Read Online Add Spice to Taste by R.G. Emanuelle - Free Book Online Page A

go over the details.”
    “ Sounds good. Okay, see you tomorrow.”
    “See you tomorrow. Thanks.”
    A drag queen approached the door to the bar just as I was about to re-enter, and I held the door open for her.
    “Thanks, doll-face,” she crooned in a baritone as she sauntered in.
    I made my way back to Julianna, who se face brightened when I appeared. “Welcome back.” Even over the din of the bar, and macerated in alcohol, her voice was sweet and sensuous.
    “Thanks.” I sighed. I hadn’t realized I’d missed her until just then.
    “Everything okay?” she asked.
    “What? Oh, sure. That was Brit. You know, from class? She needs someone to cater a party.”
    Clouds settled in her eyes and her features seemed set lower on her face. When she caught my eye, she quickly picked up her drink and took a sip.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked.
    She looked at me a moment, and put her drink down. “She’s kind of cute, huh? ”
    Where had that come from? “Uh, yeah, I guess. If you like that sort of thing.”
    She smiled again, but this time, it was somehow fake, as if she’d forced it. “That sort of thing?” She chuckled, a bit cynically. “You mean Barbie doll face, slamming body, and ridiculously gorgeous, impossibly colored red hair?”
    I had to stop and visualize all the components she had just described and put them all together. Yep, that was Brit, all right. “Yeah, that sort of thing.”
    “Do you?”
    “What?”
    “Like that sort of thing?”
    Was she jealous of Brit?
    But wouldn’t that be arrogant of me? And I could be totally jumping the gun. Just because Julianna seemed to like me and wanted to go out with me didn’t mean she wanted anything meaningful or exclusive, which would be the only reason for jealousy.
    Why did I feel like I was constantly walking into traps?
    “Uh, well, I can see where people would find her attractive. I mean, she’s got that, uh, obvious attractiveness.” Shit. I sighed. “I really hadn’t thought about it.” I shrugged, hoping she’d realize that I wasn’t interested in Brit.
    Julianna quirked an eyebrow.
    Despite the air conditioning, sweat began to spread across my forehead and upper lip. I felt thirteen years old again, completely ignorant of what people wanted and how I should react to things they said. It was as if the last twenty years of my life had been completely erased and I had no experience with women at all. Or, maybe despite my experience with women, I still didn’t know shit about them.
    I was going to fuck this up.
    “I like you .” There, I said it.
    She regarded me for a long moment, then her face relaxed. “Good. Let’s get out of here.” She threw the rest of her drink back and set the glass down on the narrow ledge behind her.
    If relief were a tangible object, I would’ve held it in my hand, squeezing it to death.
    We walked out into the sultry night and I had the temerity to reach for her hand, which she gave readily. We crossed the street and somehow it was understood that I would take her home and we headed toward the train station.
    I glanced back over into Christopher Park. The woman with the flower was still there sitting next to her “girlfriend.” She wore a wistful far-away gaze, and I got the feeling that she was not present in the here-and-now but in a time long ago, when she was happier, and maybe not so lonely. I turned away and looked straight ahead, Julianna’s hand firmly in mine.
     
    We stepped out of the subway in Julianna’s Brooklyn neighborhood and walked down the block. “This is a great area,” I said. “I love Carroll Gardens. Can’t afford to live here, though.”
    “The only reason I can afford to live here is because my grandfather owns the building I live in. I pay only half the rent he would otherwise get for it.”
    “Wow, that’s pretty nice of him.”
    “It’s not that big a deal. He’s owned it outright for decades. He bought it back when this neighborhood was shit and no one really