Chapter 13: My First Sex god
Few days later and life had a funny way of moving fast when you finally stopped holding your breath.
I had just finished swimming five laps in the pool when my phone rang. I jumped out, looked at the screen and saw Marci calling. I slid to answer.
Paul had decided to become one of my clients.
I was not surprised. We had spoken a few days after the ice cream and the park and the fresh start and something about that conversation had felt different from all the others. Paul was not what I had initially assumed he was at the ball. The arrogance was still there but underneath it was a man who had been genuinely hurt and had built walls around himself using money and unavailability because it was easier than risking the alternative.
I understood that more than I wanted to admit.
He was attractive and funny and the afternoon with him and Tara had been easy in a way that surprised me. No performance required. No calculating what to say next. Just ice cream and a nine year old with her uncle’s blue eyes and absolutely no filter whatsoever. Evan and Robert had made me feel extraordinary in their own ways but there was a question I had not stopped asking myself since that night on the island. Could any of them provide the full picture? I was not expecting anything beyond the arrangement. I knew what this was. But Marci had Frank. Amberly had Jeff and Paris and whatever that was becoming. I was young. I had time. But I also knew that somewhere down the line I wanted someone who would protect me and make me laugh and love me exactly as I was.
That was a thought for another day.
"Also," Marci said, "I received a call from Evan McCain. He is in town tonight and would like to meet you at eight. Are you available?"
The smile happened before I could stop it.
Yes. I was available.
He wanted me to attend a listening party at Barcade Studio Patio in downtown New Orleans. I looked at my watch. Three hours. I was already moving.
I had missed Evan more than I expected to. We had not spoken since the night of the party when he took my body apart and put it back together in a completely different order. Just thinking about him created a very specific warmth that I was choosing not to examine too closely. I was not becoming a sex fiend. I was simply a twenty one year old woman with functional nerve endings and an excellent memory. That was all.
I selected a long black Prada dress that showed every curve and lifted everything that needed lifting. Long split up the side. Deep dip in the back. Smoky eyes. Diamond teardrop necklace and matching earrings I had picked up earlier in the day. Five inch Prada stilettos buckled at the back. Hair pulled to one side with bouncy curls framing my face. Red lipstick. The whole situation.
I looked at myself in the mirror and felt like I could take on the entire world.
I packed my black clutch with my necessities, and yes my necessities now included a travel toothbrush, a spare pair of panties, deodorant, my Coach roll-on perfume and a brush with a ponytail holder because Suga came prepared for all outcomes. I grabbed my keys, my wallet and headed for the door.
The doorbell rang before I could get there.
I peeked out the window and saw a black town car parked out front. I picked up the bat I kept by the door because I was still a woman living alone with two younger sisters and opened up carefully.
"Good evening. My name is Simon. Mr. McCain’s driver for the evening. He asked me to pick you up and take you to Barcade Patio."
I put the bat away and stepped out. Simon was a tall man with dark hair and dark eyes in a perfectly pressed black suit and shoes that caught the light. He watched my every move as I walked to the car in a way that made me mildly self conscious. I spent the twenty minute ride downtown either staring at my phone or pretending to be on a very important call. Simon kept glancing at me in the rearview mirror and I kept pretending not to notice.
The valet opened my door when we arrived. The building entrance was held open and I walked in.
The space was covered in posters of the evening’s performers, some I recognized from the radio, others clearly still on their way up. The bottom floor had black and blue balloons and streamers hanging from the rafters. Soft music played while people gathered in groups, laughing and taking pictures and doing the thing people do at industry events where everyone is performing even when the show has not started yet.
I took the elevator to the third floor. The doors opened and the music hit me immediately. A young woman was singing into a microphone while people danced or stood against the walls in conversation. The energy was warm and easy and I liked it.
I scanned the room for Evan. Nothing.
A tall dark man materialized beside me almost immediately. "Hey baby, you looking for me?"
I looked at him. Unimpressed did not begin to cover it. When he smiled the gold teeth nearly blinded me and the breath that followed could have wilted the balloons.
"Actually I was not," I said pleasantly. "Please excuse me."
I heard him muttering as I walked away. It did not touch me. I was here for one specific person and nobody else in this room was going to qualify.
I made my way to the bar and asked for water because the room was warm and I needed to stay composed. I had barely wrapped my hand around the glass when strong arms came from behind me and a scent I had been thinking about for weeks went straight between my thighs without stopping to ask permission.
"You look absolutely gorgeous," he said against my ear. "You have done something different."
I turned around and looked directly into those amber eyes. The ones that had been sitting at the back of my mind since the night he unzipped my dress and watched me in the mirror and made me feel like the most remarkable thing he had ever seen.
He was wearing a button down shirt, dark jeans and a blazer and looked so effortlessly good that I briefly considered parading him past every woman in the room who was currently staring at me.
"Do you like?" I asked.
"Honey, you have absolutely no idea." His eyes moved over me slowly and I felt the heat rise in my face. He leaned in close and whispered, "just wait until later. I will show you exactly how much I like."
His fingers moved down my spine in one slow deliberate line and I gripped my water glass like it was the only thing keeping me vertical.
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