“So, hold up,” Bethany said. “Not that I care because I like you a lot more, but wasn’t Lucy’s sister dating David?”
I nearly choked on my wine and started coughing. Evidently, Dani was an issue that wasn’t going away, like a fly that wouldn’t stop buzzing around me. Everyone stared at me again. “They went on a few dates,” I said. “But David says it didn’t mean anything.”
“It didn’t,” Gretchen said. “You told me he didn’t even do anything with her.”
I wavered, not exactly thrilled at the idea of sharing all this with a roomful of people. “Bill came to see me this afternoon.”
“Ah.” Gretchen walked over to the counter to refill her wine. “No wonder you’re here. What’d he say to fuck you up?”
“Well, he kissed me.”
Gretchen spun around as her roommates gasped. “And?” Ava asked.
“It was . . . different. Not terrible. But nothing like kissing David.”
“Obviously,” Gretchen said. “Please don’t tell me you told David.”
“I did, and to his credit, he didn’t feel threatened like I thought he might. Instead, we fought about how I let Bill get in my head. Including what he said about Dani.”
“What’d he say?” Greg blurted. When we all looked at him, he blushed, then shrugged. “What? I’m invested now.”
I sighed. “Dani told Bill that she and David slept together. David insists that they only kissed.”
“You think he lied to you?” Gretchen asked.
David’s eyes had always held truth. He’d done nothing to deserve the skepticism I’d thrown his way earlier. “No,” I said. “But I also don’t know why she’d lie.”
“I don’t think anything serious happened,” Gretchen said, taking her phone from the pocket of her kimono. “Lucy would’ve mentioned it.”
“Why don’t you just ask Dani?” Bethany suggested.
Gretchen cocked her head. “Good idea. I’ll text her now. Unless you want to, Liv?”
“What?” I asked, blanching. “No. Don’t text her.”
“Aren’t you the teensy bit curious?” Ava asked.
I thought of David alone at his apartment. He’d made it clear I wasn’t welcome there tonight. If he wanted, he could invite over anyone he wanted—I doubted it would take more than a phone call to the right woman.
I glanced at my own phone, glaringly devoid of any messages or calls from him. But I was the one who’d put us in that situation, not him. And I knew deep down, he was upset. I’d been so worried about the women in his past, and part of me couldn’t let go of the fact that he might leave one day. But he’d told me over and over that he didn’t want anyone else. And I chose to believe him.
“No, I’m not curious about David and Dani. He said they didn’t sleep together, and he wouldn’t lie,” I told Ava, turning to Gretchen. “Nothing happened. You don’t need to text her.”
“Already did.” Gretchen lifted herself to sit on the kitchen counter, and her fingers flew over the screen. “Just a sec. We’re talking. Things are heating up.”
“Heating up?” I asked through a dry throat. “Why? What’s she saying?”
“This is really strange behavior,” Greg said. “I feel like I’m in some kind of alternate universe.”
Ava threw a wine cork at him. “That’s what you get for crashing girls’ night.”
Gretchen slammed her phone on the counter. “Fucking asshole.”
“Who?” I asked, my heart suddenly pounding in my ears. She didn’t mean David. She couldn’t. “Who’s an asshole?”
She picked up her phone again, and after a moment of navigating, held it up. On speakerphone, ringing filled the kitchen.
She was calling Dani? I didn’t have a chance to tell her to hang up before Dani answered. “What do you want, Gretchen?” she asked.
“Olivia’s here,” she said. “Tell her what you just told me.”
“David and I never slept together. We kissed once,” she said. A modicum of relief passed over me. I’d been right to trust David. Until she added, “Only because you ruined any chance I had with him, Olivia.”
Irritation quickly flooded out my relief. She didn’t know shit about my relationship with David. “I’m the reason you and David aren’t together?” I asked. “If you think David lets anyone get in the way of what he wants, you don’t know him at all.”
Gretchen snorted. “A guy who’s interested doesn’t go on four dates without making a single move.”
“Like you’ve ever made it to four dates, Gretchen?” Dani asked. “Everyone knows you’re a slut—’”
I gasped. “Hey! That’s totally uncalled for.”
