CHAPTER52
LARISA
After Tanner left, I sat down with my old laptop and loaded up the program I was using for the design on the new client’s house. While I waited for the computer to realize that its break was over and that it needed to actually do something other than sit there with a donut circling around on itself in the center of the screen, I picked up my phone and called Brit.
I’d woken up to a string of text messages from her and several missed calls. Since this was the first opportunity I’d had to speak to her after last night, I settled in for the barrage of questions that was inevitably coming my way.
Lucky for her, my laptop really did take ages to load, so we had some time before I’d have to get to work. Brit answered on the third ring, and as I’d expected, she didn’t even say hello before she just started talking.
“Is he still there?” she asked. “God, please don’t be pissed off at me for telling him where you were last night. Your phone rang while you went to the bathroom, and I saw it was him, so I picked up. I told him he’d better not be calling to mess around with you some more, and he assured me that he wasn’t, so I told him. If he’s not still there or if you guys got into a fight, I’m going to kill him. Dead.”
“He’s not still here, but it’s because he’s giving me space to work,” I said. “We didn’t get into a fight and I’m not pissed off at you for telling him where we were. I owe you one, actually.”
“You do?” She sounded skeptical at first, but it quickly turned into excitement. “Okay, well, if he’s not there, then it means you can tell me every dirty detail about what happened after you left last night. I saw you two setting fire to the dance floor. I mean, if I got pregnant last night, it’s because I got infected by the sexual energy you guys were giving off. I was so glad you left when you did because it meant I could finally drag my husband home and have my way with him.”
I laughed. “Thanks for telling me. Now I’ll have to live with visuals of you having your way with Trevor and I’m just not sure I’m prepared for that.”
“Oh, fuck off.” She chuckled. “It’s not like you didn’t do the exact same thing. You did, right? Besides, Trevor and I are both hot. Some people would pay good money for those visuals of us, so don’t you go complaining about it now.”
“I wasn’t complaining. I just don’t know how I’m ever going to be able to look at your husband again without imagining him lying there while you had your way with him.”
“Trust me, he wasn’t complaining either,” she said, sassy as ever. “Also, I’ve always told you about this stuff and you’ve never had any problem looking at him before, so this shouldn’t be any different. Quit trying to change the subject and just tell me what happened with you and your hottie last night.”
“My hottie?” I laughed again. “He is hot, isn’t he?”
“Not as hot as Trevor, but sure.”
“To each their own,” I said agreeably. “A lot happened, but I’m not going into details. We have a date tonight, though, so I think it went well.”
“Wait, this is an actual date that both of you know is a date and you’re going on it despite everything that happened? Have you talked about it? Do you know what you did wrong on the house yet?”
“We’re going to talk tonight, I think,” I said. “We talked a little and he told me he really liked it. It looks like I was wrong about him hating it. He just said there were some things that took him by surprise, but that he got a lot of compliments at the housewarming and that he really does like what I did with it.”
“It would’ve been nice if he’d told you this before you spent an entire week hating yourself because of it,” she snapped. “Why did it take him so long?”
“I don’t know, but he apologized,” I said. “Frankly, I’m starting to think the whole thing was just a misunderstanding. He stayed over last night, he ordered us breakfast, and I think he wanted to spend the day together, but he left because I said I had to work.”
“He ordered you breakfast?” she asked. “That’s a very boyfriend-y thing to do. Don’t guys who are only after the sex usually get the hell out as soon as they can?”
“Yeah, that’s why I think there may be a misunderstanding somewhere. The way he’s acting makes it look like he really may be turning over a new leaf. It’s possible that I could’ve been wrong and that he may just be serious about a relationship between us.”
“Imagine that, you being wrong.” She giggled. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I agree with you. I’m ninety percent sure that you were wrong about that guy. The boy is definitely into you. You should’ve seen the way he burst into the club, laser focused on finding you. He didn’t stop moving until he did, and I don’t think he even noticed all the attention he was getting from other girls. He only had eyes for you, so that’s something.”
“It could be,” I said, not wanting to hope too much but also knowing that there was already a healthy dose of it taking root in my heart. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? My computer has finally started up and I really do need to get to work. I want to finish these designs in time to be able to at least shave my legs before our date.”
“Shave your legs, woman,” she instructed with a laugh. “Come hell or high water, promise me you’ll make the time to do it.”
I promised and then got to work on keeping said promise as soon as we hung up. For the next few hours, I only got up to make coffee or go to the bathroom. At some point in the afternoon, a private courier showed up with the laptop I’d sent back to him last week.
The delivery guy also gave me a box of bagels and cream cheese from a place Tanner knew I liked. Attached to it was a sweet, handwritten note in a scrawl I recognized as his. Touched by the fact that he’d even sent a note he’d written out himself, I decided to accept the laptop as the kind gift it had been meant to be.
Larisa,
Since I doubt you’re making time to feed yourself, I wanted to make sure you had some sustenance. Hurry up and work hard. I’ll be there soon to pick you up. Can’t wait to see you later.
- T
I smiled as I bit into the creamy deliciousness. A rush of exhilaration traveled through me when I realized this was the second boyfriend-y thing he’d done today—to quote Brit. While I didn’t have much experience dating players, I didn’t think this was the way they operated. It’s all wham, bam, thank you ma’am usually, right?