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“Is there a timeframe to thisarrangement?” He can’t help but smile, and I’m sure it’s because he knows he makes me uncomfortable.
I’m making things up as I go along because I’ve never had anarrangementwith anyone before. It was either a relationship or it wasn’t, and it’s been a very long time since I’ve had to figure things out with someone.
“Until it’s not fun anymore,” I say somberly, resting my hip against the counter, drying my hands with the towel.
Adrian stands with his feet apart and crosses his arms over his chest. I can’t help but stare at him.“And I can’t touch you in your home?” he asks.
Shaking my head, no, I want to close my eyes because looking at him makes my brain clouded, but I need to stand firm.He’s like this delicious piece of cake and I’ve made a commitment to follow a horrendous diet fad that I’m only allowed to cheat on the weekends with… but it’s only Tuesday.
“Okay,” he says, nodding, then swivels on the heel of his carpenter boots and walks towards the door.
My mouth drops open in confusion. Maybe he finally realized that I’m too complicated for him. When I hear the front door shut my body jolts at the noise, and I step into the foyer to see him gone. There’s not even an outline of his shadow through the frosted double pane doors.
What the fuck just happened?
Standing at the door I feel my phone vibrate in my back pocket. Slowly I pull it out and look at the message on the screen from the same unknown number that texted me earlier.
A: Can you come out front please?
Confused, I wait a minute before opening the front door to see Adrian on the side of my front porch. As soon as I step out, he grabs the back of my neck, pulling me to him and crashing his mouth to mine with such force that I stumble. Holding me in place, he saves me from falling in the oleander bushes and I wrap my arms around his shoulders, sinking my fingers into his hair as I lean into the kiss.
“What are you doing?” I ask breathlessly between kisses.
He backs me up to the post, placing his hand above me like a cage. “You said I couldn’t touch you in the house,” he rasps, while I run my thumb over one of his dimples and press my body further into him. “You’re tempting me to fuck you on this front porch, but I’ll settle for this.” He smiles, capturing my mouth again, and I feel it all the way down to my toes.
“You have a thing for bushes,” I laugh against his mouth as I look to the oleander bushes we almost fell into that line my front window.
He doesn’t miss a beat, staring at me with hooded eyes, and says, “I have a thing foryou.”
This was only supposed to be one night, but here he is on my front porch, kissing me and telling me things I have no business believing. Our arrangement means no expectations, and no truths – only lies.
And he tells beautiful lies.
16
THE THIRD BUTTON
Tear me to Pieces by MEG MYERS
My phone vibrates against the polished wood conference table, shaking the projector that Lewis, the Chief Legal Officer’s laptop is plugged into, causing his PowerPoint presentation to shake on the screen.
From across the table, Lewis narrows his eyes at me in annoyance, and I purse my lips in response.
Discreetly, I turn my phone over to look at the text.
A: Can I see you?
My heart accelerates as if I’m in the passenger seat of a race car sitting at the starting line anticipating the green light.
L: I’m in a Board meeting.
Placing the phone back on the table, I try to focus on Lewis who bores us with the latest updates on consumer harm. He sits in front of his laptop across from me, bald head reflecting the light from the projector while sweat accumulates. Papers shuffle and someone clears their throat. From outside the large conference room, people pass by the glass doors, some stop and chat with each other. Everything is the same, except it isn’t, becauseI’mdifferent.
I have a secret.
Something that occupies my mind and distracts me from paying attention.
A: I bet every man in that room wishes they were fucking you on top of that conference table right now.
