I touched up my lipstick and considered my image in the ladies' room mirror. Acceptable, I thought. I guess I was pretty. I just thought my face was rather... not plain, but non-descript. I knew that everyone, including my stylist, thought that I had great hair -- lots of rich, dark-chocolate waves, which I normally wore at just-past-shoulder length, but tonight was wearing up off my neck in a loose French twist. I knew my friends expressed envy at my body, still slender at age 29; small breasts, and just enough hips and rear end to make a short cocktail dress look as good as it did in the ad.
I figured it was the hair and the little black dress that was getting me whatever attention I was receiving tonight. And that was fine. I had a job to do. I was here to work the room, to mingle with as many donors as possible during the cocktail hour and the hour when everyone had been seated and served, before the main program began. I would never use sexual suggestion to ask for money for my non-profit organization; but I had to admit, the occasional appreciative second glance did wonders for my self-confidence.
And then the lights were dimming over the main banquet hall, and the emcee was stepping up to the dais and starting the program. I had been standing beside the table of one of our major corporate sponsors, chatting with the entire table. There was an open seat there, with a plate of untouched food, between the CEO's wife, and the large man that I knew as their sales manager, Walter Roberts. I realized Walt was looking at me, trying to make eye contact, pulling the chair back to invite me to sit.
Well, why not, I thought? The program was starting; I couldn't work the room any longer anyway, and I was in fact famished. I glanced over at the CEO to make sure I had his approval, and, upon seeing his nod, I took the seat.
"Hey, glad you could join us, Christina," Walt said, leaning over toward me, just close enough to speak quietly and still be heard; not enough to feel invasive. But Walt could certainly have made himself seem invasive if he had so chosen. He was just a massive human being, a former professional baseball player, a "journeyman pinch hitter," he would say, self-effacingly. Six foot three and now, thirty years removed from his playing days, easily 375 pounds. I had met him several times now. He was gregarious and self-assured, useful traits in his line of work. And he was very black.
"Well, thanks for the invitation," I replied. "I wasn't sure I was going to get dinner tonight."
"Girl's gotta eat," he smiled.
I smiled back at him and suppressed an eye-roll.
Girl.
I was 29 years old. But then, it was 2002. I was still moving in a world where all the decision-makers were men, men born in the 1940s and '50s. I was used to patronizing language. I could tell when there was genuine predatory intent behind it, and when it was just the way these guys talked. I didn't sense any intentional condescension in Walt's voice.
I took a couple of bites, but then swiveled in my seat, away from Walter, so I could appear to be polite to the speaker, even though the lights were dimmed. Every couple of minutes I would turn to spear another mouthful of food, and I would be aware of Walt's eyes on my bare shoulders, on the zipper down the back of my suddenly too-small dress. The third time, I looked up into his broad dark face, and he smiled, completely non-plussed at having been caught ogling me.
"Here," he whispered. "Trade you places. So you can see the speakers, and actually eat."
I looked back at him and smiled gratefully. Quite gallant of him, actually. I took him up on his offer. This way, I could actually feign attention to the program, and manage to get some dinner. I felt a little guilty about having been slightly offended by his wandering eyes.
I could eat and watch the program over his enormous shoulder.
After a while, he turned in his seat, so he could pivot his head between the action at the head table, and also look back at me and grin or laugh after every joke from the dais. Which he did, a lot.
My God, I thought. Is he hitting on me? I found myself startled by the notion. He had to be thirty years older than me. And me... well, I just never thought of myself as the tasty little morsel that made lecherous old men salivate. In our previous meetings, I had never noticed him being anything but appropriate. And I had certainly not been attracted to him.
Had I just been oblivious?
Maybe it was the three cocktails I had nursed through the past two hours. But I realized that I was... curious. Intrigued, even.
Titillated.
I had never done anything like this. Although I had thought about it a lot, especially recently, especially since...
What was I thinking, I asked myself, after the time he winked at me... and I winked back.
I had never fantasized about older men.
I had never fantasized about heavy-set men.
I had... well, okay, yes, I had fantasized about black men. Just not old fat ones.
And yet here I was, sitting at a dinner beside someone who was all of those things, who had casually placed one hand on the back of my chair (which, because his arms were so long, he could do without scooting inappropriately close to me). Looking at me with heavily lidded eyes and just a trace of a smile on his thick, dark lips, as if to tell me... "It's okay. You can admit it. You want some of this."
Seriously? I thought. You're twice my age. Easily old enough to be my father. You're way past big -- you're downright corpulent. The audacity it must take to make a move like this!
The audacity. Yeah, that was it. That was what explained the inexplicable wetness I was feeling between my legs.
He was right, damn it. I did want some of that. Jesus, I thought. Talk about diving into the deep end, shattering every taboo at once. Maybe that's the only way I could do this.
Because I
had
been thinking about doing this for a while now. Just not with... someone like him.
The servers came around with coffee. Walter reached forward and picked up the little carafe of cream and offered me some. I don't take cream in my coffee, but I simply nodded, accepting the chivalric gesture. Watched the little stream of thick white liquid pour into my cup of rich dark java, noting the contrast.
Bit my lip.
I ceased paying attention to the award presentation. My mind was going places it shouldn't go. Places I couldn't believe.
A couple of minutes later, he leaned over to me and whispered, "This is getting boring."
I smiled and nodded my agreement.
He looked back over his shoulder. "You think the bar is still open?"
Oh, what was I doing? "I'm sure it is," I replied.
He got up and pulled my chair out for me as I stood up as well. I glanced back at the table. The CEO's wife lifted an eyebrow and smiled at us. Knowingly?
Regardless, I followed him out of the banquet hall, and we crossed the lobby to the sparsely populated lounge. We found a corner table and ordered a couple more drinks. Red wine for me, Courvoisier for him.
For the first time I felt like I could study his face without being self-conscious about it. I had the sudden realization that he had certainly had once been a very striking man, and still was, if a woman took a moment to look past his girth. His tightly cropped hair, more gray than black now, had receded halfway back over his forehead. His features were broad and exaggerated, a stereotype, even, but symmetrical and flawless. A very wide nose, thick lips that were a shade darker than his already-quite-dark face, but that transitioned to pink when he smiled widely. The irises of his eyes were deep brown but not black. The surrounding whites of his eyes, like his teeth, were not quite alabaster; but the contrast was stunning, and beautiful.