“You definitely need to buy some if you plan for him to see you undressed,” Taylor joked. She was always giving me a hard time about my ugly bras and underwear. “I’m going to need to let you go. I’ve got to get all these groceries in my van and then go pick up Ben from school. Keep me updated and I can’t wait to hear all about your weekend.”
“I will. I promise. I need to get off here too, so I can pick up Mason in a little bit. Love you and talk to you soon.” Making a kissing sound, I waited for Taylor’s goodbye before I hung up.
* * *
“Hey,” I greeted Matt with my best smile as I opened my front door and smoothed down my billowy peach shirt. It had long sleeves and a deeper V than I was used to wearing, but by the appreciative look Matt gave me it was worth it. I also had on a new pair of jeans that were loose fit and bare feet. One day after I dropped Mason off at school, I had made a trip to the mall and splurged on new clothes of every variety. Now I had more than just a couple of pairs of jeans, yoga pants, and t-shirts. I looked like a real adult who had on very sexy underwear underneath her clothes. I even went to a salon and had my hair trimmed and highlighted. The last time I felt this good about myself was in high school. It felt good to feel like my old self again. It was amazing that the right clothes could boost your self-esteem so much, but they had. I felt deserving of moving on with my life and being happy, and I was going to make every attempt to do so with Matt that weekend.
“You look great,” Matt greeted me with a kiss to my cheek. Stepping back, he asked, “Did you decide where you wanted to go for lunch? I don’t know about you, but I’m starved.”
“Thank you, let me grab my purse quick and we can go. I was so caught up with trying to finish my project that I haven’t eaten yet today.” As I said the words my stomach let out a noise that rivaled any monster in a horror movie. “Did you want to drive, or do you want me to?”
“I’ll drive. I’m not sure you’re capable with how loud that rumble was,” he answered with a chuckle as I stepped inside and quickly slipped on my flip-flops, grabbed my purse, phone, and keys. I wasn’t used to going out the front door since I always used the garage to come and go so it took me a little too long to try to lock the door from the outside. “Do you need any help?” Matt’s words caressed the back of my neck causing a shiver to work its way down my spine as I finally got the lock turned.
“Nope. I got it.” I jumped as I dropped my keys into my purse and turned around only to find Matt a few inches away with a knowing smile on his face.
Walking with his hand on the small of my back, Matt guided me to his rental car and even opened the door for me, waited until I was fully in my seat before closing the door, and made his way around the car and into the driver’s seat. Once the car was started, and we had been sitting in my driveway for a full minute, I turned to see Matt with a smirk on his face.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” He asked with a low chuckle. I hadn’t noticed it the night we met, but in the subsequent times we had talked, I realized that Matt had a Boston accent. I loved accents, and it made me more attracted to him then I would have been otherwise.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know where my mind was. I guess I’m too used to driving and knowing where I’m going. Do you want me to give you directions or do you want to put it into your GPS?” I asked because I knew men could be weird about driving and taking directions.
His eyes sparkled with amusement as he replied. “You can give me the directions if you don’t mind.”
“Do you like Italian?”
“Love it,” he moaned in the back of his throat. “My grandmother’s Italian, and it’s been too long since I’ve had one of her home-cooked meals.”
“Well, now I’m not so sure about my choice of restaurants. You obviously know your Italian food. I hope you’re not too disappointed with the restaurants in Fairlane, we have some pretty good food, but I’m sure they’re nothing like the restaurants you’re used to.”
My hands twisted together in my lap as we made our way to eat. I hadn’t thought out my choices of where we’d eat very well. I probably should have asked what he liked to eat. I’d made a trip to the grocery store to make something fancy I saw on a cooking show that looked amazing, but now I wasn’t confident in my choice.
“Don’t worry about it. I promise I’m not a food critic and I don’t want you to be stressed about what we eat all weekend. I came to see you, not eat the best culinary food in the country.” Matt tried to reassure me, but I was nervous about the entire weekend. If I couldn’t get what we were going to eat right, I was going to be a disaster. Maybe if I would’ve Googled him, I would’ve known Matt had an Italian background. Going by his light brown hair and blue eyes, you would never guess that his grandmother was Italian.
Once we were seated and Matt had looked over the menu, I caught him peeking over it as I took a bite of their delicious freshly baked bread.
He placed his menu down and sliced off a piece of bread for himself. “They’ve got a good selection. I can see why you chose this place. Do you know what you’re going to get?”
“Each time I come I try something different, but every time I order the zucchini frittes. They’re so good and almost a meal in themselves. I normally take the rest home and heat them up later for a snack either that night or the next day.”
“We’ll definitely have to order the zucchini then. Do you have a favorite?” He pointed to the menu.
“Not yet.” Shaking my head, I looked over the menu to see if anything stood out to me. “Everything is excellent as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think you can go wrong with anything you order. If it was evening, I’d say you have to try the dessert because their cheesecake is out of this world.”
“Maybe we’ll have to come back one night this weekend and try their cheesecake.” Matt winked at me as his foot found mine underneath the table.
