I was still reeling from her story but I felt a hint of a smile return to my lips. “And how exactly did you find my sister’s townhouse?”
The sound of her laugh lifted my heart. “Oh, it’s so Tess. She’d just booted both her tenants at once – couples, I believe – for being loud and always fighting and making tons of noise. Basically, she bit the bullet for years with them and then one day just lost it. Does that sound like her?”
“Painfully so.”
“Right, so once she kicked them out, she rented the lower level to Rachel, who was a friend of her friend. And Rachel told everyone at her work about the great deal some sweet girl was giving for a beautiful apartment in Gramercy. And someone she worked with happened to be my cousin’s Facebook friend.”
“Is that the friend you were with at the café when Julian overheard you talking?”
“Is that his name?” Lia squinted and rolled her eyes. But she laughed when I did. “Ugh. But yes, that’s her. Sara. She commented on my cousin’s Facebook post asking about affordable rooms anywhere for a relative in a tough spot. My cousin told me about the apartment. I wrote a long, personal email to Tess before I even met her, just begging her to hold that space for me. And the rest is history.”
“Damn,” I sat back to process it all. “That’s some good timing. I just figured she found you the way she found the one who lives downstairs.”
“Not quite. I found her. And I thank God basically every day that I did.”
“She honestly says the same about you,” I grinned. When Lia cocked her head at me, I gave a chuckle. “Don’t worry, I didn’t know much about you before I met you. All I knew was that the second floor neighbor in Tess’s building saved her ass a lot. She can be a bit of a disaster sometimes but…” I trailed off. “But it’s probably my fault so apologies on her behalf.”
“Why is it your fau
lt?” she asked.
I stared at the flame between us on the table. I didn’t even know where to begin with that answer. It started with our parents, of course, and it ended with Cam. But there was so much in between. So many mistakes, so many lives ruined that I couldn’t bring myself to think about it despite the fact that I’d promised an even exchange with Lia. But I liked keeping her as my bright spot.
She was my distraction from the darkness – the complete shitstorm that should be my life right now. The shit with Cam happened, there was Tess to worry about and of course, it was May. It was the hardest month of the year for my sister and me and normally, around this time, I’d be spiraling into my week of self-destruction as I waited for the Twenty-Third to come and go. But I wasn’t the dark cloud I usually was this month.
And I had a feeling it had least some to do with Lia.
“Fuck.” I looked at her. “If I ask you something, will you promise not to kill me?”
“No.”
There was no reason for that answer to charm me but it did. “I’m wondering if I can give you a rain check on the Cam story. I know I said I’d tell you, but I can’t do it tonight.”
“Are you serious?” The eyes she gave me were big and comically sad but I didn’t give in. “That’s not fair. I only told you about me because I thought I’d hear about you.”
“You can hear about me,” I smirked. “You’ll just have to wait another day.”
“Nuh-uh. Are you asking me out on a second date?”
“I thought this wasn’t a date.”
“Fine. Are you asking me out on a second foreplay?”
“Yes.”
Her lips turned up. “I don’t know. We’ll see. Maybe I don’t need to hear about Cam. It’s probably for the better, anyway,” she said as our plates were swiftly switched out for the second course.
“Yeah? How so?”
“The conversation was starting to get way too date-like,” she said, eyeing me flirtatiously while sipping her wine. “And like I said – ”
“It’s not a date. Fine. So let me turn this conversation toward foreplay,” I said, taking a drink of my own. “Might as well work toward what this night’s about. Right?”
She was cautious but played it off. Light bounced off those gorgeous shoulders as she shrugged them and said, “Sure.” She kept her eyes on me as she took another drink, licking the drop of red that clung to her lips. “What do you want to talk about?”
“I want to talk about what you like in bed. You said you wanted to do tonight exactly as you wanted so tell me what you want,” I said. I expected to see Lia squirm with discomfort but apparently she was over that. She just waited for the table beside us to leave before she answered.
“Well, you fulfilled my first fantasy last night.”