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TENDERNESS
After chitchattingabout the industry and Drew’s sales, which continued to line his pockets with fat stacks of cash, he finished his dirty coffee and sat back in his seat. “I listened to the last two chapters. Honestly, they suck, Zel. You completely lost your mojo and they’re flat as fuck. What happened?”
The salad and grilled chicken I was motoring through lost all flavor when that bit of criticism bellyflopped into my lap.
To be fair, he was right.
Butouch.
I put down my fork. “Fucking Tristan happened.”
“Tell me,” he said around a mouthful of burger. Drew rarely worried about being couth. It wasn’t like he needed to impress me or anyone else.
He stood an inch taller than me and had fair skin covered in tattoos. His eyes were the soft green of sea-glass, and his hair was dirty blond and cut like Aithan’s fade, only shorter all around. He usually sported a beard of some kind. Today, he’d trimmed it close to his jawline. Wearing a gray cashmere sweater over a white dress shirt, he looked expensive. Of course, the man could fill out a three-piece suit like God made him and it for sin.
Drew was very easy on the eyes. Not beautiful like Aithan Mazur. Rougher. More raw-edged, I guess. He had this wild, anything-goes vibe, and a grin that could melt a woman’s ovaries. He was impish and sexy at the same time, and being around him raised my spirits.
“We were supposed to go to Puerto Vallarta in December.” I tracked a drop of water as it wept down the side of my glass. “I had the whole anniversary trip planned out. All he had to do was buy the plane tickets. Motherfucker couldn’t even manage that.”
“Too broke?”
“Too embarrassed.”
Drew’s face screwed up. “Huh?”
“I bought a bikini for Mexico. I modeled it for him, thinking it would get him more excited about the trip. You know what he said?” He shook his head, and I continued bitterly. “It was a fatkini — a bikini worn by fat chicks — and whales don’t belong on the beach.” The table got blurry and I grabbed my napkin to blot my eyes. “Fuck,” I whispered. Thank God we were in a booth. I hated making a scene, but Drew didn’t seem fazed by my sudden waterworks.
“Aw, hell, Brick. You don’t deserve to be cut up like this. That sad sack didn’t know how good he had it and you’re definitely better off without him. Boy’s got shit for brains if he can’t see how beautiful and amazing you are.”
I laugh-cried at that. “Thanks. I don’t know why I’m crying. He’s not worth it.”
“You got invested in the relationship because you never do things halfway.” He offered his napkin.
I waved it away. “I’m okay. Not wearing mascara, so the only loss was my eyeliner.”
“You don’t need makeup, babe. Your face is perfect no matter what.”
“Thanks.”
“Just calling it like I see it. I’ve been trying to get in your pants since the day we met.”
I laughed. It was true. He was an unbelievable flirt.
He sat back. “Let’s finish lunch, then go back to your house and go over those chapters. Let me help you reconnect with your mojo.”
“And Juno?” I meant his main character.
“Her, too.”
He paid the waiter, against my protests, and we walked back to my car. Drew looped my hand through his arm and kept me close. My boots made me a little taller than him, but he didn’t seem to mind as he strolled beside me, chin up, shoulders back, strutting like a motherfucking rooster.
“You’re acting like we’re together,” I remarked.
“’Cause we are.”
“No, I meantogethertogether.”
He grinned. “I’m acting like a man who’s proud to have a beautiful woman on his arm, Zel. It’s the way a guyshouldact when he’s with you.”