Unsure how to act, I blushed and felt silly for being so inexperienced at the age of thirty. The last time I could really remember Decker showing any public display of affection had been in high school and after almost a decade of marriage with him, I was unused to flirting. Instead of getting mad about my past, I decided to give Matt the best me I could be and enjoy my time with him.
6
Time to Have Fun
“I’m assuming your weekend with Matt went well if you’re packing to visit him in LA,” Ryan said through the phone.
It’d been three weeks since Matt had come to visit. When he first asked me to come out to visit him and go to a Halloween party with him, I wasn’t sure I should go. Then Taylor pointed out that Mason would be with his father that weekend and it would be good for me to get out of the house and have some fun.
I was so used to being a parent twenty-four, seven that when Mason was gone I didn’t know what to do with myself even after over a year of him going to his father’s every other weekend. Binge reading, or working had become my way of life while he was away. I needed to remember to have fun and live my life and that’s what I was going to do.
“It went well. I was so nervous for the first couple of days, but I finally relaxed and had some fun.”
I finished packing my clothes and went into the bathroom to gather everything that I would need to look my best at a Hollywood Halloween party. That meant I’d gone to Sephora and bought all new makeup, moisturizer, and hair stuff. Enough to put a dent in my bank account. It wasn’t every day that a girl from Fairlane went to a Hollywood party, and I wanted to look my best. I’d tried to nonchalantly ask who would be there only for him to answer that anyone who was anyone would be there. I couldn’t wrap my head around who all that would entail. At least I didn’t have to worry about a costume since Matt said he had it covered, but he wouldn’t tell me what we were going as.
“Did you cry this morning dropping Mason off?”
“Of course, I did, but only after he was in his classroom. Are you still on call in case I need you?” I was worried that someth
ing would happen while I was in California and wouldn’t be able to get to Mason quickly.
“You betcha. I won’t let you down. I’ll have my phone by my side all weekend long until I hear that you’re both safe at home.”
“Thank you,” I sniffed trying to not cry while on the phone with him. “It means a lot to me knowing that you’ll be there for Mason.”
“Always,” he vowed. “I’ve got to get back to this job but call me if you need anything. And remember to have fun!”
“I will. Thanks.”
* * *
“You want me to wear that?” I asked in a half-shriek, half-panicked voice. Being dressed in Shelli’s skimpy dress when I’d met Matt and Colton was coming to bite me in the ass. When Matt had come for the weekend, I’d dressed nicer than I normally did, but nothing was skimpy. In Hollywood terms I was sure I looked like a conservative prude since I wasn’t comfortable flashing skin while out in public.
“What’s wrong with it?” Matt asked his forehead puckered.
Did he truly not see anything wrong with the costume he’d picked out? Matt was going as a doctor, dressed in scrubs and tennis shoes, while I was his nurse counterpart who was supposed to dress in the skimpiest of skimpy nurse uniforms. It looked like an outfit for role playing in the bedroom, not something you’d wear in public. I knew Halloween costumes for women were skimpy, but what he’d chosen was not something I’d ever seen in any Halloween costume shop.
“You can pretty much see everything I have to offer,” I replied before taking a deep breath and facing him. During the times I’d been with Matt, he seemed to like my body going by his enthusiasm, but I was not ready for this outfit. “Where did you even get this getup?”
“Getup?” He chuckled before taking the barely there piece of fabric off its hanger and handing it to me. “At a perfectly respectable costume shop.”
“I highly doubt that,” I countered, my eyes narrowed. “It’ll barely cover my tits and ass, and those… those shoes… I’m not sure I can even walk in them they’re so tall. I’m more of a flip-flops and UGG’s type of girl if you hadn’t noticed.”
“Those shoes will make your legs look fantastic and you can hang on to me all night if you need help walking.” The corner of his lip lifted. “I didn’t think it’d be a problem. The night I met you, you had on some sexy high heels. What’s the difference?”
“The difference is a couple of inches. I could barely walk that night it had been so long since I’d last worn heels. I’m serious about the possibility of not being able to move without falling.”
Looking down at the heels of the shoes he’d gotten me, he rubbed the back of his neck, “Did you bring any other heels with you?”
“I brought one pair that are a hell of a lot shorter and not as sexy. I didn’t know what the plans were for the weekend except for the party and you told me you’d take care of our outfits.” Walking to my suitcase, I took out my very short heeled shoes that weren’t nearly as nice as the ones he’d provided. Matt or someone had gone all out and gotten Christian Louboutin heels for me to wear. They were gorgeous and lethal by the looks of how tall the heel was. “I’ll try them on and see if I can walk, but I’m not making any promises. I might have to wear the heels I brought.”
“That’s okay.” He replied with a shrug. “I want you to be comfortable and your legs will still look great so whichever you go with will be fine.”
I kind of wanted to slap him. If he wanted me to be comfortable, then he should’ve thought about that when he chose my outfit. My boobs which were not that big would be close to hanging out of the top and I’d be lucky to not have a nipple slip sometime during the night. Not wanting to ruin the weekend and make the entire trip awkward, I decided to not say more on the costume Matt had supplied.
“How long do we have until the car picks us up?” I asked as I continued to look at what I was supposed to wear. Maybe it would cover more than it looked once I put it on, I tried to convince myself as I bit my tongue.
