A Week in New York (The Empire State Series Book 1) (3 page)

“You have me bent over double from laughing, you prick.”

He knew she was hot. He knew I would have fucked her, just as
I told him I would when I first caught sight of her across the bar last night.
When I went over to her, Andrew had left to go home to Amanda. His wife. Of
five years, although they’d been together since college. Ten years fucking the same
woman. Or not fucking her, as Andrew so often complained. Jesus. I knew I
couldn’t do it. I didn’t even pretend it was a possibility. I had rules and I
didn’t keep them to myself. I was clear with the women I fucked. I didn’t
pretend it was anything other than sex. There were no broken promises, no
ambiguity. They never wondered if I would call—I never took their number.

There were a few women that had my number and I saw
semi-regularly. And when I say
saw
, I mean
fucked
. Joan, who
called me whenever she was between boyfriends. I was happy to help her out. Phoebe
who lived in Boston but came to New York once a month and was a fantastic lay.
And Fiona, who hadn’t called in a while, maybe she got married or something.
But I never called them. Not ever. That was rule Number Five.

“Mandy wants to know if you’re still coming up to the
Hamptons this weekend. I think she has a friend she wants to introduce you to.”

“Fuck, Andrew. I’m not fucking one of Mandy’s friends again.”
Mandy had introduced me to Susie last December. I’d been clear—very clear—with
her that I didn’t date. She seemed to be cool with that and she had great legs,
so I’d taken her back to her hotel. The sex had been very average and then she
tried to give me her number, which I politely refused, and she had gone bunny
boiler crazy. Mandy was pissy with me. Andrew had tried to talk me into going
to dinner with her. It was a fucking disaster.

“If I come to the Hamptons this weekend, I won’t be fucking
any of Mandy’s friends under any circumstances. Can you tell her that? Can you
make it clear that it’s not a case of not having found the right woman? It’s
that there are too many right women for me to limit myself to one. Tell her,
bud, or it’s going to get ugly.”

“You’re a dick.”

I grinned. “Likewise.”

“Later.”

I hung up.

“Anna” had been anything but average last night. She had been
exceptional. Feisty, demanding, hungry, responsive. My dick twitched at the
images invading my head. I picked up the pace to try to shake it off. When
women understood that it was only ever going to be one night, it was better.
They let go. Unusually, last night, it had been Anna who had made it clear that
there was going to be no follow-up. That had never happened to me before. I
found myself grinning. Her accent was cute. Her ass was better. Perfect—round,
smooth, firm. I felt stirrings again. She was on vacation, right? Only
stateside for one week. Enforced no strings. I’d already broken the no
sleepover rule. I might as well use it to my advantage. I stopped dead. She
would be naked right now. It was still early. I looked at my watch. I’d only
been out fifteen minutes. I’d been planning on running for an hour, giving her
time to get out before I got back. If I ran back now, she’d still be there and
I could wake her with my tongue between her legs.

Fuck.

Morning sex didn’t count as real if you knew they’d be 3,000
miles away within a week. I started the run back to the hotel.

Anna

I awoke sore. I could feel the half-formed bruises on my
neck, on my thighs, on my breasts. I smiled at the cause and then froze. Shit,
I hadn’t meant to fall asleep. I had been about to get dressed and head back to
Daniel’s place when Ethan had carried me back to bed, and true to his word, he
had fucked me all night. Oh god. I’d never had so much sex in one night, never
had such amazing sex, and never begged for it, as he told me I would, over and
over. I squirmed, feeling myself dampen at the memory. Was he still here? I
couldn’t bring myself to look. I couldn’t hear him breathing, but the bed was
as big as a small country, so that was no wonder. Did he live here? In a hotel?
I had so many unanswered questions. But, I told myself, I came here for fun,
not answers.

I rolled to my side and swung my legs off the bed. The bed
was empty. I held my breath, trying not to make a sound, so I could hear if
there was any noise on the other side of the door.

Nothing.

I grabbed the robe that had been discarded beside the bed and
pulled it around me, wincing as the movement brought my attention to my sore
back. I headed to the bathroom and lowered the robe, angling my back at the
mirror, to see if I could see the cause of the pain. My back was grazed. Oh
yes, that was from the part of last night where I was up against the wall, my
legs wrapped around Ethan’s waist as he pounded into me, pushing me farther and
farther up the wall. Friction burns. I blushed and tried to suppress a grin.

Tentatively, I opened the door to the bedroom into the living
room. Not a sound. He was gone, but his suit was still strewn across the living
room. I felt disappointed, and then embarrassed at my disappointment. It was
just sex. I gathered my clothes, took them back to the bedroom, and dressed
quickly. Should I leave a note? What was one-night stand etiquette? No, it was
just sex—no note required.

I called Leah and she answered on the first ring. “Don’t even
speak to me. I know I’m a slut.” I said before she’d even said hello.

She screeched. “Don’t you dare say that. You’re just having
yourself some fun. I want to hear all about it but we’ve got to have some
culture with our booze. Get yourself back here to change. I want to go to that
place you said was around the corner.”

“You want to go to The Frick?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“We’re going to talk about fucking in The Frick? That doesn’t
seem very appropriate.” We laughed.

“You can tell me all about it and then you can tell me again
over lunch and cocktails. Let’s go somewhere fancy. Get the concierge to book
something on the way out.”

I slipped out the suite, down the elevators, and without a
single shred of embarrassment, despite my evening attire, spoke to the
concierge who booked lunch for two at what I supposed was a very expensive restaurant.
I headed out into the humidity of a New York morning in July. It was only just
7 a.m. but it was already stiflingly hot. Once I orientated myself, I realized
I was about ten blocks from Daniel’s apartment, but I couldn’t walk, not in
these heels. Ten blocks was a long walk of shame. Except I wasn’t ashamed. I
felt great, like I’d scrubbed a layer of something unpleasant from me, and I
was now fresh and ready for my next chapter.

