Salsa Tonight!...but my tale does have an end... almost!

‘Men respect standards, get some’ Steve Harvey

…I wasn’t with M.H! … It didn’t matter much as the next message directed me to voicemail. I had to go back to work... technically I couldn’t have stayed anyway.
The next few weeks saw me through tedious tasks and a Herculean schedule, there was no way I could have met up with M.H. To be totally honest it was awesome being asked to meet up for drinks a few times and thinking up new ways to politely decline;

M.H: Hey! What’s your week looking like?

Ade: um hey! Really really busy, meeting with my accountant, viewing property, work, Claridges… but we will link up, I promise.

The slight quiver of impatience spoke its tiny tones incessantly through his voice (oh! His voice was so cool, i shuddered!), I heard it, but M.H unwavering, remained the gentlest of gentlemen and didn’t push further.

M.H: ‘Well! Let me know when you have some time to see me’
Ade: No worries!

To be honest, I was as busy as I sounded, I was viewing property, I was networking, I was meeting old friends socially, lunching and laughing, going to museums and galleries.
I was selfishly doing the things I wanted to do, the things I was sure would make me smile and I was totally ‘doing me’. There are a few things, a real bad break up will teach a woman in a heart beat, ‘Love you extremely, Know yourself and then Love you some more!’

It was barely a couple of weeks after my ‘catwoman/bond girl manouver'.

Friday! I could barely contain my excitement, The British museum had on a ‘little Italia’ theme. Italy had somewhat become magical to me. I wasn’t sure if it was the free history lessons I had gotten from my staunch desire to complete Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed 2 (avid PS3 gamer, I confess!), the vitruvian man, the dreyfus Madonna, the Mediterranean or simply the phrase ‘See Naples and Die’. I totally loved Italy. The evening was everything I had hoped for; talks on Leonardo de Medici (The great Italian patron), sword plays, the falcons, wine tasting… fantastic! And my cousin randomly met me there completely unplanned!

…3 hrs later

Showered, divinely scented; I lay in bed exhausted. My evening had been beautiful, quiet thoughts intertwined with soft sounds from Bon Jovi’s ‘thank you for loving me’ until an almost abrupt interruption, the persistent shrill of my Samsung (I don’t believe in switching off phones! Smart ass!), besides I was hoping he’d call. He had casually advised that this Friday was poker night (I’d rather walk tightrope across the Petronas towers than intrude on ‘poker night’- ever seen ‘how to lose a guy in ten days?).

M.H: Hi Hun (Oh! That voice again!)
Ade: Heyyy!!! Sweetie!
M.H: are you home?
Ade: yup
M.H: ‘Get in a cab and come here now’ he said authoritatively (hmm! Very ,very sexy and in that voice too! Lush! a man's man, so my thing!)
Ade: ‘Huh?’ I retorted, ignoring the shiver coursing through my spine.
M.H: ‘Get in a cab and come here now’ he repeated, this time, I heard the laughter in his voice.

Every fibre of my being wanted to do just that, get in a cab and go to him, but I knew I couldn’t… Steve Harvey had said ‘act like a lady’ and I was… no! I am a lady! , or I was at least going to fake it till I became one! I couldn’t go...

M.H: ‘I really want to see you’ this time his voice was less authoritative but very, very, very sensual.
Ade: hmm!

I felt myself start to give in.

M.H: I’ll send my address, should I (oh that wasn’t a question and if it was it was rhetorical)

I got the address, picked up my phone and put a call through to Addison Lee. (Thank God for automated messages), as I listened to the options I was being offered, I considered the option of waking up in his apartment the morning after and how I’d feel (not great or maybe great?). I realised I didn't know for sure. I simply wasn’t ready to gamble on that one… sorry! Not playing tonight! The only option really open to me was to stay at home…in my bed!

Ade: Hey! I really want to see you, but not like this, I’m sorry…

He tried some more, but my mind was made and in resilience I fortified my case. He finally gave in, but no level of intelligence, exposure and education could have prepared me for the words he uttered next…

M.H: Wow! I’m impressed! (I landed on the floor, literally, trust me!), Steve was right???(Why didn’t he write the damn book when I was 2!)

This man who had just tried to persuade me for all of 15 minutes to come through, really wanted a ‘no’? Shock and Horror! Oh My God!!! (Very Thick British Accent)
This was definitely a game and I wasn’t the only one playing.
'I was going to win'… was my silent resolve!
Saying goodnight courteously, my eye caught the clock on my phone as i laid it to rest… 2:30 am Saturday, stared me square in the face, very smugly (might I add) through the screen… I smiled victoriously…