Just a Number (Downtown #1) (16 page)

Reluctantly removed from bed, he helped me shower and then walked me to the lobby coffee shop. Tucked away in a back booth, we ordered four cups and a full carafe of piping hot caffeinated coffee to our table. Watching him look at his menu, I grinned like a love-struck teenage girl, gawking at her idol. Catching me, he leaned over and captured my mouth and cupped one of my breast.
Oh yeah! We were making out like were in high school!

“Excuse me,” a male cleared his throat. “Are these seats taken?”

“Mind if we join you?” There was my female friend’s voice. Their questions were asked amidst a bunch of hyena-like laughter and chairs scraping the white and black hexagon tiled floor. Breaking apart, we saw two very giddy authors making themselves comfortable.

Over the next hour while we enjoyed a big breakfast of eggs, pastries, and fruit, we listened to crazy tales of the two Jamessons submerged in the romantic book world. They were very entertaining to say the least, if not shocking to some of us. Mostly, the male indie romance writer, sitting at our table as he was telling them.

“So. A woman started to follow me into the men’s room. I turned and pointed at the door. She replied slyly, ‘Oh sorry. I hadn’t notice. Was way too busy looking at your cute ass.’ Ignoring her, I stepped on. Thankfully, she didn’t continue after me.
Really
—what’s wrong with these women?”

“Sorry, but obviously she wanted to play out one of your scenes, Mr. Romance. You’re always banging chicks in public restrooms.” I had to put in my two cents, too.

He looked at me like I was crazy for condoning the woman’s behavior, which I really wasn’t. “Not me. My characters. I have never fucked in someone in a public bathroom in my life. You ladies like that shit—’taken where
we could be seen at any moment’—I
just aim to please my readers.”

“Oh, they are pleased! Have you seen his social media accounts? High numbers.” