Had Enough

by Anie Michaels

  She said the words without emotion, but it still felt as though she was hurt by the idea of being left out. Not angry, but a little sad she hadn’t been invited. I’d met Riley’s co-workers a few times before the wedding, and then after the wedding we spent quite a bit of time together, and neither Jasper nor Rachel seemed like the type to hurt anyone’s feelings intentionally.

  “They probably didn’t even go,” I offered. “Riley seems like the glue that holds everybody together.”

  “She definitely holds me together,” Hadley replied, her voice soft but solid.

  I watched her take the first sip of sake, her lips delicate against the glass, coaxing the cold liquid in. Without taking my eyes off her I brought my bottle of Hef to my mouth, taking a long pull. She sipped a few times before placing the glass back on the table. Then her eyes turned to me, flashing with excitement.

  “So,” she began, smiling a wild and happy grin.

  “Tell me the crazy thing that happened today.”

  “I got that call to meet that developer out in BFE, right?”

  “Right.”

  “Well, this guy turns out to be the architect and builder for these insanely huge and beautiful homes. Enormous and gorgeous homes,” she said, leaning in closer to emphasize her words. “Houses so big and so grand, they are almost too much.” She leaned back in her chair again, tucking her hair behind her ear.

  “Big blank canvases,” I added and her eyes went soft, as though my understanding her excitement—getting why big, empty, beautiful houses would be exciting to her—affected her.

  “Yes. Big blank canvases.” She paused for a moment, smiling radiantly at me, but then she continued. “He wants to hire me to stage all of them. All of them. Like, a contract. And he wants to pay me one percent of the closing price.”

  “Is that typical?” I asked. Something about the situation sounded off.

  “Not for me. I usually charge a fee based on size of the property. But also, I usually only work with a client once. Maybe twice if they end up moving soon after buying. But this guy is building tons of houses this year and next, and he wants to work with me.” She paused for a moment and then, practically bouncing in her seat, leaned forward. Her next words were whispered excitedly. “The contract would bring in six figures over the next year, Justin.”

  It was obvious to myself and probably anyone else who knew Hadley that she wasn’t hurting financially. She was making it on her own in an expensive city, running her own company, living on her own. She didn’t have a car, but I got the impression that was more for convenience and environmental reasons, not because she couldn’t afford one. But, I was also fairly certain a six-figure contract was significantly more money than she was used to making.

  “Holy shit, Hadley. That’s amazing.”

  “Isn’t it?”

  Again with the bouncing. I could hardly watch it without imagining her naked and bouncing in other places.

  “When do you start? When is the first house ready?”

  “Two weeks.” She smiled and took another sip of her sake. “Oh, and you should see this house, Justin. It’s right on some river up in Washington. Absolutely stunning. Totally in the middle of nowhere and there’s no cell service, but it’s beautiful.”

  “You think you could ever live somewhere with no cell service?”

  She tilted her head to the side and seemed to contemplate my question. “I think I could take a vacation somewhere without cell service. Like, a few days, maybe. But I don’t think I want to be out of touch that much every day, ya know?”

  “Indeed.”

  “Like, I’d buy a cabin in the woods as an escape, but not a residence.”

  “Vacation home.”

  “Hashtag life goals.”

  “Beach or mountain cabin?”

  “Duh, beach.”

  “Same.”

  Our waiter came and dropped off our food and I watched as Hadley expertly used chopsticks to eat her sushi. I didn’t even try to use them as I never developed that skill. Instead, I cut into my chicken with a fork and knife.

  “I was thinking, since things seem to be progressing with us,” I said as nonchalantly as I could manage, “perhaps we could make some plans to have dinner with my parents. You know, do the whole meet the parents thing.” I held my breath, waiting for her answer. I didn’t realize how much her reaction would mean to me until I spoke the words. If she refused to meet my parents now—even as just my girlfriend—it could mean I had read things between us wrong.

  Instead, however, she answered without hesitation.

  “Sounds good. When were you thinking?” She popped another rolled up bite in her mouth and chewed, staring at me expectantly.

  It took me a few moments, but I finally moved and leaned over the table, having to stand slightly to reach her, and kissed her right on the mouth. I caught her off guard and a surprised noise left her mouth, but she relaxed into me almost immediately and kissed me back.

  When I fell back into my chair she was smiling at me.

  “What was that for?”

  I shrugged before I could stop myself. “Just because.”

  “Hmm,” she hummed. “Maybe later we could do that naked. Just because.”

  “That could be arranged.”

  She winked at me and I knew in that moment—sitting in a Japanese restaurant after a long day at work—I was completely in love with Hadley Hart. And for the first time since our crazy Vegas wedding, I wasn’t immediately overwhelmed with feelings of, What if this doesn’t work? No. Instead, I was thinking, This could work.

  God, I wanted it to work.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Hadley

  “Have you thought about, if you’re going to be working out of town more often, maybe getting a car? You can borrow mine whenever you want, it’s no problem, I was just thinking of maybe trading mine in for something smaller.”