“I feel sorry for you, Olivia,” Dani continued. “You blew up a perfectly good marriage for a guy who’ll throw you out like yesterday’s trash when he’s done with you.”
My face flamed. Who the fuck did she think she was? “I’d rather be trash and a slut than a judgmental bitch. You’re clearly jealous that David’s mine, and guess what? He’s not going anywhere. That man loves me in a way Bill never could.”
Everyone in the kitchen turned wide eyes on me.
“Yeah, so go to hell,” Gretchen said into the phone and hung up.
“Holy shit,” Bethany said, looking between the two of us. “That was intense.”
“Whatever,” I said with a shrug, but my heart pounded. I didn’t remember ever speaking to someone with such vitriol, but God, it felt good to finally stand up for my relationship. “She’s been getting on my nerves for a while.”
“Mine, too.” Gretchen grinned. “I like this side of you. That’s the Liv you need to show David. The one who’s going to fight for him.”
I swallowed down a gulp of wine. Gretchen wasn’t wrong. But how did I show him when there was a sudden gulf between us?
“So who’d you call an asshole earlier?” Bethany asked, her brows furrowed.
“Bill,” Gretchen said. “Someone lied here, and it wasn’t David or Dani.”
That was true. If Dani hadn’t told Bill she’d slept with David, then he’d made it up. I looked into my wineglass. “He’s desperate.”
“That’s not an excuse,” Gretchen said.
“I know.” My stomach churned at the idea of confronting him, too, but with the adrenaline rush of what I’d just done, I knew I had to—for myself and for David. “I’ll talk to him.”
“God, I’m all amped up now,” Gretchen said, hopping down from the counter and pacing the kitchen. She nodded at Ava. “Is dinner ready? Let’s eat and then go out.”
My heart raced, too. I didn’t want to stay in. I’d rather have gone to David’s, but that wasn’t happening, so I took out my cell. “Brian Ayers e-mailed me an invitation to some art opening tonight,” I said. “It was meant for David and me, but I don’t think Brian’ll mind if I bring you guys.”
Gretchen rolled her eyes. “I’m not going to stand around some pretentious gallery with Brian the poser. I want to take shots.”
“It’s not like that,” I said, my eyes scanning Brian’s e-mail. “It’s at a dive bar in Wicker Park. Very low-key, hipster spot.”
Ava took a stack of dishes from a cupboard. “Dinner’s ready. Let’s scarf it down and go see us some art.”
Like the gentleman he was, Brian wasn’t only happy to have us, but he even met us out front when our cab arrived. “Well, I’ll certainly be the hero of the evening with all these beautiful women on my arm,” he said, helping each of us out of the car. He leaned into the backseat to offer Gretchen his hand, then paused when he saw her sitting on Greg’s lap. “Make that four women and—Gregor, was it?”
Gretchen scowled, ignoring Brian’s help. “Just Greg. My boyfriend.”
“How could I forget?” Brian straightened up and offered me his elbow. “Shall we?”
Inside, I could barely see the paintings in the dimly lit bar with overhead lights that alternated between yellow and red. At the bar, Brian and I ordered a couple tequila shots.
“She doesn’t waste any time, does she?” Brian asked.
I followed his gaze to Gretchen, deep in conversation with Bethany and two men in suits. Greg was nowhere to be seen. “What is it about her that bugs you?” I asked.
“Nothing, honey.” He tilted his head in her direction. “Just not my type.”
“Why not?” I asked. “You said at the Meet and Greet that you want a ‘clever’ girl with ‘edge,’ and she’s both of those things. And there’s no denying she’s gorgeous.”
“What you say is true, Liv.” Brian tucked some of his blond locks behind his ear. “But she’s also high-maintenance and snobby.”
I thought it was funny how they’d each called the other some form of pretentious—when, at the heart of it, neither she nor Brian was. “Let me get this straight,” I said. “Pretty girl tries to kiss you—you turn her down.”
“Yes.”
“Because she’s high-maintenance and snobby?” I asked.
