Page 88 of For the Love of Art

Nathan scooped me off the couch into a bridal carry. I squealed, and he placed his lips against mine as he carried me up the stairs.

I rushed to the cheese shop about fifteen minutes later than planned. I pulled at the door, but it was still locked. I dug through my purse, pulled out my old keys I hadn’t yet returned, and attempted to open the door. It was as sticky as I remembered, but I got in after a few seconds of battling the keyhole.

“Ahhh!” Frankie ran at me with a large knife around the counter.

“Oh my God!” I squealed. “Frankie, it’s me. It’s me!”

“Oh, thank God.”

“The hell are you doing?” I clutched my chest. “That door has a giant window. You had to know it was me.”

“I ducked behind the counter.” Frankie shrugged.

I shook my head. “Where’s Lianne?” I asked just as the chime above the door went off.

“Right here!” Lianne started making supermodel poses, and I laughed. “Where have you been all weekend, boo?” Lianne wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I’ve barely spoken to you since Frankie and I left the art opening.”

I felt my cheeks heat. “Yeah, I kind of went home with someone.”

Both Frankie and Lianne physically reacted to my confession.

“Don’t leave us hanging!” Frankie said in a pitch so high it almost hurt.

“I went home with Nathan.”

“Oh my God!” Lianne and Frankie exclaimed.

“For future, sleeping with Nathan Manning is something you call me about immediately!” Lianne declared. “It’s not news like, ‘Frankie had a stroke’, which has a twenty-four hour grace period.”

“Hey!” Frankie exclaimed. “My family has a really bad track record with strokes. You’ll be sorry you said that when I have mine.”

Lianne shrugged.

“It’s not a big deal. I went home with him. We had sex a few–”

“How was the sex?” Lianne’s brows were high on her forehead.

I felt my cheeks burn, and I felt sheepish. “Incredible. Although, I don’t have much to compare it to. He–” My cheeks burned hotter as I leaned in closer to my friends. I wasn’t sure why I did or lowered my voice to say, “Talked dirty. He told me he wanted me to cum on his cock.”

“Did you?” Frankie asked.

I pressed my lips together, my face, neck, and ears on fire, and nodded.

“You gotta keep that man,” Lianne said matter-of-factly.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not exactly known for breaking up with men.”

“Nathan Manning,” Lianne swooned as she walked around the counter, grabbing an apron. I walked over and pressed my forearms to the counter smiling, thinking of my weekend with him. “I wonder what the tabloids will say.”

My heart dropped.

The tabloids.

They were the last people I wanted to find out about… whatever Nathan and I were.

“Hopefully, nothing.”

“Hopefully, nothing?” Frankie exclaimed, then laughed loudly. “They haven’t missed a Nathan lover yet. Just think if they catch you with him multiple times. They’ll have a field day about New York’s most eligible bachelor being tied down and asking who that Latina he’s always hanging out with is.”