I had a nice vantage point from my booth so I saw her before she spotted me. A real Spanish beauty, had to be or at least she had some Spanish blood in her. I hoped it would be me soon. Long auburn hair, dimples and the eyes of a seductress. Her voluptuous body was poured into red jeans with a black tight-fitting top and a jean jacket. From head to toe, she did it for me. Made me do a double-take just like the waitress did when she saw me. She was a bad mama jama. Three other women were with her. But she held her own in the group. I sized her up. Nice height, fit right in the size of my palm. She wouldn’t have been taller than five feet six. Petite in size, feminine, and my heart started pumping just that little bit harder. A nice welcome to Merced. She looked like she was laughing and sharing a joke with her friends; she hadn’t turned her head my way yet.
The door swung open and the waitress made her way to me with my order. I smelled it coming. My stomach growled on cue.
One of the girls from the group said, “Wow, that looks so good. I’m going to get what he’s having.” I guessed when they saw who the burger was being delivered to, their tune changed.
“Forget the burger. I will take the guy who ordered it.” I turned my back to them, but they were loud enough to be within earshot of me. I smirked to myself. Let the games begin.
“I agree.” Girlish talk and giggles. The Black Bear Diner was shaping up to be good for my ego. I decided to turn and flash them a grin, but when I looked back, the hot girl crew were ordering.
“Here you go. Big bear burger and fries with extra ranch and a strawberry shake.” The waitress blocked my view and delivered my order to me.
“Thank you. This looks great.” I concentrated on the burger and filling a need. I sank my teeth into it. It tasted as good as it looked. I sucked down the thickness of the strawberry shake too quick and gave myself an ice cream headache. Damn, it was good, though. Out of my peripheral, it looked like the girls had taken up residence along the other end of the long window bench I was at. I knew they were watching me. I heard the hushed tones. A few little giggles. Made me smile. I refocused for a minute and studied the paper I had. I wanted to see if there were any warehouse spaces available. Better yet, any old repair shops that I could step into without having to do too much legwork on them.
I was halfway through my burger and feeling satisfied. My number one pick from the hot girl crew was sashaying toward me. I gave her the once-over. She asked for it. Especially with the way she glided over to me. She was shaped like an hourglass, so much better up close. Feline olive-green eyes. I’d never seen them that color before. Thank God for women. A cute upturned nose and gorgeous plump lips. She looked like dessert to me.
“Excuse me?” She came across as demure as she spoke.
“Hi.” I kept my response simple. I wanted to hear what she had to say.
“Umm. Is that your bike out there?” She pointed out the window to my chopper with flames on the side.
“Yeah. That’s my bike. You ride?” A moment. A serious spark of desire circling between us both. Real serious. She gave me the same once-over I gave her. I admired her boldness to approach me. Generally, I was the one to hunt.
If you wanna see me, just say the word. I’d planned to approach her on the way out. I wanted to drop my number off to her. I had no shame about that type of thing. If I saw a woman I wanted, I let her know. The rest I left up to her. She licked her lips.
“I’m no stranger to bikes. Is it a Harley?” She was flirting. I liked the game. I decided I would play along.
“Uh-huh. It’s a Harley. Maybe I can take you for a ride sometime.” She pointed her thumb back to her girlfriends, who were laughing in the background.
“My girls didn’t think I would come over and ask you.”
I tapped the seat next to me for her to sit down. I eyed her well-defined legs as she crossed them in an elegant way.
“I don’t know why. I’m a likable guy. I don’t bite.” Much. She flicked her hair behind her shoulder. She had this irresistible quality that made me want to get closer to her. “Diego.”
“I knew it.” She fluttered her long lashes at me. She had my full attention and I’d stopped eating. Not too many things made me do that. “You’re Spanish, aren’t you?”
“I’m from Argentina originally.” I still could see her girlfriends having a side conversation about us, but my focus most definitely was on this beauty in front of me.
“I’m Puerto Rican. Nice to meet you. I’m Misty.” I grabbed Misty’s hand, the electricity transported from my hand to hers. I planted a kiss on it. She blushed. Damn, she was fine.
“Ola, mamacita. You look beautiful. You’re here with your friends?”
“Thank you and sort of. I’m having a little study break.” I assessed the situation. She looked to be mid-twenties from what I saw.
“Okay. What are you studying?”
“I’m in med school right now to be a doctor,” she said proudly. A slow grin came over my face. “What?” She drew back from me with a smile. “Why’d you look like that?” she asked.
“Well. I don’t mean to offend you and come off corny. But if you were my doctor I would definitely be claiming I was sick every day.” I sucked down a little of my strawberry shake and basked in her aura.
“You’re funny. Let’s hope you don’t get sick. I think you’re pretty fine too, for what it’s worth.” She gave me a sexy smile as she said it.
“Thank you.” My brain snatched me to another place. Get settled and then worry about getting some ass. “Well, I hope your food’s not getting cold over there.” I nodded in the direction of her friends.
“Uh yeah…” She seemed confused by my sudden coolness. “Nice to meet you.”
“See you around then.”
Her emerald eyes shone back at me, making me smile.
“I hope so.” I got a kick out of watching her hips sway back and forth as she walked back to her friends. I gazed out the window for a minute. Did that just happen? I missed the moment because next time I looked up, I saw her friends waving at me as they left the diner. Shit. I could have gotten her number for later. She caught me off-guard, that was why. A glint of something captured my attention. I looked to the tiled floor. A bankcard. Shit. She’d left it behind. I picked it up and on instinct, like a bolt of lightning, I ran out to get it back to her. I missed again. In the parking lot I saw the navy blue sedan drive off. I put my hands behind my head. Shit. Two options were being presented, the way I saw it. Take it to the front counter and have them get it back to her. Surely she’d retrace her steps back to the diner? Or I could keep it and use it as an excuse to contact her. I chose the latter. I definitely wanted to see her again.
I rode back to the hotel, a semi-satisfied man. Before I turned in for the night, the image of Misty popped up. Smart and sexy. I had her credit card in my hands, looked to be a platinum black card. Interesting. M. Narvaez was the name on it. Most definitely a Puerto Rican surname. Couldn’t be too many Mistys around. My first stop was to get more information; the internet. I typed in her full name. A few options popped up. A Facebook profile picture with hearts around it appeared with her face in it. Jackpot. I logged into my Facebook and requested her as a friend.