He sighed, still watching her. “Look at her. She’s beautiful. Why does she wear all that makeup and dress like that?”
As if she could hear us, Gretchen tugged down her short, skin-tight blue dress. Admittedly, with four-inch heels and fake lashes, she was overdressed for a dive bar. But that was just Gretchen. “I think she looks great.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed. “But she doesn’t need all that. I want a girl who’s comfortable in her own skin.”
I didn’t respond but peered at him. Why was he so concerned with what she wore if he didn’t care about her?
“She’s pissed off that I didn’t fall for her charms,” he continued. “She’s very smooth, I’ll admit. But it doesn’t work on me. I don’t find it genuine.”
I turned back to look at Gretchen. It made sense as to why she’d called Brian names. Not many men had turned her down since Greg had broken her heart in college. Brian had wounded her pride. “She is genuine,” I promised him. “She dresses up because she’s confident and flaunts it. She’s a catch. So . . . I guess you both lose.”
“You know very well that she has a new boyfriend,”—he looked at me sidelong—“so what does it matter?”
“True. And it’s an old boyfriend anyway,” I said. “They dated in college.”
“Oh?” Brian’s eyebrow lifted. “And they’re back together?”
“Yes. Back then, he broke up with her suddenly and left for a work opportunity in Japan practically the next day. She was a mess, but I guess now he’s back to work things out with her.”
I glanced at Brian, who quickly wiped the shock from his face—but not before I’d caught it. “Well, good on them,” he said, turning to look over his shoulder. “Where’s David anyway?” he asked. “I thought he’d join you.”
“Girls’ night,” I explained. “Plus Greg, and now you, too . . .”
Fuck. I wished David were here. Maybe I should’ve just invited him, even knowing he’d probably decline.
“Figure out if that’s the life you want. A life without me. Maybe it’s being single, maybe it’s with Bill. But it’s without me.”
I didn’t need to figure out what I wanted. David was everything a girl could ask for. I just had to take the leap with both feet. That was the hard part, not trying to hang on to the ledge of the cliff with one hand, just in case I had to pull myself back up. Just in case David decided one day to walk away. I’d seen him make plenty of decisions over the time I’d known him, and he did them without waffling or backtracking. Without mercy. So far, that had been to my advantage. But I shuddered to imagine being on the wrong side of what David decided he wanted.
“I was most shocked when I found out about you two,” Brian said, holding out a shot of tequila.
I blinked several times, returning to the conversation. “You and everyone else.”
We each downed our shot, then sucked on a lime slice.
Brian tossed his rind into the empty shot glass and looked me over. “Isn’t it going well? It’s weird that David isn’t out with you. He strikes me as the type to keep one eye on the woman he loves at all times.”
I shifted between feet as a tequila-induced wave of warmth passed over me. Brian already thought David loved me? How could he when he’d only been around us once as a couple?
“David and I . . .” I started. “It’s hard to explain. We care for each other very much, but divorce is tough on everyone involved. There’s a lot of gray area.”
Brian nodded pensively. “You know, I like to tease Dylan. But truth is, I instantly noticed the way he is with you. Different, but in a good way.”
My shoulders eased. “Really?”
He smiled down at me. “Really. You bring out something in him. The circumstances suck, but you are a terrific match.”
My next question tumbled out of my mouth. “Why aren’t I just another one of his girls?”
“Olivia,” Brian said, drawing back with surprise. “Any man with sense about him can see that you’re not that type. And David has a great deal of sense. He doesn’t always use it when it comes to women, I’ll admit. But maybe that’s because he was doing everything in his power to stay sane until you came along.”
I realized I was smiling. Putting it that way bothered me less than thinking he’d slept his way through Chicago. At our barbeque in the park, David had said he’d been looking for “the one” for a while, and his family had seemed to know exactly what he meant. I could definitely envision David—a man used to getting what he wanted—driving himself crazy on his quest.
“And really,” Brian added, “your husband is abominable.”
I smiled. “You just saw the worst side of him.” I rose onto the balls of my feet and thanked Brian with a kiss on the cheek. When I came down, I was met with Gretchen’s grimace.
