Page 85 of One Life to Loathe

22

TWENTY-TWO

Despite Leo’s suggestion that I wear the butler ragged when he was off at his audition the next day, I opted to take a short walk around the neighborhood so I could scout the area. I was back in the room, showered and dressed, when he returned.

“How did it go?” I asked. He didn’t look as happy as I expected.

“Good.” He broke out in a wide grin when he saw me and sauntered over for a kiss. I expected it to be a friendly gesture but it got dirty quickly.

I ultimately had to shove at his chest to get a breath … and start thinking clearly. “I thought we were going to go out.”

“We are. I was thinking we could do something here first, though.”

My lower lip came out to play. “Come on. We only have a few hours to see stuff.”

“Fine.” He gave me another kiss, this one short and sweet, and then tugged at his suit coat. “Let me change. Do you know where you want to go? Please don’t say the Statue of Liberty.”

I made a face. “I used to live here,” I reminded him. “Not in this area, though. I’ve seen the Statue of Liberty. That’s one of the few things you can do on the cheap here.”

His eyes grew troubled. “Don’t pick stuff that’s free just because you don’t want me to spend money. Whatever you want to do, we can do.”

“I want to walk around Manhattan.”

He waited for me to expand. When I didn’t, he sighed. “And then what?”

“That’s it.”

“You just want to walk around Manhattan? I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t live in Manhattan when I was here. There was no way. I had to always ride the subway in so I never really got to spend a lot of time here. I just want to look around. I thought we could get hot dogs and eat them in the park and everything.”

He looked genuinely baffled. “That’s what you want to do?” he asked finally.

I immediately started second-guessing myself. “What do you want to do?”

“No.” He shook his head and stripped out of his shirt, giving me a clear view of his fantastic body. My mouth started to water, and briefly, I wondered if staying in the room wasn’t the best option after all. “We’re doing what you want today, and if you want to walk around Manhattan, that’s fine. I just … are you sure you don’t want to go to a museum or something?”

I made a face. “I’ve been to all the museums. I used to save up and hit one a month. That was my treat to myself.”

He looked horrified. “You rewarded yourself with museums?”

“Hey, some of us like to learn.” I made a clucking sound with my tongue. “It was just a thought. Let’s do what you want.”

“I said no.” He was stern as he placed his hands on his hips and stared down at me. “It’s just not what I was expecting. You’re so…”

“Boring,” I supplied.

“You’re the exact opposite of boring,” he replied. “You’re low-maintenance, though. You’re just happy to be.”

“Be what?”

“Just be.” He pulled off his suit pants and started rooting through his suitcase. He came back with jeans and a simple polo shirt. “I like that about you.”

“I don’t see the point of not being happy in my own skin,” I offered. “If you can’t be happy with yourself, who can you be happy with?”

“I guess I never really thought about it.” He sat down on the bed long enough to pull on some sneakers. “Do you want to know something?”

“Always.”

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