“A little over an hour,” Matt replied with a sly smile as he ran his hands up my jean clad thighs.
“An hour?” I jumped back out of his reach, grabbing up the offending garment and shoes before heading into his bathroom. “Why didn’t you tell me we had so little time? I’ve got to do my hair and makeup while still trying to figure out how to make this.” I shook the nurse costume in the air, “Cover up all the necessary places and then there are the shoes!”
Matt cocked an eyebrow at me as he started to undress out of his athletic shorts and t-shirt. Instead of saying anything which was probably wise, he continued to strip out of his clothes and then put on his scrubs. I watched him from the mirror as I put on my foundation. Although Matt wasn’t what I would normally choose for myself, he was attractive and built. I couldn’t help watching as he took everything off except for his boxer briefs. Once he was done, Matt came into the bathroom where he proceeded to brush his teeth and put on deodorant. And just like that he was done. Men had it too easy.
Since I didn’t usually wear makeup but did like to watch videos and read articles about makeup, I tried to do what they called a night look. Either I didn’t do the smoky eye thing right, or it wasn’t a good look for me. It was way too dramatic, but I figured for a Halloween party it would do. I added a dark red lipstick that I hoped would stay on my lips and not on my teeth before I tackled my actual costume.
* * *
I couldn’t stop pulling the front of my skirt down as our limo slowly made its way up the hill that was packed with cars on each side. It was the week before Halloween and everyone in the neighborhood had some sort of decoration up for the holiday. Some only had simple fall flowers or pumpkins out while others went all out with their decorations. From the looks of the house we were slowly pulling up to Becca Matthews had outdone any house I’d ever seen decorated for Halloween. I wondered if it was her favorite holiday or if she always went all out for each one.
Becca Matthews was the child of Helen and Russell Stone, two actors that had been together for almost forty years after filming the romantic comedy, Rough Shot. They were one of the few golden couples of Hollywood. If they ever split up the world would be devastated and stop believing in love. Even seeing them in pictures you could tell they loved each other beyond measure and were happy no matter where they were if they were together. Their love was what fairytales were made of. Sadly, Becca hadn’t had their same luck in love. She’d been married twice producing one child from each marriage. Neither had worked out.
Her long, sprawling two-story house had ghosts and goblins hanging from the trees, tombstones in the yard, spiderwebs stretched here and there with different sized spiders residing in them, smoke was rising out of a cauldron where a mechanical witch stirred and cackled, while a red light glowed on the front of the house made it look as if it was dripping blood. There was a line of people all dressed up waiting to be let into the party with their costumes ranging from superheroes and children book characters to scary and scantily clad. Even though I was still uncomfortable in my outfit seeing that there were people dressed in way less on than me did settle my nerves. Somewhat.
After about thirty minutes of waiting in line, doing some serious people watching on my part, and showing our invitation to the bouncers at the door, we were finally let inside the party. Nerves about my outfit were long gone and replaced with new ones about all the celebrities that were sprinkled throughout the house. It was packed and everywhere I looked I saw someone I’d either seen on TV, the big screen, or a magazine. I knew my nerves were unfounded especially after meeting Colton and Matt, but I couldn’t help myself. It wasn’t like if I made a fool out of myself that I’d ever see them again. The possibilities of that were slim to none, but I’d thought that once before.
A DJ dressed as the devil played music in the corner as we made the long trek to the kitchen to get a drink. Matt didn’t say much except to point out who he thought I might be in celebrity awe of, which I thought was fun
ny since I hadn’t acted that way in the slightest the night I met him. He held my hand firmly in his as we zigged and zagged through the crowd, bumping a few shoulders along the way. His affection, which was something I wasn’t used to, was easy and seem to come naturally to him, making me like him all the more. It wasn’t until we were away from the music and people swaying to the beat that he stopped to greet a friend. Dressed up as Batman with his face covered, I had no idea who the friend was until Matt introduced us.
“Alex, this is my good friend, Reeves Jenner. Jenner, this is Alex,” Matt grinned from beside me, a gleam in his eye as he introduced me.
There’d been no discussion about what we were. We lived too far away from each other to see the other much. I’d only asked that if we were going to have sex that I be the only person he had sex with even though we were using protection. Matt didn’t seem to have a problem with that even if it did mean being exclusive.
“Alex, hey,” Reeves voice boomed as he shook my hand vigorously. “It’s so good to finally meet you. I have to be honest here, I thought Matt was making you up when he started talking about you.”
Why would he think I was made up?
“All good things I hope.” Putting on my best fake smile, I looked at Matt from the corner of my eye to see his cheeks slightly pinked up.
What had Matt been saying about me?
“Too good to be true.”
Clearing his throat, Matt asked, “We were headed to get a drink. Want to join us?”
“Yeah, sure Poppy went to the bathroom at least ten minutes ago but hasn’t come back yet. I’m tired of standing around waiting for her.” Reeves turned and started to plow through the crowd with his wide shoulders and tall frame. He was a least six foot and towered over both me and Matt making a path for us to follow.
With Love, Alex: Fairlane Series #0.5 Page 6
