“Hey, kitty,” I say with a soft voice, bringing my hand closer to him. He takes an interest in it, and I hold back from pulling away. Hana has a cat, so I’m relatively familiar with them.
Beelzebub smells my hand, and to my surprise, he doesn’t react poorly. Instead, he rubs his face on it, seeking affection. “You’re not a bad cat at all,” I whisper, adding my second hand to the mix.
When he starts purring, I have to physically force myself to let go. I grab the keys and unlock the door. I’m as quiet as a church mouse when I exit Jake’s apartment, promising myself I’ll text him to apologize for sneaking out like this.
The freight elevator isn’t too complex to navigate, but I might have made a mistake because it stops just one level below. Two familiar faces appear on the other side of the gates.
“Hey there,” Eli greets me as he gets in, accompanied by Mulligrubs.
I pet her when she enthusiastically comes to me. “Hi, you two.”
Elijah closes the gates, and we’re going down again in no time. “I didn’t know you lived in the same building,” I say, my hand still grazing Mulli’s soft fur.
“Yeah, Jake lets me have one of the apartments for a symbolic dollar per month.”
My exhausted brain takes a little too long to process that piece of information. “He owns another apartment here?”
“Oh, he owns the whole building. As well as the art gallery on the ground floor and the tattoo and piercing parlor on the second one. The third floor has four small apartments, and the fourth has two—including mine. And then there’s his loft. And the roof.”
Heaven’s sake. That is quite the real estate investment. Which means Jake is even more successful than I imagined.
We arrive at the ground floor, and my phone buzzes in my hand the moment Eli opens the gates. My car is here.
When we reach the door, Eli kneels to hook Mulli’s leash on her collar. “I have to go, I’m late for brunch,” I explain with a wince. “It was nice seeing you again, Eli.”
“You too. Take care, Gen!”
“Ditto.”
A black sedan is waiting for me right in front of the exit, so I slip into it within seconds. I want to believe there won’t be too much traffic, but who am I kidding?
The next hour and some will be stressful and tense, which is a shame because Jake worked hard all night to relax me. A small smile appears on my lips as I recall all the things we did. I spend the entire way home reminiscing, hoping we’ll get an encore soon.Verysoon.
We did things I had never tried before, including some that weren’t even on my list. Jake is proving to be a very prolific and imaginative lover. Before him, I generally enjoyed sex—when done well—but I could never sympathize with people who put it on a pedestal and dedicate so much time to it.
Now, however, I’d be willing to spend every single one of my evenings exploring pleasure with Jake, finding new challenges, and pushing my limits over and over. I still can’t believe how good it felt to have his fingers in that other part of me. It shouldn’t have been this pleasurable, but I exploded into the best orgasm of my life thanks to it. Thanks tohim.
Following an intense moment in my apartment rushing to be ready on time, I hail a cab at the foot of my building. I’m clean, have fresh makeup on, and wear a proper outfit—rosewood palazzo pants with a loose white silk shirt tucked in. I wasted most of my time giving myself a blowout—an unavoidable necessity given who I’m meeting with.
The yellow car stops before me, and I enter it while minding my pants so I don’t arrive all rumpled and messy. “Columbus Circle, please,” I tell the driver. The woman nods and drives right away.
I did everything I could to be on time, and if the roads are clear enough, I should succeed.
When my phone buzzes in my purse, I anxiously expect it to be a message fromher, telling me she’s already there and waiting. So, when I see it’s a text from Ladder Guy, my heart lightens at once.
Ladder Guy
I can’t believe you snuck out on me like that. I must have been in a proper coma.
Me
You were. And you knew I had plans.
Ladder Guy
Still, I wanted to make breakfast and eat it off you. With whipped cream and all.
Me
