A Week in New York (The Empire State Series Book 1) (9 page)

I stood under the shower trying to decide whether to text him when my
phone started to ring. I leapt out of the shower. It must be Ethan letting me
know about plans tonight. I hoped it would Ethan letting me know about plans
tonight.

It was Leah. I pressed Accept and hooked the phone under my chin while I
grabbed a towel to wrap around me.

“Hey, I have a fun-packed day planned. I got those tickets for Book of
Mormon and I thought we could go do the Empire State this morning. How long are
you going to be?”

“Oh, great. You got those tickets. That’s awesome.”

“Don’t worry. It’s the matinee. It won’t interrupt your holiday romance.”

“There’s no romance, Leah. And anyway, it wouldn’t interrupt anything. I
don’t think we’re seeing each other tonight.” I wasn’t sure if we were seeing
each other tonight. How did we leave it? Fuck. This wasn’t supposed to be
complicated.

“Oh. Are you ok?”

“Of course. We’re not attached at the hip. It was just a fling. Nothing
complicated.”

“Was?”

“I don’t know. I’ll be ready in 15 minutes. Shall I meet you somewhere?”

We agreed to meet in line at the Empire State Building. I pulled on my
jeans and a t-shirt and combed my wet hair. There was no point in blow drying
it in this humidity. I’d leave it to frizz. I’d brought a few more things with
me last night, thinking I may be staying tonight as well but I was careful to
collect everything. I didn’t know if I’d be back. Before I left I took out my
phone and snapped a couple of photos of the view. God it was amazing. Worth
every penny this ginormous suite must have cost. When I grew up and won the
lottery, I was going to live here.

Leah waved at me from the entrance to the ticket hall.

“There isn’t much of a queue.”

“Who’d have thought it? It’s 8-frigging-15 a.m. on a random Thursday in
July. Of course there isn’t much of a queue.” I hadn’t realized how early it
was until I was in the cab on the way to meet Leah.

“Alright, grumpy knickers. I’m just trying to make sure we squeeze
everything in. I want to make sure it’s not just the New York men you get to
experience.”

I rolled my eyes at Leah and then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.
“Sorry.”

Without the queues we got to the top quickly and without the pushing and
shoving that the crowds would inevitably bring later. The view of the park was
almost surreal. Unlike from the hotel, where the view was lower, you could see
the whole thing—as if a slice of somewhere else had been picked up and planted
in amongst the buildings and bustle of the city.

“So you’re not seeing him tonight?” Leah interrupted my thoughts that for
just the twenty seconds before hadn’t been full of Ethan.

“I’m not sure. We were and he invited me to the Hamptons, and then it got
weird, and now I’m not sure.”

“Wait, he invited you to the Hamptons?”

“Oh, yes. Sorry. I was going to speak to you to see if you would mind if
I went. I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

“Of course I don’t mind. You should go. I’m sure it’s fine. He didn’t
uninvite you, did he?”

I shook my head. No, not yet. That would come later … I was sure of it.

Ethan

I’d officially grown a vagina.

Make that two vaginas. I was becoming a vagina farmer. What the fuck was
the matter with me? It stung when she said that women didn’t want to sleep with
me more than once. I mean, I knew it wasn’t true, but the fact that she might
think that. A vagina farmer. Fuck.

She was the greatest lay I’d ever had and I had to wear her down to spend
the weekend with me. That stung, too. That was it. I needed to kick some ass
and take some names. I wanted to get this work done so I could fuck her out of
my system. Just after I had another look at that sexy-as-hell text she’d sent
me of her in her underwear.

I worked like a maniac all day. I was sure that my associate was on the
verge of quitting two or three times. I could see the panic in his eyes as I
piled more and more work onto him, but I was too busy to think about it. He
said that he wanted more responsibility, so he shouldn’t fucking whine when I
gave it to him. I was going to have to look over various documents over the
weekend, but I was going to be able to get out of the office. My biggest client
was on vacation, which couldn’t have come at a better time. I looked at my
watch. Jesus. How was it 6 p.m. already? Would she be at the hotel by now or
was she spending the evening with Armitage’s girlfriend? Had she said? I
checked my cell for messages but there was nothing.

Me: Hey sexy. What are you wearing?

Nothing. For thirty minutes.

Anna: Hey.

Hey?

Me: Are you at the hotel?

Anna: No.

Me: When will you be there? Make sure you bring your case so we can get
straight off in the morning.

Anna: Later. Okay.

Me: Let me know when you’re at the hotel. I should be back by midnight.

Three hours later and I’d just come off the least useful conference call
in my career. At least it hadn’t generated more work. The ball was in the court
of the Chinese. We had the weekend off.

Back at my desk, I checked my phone.

Anna: At the hotel bar.

The text was sent over an hour ago. The hotel bar, for Christ’s sake? It
was close to 9:30. No doubt a million sleazy guys had hit on her.

Me: On your own?

Anna: You haven’t died then.

Me: On your own?

Anna: I’m making new friends.

New friends? New friends with dicks? My fists clenched. Jesus. I was
going to end up in prison by the end of the weekend if I wasn’t careful. I put
some papers together quickly and left the office earlier than I should have.

***

I saw her as soon as I entered the bar. She was sitting at the bar, her
head tipped back, and she was laughing at something the bartender had said to
her. He looked like he’d just hit a home run. I knew how that felt—it lit me up
when I made her laugh. I didn’t like that he got to feel that, too. I’d never
felt jealousy over a woman before now.

I came up behind her and rubbed her back. She was mid-laugh and she
jumped when I touched her. I hated that.

“Hey!” she said a little too loudly and both her hands flew into the air.
“He’s here,” she said to the bartender.

