It took three more days before she could schedule a date with Rico and she was upset about it and in a mood. She was in a funky attitude with everyone for those three days about it. Imagine getting a taste of those lips and then having to wait for more.

"Everyone just needs to do their job and leave me the hell alone!"

It was also three days of hell in auditions, but she made tough choices for who would be going on tour with her. Eight female dancers, and five male dancers. Four background singers, including her friend Jolanda Dash, and the same band she always used. She was ready to start the long grilling process of rehearsing long days and nights and outings on a show that would send her over the top.

"Tika, we still have a lot of paperwork we need to get through." Sheila placed a stack of papers in front of her which she promptly pushed away.

"Bye!" She stood from the table. "I have a hot date tonight with my man, my man!"

"Ugh! You know we're still digging into pretty boy pitcher's background. No one is so picture perfect...get it," Sheila added a chuckle at her lame attempt at a joke.

"Bye!" she stated again. "I need to get fit and fabulous for my date tonight, and you know I need at least two hours for that. First I need to soak in a hot bubbly bath and relax and clear my thoughts from all this work. So, see ya!"

Her car was waiting, and good thing because she needed every minute of the little time she had. In two hours, she wanted to look her best and not have to worry about work, the tour, or anything else. She scrolled through her phone on the drive from the convention center to her house and saw that she was plastered everywhere on several sites.

Talks of her new album, it didn't land on the number one spot, but she was not mad at number three. There was stiff competition out there. People were not downloading music like they used to, there were ways to access it for free.

The tour. They had not announced dates yet but they would in a few days. People were already queuing up to cop tickets at midnight on the first day of sales.

And her mystery man. They were already gossiping that she was in a relationship with someone, but no one had a clue. The evil little social media detectives were getting close thinking it had something to do with baseball, but their focus was on Atlanta and players there.

Good. Let them keep guessing wrong. The longer she could keep it private the better chance they had at their relationship.

Once she made it home, she picked up Autumn, tickled her, hugged her, and gave her all the kisses.

"Mommy, I'm glad you're home."

She was so sad she would not be there for long. "Want to take a bubble bath with me and get ready for a date?"

"A date? We're going out on a date? Where?"

Oh no! Now she had to disappoint her daughter. While she wanted to spend some time with Rico, she wanted to spend time with her little girl as well. This was rough being a single mom with the hectic lifestyle she chose to have. What was she supposed to do?

"Well...tell you what, tonight I'm going out with a friend, but you can have me all day tomorrow, and it will be all about you. Whatever Autumn wants, Autumn gets."

"Okay."

At least her little girl was happy with that and not disappointed. Malaika was already there at the house getting ready to beautify her. She slipped into the waiting double-sized tub with her daughter and they giggled and played more than get clean. After her soak and play, she followed that up with a quick shower to make sure she was fresh.

She sprayed a strong, heavy body spray all over her body and followed that up with a thick body cream. With nothing but a robe covering herself, she made it to her dressing room where Malaika would put her together as if she was ready to walk the red carpet.

"All this for a St. Louis country bumpkin."

"Rico is not a country bumpkin. And he's not from St. Louis. He's from a small town down in the bootheel of Missouri."

"Even more country. Girl! A baseball player?" She had finally told Malaika who she was going out with and she was not too pleased. "And a rookie at that. They don't make that much money? How much does he make?"

"I don't care."

"Dick must be good, huh?"

"I wouldn't know, I'm not having sex with him."

"And why not? Is it broken? Is it too little? " She added her fingers indicating a small penis. "He can't get it up?"

She would laugh at her friend but she had no idea if any of those were correct. What if there was something wrong with Rico, that's why he didn't want to have sex with her? He was six feet six inches tall, she assumed all things were proportional. Okay, she knew that was not true. Every guy she ever dated was over six feet tall, and some were packing and some were just there.

It was never about the size but how they made her feel.

Rico made her feel things without sex. Just his touch. Holding her hand. Kissing him. Thinking of him. She could not help but smile thinking about him.

While Malaika dressed her and did her make-up, she went on and on discouraging her from dating some unknown person. Somehow Rico was not good enough for her because he was not well-known. Malaika felt that if she was going to date an athlete it should be an NBA player or an NFL player. She loved her girl, but this was her life to live.

Either she was making another mistake as always, or Rico truly was different.

After all her bitching, Malaika did her thing putting her all together. Dressed in a two-piece black fitted pantsuit, silver chain around her waist, diamond earrings in each ear, a single diamond tennis bracelet, no rings on her hand, and simple flats on her feet. No need for heels, she didn't need to appear taller with someone like Rico. She kept her hair straightened for now, but she missed her curls.

"You're going to be late," Sheila came into the dressing room. "You only have a few hours for this date and then you need to be back here for another day of work tomorrow."

She checked the time on her phone. Unfortunately, she was right. Both she and Rico could not have an all-nighter. Their schedules were tight. She had no idea what they were doing for their date, she let Rico plan it all and it was a surprise.

She texted Rico she was on her way to his place. When they pulled up to his place he was standing out front again, this time holding a whole bouquet of flowers, a mixture of a lot, but mostly yellow flowers.

She stepped out of the car as her Prince Charming walked up to her.

"Hello, beautiful."

No more being formal, she wanted some of this man. She jumped on him, wrapped her legs around him, and planted a long, sloppy kiss on him. Rico was laughing at her while she wanted to stay there kissing him all over.

"Hey, hey, you better stop this," he said, trying to pry her from him.

