Page 90 of Take This Heart
Sara fans her face. “Good Lord, the two of you are Frank’s RedHot. Evan and I have been talking about having a baby, and I don’t think it’s gonna take much effort when we get home.”
“Check, please.” Evan pretends to look for our server.
I laugh, pressing my fingers into my eyes. “You guys are too much.”
“This is the best lunch I’ve ever had,” Goldie says, clinking everyone’s glass. Her eyes are still laughing when she looks at me. “You didn’t tell me your friends were so hilarious.”
I hold my hand out. “Nothing could have prepared me for this. They are…in rare form today.”
“So are you, my friend,” Evan says.“So are you.”
After we say goodbye to Evan and Sara, we walk down the boardwalk, just enjoying the day. As we head back toward my place, we’re not hungry enough for dinner, so I park in my parking garage and turn to look at her.
“Do you feel like a walk?” I ask. “It’s a beautiful night.”
“Sure!”
“Will you be okay in those shoes?” I look at her heels skeptically and she waves me off.
“Oh, these are wedges. I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re sure. They look pretty high to me. The second your feet start hurting, we can get an Uber, okay?”
“Okay.” She grins.
It’s a pretty night, so we take our time walking to Flora Room. She’s never been there, but I think she’ll like the vibe. All day, the need for her has been building. She’s been playful and flirty and I am like butter in her hands. I would’ve been happy to take her home, but I don’t want her to think I only care about getting her in bed. I want to show her a good time, let her know she’s special.
She loves the place. It’s moody and romantic and we have to lean close to hear each other.
“So…do you have a lot of…” She looks up at me and her mouth shifts to the side.
Our hands are tangled together and if it’s possible for hands to have sex with each other, ours are. Each trail she does with her fingers up my palm makes me harder.
“What? Say it,” I say when she still hesitates.
“Do you have a lot of women on your roster?”
“On myroster?” I laugh. “No. I mean, I’m thirty, so I’ve gone out with my fair share of women, yes. I told you about Roshana. She wanted to get married and I just didn’t feel…” I glance down at her and she’s listening intently. “Something was just missing, you know?”
She nods. “And you said you didn’t live together?”
“No. That’s how I knew I wasn’t ready. I had no desire to live with her. I wanted to feel more…I justdidn’t.”
“How did it end?”
“She got upset that I was traveling more for work. I was gone for a weekend and I didn’t call her. I think she thought I was cheating on her or something, but there was a big time difference and I was so busy. When I got out of a meeting, I checked my phone and there were at least twenty missed calls from her, each message getting worse. The last one was her sobbing and I?—”
“You peaced out?”
I make a face. “Yeah, I peaced out. I broke up with her as soon as I got home. It didn’t end well. She threw a vase at me.”
She winces. “Oof.”
“Enough about that. Do you like your drink?”
She ordered a Tuco Tuco and took a picture of it because it’s so pretty.
“Iloveit. How’s the Palo?”
