Page 43 of The Flirtation
Chapter 16
Avery
As surreal as it was,being with Luke in the Bahamas after a year of interacting with him through a monitor or phone, being with Luke in Manhattan was even more so. To be clear—it was really fucking awesome to have walked onto a plane at JFK, being all cold and pale and anxious, and then stepping off a plane at the same terminal with a tan and my favorite handsome Englishman on my arm, the skin on my chin rubbed raw from kissing him so much, a smile on my face that surely screamed to anyone who paid attention: I’VE BEEN HAVING TONS OF VACATION SEX WITH THIS MAN AND NOW WE’RE GOING TO DO IT IN MYAPARTMENT!!!
We shared a cab to midtown and he got dropped off first for his meeting with one of his clients. He wasn’t kidding about that list of New Yorkers who wanted to meet with him. I trusted that I was the only one he was meeting with inbed.
I took his suitcase, as well as my own, up with me to my office. It was after lunch, it had just started to snow, and I had no meetings set for the day, but of course I assumed I’d be expected at work. I hadn’t explicitly told Natalie that I’d be in the office as soon as I returned from the airport, but her jaw dropped when she saw me approaching. I realized, finally, that it was the extra suitcase that surprised her. “Oh my God you’re here! Hi!” She jumped up and followed me into my office, shutting the door behind us. “You look amazing—like a whole new woman! Tell me everything! Is he coming to the office? Can I meet him? Is he wonderful? Are you in love? This is soexciting!”
I hadn’t told her that Luke was in NewYork.
Natalie responded to my confused face with: “Oh, I’ve been in touch with William. Luke’s assistant. He mentioned that Luke had him schedule some meetings here, so…I assumed. You don’t have to tell me anything, it’s fine. Unless you want to. Do you want to? I’m dying to hear about if youdo!”
I had decided that I wouldn’t tell anyone at work, including Natalie. It was so adorable that she was so excited, but I couldn’t. “Bucket’s wedding was so wonderful,” Isaid.
“Oh right! Bucket’s wedding! What an amazing surprise! So you were both there? You andLuke?”
“And a few other people. And the villa was incredible. Like, beyondamazing.”
“Uh huh? So you had a goodtime?”
“I did. I had a good time.” I tried really hard not to smile. And then I smiled and my face basically exploded and Natalie started clapping and jumping up and down. “Natalie you can’t tell anyone anything! I haven’t told youanything!”
“I know I know you haven’t and I won’t and I’m super psyched for you even though there’s totally nothing totell!”
“Okay okay okay. It’s notthatbig of a deal.” I blushed and covered myface.
She squealed. “It’ssonot a big deal! Is he staying with you? Obviously he is, because he didn’t ask William to book him ahotel.”
“Well you two have certainly shared a lot ofinformation.”
Now it was Natalie’s turn to try to keep a straight face. “Oh, we just work really well together, you know, I’m very interested in transatlantic business deals, so I’ve been…picking his brain.” She smacked her lips together. “Anyway—I rescheduled all your meetings for today and Howard told me to send you home if you actually showed up,so…”
“Uh, do I still have a job orwhat?”
“Of course—he’s just really into that whole R&R thing, and he was worried that you never would…R orR.”
“Right. Well, I did both, but I have to get back to work againeventually.”
“Yes. Oh my God Luke’s going to be here tomorrow—do you have Valentine’s Dayplans?!”
“Shhh! No. I mean, no plans. I don’t think. He’s here for meetings and I’m working. It’s business as usual, except Luke’s doing some business here in New York.” Saying his name out loud made my face erupt in smilesagain.
Natalie squeezed my arm. “Word. Although if you do want to make special romantic Valentine’s Day plans with someone special, for business reasons, it’s probably almost too late to book a table anywheredecent.”
I normally went home right after work and went to sleep at eight o’clock on Valentine’s Day. “I mean. I wouldn’t want to be rude. He’d probably enjoy dinner out on…aTuesday.”
I shooed her out of my office and called one of my clients. Rebecca was the executive chef at one of the hottest restaurants in town and she’d always told me she’d get me a special table if I ever wanted a romantic dinner reservation. Turns out she meant any night besides Valentines Day. I honestly never understood why people made such a big deal out of V-Day—it was the most obnoxious holiday of the year—but I suddenly wanted to show Luke how much it meant to me that he was here with me. Rebecca offered to cook us dinner herself and have it delivered to my apartment. She’d be cooking it at four o’clock, so it wouldn’t be super fresh, but it would have to do. I sure as hell wasn’t going to cook for Luke for the first time ever on Valentine’s Day and I wasn’t going to bring home a roast chicken from Whole Foods or orderpizza.
Iwent home,did a quick clean up of my apartment, and texted my sister to tell her that Luke would be staying with me for a couple of nights. The last text I’d sent her was the day before, of Luke and me on the pink sand beach. I wrote:And yes that is pink sand, not worn-out clitoris dust from Magic Wand over-use.Xo
She had responded with about a thousand exclamation points, and tried FaceTiming me five times, but I had been too busy to get back to her. Now, apparently, she was too busy to get back to me, which wasfine.
When Luke gotto my place, he was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open. He had a bad case of jet lag and No-Sleep-From-Shagging-Avery-Non-Stop-itis. It had finally caught up with him. I ordered a pizza and he lay down on my sofa, his legs in mylap.
“I like your flat,” hesaid.
“Oh shut up, it’s boring. I’m hardly everhere.”
