“Just had a pretty amazing day,” I said. I turned the tables on her. “How about you?”
“Oh, same old.” She rolled her eyes as she proceeded to vent again about her work arch nemesis, Kathy. “You know, I talked to Vince today.”
She always had to bring up my dad, though I supposed he was the common thread between us.
“He said he’s coming to the city with his new fiancée,” she said, one eyebrow raised. “Were you aware he was coming to town?”
“Yeah, he called me the other day and said something about it,” I said. “I wasn’t really listening.”
It was the night Addison ran out of my apartment. My mind was elsewhere, so I only picked up bits and pieces of what he was saying. He always tended to call late at night, too, neglecting to consider the time difference between us.
“He said something about doing dinner with her and her two daughters,” I said. “That’s about all I picked up from the conversation. I was a little preoccupied when he called.”
“I mean, how well can he really know this woman?” Aunt Laura scoffed. She’d been single most of her life after a failed marriage in her early twenties. Brash and opinionated, she was more than most men could handle, and yet she still believed she just hadn’t met the right one yet. For all her hard edges and straight lines, she really was a hopeless romantic. “It can’t possibly be true love.”
I shrugged. “Who are we to say whether or not the man’s in love, right? To each their own.”
“Well, given your father’s track record…”
“Maybe he’s finally met the One? We’ll have to see what she’s like. He does sound happy, I’ll say that.”
She laughed. “Good for Vince.”
“What about you? You go on any dates lately?”
“One.” She slipped a finger coyly into the corner of her mouth. “His name is Steven Goldberg. He’s my accountant.”
“Aunt Laura…” I said in jest, as if she’d revealed a scandalous secret. “Look at you, mixing business and pleasure. You rebel.”
“Oh, stop.” She giggled like a schoolgirl, her hardened expression fading, if only temporarily. “It was just one date. But I will tell you, he’s a phenomenal kisser.” Her fingers flew up as she placed air quotes around the word “kisser.”
I shielded my eyes, hanging my face. I couldn’t look at her. “I didn’t ask for details.”
“Oh, come on, at least one of us is getting some,” she whispered.
I lifted my eyes and focused on the bread basket, unable to meet hers. I wanted to leave. The conversation took a sharp detour to the bad part of town, and I couldn’t get out of there fast enough.
“Wait a minute,” she said. “What happened to that pretty girl you saw at the restaurant a few weeks ago? Your friend? What was her name?”
“Addison,” I said.
“You still talk to her?”
“I do.”
“Tell me about her.” Aunt Laura twisted her wine glass in her fingers as her attention honed in on me. “I want to know everything. She’s the reason you’re glowing right now, I just know it. I haven’t seen you light up like this in years.”
“I’m glowing?” I laughed.
“You’re glowing like a damn pregnant lady,” she said. “Now spill it. Tell me everything. Where is she from, what is she like? Does she have any family? Where does she work?”
“She works in real estate,” I said.
“Ah, so she’s right up your alley.”
“She’s driven. Independent. Way too stubborn,” I said, fondly recalling her. “Beautiful inside and out.”
And then it hit me. I still barely knew her. The only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to know everything about her.
Thoughts of Addison buzzed through me like a live wire, as my aunt took her sweet time finishing her dinner. The second I paid the check, I bolted out of there. I had to get to her.
Two weeks later…
Morning sex was my favorite. No, maybe it was shower sex. Maybe it was a tie. I wasn’t sure. Days and weeks blended together into one giant mess of sex and love-drunk, late night conversations and sleep overs.
I rolled over in bed, curling up into my brand new, bona fide boyfriend’s arms and sliding a free hand down his boxers until it reached his rock solid morning wood. I slid down the length of his muscled torso until my lips found his shaft.
Wilder moaned as he stirred awake. Never one to waste an erection, especially when they were attached to the world’s hottest man, I took the tip of his cock in my mouth.
“Oh, God, that feels amazing…” he moaned as his hands reached the top of my head, tangling his fingers into my messy bedhead.
Who was this girl? This girl who lived for the moment all of a sudden. Who pushed her cares away and focused all her attention on the man with the golden touch. The man who held more power over her than she could ever possibly hold over her own self.
I was changing. I hardly recognized myself. And I loved the new me.
Coco had called me Addison 2.0 at lunch the day before, saying whatever I was doing was working. I failed to tell her I was falling in love. That was my secret. She said I looked as if I’d bottled up a billion stars and bathed in them before slathering them all over myself like Crème de la Mer.
I hadn’t made my bed in days. Wilder had been sleeping over every night for the past two weeks. And I’d scaled back on my overly zealous work schedule in an attempt to make time for him. I’d scaled back on a lot of things. In the two weeks since I’d last ran on my treadmill, I’d gained a good five pounds. When you removed running from your routine and replaced it with decadent dinners at New York’s finest restaurants, that sort of thing was bound to happen. But Wilder said he loved every inch of me anyway. He swore he couldn’t even tell, and I believed him.