Love Is Overdue by Natalie Myrie Read Free Book Online

erotic whiff of that Armani cologne...
    “ So how you
feeling?” he asked as we stepped away from the door and into the
warm, yet damp breezy night. The streets of Gastown were still
abuzz with people, the night clubs were still hopping.
    I took a breath. I was tipsy
and horny and there was only one possible cure – aside from the
obvious. “Hungry,” I answered simply.
    “ So you wanna go
get something to eat?” he asked, as if it was the simplest thing in
the world.
    I smiled at the prospect of
our date continuing. “Sure – where?” I glanced around to see what
our best options were. It was nearly one am, so I knew they would
be limited.
    Ben thought too, looking
around with me, but then just sucked his teeth. “I don’t know,
girl...only thing open right now is pizza by the
slice...”
    “ Hmmm...” That
was disappointing. We would have to eat out in the street if we
went that route.
    “ I got a better
idea, though.” He looked at me. “You down?”
    I kind of laughed. “How can
I be down if I don’t know what it is?”
    He smiled at me. “Trust
me.”
    And for some reason, there
was not even a question in my mind.
    Ben hailed a cab for us and
only once we got inside and he gave our driver the address did I
figure out his mysterious plan.
    “ Your
restaurant?” I asked, eyeing him suspiciously. “Aren’t you closed
too?”
    “ Yeah, but I have
a key.”
    About ten minutes later our
cab pulled up in front of the restaurant on Commercial Drive. He
paid the driver and we stepped out in front of the building. I
waited as Ben unlocked the front door and disarmed the alarm before
entering with him.
    This time the restaurant
truly was deserted. Ben hit the lights and I followed him inside
slowly, studying my surroundings in a way that I wasn’t able to do
during my regular visits. I focused my attention on all the black
and white photographs I had previously only glanced at in
passing.
    I stopped in front of my
favourite one – the outdoor fruit market and what looked like a
little tiki hut. There was an older woman selling fruit and a
teenaged boy and a few other little kids standing nearby, one on a
bicycle and another clutching a soccer ball. It was such a
beautifully candid shot, so expertly photographed. But my eyes were
suddenly focused in on the teenager leaning against the
counter.
    “ Whoa – Ben,” I
called him over. “That’s you,” I said, pointing.
    He came up behind me and
looked at where I was pointing. “Nope,” he said simply. “That’s
me.” Instead he pointed to the younger boy on the
bicycle.
    “ Oh,” I said,
surprised. “Really?” I studied the photograph again, finding it
hard to believe. “‘Cause he looks just like you.” I motioned to the
teenager again.
    “ I know,” he
said. “That’s my brother – we look a lot alike. And that’s my
grandmother.” He pointed to the woman behind the
counter.
    I stared at the photograph
again closely. “It’s beautiful,” I said then. “They all are. Are
these all your own personal photographs?” I wondered, even more
impressed, as I turned to him.
    He shook his head. “No, my
mother’s,” he said. “That’s why she’s not in any of the
shots.”
    “ Wow...” I moved
to glance over at a few more. “She’s so talented...”
    I stopped at the shot of the
children playing soccer. “Okay, that’s you,” I pointed, this time
certain of it.
    He smiled. “Yeah, you
redeemed yourself,” he told me.
    “ You still
play?”
    He shrugged, looking at the
photograph again. “A little...it was never as much my thing,” he
admitted. “My brother was the athlete, I was more the geeky kid
that liked to hang out with my grandmother and fry fish.” He kind
of laughed.
    I eyed him then,
suspiciously. By the looks of his body there didn’t seem to be
anything nonathletic about him. “Mmmhmm...if you say so,” I teased
him. “So if that’s the case then how do you...” My voice trailed
off and I just finished