“Have you seen Greg?” she asked.
“Perhaps,” Brian cut in, nodding to where Bethany still stood with the suits, “he saw you flirting with those gentlemen over there, and rightly high-tailed it out of here.”
Gretchen gave him a blatant scowl.
“That’s attractive,” he said.
“Oh, fuck off, Brian,” she said.
“I will not,” Brian said. “I’m not sorry that I prefer your smile over your scowl.”
She reddened. Her eyebrows furrowed as she seemed unable to decide if he’d complimented or insulted her. I wasn’t really sure myself. After a moment, she scowled harder.
Brian only laughed before sauntering away.
“He is so infuriating,” Gretchen said.
“Don’t let him get to you.”
“He doesn’t get to me,” she said, flipping some of her hair over her shoulder. “I couldn’t care less what—oh, there’s Greg.” She ran off.
Brian had moved to the end of the bar, but his eyes stayed narrowed in Gretchen and Greg’s direction.
They really don’t like each other, I thought.
So Brian had suspected David’s feelings for me. And Gretchen had been convinced after spending a little time with us, too. It was clear to everyone that we belonged together. So why wasn’t he here with me now?
I pulled out my cell and looked at the picture I’d taken of David’s profile. Somewhere between buzzed and drunk, I missed him acutely. I’d spent months trying to stay away from him. Now, I didn’t have to. I shouldn’t have to miss him ever—it wasn’t fair. I missed our weekend. I missed his smile. I wanted it back. David had come after me so many times, even knowing I’d keep pushing him away—it was the reason we’d gotten this far. I had to take that risk for him now. Maybe I’d show up on his doorstep, and he’d turn me away. It would hurt, but he knew that more than anyone. He’d never stopped coming to my doorstep. As Gretchen had said, I had to show him I could fight for us, too.
I told Gretchen I wasn’t coming back with her. She hailed me a cab, put me in, and shut the door before I even had a chance to say goodnight. She either didn’t want me thrashing next to her in bed or she believed I was making the right choice.
I only calmed once the driver pulled up to the place that was, for all intents and purposes, my new home. It was late—past one o’clock in the morning—so thankfully, my elevator ride went uninterrupted. My need for David grew quickly, and all I wanted was to feel him any way I could have him.
Using the keys he’d given me, I unlocked the door and eased it shut behind me. I took a step and removed my left shoe, then did the same with the right. I went directly to the bedroom, dropped both heels, and climbed over David as he slept on his side. I pulled down the comforter and touched his hot skin.
“David,” I whispered, running my hand over his chest and down his stomach. He sighed and jerked beneath me. My hand continued down, gliding under the elastic of his boxer briefs.
He groaned, and his eyes opened. “Hey,” he grated out. I wrapped my hand around him and quieted him with a kiss. Without disconnecting our mouths, I shifted to straddle him, and he flipped onto his back.
“You’re supposed to be at Gretchen’s,” he said. “I’m giving you your space. I need mine, too.”
I ran my palm along his shaft. “No.”
“No?”
All the turmoil of the last few days gathered in my chest, threatening to cave it in. “I don’t want to do this alone. Please, David. I need you to fuck it all out of me,” I whispered and deepened the kiss.
He didn’t ask what I meant. His big hands just went straight to my hips to squeeze me against him. I moaned at his hardness. I didn’t think I’d last two seconds. He hiked up my dress, pulled it over my head, and removed my bra. I straightened up, and his hands went straight to my breasts. I reached between us, shifted my thong, and sank onto him.
I was prepared to ride him in his half-asleep state, but suddenly he was wide awake, fucking all the hurt, guilt, and regret out of me like I’d asked, giving me the gift of temporary oblivion. I bounced forward with his furious upward thrusts, and his hands jumped to my waist, pushing me down to meet him faster. I came quicker than I ever had. He kept his pace until he was gushing into me, growling from his chest. His hold remained strong as his head dropped back to the pillow, and his hips slowed to a gradual stop.
When he finally let go, I collapsed next to him on the bed. He pulled my back close against his front.
Cityscape Affair Series: The Complete Box Set Page 71
