Chapter 40
STEPHANIE
Tiana and I skipped down the stairs energetically on Sunday night, both of us looking forward to our early evening dance class. My head had been in the clouds all weekend about my night with Jeremiah. I was still sore in all the best ways possible.
"Earth to Steph." Tiana laughed, clicking her fingers right in front of my eyes as we hit the bottom landing. "I asked if you wanted to go grab some dinner after the class. I heard about a Thai place not far from Mickey's Studio I want to try."
"Sorry," I said. Not in the least bit sorry. "I was just thinking."
She rolled her eyes and pushed the heavy door of the staircase open, leading me into the lobby. "You're not sorry. And you also weren't thinking. You were fantasizing about your hot night with the hot billionaire."
I didn't need to answer for the blush that crept onto my cheeks. I shrugged unapologetically. "So what if I was?"
“Hold your horses, Miss Defensive. You know I’m not judging. Jealous as hell, yes. But there’s no judgment from this side.” She laughed, the soles of her sneakers squeaking against the floor. “If I’d spent the night with a man that hot who was that good in bed, I’d probably still be in mine dreaming about it.”
When I told Tiana about my night with Jeremiah, I managed to maintain that very fine line between keeping private details private and adhering to the sacred girl code that called for sharing with your best friend.
She had, however, since taken the liberty of asking probing questions and filling in the blanks for herself when I refused to answer. Most of what she’d filled in for herself so far was wrong. Jeremiah had been better than what she thought.
A pleasurable shiver ran down my spine, the kind that brought with it memories of what had to be the best sex I’d ever had. The night occupied numbers one to five on my list. Five freaking times... Because as it turned out, Jeremiah was pretty much insatiable—in addition to being generous and just the right amount of controlling. I didn’t know much about the average recharge time men needed, but his was impressive.
As was everything else about him. As if she could read my mind, Tiana gave me a knowing look. “Seriously, I’m super jealous. I would give anything for a night of mind-blowing sex at this point. My last few romps between the sheets were mind-numbing instead of mind-blowing. It’s so unfair that he looks like an angel and fucks like a devil. Could he not have had just one tiny little flaw?”
“He can be an arrogant asshole when he wants to be,” I said helpfully. I was trying to keep myself on track about him as well as pointing out to Tiana that just like everyone else, he was flawed. “A real cocky bastard.”
“With the emphasis on ‘cock’y’?” She laughed, wiping two small tears from the corners of her eyes. “Are you sure you saw right? Maybe it was really minuscule, and the lights just caught it right.”
“Nope,” I said, feeling a tingle between my legs just thinking about him naked. “If you want to focus on a flaw, you’re going to have to settle for those parts of his personality I mentioned. Physically, the man is perfection.”
Truer words had never been spoken. Even the nicks and few scars he had from accidents when he was younger only served to add to his perfection. They made him imperfect enough to be human, to have his body tell stories about who he was when he wasn’t wearing his corporate armor. And that was what made him so much more perfect.
I sighed, catching Tiana in what I assumed was a daydream of her own and nudging her playfully with my elbow. “Stop trying to picture him naked. Find your own man.”
“Trust me, I’ve tried,” she lamented. “I just haven’t found one like that yet. He doesn’t have any hot, single friends does he?”
“I think he does, actually.” I thought about the guys who called every now and then and asked me to schedule in drinks after work on his calendar. “But it’s way too soon to be asking him about that.”
It was way too soon for anything. I didn’t even know if Friday night was a one-off or if he wanted something more. He dropped some hints about next time, but we didn’t have any plans, and he sure hadn’t said anything about something more.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t want it to be more, to have meant something to him other than a “hit it and quit it” situation. No matter what happened though, I wouldn’t be like Jannie. If we both decided we felt something for each other, like I already knew I did, it would be one thing. But I wouldn’t pursue him like a parasite if it had only been a one-night-only deal for him.
He didn’t owe me anything, hadn’t made any promises or led me on. I was the one who asked to go to his apartment, and when he asked to kiss me, I was the one who leaned into it. I was a big enough girl to know I was an equal party in what happened, and I didn’t harbor any illusions about it necessarily meaning something.
We had an itch, we scratched it. Whatever happened next, if anything happened next, would be the same: a joint decision made on equal footing.
Tiana spun round when we reached the door of our building, turning in the direction of the mail room just off the lobby. “I signed us up for coupons from Mickey’s Studio. I totally forgot, but if they’ve arrived, we could get a discount on this class.”
“Sign me up for a discount anytime.” I walked with her to check the mail. I hadn’t checked mine since last weekend anyway, so I was probably due to make sure there wasn’t anything in there that needed my attention. Hopefully, not any bills yet though.
“I hope they’ve arrived. If you’re going to be keeping up with that man and I have to prepare for one of my own, we need to get in shape.” She winked at me over her shoulder. “Can’t have you cramping up in the middle of learning the karma sutra from a sex god.”
“Your mind has to be a really filthy place,” I said joking. I held open the wooden paneled door that led to the mail room. “There was no karma sutra.”
Though there were plenty of other interesting positions. Jeremiah was creative, to say the least. “You might have a point about cramping up though. We’d better hurry if we don’t want to miss the class.”
“I’m hurrying.” She dashed through the door I held open and rummaged in her gym bag for her key. As she was sorting through the different keys on her ring searching for the right one, I noticed a large envelope crammed into my mailbox.
Curious, I walked ahead of Tiana and pulled it out. It was heavy and as big as a sheet of paper. It had been stuffed face down into my mailbox, but because of its size and probably my not having emptied the box for a while, it hadn’t fallen in.