It was a dumb thing to do and I knew it. All my friends knew it and everyone tried to tell me I was being stupid and I knew they were right. But I was in love and as far as I was concerned they could all go to hell. Donnatella, Donny for short, owned me body and soul from the minute I laid eyes on her. She was no raving beauty, not to say she wasn't good looking, she was just an average looking woman with a pretty face and a decent body, but she had something that no other women I'd ever met possessed. She had dark brown eyes that seemed to be able to look into my very soul and the first time she looked into my eyes with hers and smiled I was lost!

I met her one night when I stopped in at a bar where she was working. I watched her for the first hour I was there, couldn't take my eyes off her in fact. When I didn't try to approach her or talk to her she came over to me:

"Do I have a large and ugly wart on my nose, or do you just like what you see?" I mumbled something into my beer and she laughed, "I don't believe it, you're shy." She chuckled again and said, "That's all right honey, I won't bite. What's your name?"

I told her, asked her hers and then asked her if I could buy her a drink. "I don't have time for that honey, I'm a working girl. Are you interested or not?" She saw the look that came over my face and gave me a wicked grin, "You don't know, do you?"

"Know what?"

"I'm a hooker honey, one of those that Willie and Waylon call a Girl of the Night. I'm looking for customers honey, are you interested or not?"

I confessed that I only had enough money for a half dozen drinks and she smiled at me and said, "Maybe next time honey" and she got up and left the table.

During the next two hours I saw her leave with four different guys only to return twenty or so minutes later. Toward the end of the evening I got up to go use the head and when I came back to my table she was sitting there.

"I'll take you up on that drink now honey" and so began my relationship with Donny.

That night we sat and made small talk until about midnight and then I said I was going to head over to Denny's for coffee and a bite to eat and I asked her if she would like to join me. She surprised me by saying yes and over breakfast I discovered that she was a very smart and witty lady. We talked about each other's history, likes and dislikes and in general got to know a bit about one another. I was smart enough not to ask questions about her "business" and I think she appreciated that. I felt comfortable talking with her and told her I'd like to do it agai:

"You know where to find me honey, I'm there every night but Sunday."

The next night was Saturday and I showed up around eight and she was sitting at a table with two men. After about five minutes she left with one of them and didn't come back for over an hour. When she did come back she swung by my table and said, "Buy me a drink later?" I smiled and said yes and she walked away.

In the next three hours she left with five different guys and after the fifth one she came and joined me at my table. We talked for a bit and then headed for Denny's for coffee and something to eat. That set the pattern for the next three weeks although in the interest of saving my liver I stopped going into the bar early and instead started going there about midnight. I was always glad to see her and Donny always seemed to be glad to see me. We never seemed to run out of things to talk about, not that it would have mattered, I would have been content just to sit on the other side of the table and look into her eyes.

One night during the fourth week I asked her if she would go out on a date with me on Sunday night. Her face clouded over and she said, "I thought we were friends." I guess I must have looked confused and so she said. "I don't do business with my friends."

Suddenly I understood what she was getting at; she thought I was asking for a business date! "No, that's not what I mean. I was thinking dinner and maybe a movie."

She gave me a big smile and said she would love to. That Sunday we had dinner at Carl's ChopHouse and saw "Tuxedo" with Jackie Chan (her choice, not mine). When I dropped her off at her apartment she gave me a kiss goodnight that, while not exactly passionate, was not sisterly. Our third date was pizza and a couple of Blockbuster videos at my place. About halfway through the second video Donny, who was snuggled up next to me said, "I know you like me or we wouldn't be here so why haven't you made a move on me? Are you afraid of me?"