camera. The girl in that picture was a stranger to me now. Most days I barely recognised that content person as me.
‘Your cheeks are rosy here too,’ he said and winked. ‘Beautiful,’ he muttered as he set the frame down.
‘I’m sorry for the mess, but what can I do for you Mr ...’ Shit, shit, shit! It had escaped me.
‘Just Penn,’ he said.
‘Like Cher,’ I chirped. I really had to shut up now.
Penn sat on the arm of the loveseat and said. ‘I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be back early September–’
‘So you said,’ I said. Duh.
‘And I wanted to ask you if you’d go out to dinner with me.’
My legs felt like they were going to buckle and toss me onto my ass on the floor. My pussy went wet, again; it seemed to do that at the thought of him. My stomach knotted up with excitement and nerves. ‘Oh, um, sure. Sure I would love it.’ I was totally abandoning my own rule, it seemed. ‘I think about you a lot, actually,’ I blathered. Oh God!
Total silence.
Why? Why had I said that? What gateway between my brain and my mouth had been breached? I hung my head, waiting to die or just melt into the ugly blue carpet I had yet to have replaced.
Then a soft laugh and, ‘So you have that problem too?’
My head shot up and my heart filled with the yellow infused sparkle of pure hope. ‘What?’
‘I’ve had a hard time shaking thoughts of you, myself.’
Before I could prod and poke him for more information, he stood and ran his hands through his dark hair. It was just a touch too long and a few rogue streaks of silver hung out along his temples. ‘But for now I have to go. I have a meeting at a gallery in about 30 minutes and it’s 45 minutes from here. My agent gets cranky when I’m late.’ He grinned and my heart twisted sideways in my chest. ‘And he’s always cranky it seems.’
‘I’ll see you in September, then,’ I said.
Penn stopped, touched my cheek, leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. Something in that kiss did more to me than the two men I had spent the better part of a steamy, sex laden evening with. I felt like I could come completely unglued after that kiss. Just crumble at his feet and do his bidding. Instead, I kissed him back. When he left, I blew out a sigh and watched him climb into his SUV.
‘No attachments, no strings, no real feelings. No commitments, Merritt. Just fun. Just. Fun ...’ If I kept saying it, maybe my stomach would stop feeling this way and I could treat Penn like every other guy I’d met so far this year.
Chapter Eleven
A PRIL PASSED IN A BLUR of sex and more sex. I didn’t let the pervasive thoughts of Penn that floated to the surface of my psyche stall me out.
I let myself sink into the sultry, lazy schedule of working all day, seeing Jeffrey and my brother sometimes and being with the boys often. Sometimes it was me and Shane, usually after a night at the Flamingo making sure my mother didn’t do any more cage climbing. Jack had been promoted to go-go dancer slash wait staff and Jeffrey had started performing Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive. We’d stumble home, kissing and touching and then fuck wherever we fell. More times than not, Rob would enter silently to watch. Occasionally, he’d join in. One night it was just Rob and I alone, but that felt oddly wrong, like I was cheating on Shane, so it was only the once.
April 30 th we had a dinner of to-die-for Chinese and drank red wine until we were nearly lethargic. ‘We want to take you on vacation with us this year,’ Shane said.
‘I can’t.’ I said it before I thought.
‘Why not? We haven’t even told you when,’ Rob said, his face going serious.
What the hell. I had to be honest. ‘Because, your month is up,’ I said to Shane. ‘And thusly, so is yours,’ I said to Rob.
‘Month?’ They said in unison.
So, I explained. I explained Jeffrey’s plan, my agreement, a year of no strings, no commitment. Just fun and frolics and fucking. They both
‘Your cheeks are rosy here too,’ he said and winked. ‘Beautiful,’ he muttered as he set the frame down.
‘I’m sorry for the mess, but what can I do for you Mr ...’ Shit, shit, shit! It had escaped me.
‘Just Penn,’ he said.
‘Like Cher,’ I chirped. I really had to shut up now.
Penn sat on the arm of the loveseat and said. ‘I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be back early September–’
‘So you said,’ I said. Duh.
‘And I wanted to ask you if you’d go out to dinner with me.’
My legs felt like they were going to buckle and toss me onto my ass on the floor. My pussy went wet, again; it seemed to do that at the thought of him. My stomach knotted up with excitement and nerves. ‘Oh, um, sure. Sure I would love it.’ I was totally abandoning my own rule, it seemed. ‘I think about you a lot, actually,’ I blathered. Oh God!
Total silence.
Why? Why had I said that? What gateway between my brain and my mouth had been breached? I hung my head, waiting to die or just melt into the ugly blue carpet I had yet to have replaced.
Then a soft laugh and, ‘So you have that problem too?’
My head shot up and my heart filled with the yellow infused sparkle of pure hope. ‘What?’
‘I’ve had a hard time shaking thoughts of you, myself.’
Before I could prod and poke him for more information, he stood and ran his hands through his dark hair. It was just a touch too long and a few rogue streaks of silver hung out along his temples. ‘But for now I have to go. I have a meeting at a gallery in about 30 minutes and it’s 45 minutes from here. My agent gets cranky when I’m late.’ He grinned and my heart twisted sideways in my chest. ‘And he’s always cranky it seems.’
‘I’ll see you in September, then,’ I said.
Penn stopped, touched my cheek, leaned in and kissed me softly on the lips. Something in that kiss did more to me than the two men I had spent the better part of a steamy, sex laden evening with. I felt like I could come completely unglued after that kiss. Just crumble at his feet and do his bidding. Instead, I kissed him back. When he left, I blew out a sigh and watched him climb into his SUV.
‘No attachments, no strings, no real feelings. No commitments, Merritt. Just fun. Just. Fun ...’ If I kept saying it, maybe my stomach would stop feeling this way and I could treat Penn like every other guy I’d met so far this year.
Chapter Eleven
A PRIL PASSED IN A BLUR of sex and more sex. I didn’t let the pervasive thoughts of Penn that floated to the surface of my psyche stall me out.
I let myself sink into the sultry, lazy schedule of working all day, seeing Jeffrey and my brother sometimes and being with the boys often. Sometimes it was me and Shane, usually after a night at the Flamingo making sure my mother didn’t do any more cage climbing. Jack had been promoted to go-go dancer slash wait staff and Jeffrey had started performing Gloria Gaynor’s I Will Survive. We’d stumble home, kissing and touching and then fuck wherever we fell. More times than not, Rob would enter silently to watch. Occasionally, he’d join in. One night it was just Rob and I alone, but that felt oddly wrong, like I was cheating on Shane, so it was only the once.
April 30 th we had a dinner of to-die-for Chinese and drank red wine until we were nearly lethargic. ‘We want to take you on vacation with us this year,’ Shane said.
‘I can’t.’ I said it before I thought.
‘Why not? We haven’t even told you when,’ Rob said, his face going serious.
What the hell. I had to be honest. ‘Because, your month is up,’ I said to Shane. ‘And thusly, so is yours,’ I said to Rob.
‘Month?’ They said in unison.
So, I explained. I explained Jeffrey’s plan, my agreement, a year of no strings, no commitment. Just fun and frolics and fucking. They both
Similar Books
