Page 44 of The Boyfriend Experience

“How could I forget?”

“Well, you were pretty buzzed.”

“Oh,” she says. “Right.” Heading into the bedroom.

I realize it’s her room. The one I fucked her in last night. The sheets are a mess. Like, totally hanging off the bed. The comforter is just a pile of white bunched up in the middle and most of the pillows are on the floor.

“Excuse the mess,” she says, stepping over a pillow as she makes her way towards her bedroom terrace. “I’m not one of those make-your-bed-daily kinda people.”

No, she isn’t. She’s one of those mess-it-up-nightly kinda people, I think.

“The elevator actually goes all the way up to the roof too. That’s how people get up there when I throw parties. But there’s a ladder that leads up there from this terrace and since Eduardo Whats-his-name is monopolizing my elevator today, the bedroom terrace ladder will have to do.”

“Jesus, Oaklee,” I say.

“What?”

“That is so not secure!”

She shrugs. “I’m six floors up. Who cares?”

“Well, when people can ride your elevator up to the roof and climb down the ladder that leads to your bedroom, I care!”

“You’re kinda bossy, Lawton.” And then she flips her hair, pushes a hand past the sheer white curtains to find the door handle—which isn’t even locked!—opens the French doors, and disappears behind the now blowing-in-the-wind fabric.

I follow. And by the time I get outside she’s already climbing up the ladder and I have a great view of her ass in those jeans I picked out.

When she gets to the top and turns around I’m still gawking at her. “Throw the bag up.”

I do that and climb after her. When I get up on the roof I just stop. Stand still for a moment looking at the mountains with nothing obstructing them. Then I turn in place and take in the rest of the three-hundred-and-sixty-degree view. “Holy shit.” That’s pretty much all I have to say.

“Yeah.” Oaklee sighs. “My dad made this place when I was still a little girl.” Then she turns and points to a painted-white wooden picnic table underneath the water tower. “He used to hang mosquito netting on all sides of the tower and drape white garden lights on the legs for my birthdays. He threw me a private party up here every year.”

I picture it in my head and smile. “Sounds real nice, Oaks.”

“It was,” she says, smiling back, but sadly. “It really was. And one day, when I finally settle down and have my own kids, I hope I can do that for them too.”

I take the bag of food from her hand, grab her other hand with my empty one, and lead her over to the table. “Well, I feel kinda proud of myself for coming up with this idea. I don’t think much can surprise me about this city anymore.”

We both take a seat. Me on one bench, her on the other.

“I mean, I know Denver. I have sold more than two hundred houses since I got my real-estate license eight years ago, in every neighborhood you can think of, but mostly downtown. So I kinda feel like I’ve seen all this place has to offer. And then you bring me up here and show me how much I’ve missed. How much more I have to see.”

“You live right over there, Lawton,” she says, pointing at my building down the alley. “It’s not that different.”

But I disagree. “My view kinda sucks. No, really sucks compared to yours. There’s nothing special about a penthouse view of an alley.”

“Not true,” she says, opening up the paper bag and pulling out the two bacon, egg, and cheese bagels. She sniffs them, smiles and says, “Bacon. One of my four food groups.”

Which makes me laugh. “What are the other three?”

“Beer, butter, and beef.”

And now I laugh again. “A woman after my heart.”

She blushes a little, which delights me for some reason. Then she says, “Your view is of my water tower, Law. That’s kinda special, right?”

I nod. Because she’s not wrong. And now that I know what this place over here really is—a slice of the romantic side of Denver, mountains stretching the entire front range from north to south, the hum of people and cars down below like a song caught in the softly blowing wind, and the city skyscape just over her shoulder—well, the whole thing is like a fantastical Hollywood backdrop if you ask me. “I bet it’s outrageously beautiful up here at night.”