  Justin’s voice floated into the bathroom and I smiled at my reflection in the mirror.

  No one told me it would feel this good. To have someone concerned about me. To have a man worried about me. Thinking about me. Considering me and making accommodations for me. And in reality, I thought someone trying to fit me into their life would feel heavier than this. I was expecting the weight to push me down. I never imagined it could lift me up.

  I understood, even if it was a little late, why I pushed him away in the beginning. I must have known on some level that anything with Justin couldn’t possibly be casual. I knew if I let him crack me open even a little, my whole wall would come crumbling down and he’d see everything. It never occurred to me that he may want everything. But it seemed everything was exactly what he wanted.

  I left my meeting that day with Aiden Daniels on a high and I did what I always did when I was in an extremely good mood: I went shopping. Retail therapy was real and even though shopping always lifted my mood when I was down, it could also sustain a high. Shopping was my most favorite thing. And lucky for Justin, that afternoon when I found myself with a couple hours free and a car I was able to hit my most favorite store.

  Amante was a small, intimate, high-end lingerie boutique. When I wanted something classy and wanted to feel sexy, even if only for myself, that was where I went. And don’t get me wrong, no woman buys lingerie without thinking how a man would see her in it, but I’d never had a particular man in mind. Just men in general. But that afternoon I’d gone to Amante with Justin in mind.

  I was hoping to surprise him, as well as inspire him.

  I flipped the bathroom light off, took a deep breath to calm myself, and made my way into his bedroom.

  He was standing next to his bed, close to a club chair he kept in the corner of his room to catch clothes. At least, that was what I assumed it was for since I never saw him sitting on it, but his clothes always ended up there at night. I’d held my tongue telling him that club chairs were really more for sitting rooms, meant to be placed next to a fireplace. I thought of suggesting an ottoma
n or even a winged chair—typically found more in bedrooms—but I was waiting until our relationship was fully cemented to give him decorating advice.

  “You could drive my SUV, but I think it’s a little big for you. But, I don’t know, maybe you need something big to haul furniture. But we could go look at some smaller electric cars.” He pulled on the end of his belt, freeing it from the clasp, and I watched as his biceps rippled with the action.

  Somehow, Justin found time to work out. I wasn’t sure if he’d been to the gym since we’d gotten back from Vegas, but I knew from months of trying to stay away from him that he definitely spent time at a gym. Men didn’t have arms and abs like his without earning them.

  He unzipped his suit pants and lifted one leg out, then the other, and tossed them on that damned chair, belt and all. He stood there in just his boxer briefs and reached for the comforter, pulling it back. Just when he looked as though he was about to climb into bed, he glanced over at where I stood leaning against the threshold to the bedroom.

  “Jesus, Hadley,” he said in a strained voice, his eyes moving up and down my body rapidly.

  “You like?” I asked coyly, looking down at myself. The cups of my bra were made of a very open lace pattern and I knew they hid nothing. Same with the tiny scrap of lace that made up the matching panties. Something about black lace lingerie felt serious. This was not fun, sexy underwear. No, this was serious. I didn’t want Justin, my husband, to look at me and think I looked good. I wanted him to put his hands on me, to feel me, to feel good with me, make me feel good too.

  In all honesty, there wasn’t much to the lingerie, which was probably why it was so expensive. Good lingerie—the kind you only got to wear for a few minutes before it was removed—was always worth the money you paid for it, even if you were eating ramen for a month to cover the cost.

  “I like very much,” he said, then cleared his throat. “Come here.”

  I don’t know why I hesitated. What did I expect when I bought the lingerie and then put it on? I expected to be ravished. We would need to be closer for that to occur. But walking toward him was difficult. It felt as though every step was permanent. The closer I got to him, the more I wanted him, and I didn’t think the need for him would ever dissipate. So, going to him in that moment was sealing my fate.

  But I did it.

  I walked to him.

  And I watched as his eyes took in every single part of me, his gaze only meeting mine when I was standing just inches away.

  He sat slowly on the bed, his hands coming to my waist and pulling me closer. He trailed his thumbs up my sides softly and every part of me shuddered at his touch. His mouth touched my belly just above my navel. The contact of his mouth against my skin caused my knees to wobble and my hands went to his shoulders just to hold myself up.

  His left hand slid up my torso, sliding slowly over the lace of my bra, as his right hand moved down and caught my leg behind my knee, pulling it up on the bed.

  I straddled him, eyes closed, simply reveling every part of his body touching mine. His mouth moving up to my breast, his hand gripping my ass, the way his cock was straining against me—it was all overwhelming.

  Suddenly he was moving and I was on my back, my legs instinctively wrapping around his waist, urging him closer. My panties were gone, then my bra, and then his briefs.

  Then it was just him and me.

  And nothing else.

  “Tell me what you need,” he whispered between raining kisses down my neck and along my collarbone.

  I didn’t have the words for him. What I needed was too big, too much, too great to ask for. So instead, I simply answered, “Just you.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Hadley

  I floated to work on a cloud the next morning. After years of trying so hard to separate sex and feelings, to build a barrier between the physical and emotional aspects of sharing my body with someone, I was in no way prepared for how it would feel when I let that wall come crashing down. Or how deeply Justin would be felt, how long I would carry those feelings with me.

