“Not a chance,” he says. “Two minutes after she punched me, she apologized and told me it wasn’t me. According to her, I wasn’t the worst kisser in the world.”
I can vouch for that too, but I keep that to myself. “Did you ever try and kiss her again?”
“No.” He spots the waiter as he nears our table, but before he gives his attention to him, he smiles at me. “Not long after that, Savi told me that she liked kissing girls as much as I did. I was the first person she told that to.”
That doesn’t surprise me. There’s something about him that is disarming. I can see why people would want to confide in him.
A part of me wants to do that as well, but I don’t know if I ever will.
Chapter Thirty-One
Sean
“Are you and Savannah still friends?” Champ asks as we exit the car in front of our building.
Dinner was magnificent.
The food was decadent, the wine just as delicious, and the company was the best I’ve ever had.
Our conversation ranged from our first kisses to our impressions of growing up in New York.
Calliope has spent all of her life here, working her way through the public school system as well as gracing the halls of NYU with her presence.
Private school was where I began my educational journey, but when I was kicked out in the fourth grade, my dad won the battle of letting me attend public school. I did that until I graduated eighth grade. After that, I was sent upstate to The Buchanan School to follow in my maternal grandfather’s footsteps.
A couple of years spent at Brown University followed that.
“We are,” I tell her. “We don’t talk as much as we used to. Savi lives in Minneapolis now. She and her wife adopted twin boys three years ago.”
She says goodnight to Jurgen before she turns to face me. “It’s nice that you’re still in contact with each other.”
I motion for her to approach the lobby doors. “Do you still keep in touch with your friends from when you were a kid?”
“No,” she says softly. “We all drifted apart.”
That’s a shame.
I’m fortunate in the fact that I have several close friends. I’ve never taken that for granted.
Lester swings open the door. I tuck a few twenties in his palm as I pass him.
His whispered thank you earns a smile from me.
He may be an expert at putting himself in the right place at the right time to earn a generous tip, but he’s intuitive enough to know when not to inject himself in the middle of a conversation.
“I consider my sister my closest friend,” Calliope admits as we near the bank of elevators. “She’s a few years older than me. I love hanging out with her and her kids.”
“Including the burgeoning artist with the tiny hands.”
She laughs. “Tabitha. Her name is Tabitha. Bodhi is my nephew, and there’s another baby on the way.”
“Three kids?” I raise three fingers on my right hand to punctuate the question.
She nods. “I doubt she’ll stop there.”
As the elevator doors slide open, I take her hand in mine. “I bet you’re the best aunt in this city.”
Her gaze trails from our joined hands to my face. “I try to be. Are you an uncle? Does Declan have kids? Do you have other siblings?”
“As far as I know, I’m not an uncle,” I murmur as I tap the button on the panel for our floor. “There’s Decky, me, and Ava. She’s twenty. Living her best life in London at the moment.”
She squeezes my hand. “Is Ava anything like you or Decky?”
“No.” I chuckle. “She’s innocent and wants nothing to do with men’s underwear. At least I hope to hell she doesn’t because she’s way too young to be thinking about that.”
“Newsflash, Saint.” She gazes up at me. “Twenty-year-old women aren’t too young to be thinking about men in their underwear or out of it.”
“Quiet down, Champ.” I plant a soft kiss on her mouth to shush her. “The only thing I want to talk about for the rest of this date is you.”
Her gaze lingers on my lips. “Our date isn’t over yet?”
I kiss her palm as the elevator signals its arrival on our floor. “Not by a long shot.”
We’re on the roof.
I planned on taking Calliope to my apartment, but I could feel her hand shaking in mine when we rode the elevator up to our floor.
I want this woman more than I’ve wanted anyone in my life, but there’s no way in hell I’m going to rush her.
I still don’t have any sense of what happened in her last relationship, so I want to tread carefully.
She’s not looking for anything serious. I can’t say I am either, but I want our time together to be a good experience for her.
“Are you scared of heights, Champ?”