Page 47 of Sweet Spot

My ears perked up.

“I guess what I’m telling you is that I liked your presentation enough to forego my relationship with the other company. I’ve chosen to work with your brand, Lia. And if it’s alright with you, I’d like to meet on Monday to begin paperwork.”

My mouth fell wide open. “Oh!” I blurted, bursting into laughter as Lukas cocked his perplexed head at me. I did my best to hold it together for the rest of the call but I was mouthing oh my God on repeat to Lukas and quietly freaking out as he did his best to muffle his big laughs.

Oh my God.

Oh my God.

Finally.

I did it. It was happening. Three years ago, I was underemployed, miserable and living with a man who not so secretly wished for me to fail. Now I was living on my own, working on my own and perhaps just months away from opening my own shop in Manhattan.

The second I hung up, I burst into tears.

“Whoa, whoa. Why are we crying?” Lukas murmured, trying to dig my face out from my hands. “You got it, right? Lia. Look at me.”

When I finally looked up at him, laughing and crying at the same time, he broke into an adorably huge grin that made my heart swell even more.

“I knew it. You’re fucking unstoppable,” he said, cupping my cheeks and kissing my lips like he’d been waiting the entire call to. I tossed my phone aside as we fell back onto the bed again and this time, as I basked in the bliss of his lips and his body on me, I didn’t force myself to feel guilt. I let myself squeal when he said that he was going to order champagne and I giggled nonstop as he suggested – jokingly, I think – that we go to Spain tonight to celebrate. All rules and restrictions went out the window as we lay in bed, rolled around and fought about who would open the door for room service.

For once, in that hotel room with Lukas, I just let myself be.

17

LIA

I wore a peach colored sundress on Monday that matched the satin ribbon on my truffle boxes. It was a borderline cheesy thing to do but I was too happy to care.

My weekend had been perfect.

Beyond perfect.

After getting the good news from Elaine, Lukas popped a bottle of Krug and drank his glass while watching me run around the room calling my friends and family to relay the good news. We stayed the night and when I woke up nervous on Sunday, he booked me a massage at the spa on the hotel’s thirtieth floor. After killing a bottle of champagne at dinner, we went back to the room. The bubbles and the excitement had me dozing off fast but in the middle of the night I woke up hot and breathless from a dream.

All it took were my fingertips drifting down the ridges of Lukas’s abs for him to wake up and roll, cup my jaw and roll on top of me. His fingers inside me were enough to make me come. Of course, the actual sex did the trick, too.

Twice.

I was still glowing from it – so much so that Elaine made a comment about my “dewy skin” during our meeting at a beautiful restaurant on 18th and Broadway. She picked the place because of the ornate floral arrangements and slightly retro feeling that matched much of what I wanted for my own shop. Over the course of two-and-a-half hours, we covered everything about the upcoming project, from décor to location – down to the street.

I wanted to open near home, in Gramercy Park. For such a small, aristocratic neighborhood, it was incredibly diverse, full of both old money and young students from the famous art schools in the area. It was my dream spot for opening my first storefront and in order to find the perfect listing, Gail provided me with several business cards from her most trusted realtors.

I was all set and completely reenergized. I was so completely over the moon that my smile barely faltered when my phone buzzed with a text from someone unexpected.

Ritchie.

Stopping in the middle of the sidewalk, I stared down at my phone. The edges of my lips finally twitched back down as I swiped my thumb across the screen to read his first words to me in two years.

RITCHIE: Hey Lia I hope you’re well. Actually I know you are… saw your dad at the store this morning and he was pretty ecstatic for once. Said you got some big investment deal over the weekend? That’s crazy. I’m so fucking happy for you and I mean that. This has been your dream for so long. It kind of pains me that Mom isn’t around to see.

RITCHIE: So… aside from congratulating you I wanted to text you to let you know I’m finally selling the house. Thinking of getting out of town like you did. Maybe starting my own business. Long story short I was cleaning when I found a box at the back of Mom’s closet that she labeled for you. It says FOR LIA in her crazy ass handwriting lol. I lifted it and it sounds delicate so I’m not about to ship it. And since there’s still a bunch of other stuff that was yours here, I figured I’d see if you’re interested in coming up here to get it.

RITCHIE: That’s all. Sorry for the random text. Hope this is still your number. And I hope you do come by because me and everyone else would be happy to see you and hear about your successes. You deserve all of them. Talk soon I hope.

* * *

Thanks to the unexpected message, which prompted a twenty-minute call with Sara, I was late to meet Lukas for drinks – or as he called it, a “date.” His need to make that clear on the phone had put a giant smile on my face, as if I needed any more reason.