“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 interruptedmy 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 beable 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.
