Page 72 of Love Lessons
“Don’t you want to go upstairs? Fine. We’ll stop here.” He stops abruptly and sets me down. We’re only halfway up the stairs. Still, he gently nudges me to a seated position and then leans over to kiss me again.
I sprawl backward on the stairs and play along. It shouldn’t be fun. I’m not even comfortable. But Ian is a wild man who knows every secret my body holds. When he puts his tongue in my mouth and his hand up my skirt, I gasp with both surprise and pleasure.
“You’re naughty,” I whisper against his lips.
“So are you,” he whispers back. “You just didn’t know it yet.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Best Neighbor on Hudson
IAN
I’m lyingon my back on Vera’s bed. Naked. Sweaty. She’s lying on top of me, catching her breath. And I don’t ever want to move. I mean that literally, which is a problem, because our trip is over in another week.
Vera traces a shape on my chest. “Did you read that thing I sent you from the lawyer? It sounds like he can help you set up your LLC pretty easily.”
“Not yet,” I admit. It’s just one of the many things I don’t want to think about. The emails and messages are piling up on my phone. The lawyer. My mother, asking about that damn wedding. Do I have a decent suit? The PR guy, with his list of charities to look over. Even O’Doul wants to talk again about the whole captain thing.
“If you write back to the lawyer,” Vera says, “you could have that LLC sorted out right after you get back. Isn’t that what he said?”
“Possibly,” I hedge. “I actually didn’t read his letter. It’s a PDF.”
“My phone can handle those,” she offers.
“Yeah, so can mine.” I sweep her hair off her neck and kiss it. Then I surprise myself by actually telling her the problem. “But I can’t, Vera. I’m super dyslexic, and I rely on dark mode, certain fonts, and sometimes a text-to-speech app for certain documents. But PDFs make that hard.”
“Well, shoot.” She pops up onto her hands, and I inwardly flinch. Vera is a perfectionist. She probably never lets an email linger for longer than thirty minutes without dealing with it. “I’m so sorry,” she says. “I didn’t know.”
“It’s no big deal.” I pull her back down onto my chest. “Just a hassle. Slows everything down.”
“Can I help you? Can I just read it to you and type your reply? It gets one thing off your plate.”
I hesitate, although it’s a really tempting offer. “You don’t want to do that. We were having a nice time.”
She rolls onto the mattress and smiles at me. “I’m still having a nice time. And if you go downstairs and get me the glass of wine you didn’t let me finish, then I’ll still be having a nice time. But also, your email to the lawyer will be written and done.”
“Well…” There’s really no reason not to take her up on that offer, except for the age-old shame of not wanting to be that guy who can’t read his own mail. “Okay, sure. One sec. Let me get our drinks and my phone.”
* * *
Ten minutes later,I’m pleased with my decision. Vera, long legs draped over mine, is tapping out a reply to the lawyer. All he needs is a check and a couple other details to form a corporation.
Oh, and a name for it. “All right, what are we calling this LLC?Hudson Avenue Co?”
Vera makes a face, her fingers pausing. “No way. That’s boring. Besides, that name is too common. Someone else probably used it.”
“What’s your big idea, then?”
“How aboutHot and Frisky Hockey Player Co?”
I crack a smile. “Aren’t you hilarious? Okay, I’ve got it. Try this—Best Neighbor on Hudson LLC.”
I expect Vera to give me some shit about how I am not, in fact, the best neighbor on the block. But her eyes soften, instead. “That’s fun. I’m writing that.” She taps madly on my phone screen.
Huh. I’d meant it as a joke. Then again, I don’t really care what the title is. I’m just stoked that Vera ran point on connecting me with this lawyer and answering his email for me. “Okay, done?”
“Done,” she confirms. “Got anything else that needs doing? I’ve never seen an inbox before whereeverymessage was starred for follow-up. Is that because you’re on vacation?”
