SADIE
The sun was shining brightlyagainst the backdrop of a robin’s egg blue sky as I walked down Cole Street on my way to Zazie’s for brunch with Charli. Everything seemed brighter, more vibrant, like I was living in technicolor. Birds were chirping and the temperature was a breezy eighty-five. It was a perfect day in the city and I was still floating on cloud nine from the night before.
It had been a little over twelve hours since Mia knocked on my door and asked me to go to the gala and since that moment I’d been living in a dream. For weeks I’d told myself that my life wasnota fairytale but last night it was. A really dirty fairytale.
Sure, most fairytales don’t end with the princess waking up in the prince’s bed naked and alone, but like I said, it was a dirty one. And it’s not like Alex had ghosted me. That would be a little difficult since I lived in his house. Beside the bed he’d left one of his T-shirts, a coffee and bagel, and a note explaining that he’d be out all day.
Maybe he was avoiding the awkward morning after or maybe he really had to be gone or maybe he regretted what we’d done. I honestly had no idea, but for the first time in my life, I wasn’t overanalyzing it. It didn’t matter what he was thinking because last night didn’t mean anything, and I was okay with that.
I’d gotten more than I ever thought I would have, a night with Mr. Smolder. He’d made me come harder than any man or battery-operated device had and I’d fallen asleep wrapped in his arms.
What more could I ask for?
Actually, there was a lot, but I wasn’t going to allow myself to think about those things. No overthinking, just basking in the morning afterglow of it all.
I was practically skipping as I crossed Haight and spotted Charli sitting out on the sidewalk at a small bistro table. She wore a simple white sundress which perfectly contrasted her sun kissed skin. Her dark hair was piled on top of her head and was wrapped in a green floral silk head scarf that matched her emerald eyes. She didn’t have a drop of makeup on and she looked effortlessly flawless.
It was no wonder I’d grown up feeling like a plain Jane next to absolute perfection. I’d never really cared about my looks but last night when Alex told me that I was beautiful, I actually felt like I was.
When she saw me, Charli stood and shouted in accusation, “Why didn’t you tell me that you were going to the gala?!” She jutted her arm out and shoved her phone in my face. On the screen there was a photo of me and Alex arriving at City Hall.
“I didn’t know I was!” I lifted my hands in mock-surrender as I joined her. “I swear. The whole thing happened so fast. Mia knocked on my door and said that she wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t go. She had a team of people with her—”
“A team of people?”
“Yes. Harper did my makeup. Landon did my hair,” I explained. From the look on Charli’s face, she knew the duo and was adequately impressed. “Within thirty minutes I went from sweats to heading out the door on Alex’s arm.”
Charli narrowed her eyes. “Do you think Mia was really sick, or do you think Alex set it up?”
“No.” I shook my head. “He didnotset it up. He was shocked when he saw me coming down the hall all dressed up. He didn’t have any idea that Mia had bailed. I mean, she texted him and told him but before that he didn’t know.”
“Hmm, okay…we’ll circle back to that. But, first, tell me everything!” Charli waved her hands. “What happened? I want to know every single detail from the moment you left to the moment you laid your head down on your pillow and started counting sheep.”
I could feel my cheeks heat. Normally, I told Charlieverything. But I didn’t want to share what had happened last night when Alex and I got home. It felt…sacred.
Which made zero sense. He’d made it clear that last night didn’t mean anything. He’d made me come and then held me in his arms and when I woke up, he was gone. I was still a little confused at what he’d gotten out of the night.
“Um, the food was—”
“I’m not talking about the food,” she interrupted me. “What was it like going out with Alex Vaughn?”
“It was…strange.” That was the best way I knew to describe it.
“Seriously? Strange? You go to one of the premier events in the city with the most eligible bachelor himself and all I get is strange? What was Alex like? The way he was looking at you, I wouldn’t even think you made it off the elevator before he stripped you out of your dress and ate you alive.”
That was a shockingly accurate guess.
“The way he was looking at me?” I asked, not having any idea what she was talking about. In the picture she had on her phone, Alex wasn’t even looking in my direction. And I was looking down at my feet because I was scared I was going to trip going up the steps.
“Yeah, when you were at dinner, he looked like he was a lion and you were his prey. Like he was a Tarzan and you were Jane. Like he was Khal Drogo and you were Khaleesi.”
I shook my head, confused at where she was getting this information. I wondered if she’d known one of the models that had gone or something. “How do you know how he was looking at me at dinner?”
“Haven’t you seen the pictures?”
“What pictures?”
“Are you kidding me?” She pulled out her phone and pulled up several sites that had covered the event.
