She’d shaken her head.
“Twenty years ago, I could have taken that.But now?Ay, mami.”
She’d grinned, but she’d remained in place until after Sinbad had rolled past, cheeks twitching.
The man had scooped up the rodent, hurried inside and slammed the door.
Wanting to keep herself busy, she’d headed out for a long walk then ended up in the museum district.Not finding anything to entertain her, she’d wandered around aimlessly.Eventually, feeling sorry for herself and realizing she hadn’t eaten anything other than a scone all day, she’d entered a small, trendy restaurant.It was generally the type of place that would energize her.But late on a gloomy, alone, broken-up Sunday afternoon, it had made her even more depressed.
She’d picked up her phone and sent a message to Andi saying she needed company, ASAP.
Andi, true friend that she was, had responded with two questions—Where are you?Have you ordered wine?
When the waiter had come over to take her order, Kelsey had ordered a bottle of the restaurant’s finest merlot.
Andi had breezed in less than thirty minutes later, sporting a raven-colored bob.
“It’s a wig,” she’d explained as she’d sat down and filled a glass.“Didn’t have time to do my hair.Now.Talk while I drink.”
Kelsey had given her a thirty-second update, starting with the fact they’d gone to Deviation and ending with the announcement that she’d ended their personal relationship.
“Give it up, girlfriend,” Andi said.“I need more details.Start at the beginning and let me absorb it this time.He got you to Deviation, and then what?”
Kelsey swirled her glass and let the wine dribble back down.“He gave me a flogging on the Punishment Pole.Then we went into the bar while I remembered what day of the week it was.”
“Then he ripped your clothes off you in the hotel room?Don’t you think it’s fucking hot that he couldn’t even wait to get you home?”
Especially since he was so conscious of every expenditure.“It was.”
“Everything went okay?I mean, you didn’t fight or anything?”
“No.”She glanced down, remembering the way he’d done her up the ass.
“You’re blushing!It must have been good.”
“Yeah.It was.We grabbed a Starbucks before heading home.And then he asked me to move in with him.”
“You’re telling me that Nathan Donovan took you to a club, flogged you hard, got you a nice hotel room, asked you to move in with him, and you rewarded him by dumping him on his hunky-dunky-hottie ass?Have you lost your gray matter?”
“A week ago I didn’t even know him.”
“The man moves fast, I’ll give you that.Is that the problem?Is it too soon for you?”
“No.It’s more than that.I don’t want to live with any man.Especially one who is so overbearing.Being with him twenty-four-seven all day, every day?I’m afraid I’ll lose my sense of independence, who I am, what I’ve strived for all my life.I’ve worked too fucking hard to give it up now.”
They each took a drink of wine.
“Are you going to be able to keep working with him?When Lorean and I break up…” She rolled her eyes.“Some mornings I just want to stay in bed and sob in my pajamas.One time I did.Ate an entire pint of ice cream for breakfast.And shit… The amount of mimosas I have when things suck just doesn’t bear thinking about.Maybe I’ll open a liquor store.At least I can make money from myself.Wait.Did that make sense?”
“Yeah.In a strange way.”Even though the glasses didn’t need to be refilled, Kelsey did so anyway.“Lara Donovan called me the other day.”
“Did you tell her I’d give her a free service?”
Kelsey glared at her friend in a way that should have left Andi six feet under.
“Oh.Sorry.We’ll get back to that.I’m going to do Erin, thanks to you.Well, Mr.Hottie Boss.Oops.Sorry again.You were saying?”
“She’s hiring for a CEO position.”