"I missed you!"

"I missed you too, but come on, not out here."

"So, where?"

"Upstairs, my place."

Now she could get with that. She jumped off him and took the flowers from him, giving them a smell. They were fresh and strong.

"So, will flowers be your thing?"

"Maybe. You like them?"

"I love them."

Rico looked over at Vincent and Alvin. "Do they have to follow you? You're in good hands with me."

"Alvin, Vincent, stay down here. Rico can...guard my body."

"Ma'am, we still have to check the place out, make sure you're secure."

She rolled her eyes at that. They were in fact paid to protect her at all costs. Even when she did not like being followed, they were told to follow her anyway. She paid them to be on high alert for anything. Fans, paparazzi, and even stalkers were all a threat. No one could be trusted. So, even though she hated them following her around like goons, she was not going to fight about it.

"Rico, just pretend they aren't here, it's what I do." Besides, she didn't trust Rico like that yet. This was all new and although she got to know him well through their conversations, he still was a stranger to her.

"Whatever you say." He took her hand and led her to the door of his building, hit a key code, and opened the door. Her guards came in right behind them. "I have a place on the ninth floor, is that okay with your guys? They need to come up too?"

She gave Vincent and Alvin a glare. She was going to let them do whatever they needed to do, but it was hard to get Rico to understand that. She was used to it, for years. Everyone she dated in the past, was used to it, and most of them had a crew of guards as well. It was something Rico had to get accustomed to.

Vincent got on the large elevator with them while Alvin stayed in the lobby. She knew the routine. He would search the area. Make sure it was safe, no randoms floating around. Check that the building was secure and what were all the exits. After that, he would meet up with Vincent on the ninth floor and again, do the same.

Once she exited the elevator with Rico, he led her to his door which he opened by a face scan. Very high-tech. Then he walked her inside and she was impressed that the place looked better than anything she could have imagined. She thought a young, rookie baseball player would be living a wild bachelor life.

She expected a messy place with cheap, non-fashionable furniture. Maybe a TV on a cheap stand with a game system and stacks of video games. She expected bare walls and no décor at all. Quite the opposite. The place looked like a high-end home in Beverly Hills or something. Not only was it fashionable and with expensive taste, it was nice, neat, and not a thing out of place.

"Oh, I see! You cleaned up your place because I was coming over." She continued to look around his place. A large mirror in the entryway, artwork on the walls, and the color scheme were all dark and mysterious as soft music played. "This is a nice place."

"Well, I'd give you a tour, but we have other plans."

Vincent did a quick sweep of the place and she was glad that Rico was able to ignore it. He took the flowers from her and left them on the entryway table. Then he led her through the living room area and into the dining room where there was a table nicely made and lit by candles.

"Did you cook?"

"I wish! I mean," he added a chuckle. "We won't talk about my cooking skills or lack of. But I did want to impress you, not turn you off. I had food catered in. They were here earlier cooking everything."

"Oh." That was nice too. She didn't mind a man who made the effort to put his best foot forward. "Well, let's see how they did."

After Vincent looked the place over, the first floor and then upstairs, he exited the condo. She knew he would station himself somewhere near and guard the place.

Rico placed a plate of food in front of her. Why was she surprised to see that it was a nice-looking lasagna, something she mentioned was her favorite food? Her mom's version anyway. And there was no vegetable or salad, and she knew he listened. She ate that plenty, every day all day. There was nothing wrong with eating healthy, but sometimes she wanted to let loose and eat normally.

"This better be good," she said as she dug in. No lie, it was the best lasagna she ever tasted. "Mmm!"

"I hope it's okay we're staying in. I could not find a place that would give us privacy on short notice." He sat at the table across from her and watched her. "Ummm, this is still all...very weird...and different from how I dated in the past."

"How so? I mean, of course, no one is me, but what would you normally do for a first date?"

He said nothing for a moment, deep in thought. "Don't laugh at me or think I'm some boring guy, but maybe a movie and out to dinner."

"Yes, that's basic, but there is nothing wrong with that."

They continued to talk while they ate. She definitely wanted to take home a doggy bag as if she was out at a restaurant. Neither was drinking because Nico only drank beer, and she only did if others around her were drinking.

Then after their meal, he led her over to his sofa and cut on the big screen TV.

"I guess we can watch a movie here, in privacy."

"And we can cuddle and...do other things." She moved close to him and planted a kiss on his lips. "I like being here with you."

"I wish you could stay longer."

She climbed on his lap, straddled him, then held his face between her hands. "I need to kiss all of these freckles." She found them sexy and it made him look so young and innocent for some reason. It was enough that he was three years younger than her, but she liked it. "You're really hot."

"You're super sexy," he said.

"I think we have time to..." She gyrated her hips on him. "Go upstairs, do some things and-"

"Tika," He rubbed a hand against the sides of both her arms. "You know I want you. I'm not even going to lie about that, but can we wait?"

"We have been waiting."

"We can wait longer."

She groaned and rested her face against his neck. "You're making me live like a nun for you. How am I supposed to be here with you and not want to be naked with you."

"There are other things to do, to become intimate, without the actual act of sex."

"What? Like what? Please school me on this young one?" She pretended to scratch her head at this. Sex was always on the table with other guys she dated, and guys in between those guys. She knew this was part of why all her relationships were fucked, but she still enjoyed sex. A lot.

Men could think with their dicks, why couldn't women do what men did?

"Let me teach you."