AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘W-wait. We start this thing tomorrow. I need to, you know, ask you questions and stuff. We need to set some rules.’ The words are true but sound frantic, like I’m desperate to keep him here. I change my tone. ‘You must need to know things about me to tailor a plan to me?’
His reluctance is palpable. ‘I guess. But I need to go and get something to eat. I’ll come back after dinner.’
‘You said you had a tuna steak before coming to collect me from my hotel.’
‘I did. Now I’m hungry again.’
‘You’re a beast.’
‘And you’re a stick insect.’
‘Whatever. Look, I could eat. Why don’t we have dinner together and talk about tomorrow? I need to grab a shower. Maybe we could order in? There must be something healthy around here. I mean, we are in Manhattan.’
‘Fine.’
Gosh, he’s hard work. ‘Fine. Do you mind if I take a shower and wash this grime off?’
‘Make sure you wash the sweat from your tits.’
I turn to scowl but his head is already lowered as he scrolls through his phone.
I grab a towel – Brooks’ towel – and my toiletries bag and head into the shower. I clean my teeth over the sink as steam begins to fill the room.
The door startles me when it pops open. I turn my head to look down the corridor but it’s empty. I close the door again and keep cleaning my teeth. The door pops again. Argh! I close it again and put my toiletry bag on the floor as a doorstop.
I climb under the warm stream of the shower and start to think about some nice, healthy food. Maybe sashimi or a tofu broth. I realize I’m hungrier than I thought.
After a shorter time than I would usually take, I step out of the shower and wrap a towel around myself. I pick up my toiletry bag and find my moisturizer. With one leg up on the sink, I start to rub in the new brand of product I picked up in duty-free to try.
12
BROOKS
I can’t wait to see her face when our extra-large meat supreme pizza is delivered to the door. If I’m going to be forced to spend time with this woman, I might as well entertain myself in the process.
I continue trying to sit on the kitchen stool without thinking about how much I need to take a leak but I’ve turned gray in the time the woman has been in the shower.
I can’t take it any longer. Maybe she has an en suite, like in my place. If there’s no second toilet, I’m going to have to go to my own bathroom. I head toward her bedroom. I don’t hear the shower running but I do hear humming. A sweet, almost angelic sound that makes me think it can’t possibly be coming from such a hostile woman as Izzy.
I’m stopped in my tracks by a sight that has me swallowing hard. The bathroom door is ajar, the mirror above the sink steamed. I follow the foot that is raised onto the side. I follow it up a long, smooth, damn fine leg. I take a deep breath to calm my racing pulse as I watch Izzy’s hands move over her skin as she rubs in body lotion.
Down, boy! She’s bad news.
I turn too quickly, wincing as the floor creaks beneath my feet. I walk straight for salvation, away from temptation. Before I close the apartment door behind me, I hear the bathroom door slam shut. Did she know? Did she want me to see that?
Was the hand down the bra thing for my benefit too?
One thing I am certain of: this stupid PR exercise is going to end in two weeks and that spoiled, hot-as-hell brat is going back to London. Then my life will resume some sort of order.
Back in my apartment, I unzip my pants and take my much-needed leak. Before fastening my jeans again, I give my man a little stroke. Just a small one. I’m sorry, buddy. Give me two weeks, that’s all.
I grab two bottles of beer from my fridge before heading back to Izzy’s apartment, feeling like Tantalus. I shall not be tempted. I shall not.
Izzy is sitting on the sofa, wearing lounge bottoms and a T-shirt. A thin one. A thin, white T-shirt. And she’s braless. I think of her personality and it’s enough to quash any sexual thoughts.
‘Here.’ I hand her a beer. ‘A congratulatory beer for publication day.’
‘That almost sounded genuine. Thanks, but I don’t really drink.’