The bartender nodded at Anna and turned to me. “Can I get you a drink,
sir?”

Anna interrupted my response “You’re here! I’d thought you were gone and
now you’re here! My New York lover.”

“I think she’s had enough for both of us,” I said.

“No! Have a drink. I have lots of new friends to show you. Which one do I
like best?” She looked imploringly at the bartender.

“You like them all, ma’am.”

“I do. I like all these cocktails. They are my friends. My New York
friends.” She pointed at a list of at least twenty drinks.

“Tell me you’ve not served her all these?”

He shook his head. “Just the first five or so. She was working her way
down the list.”

“Come on, beautiful. Let’s get you to bed.”

I signed the tab and helped her off the stool.

“My case, my case, my case,” she said as she spun around and went to grab
a small silver suitcase, which I took for her. I put my free arm around her
waist and guided her back to the elevator bank.

“Why didn’t you leave it in the room?” I asked.

“No key, no key, no key.” She was pretty unsteady on her feet, but her
mouth was working just fine, if a little slurry.

“Did you lose your key?” I asked.

“No, of course I didn’t lose it. I left it in the room because of your
weirdness this morning.” She prodded her finger into my cheek. “And then I
wouldn’t have to bring it back and run into you when you dumped me, which would
definitely happen because I have the
worst
luck with men, and that would
be weirder and awkward so I left it, and then you texted me and then it was
weird and now I’m here. I’m so tired.” She slumped against the elevator door.

That was a lot of information to process in one go. “We’re going to get
you to bed, beautiful,” I said and pulled her against me. I kissed the top of
her head. “I’m sorry for being weird this morning.”

“That’s ok.” She looked up at me and grinned. “I think you’re awesome so
I’ll forgive you.”

Something inside me warmed and I could feel myself harden. Jesus, how was
some drunk crazy girl getting me hard?

I stroked her face. “I think you’re awesome, too.” She grinned, closed
her eyes, and put her head on my chest.

She had barely said two words to me this morning. Rory was driving us to
the Hamptons, which meant I could work, but I couldn’t concentrate with her
next to me. Not to mention the hard-on that I’d had for 12 hours.

“How are you feeling?” I asked her again.

She grunted and curled her legs under her. She was wearing her sunglasses
so I couldn’t see her expression.

“A little delicate?” I suggested.

She nodded. “With a good dose of humiliation thrown in.”

“There’s nothing for you to feel humiliated about. You’re a cute drunk. I’ve
seen a lot worse.”

“Oh god. Don’t, Ethan. God knows what I said to you last night. I’m so
embarrassed.” She turned to face the window. I unbuckled her seatbelt and
pulled her over onto my lap. Her body was limp and unresponsive.

“Listen to me,” I said as she put her head in her hands. I wasn’t sure if
she was crying. “Listen to me,” I repeated, pulling her hands away. “You have
nothing to be embarrassed about. You didn’t say anything. You introduced me to
the cocktail list in the bar, and then when I got you upstairs you passed out
in your clothes. It was a pretty uneventful evening.”

“We didn’t have sex?”

“I’m not going to have sex with you passed out. I might have a permanent hard-on
with you around, but Jesus, I can control myself.”

“God. We’re meant to be having a sex-filled fling. I’m not holding up my
end of the bargain very well.” Her hands went back to her face. I pulled them
away.

“Beautiful, we’re having plenty of sex, and we’re
going
to have
plenty of sex this weekend, believe me.”

“And I didn’t say anything to embarrass myself?” she asked.

“Like what?” What was she so worried about?

She shrugged.

“No. You told me you thought I was awesome.”

She groaned.

“Why’s that embarrassing? I am awesome,” I said and I grinned at her.

She laughed, which made me smile.

“I told you I thought you were awesome, too,” I said.

“You did?”

I nodded.

“Ok. I’m starting to feel a little more human.”

“Can you lose the shades? I miss your eyes.”

She shook her head. “I need carbs and three gallons of water before the
shades come off.”

Anna

After stopping for a breakfast burrito, we arrived at Ethan’s sister’s
house around 11 a.m. The house was spectacular. With a pool and view of the
ocean and a million rooms.

“No one has pools in the UK, really,” I mused staring into the water.

“Well, let’s make the most of it, then,” Ethan said as he slapped my ass.
“I want to see you in your skimpiest bikini.”

“I don’t do skimpy. Have you seen my ass?”

“Yes, and it’s perfect. Totally nude is fine, too. Let’s change.”

The pool was a fantastic antidote to the humidity. I swam lazily in no
particular direction, wondering what was keeping Ethan. He’d changed into his
trunks, so I expected him to be in the pool already.

After a few minutes he emerged from the patio doors looking spectacular. I’d
seen him plenty naked, but in the sun, wearing his shades, the sheen of his
skin gave his body’s contours even more definition. As if they needed it. He
was my Sex God, for one week only.

“Get in this pool, you handsome fellow,” I bellowed at him just as I
noticed he hung up his phone.

He paced toward me and then stopped suddenly and looked at his phone,
held it to his ear and started heading toward me again. I headed to the edge of
the pool to meet him.

“What time?” I heard him say as he approached the pool. “Yeah, that’s
fine. I think. Hang on.” Then he dropped the phone to his waist, sat on the
edge of the pool and said, “Is 7 p.m. ok? It’s only ten minutes from here.”

I nodded. Did he mean we were going over to his friends’ house? I guess.
My stomach churned slightly and I felt uneasy.

“Yes, 7 is fine. Yes, she’s here. In the pool, and she’s much better-looking
than you, so fuck off. I’ll see you tonight.”