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“I’m tired. The new goats kept me up all night,” I say, but it must be the look on my face that gives me away.
“You said they were born before midnight. So what else went on last night? What time did Tanner leave?” she asks like an FBI interrogator. Not much gets past her.
“Oh, ahhh… about nine,” I say, before biting my lip, “a.m.” I wait for the penny to drop.
“Holy hell, you had sex with the hot neighbor!” she almost screams through the phone, and I laugh at her.
“Well, it kinda wasn’t the first time…” I tease her. It has been a little while since we last spoke and so much has happened.
“Wait.What!” she yells, and I hear her colleagues all shush her at her office before she moves into a meeting room for privacy.
“Should I be offended that you seem so shocked?” I ask her as I put away my gardening tools and sit on my back porch steps to chat.
“I want all those details, but I am at work and I don’t want to get fired. So how was it? I mean, anything would be an improvement from Josh, right.”
I smile, the wide, lip-splitting grin hasn’t left my face all day. After our rendezvous in the shower, we went to my bed and stayed there all night, enjoying each other some more before he had to leave this morning right after breakfast.
“So much better, and Fi…” I say, thinking about my words. “He is, like… so good at like everything. He came straight over last night when I called. Dropped everything for me and my panic over Gertie. He cooks for me, he looked after me when I hurt my ankle. I mean, I don’t think anyone has ever done anything like that for me before. Certainly not a man.”
“You really like him, don’t you?” she asks, and I look at her with a deep breath. I do, but I don’t want to admit it out loud yet. It already feels too good to be true.
“He has a body like a Greek god, and if it wasn’t a crime, I would demand he walk around naked all the time just so I can look at him,” I tell her, laughing.
“So did Tyler,” Fiona says with a sigh.
“Did he ever call?” I ask her, knowing that she had a great time with him the night before my life imploded, but it seems it was a one-night thing.
“No. I guess you just can’t win them all,” she says glumly, then snaps herself out of it. “Anyway, back to your man. When are you seeing him again?” she asks, just as I hear a truck in my driveway and look up to see his familiar black and gold branding.
“He actually just arrived.” He told me this morning he would come back after work tonight, and now as the sun sets on the horizon, he proves yet again that he is a man of his word.
“Argh. Alright, go. Have sweaty, amazing sex with your hot billionaire neighbor. Tonight is hair washing night for me, and just for fun, I might even shave my legs too. Don’t worry about me,” she says sarcastically, and I giggle at her as I watch Tanner step out of his truck, his eyes already glued to me as he starts striding over.
“Wait, let me show you something.” I laugh as I press a button and flick the camera around so she can see the vision I am seeing. Tanner, tall, dark, and brooding, his sleeves rolled up to showcase his muscular forearms, his shirt fitting him extremely well over his broad shoulders.
“Oh God. I hate you,” she says, and I can’t stop laughing.
“I love you too,” I singsong sweetly. “Gotta go. Talk later,” I tell her before I hang up.
“Who you loving, baby girl?” Tanner asks as he steps closer.
“My friend, Fiona. She is working late.”
“Do you miss it? The city? Your friends?” he asks as he steps toward me, his hand immediately circling around my waist and pulling me to him. His lips meet mine in a quick greeting.
“Yes and no. I grew up there so I miss some things. Fiona and my mom, mostly. I miss going to my local florist and grabbing my favorite pink peonies when they are in season. But also, Benny’s,” I say, sighing, really missing Benny’s.
“What’s Benny’s?” Tanner asks with a little crease between his eyebrows.
“It’s this old school diner in Soho. They make the best burgers,” I tell him with a mock frown.
“Maybe you can take me there sometime?” His thumb rubs my lower back, and my frown turns into a smile that he is already thinking of me in his future.
“I would like that. But only if we can go to Maison Pickle afterward.” I tap his chest.
“Maison Pickle?”
“They make a twenty-four-layer chocolate cake that is ah-mazing.” My mouth already salivates.