***

“So, I bet he was amazing. He looked like he would be amazing,”
Leah rambled as we strolled through Central Park, coffees in hand, taking in
the morning parkgoers, killing time while we waited for the Frick to open.

I grinned. He was amazing. The sex. The sex had been amazing.

“I have no complaints.”

“So, you see, you should take your own advice—it works!” she bumped
my shoulder with hers. “Are you going to see him again?”

“I told you, Leah, it was just sex. No kissing on the mouth.”

“Eww, you didn’t kiss him on the mouth but you let his penis
inside you?”

“No, I mean figuratively.” He’d been an excellent kisser. An
excellent everything. “You know, no emotional involvement.”

“Oh, like from
Pretty Woman
,” she said. I nodded.
“What is it with you and that film?”

I shrugged.

“So, what if he calls and asks you out again?”

“We’ve not been out to go out
again,
and anyway, he
doesn’t have my number.” Should I have left him my number or a note or
something? No, it was just sex.

Leah raised her eyebrows at me. I didn’t know if it was
disbelief of disapproval. Both, probably.

“It should be open now. Let’s go.” I wanted the subject
changed. I was in New York! I wanted to enjoy it. I picked up the pace as we
headed to The Frick. The streets seemed relatively peaceful. The commuters were
all behind their desks, leaving the streets to people who had to endure the
July heat—tourists like Leah and me, couriers, students, nannies pushing strollers,
schoolchildren on trips away from home.

“So you’re going to marry Daniel?” I asked. She’d accepted
his proposal weeks ago but I’d heard no mention of it since.

Leah didn’t respond straight away. “Yes, but there’s no rush.”

“I thought when you know, you know. You know?”

We laughed. “I know,” Leah answered. “I can’t imagine being
with anybody else. He makes me happy and I want to make him happy, forever. It
doesn’t matter if we’re married or not.”

“That’s nice,” I said. I meant it.

“It will happen for you.”

I smiled at her and shrugged my shoulders. “It’s all about
fun for me now. I’ve tried to find ‘it’ or ‘the one’ and it hasn’t happened, so
I officially give up. I want fun. Nothing complicated.”

The air conditioning in the museum was a godsend. “Shall we
just stay here all day? We can be cool and cultured at the same time.”

“No doubt our very expensive restaurant will have A/C and we
can get a cab. It’s too hot to walk.” Leah always looked perfectly beautiful,
but even her glossy straight hair had the start of a frizz around it. I’d long
since given up with mine. The humidity took the hint of a natural curl and
turned me into Diana Ross.

“Ok, as long as I can day drink, I’ll let you take me to
lunch.”

“I’m honored.”

“You should be.”

Ethan

I scanned the restaurant but I couldn’t see her. Maybe my intel was
wrong.

I’d felt cheated when I got back to the hotel. I was hoping to put my
hard-on to good use and clear my head. But she’d cleared out. No number. No
goodbye. You’d think she would have hung around to see if I was coming back.
We’d had fucking phenomenal sex. I’d made her come five or six times.

I didn’t like it when things didn’t go my way, so I’d made a few discrete
enquiries with the lobby staff, who I had hoped might have put her in a cab,
but better than that, the concierge had booked lunch for her for later today. Anna
was meant to be in this restaurant this lunchtime.

“So what’s the big news?” Andrew asked.

“What?”

“Why have you dragged me out to lunch?”

“Dragged you? You’re my bud.”

“I saw you last night, dude. I’m sick of you.”

“Fuck you.”

“Did you get laid?”

I raised my eyebrows.

“Dude. Come on. Did you?”

I grinned at him.

“Fuck you,” he said.

“That’s what I thought.”

I heard her laugh and looked up from my menu. Yes, it was her at the door.
She was with her friend from the night before, the one that was seeing
Armitage. She didn’t see me as she made her way behind the waitress to a table
across the room from us. She looked different from last night. Somehow better
than I remembered. Even though it had just been a few hours since I last saw
her, the sight of her warmed something in me. I quickly looked back at my menu
before I could see where she was seated. What the fuck was I doing? I was
fucking stalking this girl. Suddenly I realized what a pathetic prick I was.
“Let’s order,” I huffed and immediately caught the eye of a waitress who scurried
over.

“So, you still haven’t told me what we’re doing here,” Andrew said.

“Shut up and order,” I barked. “I’ll have the rib eye, rare, with
spinach. And a beer.” The waitress gave me the look. The look that said she’d
go down on me right there if I asked her to. It calmed me. I grinned at her and
she blushed. Not my type.

I slung my arm on the back of the booth and relaxed. On a quick scan of
the restaurant I couldn’t see her. Maybe we could have lunch and I could get
out without running into her. What was I thinking coming here?

“I spoke to Mandy about setting you up. I guess this is why we’re here.”

“Was she ok about it?” I liked Mandy; we’d been friends a long time. I
didn’t want to piss her off, but I really didn’t want to be fucking her friends
again.

“She told me your penis would shrivel up and fall off, but you’re off the
hook. No more set-ups. For now, anyway. But you’re coming to dinner on Friday
right? Come over in the afternoon and we can play tennis.”

Andrew and Mandy’s place in East Hampton had a tennis court. I was using
my sister’s place. She had moved to London with her husband last summer and
didn’t make it back very often since they had their daughter Izzy, so I took
full advantage. It had a good-sized pool and some great running routes nearby.
I was looking forward to emptying my mind of the day to day this weekend. Work
was a bitch at the moment and I needed to clear my head.

“Dude, is that that girl from last night?” Andrew indicated behind me.