Page 78 of Imperfections Seduced
“Good.”
Mom and Dad walk out, and Vanessa kisses Sasha. “Be good for Aunty Cat. Mommy loves you.”
“Love you, Mommy.” I just love her little voice.
“See you later, Cat.”
“You don’t have any instructions for me?” I tilt my head back behind me to Jay. “Like your husband?”
“Please, if I can take care of Sasha by myself, you’re more than capable. Don’t pay any attention to your brother. At times he can be overprotective, as I’m sure you already know.”
She gives me a sympathetic smile. I smile back when I nod my head. I’ve always liked Vanessa from the first time I met her. She’s the same every time you see her. I like people like that. You don’t have to wonder who you are going to get today: happy Vanessa, sad Vanessa or attitude Vanessa. She’s genuinely a nice person. It would be easy for her to be not so nice because her family comes from money and she’s so pretty.
Jay kisses Sasha in my arms. “I love you, and I’ll see you later.”
“Bye, Daddy. Love you.”
Before he walks out the door he asks, “Have you seen Nick lately?”
Where did that come from? Why’s he asking? He never cared before. “No, why?”
“You used to spend a lot of time together. Kate and he are engaged, but I don’t see him coming around, and she’s staying here now. Is everything all right between them?”
“Before I went away to college we used to hang out like friends do. As for Kate and him, I don’t know what or if things between them are…whatever. You would have to ask them.”
What the hell is this? I don’t want to think about them. I’m trying to avoid both of them and here Jay is asking me about their nonexistent relationship. Why is he asking me instead of Kate?
He looks at me intently. “I will. I want to make sure my sisters are okay. Are you okay?”
My heart is beating a little faster. Does he know something? He couldn’t. Only Ava knows what happened between me and Nick. She’s not saying anything and neither is Nick. I think my guilt is making me paranoid. I swallow and smile the best I can.
“I’m fine. Don’t I look fine?”
He studies me for a minute before he speaks. “Yes. You do.” He gives me three quick pecks on the cheek like when I was a little girl, looking up to my big brother. “Love you, sis.”
I smile a genuine sad smile this time. “Love you too.”
I close the door and sigh in relief. My feelings are all over the place. Between my mom, Jay, and Kate, it’s all unsettling me. I feel like a fraud and a lying cheat. I’m trying not to think about Nick. The harder I try, the more I do. I think about us in the car, in the bathroom at his house when he stripped me down to nothing. He took care of me like I was his. And the way he kissed me…I’ve never been kissed like that before. I can see us in my dreams making love. Him on top of me, pushing me, riding me hard and fast until I scream his name. I close my eyes against the thought. I take a deep breath and let it out. Opening my eyes, I see Sasha looking at me.
“Okay, Aunty Cat?”
“Yes, baby, I’m trying to be.”
That’s as honest as I can be. “Come on, baby girl, let’s get this party started. Let the night of fun begin,” I say, skipping into the living room smiling.
For the next six hours, I entertain Sasha and she entertains me too. We played blocks and I helped her build a pink tower. We also played hide and seek three times, until I couldn’t find her and freaked out. I realized that wasn’tsuch a good idea, in a house with so many places to hide for a three-year-old. I was scared out of my mind when I couldn’t find her and she wasn’t answering me. I knew Jay and Vanessa were going to kill me for losing their only child. I was about to call them when she jumped out of her hiding spot, all smiles. I’ve never been so relieved in my life. We finished the night off dancing, coloring, watching a movie, and reading a bedtime story before she fell asleep in my bed with me.
I did a pretty good job of not thinking about Nick. A few times I had a flash of his lips pressed against mine. Each time I closed my eyes against the memory. Who am I kidding?
I want him. No matter how much I try to fight it, I want him.
Cat
Ifind myself taking awalk the next afternoon, after I come from the school. Matt’s been calling me. I spoke to him once, and he wanted to make sure I was okay. He got the message Nick left for him loud and clear. He told me he wasn’t backing off and the only person that could make him back away is me, not the almighty Nick Alexander. I haven’t spoken to him since that night. He sends me a text every other day, and I text him back. He flirts and I flirt back. It’s all in fun. He does want to take me out, though. I told him I’ll think about it and let him know. He said there are no expectations; we will be two intimate friends hanging out, having fun. I could even bring Ava; he forgot how much fun she was to hang out with. I said yeah, that’s Ava, the fun never stops.
I don’t know when I made the decision but I find myself in front of Alexander and Alexander Law firm. I walk into the lobby, show my ID, and get into the elevatorup to the fifteenth floor. What am I doing here? I’m showing up to his office unexpected. I don’t know what I’m going to say to him. Maybe I should ask him to lunch? Nothing can happen if we take a walk to eat. I haven’t seen or heard from him since the morning I left his house two weeks ago. I hope he’s not angry. I would be, if he ran out of my house without so much as a see-you-later then out of the blue shows up where I work. Maybe I should leave.Cat, pull it together, you’re already here, don’t be a coward.
I step off the elevator on his floor and walk up to the receptionist desk. A nice-looking woman in her early forties greets me. She’s dressed in a gray pantsuit, and her dark brown hair is pulled back into a tight bun. She seems nice and efficient. I’m not sure what an efficient person looks like but she looks and sounds like she is. I can tell as soon as she speaks to me.
