Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 65582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65582 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 328(@200wpm)___ 262(@250wpm)___ 219(@300wpm)
Keeping my cheek against hers, my hand runs along the curve of her waist. I want her. I want this woman more than anything I’ve ever wanted—not just sexually, but in my life, every day. Every morning. Every night. In my bed and in my heart.
Her hands are wrapped around my back, and she whispers, “You look incredibly handsome, Hardy.”
“Maybe we should skip dinner?”
“No,” she replies, laughing. “I’ve wanted to eat here since it opened but it was too hard to get into. How’d you get a reservation on such short notice.”
“Magic.”
“And by magic, you mean connections?”
“Exactly.”
“Hardy?”
“Yes?”
She starts to squirm. “Are we going to stop hugging long enough to have dinner?”
“Do you want to? I’m totally fine standing here holding you like this all night.”
Laughing, she whispers, “We can do this again when we get to my apartment if you like.”
“I would like to do that.” I release her and lean back. Her sweet smile pierces my heart. My hand gravitates to my chest and I rub.
She winks at me. “I’ve been looking forward to this lesson since the first time we were in your office.”
“You have?” I take her jacket and purse from her arm and slip them into the booth between us as we slide in on opposite sides. She instantly moves them to the side and scoots closer to me.
I don’t even think she’s aware how close she’s sitting until the waiter comes by and tells us what a beautiful couple we are. She puts a few inches between us and though I’d love to make a joke about ten inches I’d like to put somewhere, I’m too busy trying to find a reason to close the distance again.
We order wine and sit back, in no rush to order food despite being starved. I want my time with her to last as long as it can. “How was your day?” I ask.
“I cleaned and did some shopping. I got this dress today and these shoes. I treated myself. Ever since you talked about how the other women dressed around Lowry, nothing in my wardrobe made me feel good.”
“Does this dress?”
“Yes. I feel pretty and in these heels, I feel tall. I like feeling powerful like that.”
“A woman who carries herself with confidence is extremely sexy.”
“So maybe I’m not a lost cause after all.”
Our bottle of wine is opened and we take the time to test it. The pinot noir reminds me of her lipstick the first time I ever saw her. I’ve been craving this wine ever since. “Salut,” I say, holding my glass to hers.
“Salut.”
Conversation flows throughout dinner and I learn that she loves golf and yoga, but hates horseback riding because she was thrown once, and she’s willing to jog with me, but fears she won’t be able to keep up.
She loves the snow. She loves when it rains. She hates when they mix. She has annual memberships to The New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx and The Met and often frequents the New York City Library, but rarely goes in.
“Why don’t you go in?” I ask, turning the stem of my wine glass between my fingers.
“Because it hurts my heart to leave.” She tilts her head down, almost embarrassed by her admission. When she looks back up, she whispers, “It’s just too beautiful to be real.”
My hand stops and my eyes fix on her. She asks me, “Have you ever seen something so beautiful that it takes your breath away? Tasted something so amazing that you almost can’t eat it, read a book that was so incredibly written that you’re swept away in a fictional world and never want it to end?”
“I have,” I confess instantly. I have. You, Virginia. You.
“I also love tacos.” Her head rolls back in delicious ecstasy and I can’t wait for it to roll back when I eat hers. “I can eat them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.” By the happy glint in her eyes, I believe her.
Our first course arrives and though the portions are small, they are artfully presented. Throughout dinner, our knees knock together. Nothing is said about it. Between friends or anyone else, it wouldn’t be a big deal at all but to me, it’s everything.
The predicament I’ve found myself in is quite funny if I could step outside of being an insider to this train wreck that has become my love life. Physically, I can have this gorgeous woman any way I want her. She’s open and receptive. She trusts me with her life, her sex life at least. Emotionally though, we’re a mess of the calamitous variety.
Does she not see how I look at her? No, putting it plain and simple. She doesn’t see how the world sees her so how could she think anyone would see her any different. Fate played her hand when she brought Virginia Ryan into my bar, and right into my life. Now it’s up to me to decide how we end. It’s time to up the ante and raise the stakes. And I know just how to do that. “Want to play?”