Torn (The Fosters of New York 3)

"He works at the hospital too." She tucks the mascara back into her purse before scanning the screen of her phone. "He's not a doctor like Jason though. He's an administrator of something."

I'm not an expert on anything business or hospital related but that spells boring to me. "How old is he?"

"Twenty-nine, I think."

I'm not a prude when it comes to age. I've dated guys a year younger than me and some ten years older. If it's a good fit, that's what matters to me.

Before yesterday I was looking forward to this dinner. When Maya invited me to celebrate Jason's birthday I envisioned a party at her apartment complete with cheap wine and bags of potato chips.

Maya throws a mean party but little of that has to do with what's on the menu. She has a knack for bringing like-minded people together. I've met a few other friends through her and I'm always excited when she tells me she has someone new for me to meet. Tonight it's Tony and although I'm sure he's going to be a great guy, I can't shake what happened this afternoon.

When Asher kissed me, I wanted him so much. I would have fucked him right there in my studio, with the door unlocked and the sunlight streaming in. He stopped though and although I know it wasn't because he didn't want me, it didn't matter then.

I was pissed, mostly from sheer disappointment and embarrassment.

He wanted me to give up my plans to go to his place. The offer was temping, but Maya is going to be here for me tomorrow and the day after that and probably ten years from now too. Whatever happens between me and Asher is going to last a night, maybe two or three more at most, but I know what his life is like.

He'll leave New York to go on tour. He'll hook up with whoever is screaming his name from the front row that night and every night after that will be a repeat.

I'll be here, working on building my career and my life. He'll be out there, somewhere in the world, charming another woman.

Maybe Maya's not so wrong about fate. Maybe it was fate that stopped Asher dead in his tracks today when we were kissing. If it was meant to be it would have happened. It didn't and tonight I'm open for any new adventure, Maya, or Tony, for that matter, throws my way.

I scoop my clutch into my palm and follow her out the door of her apartment, hoping this dinner will chase away what happened, or technically didn't happen, in my studio this afternoon.

***

"Are you ever going to forgive me for that?" Maya whispers as we step out of the restaurant after dinner. "I can't tell you how sorry I am."

"For what?" I ask with an animated cock of my head to the left. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"This train wreck of an evening I subjected you to," she mutters as she looks towards the curb where Tony and Jason are huddled together in a deep conversation. "I should have pre-screened Tony more closely. I had no idea he was considering getting back together with his ex-wife."

I shrug. "I know everything I'm ever going to want to know about Lenora Valdize. Who, by the way, has an ex-husband who worships the ground she walks on."

"You don't have to find a bright spot in this. You can be mad that I wasted your evening."

"Wasted my evening?" I half roll my eyes. "I got to have dinner at an expensive restaurant with my best friend and her boyfriend and a guy who is all kinds of crazy in love with a woman he just divorced. How is that a waste?"

"You could have been at Asher Foster's place."

I don't need the reminder. I've thought about him all day. It started when he calmly said goodbye and walked out of my studio. I had to push myself to focus during the hour long headshot session I had after he left. It was with a budding Broadway actress who nervously talked about her high school performance days while I tried to find the right angle to hide the large hickey on her neck. I finally gave up, deciding that it would be easier to remove it in post-production.

Dinner wasn't any better. Listening to the burly man seated next to me talk about kissing his ex-wife for the first time make me think of the taste of Asher's lips.

"You should call him now and see if he wants to hook up."

I smile at Maya, shaking my head. "I'm going home to bed. I don't think I'll be seeing Asher anytime soon."

"It's not going to kill you to sleep with him, Falon. You know what they say about all work and no play."

"You know what they say about rock stars."

"What do they say?" she asks with a slow drawl. "Do they say that it's an experience that you'll always remember and that you'll be able to write a memoir when you're old and gray about all the famous men you've fucked?"

"No one I've slept with has been famous," I point out.

"If memory serves," she pauses to tap herself on the forehead. "Tyler Monroe wanted to fuck you senseless when you took his picture."