’d found himself doing since he’d sat down. However, he figured that was because Olani seemed interested in his work, which was the topic at hand most of the time with him.