  The mornings after casual hook-ups were usually better mornings by comparison. Good sex—that primal release—always made for a good following day. But nothing came close to the sweetly sublime feeling I had the morning after making love with Justin.

  Love.

  Honest to goodness love.

  A year ago, if you’d told me I’d be married and falling in love with someone, I would have laughed you right out of your crazy pants. Nothing good could come from love. Sex? Yes. Definitely. But love was some sort of chemical imbalance that usually only afflicted needy women.

  I watched Riley fall in love with Camden and found myself eating my own words, encouraging her to let the love happen, to stop pushing it away, and all the while I was fighting it myself.

  Thank God for Vegas.

  Hashtag things I never thought I’d say.

  I floated on my sexy love cloud all the way to work and it got me through the first part of my day, only to be joined by more good feelings when Aiden Daniels called me. I hadn’t recognized the number when my cell rang, but as soon as he introduced himself, all the excitement from the project came rushing back.

  “I’m glad I managed to get a hold of you. I’m sorry I had to rush the end of our meeting yesterday,” he said. “I feel like we never got to the important part of the meeting.”

  “Oh, that’s fine. I completely understand. I was still kind of in shock over the beauty of your house. I probably wasn’t very professional, what with my jaw on the floor and everything.”

  He laughed. “Not at all. You were a joy. Sometimes in the thick of it, you forget the most important part of the job, which is how the structure makes you feel. You gave me something I’d been lacking and needed. I needed to see someone love the house. So, thanks.”

  “I mean, any time you need someone to drool over gorgeous houses, I’m your gal.”

  “I was hoping you’d say something like that.”

  He was quiet for a beat and I didn’t really know how to respond, but he continued.

  “Do you have time for a meeting tomorrow? I’d like to talk more about our arrangement, maybe set some terms in stone, get a contract started.”

  “Definitely,” I said, trying to tamp down the excitement and come across as the professional I knew I was. “When works for you?”

  “I’m on a site all day, and then I’d have to drive back into town. Does a dinner meeting work for you? I prefer to talk business over steak.”

  “Uh, I think I could work that into my schedule.”

  “Great. Where can I pick you up from? Will seven work?”

  “Oh, you don’t have to pick me up. I can meet you wherever. Just tell me the time and place.”

  “I don’t mind driving you.”

  “I appreciate that, really, but it’s unnecessary. And honestly, sometimes I don’t know where I’ll be by the end of the day anyhow.”

  “If you insist.”

  “Just text me wherever you want to meet and I’ll be there.”

  “Looking forward to it. See you tomorrow evening, then.”

  “See you then.”

  The call disconnected and I held the phone out, just staring at it.

  “Everything okay?” Amy finally asked me after a quiet minute.

  I turned and saw her concerned expression.

  “Yeah. I mean, I think so. I just...”

  “What?”

  “I’m just not sure if I agreed to a business meeting or a date.”

  Amy is quiet for a moment, but then lets out a laugh. “I, for one, have never been confused about that before. What in the world are you talking about?”

  I spun my chair around to face her.

  “He was calling about a contract. He wants me to stage his houses. But it sounded like maybe he wanted me to do a lot more than that. But he never came right out and said it. I don’t really know what to think about it.”

  “You’re p
robably reading too much into it. Now that you’re off the market you’re just adjusting to having to turn men down. He’s probably just overly friendly.”

  I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth, nibbling with worry.

  “You’re probably right.”

  “What a problem to have, Hadley. Really. Men coming at you left and right.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her double entendre, making her laugh.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I can assure you, I don’t,” I said, laughing along with her.

  It was later that day, after lunch, when a smile bloomed at the sight of Justin’s name on my phone screen.

  “Hello,” I answered, sounding stupidly sweet even to myself.

  “I can hear your smile,” he said immediately, making me blush.

  I was still sitting at my desk, trying to get caught up on the paperwork side of owning your own business, and I relaxed back into my chair.

  “Seems I’ve been smiling a lot lately.”

  “It’s your best look.”

  “Did you call just to compliment me? Because if that’s the case, I can free up a little time to talk.”

  “Yes and no,” he said with a laugh. “But if you could find some time this evening, that would be great. My mom just called to tell me they accepted an offer on their house.”

  “Oh my gosh! That’s great news!”

  “It is great news. I’m taking my parents out to dinner tonight to celebrate and I thought it would be a perfect time to introduce you to them as more than just my friend who stages houses.”

  My heart stopped at his words and my smile disappeared.

  “Tonight?” It was clear in my tone that night would be a problem.

  “Will that not work?”

  Shit. “Mr. Daniels called me a few hours ago and asked to meet me tonight to go over contracts.”

  “Mr. Daniels?”

  “Aiden Daniels. The man who builds the magnificent houses? The one I drove out to meet yesterday?”

  He was quiet for a moment and I couldn’t think of anything to say either.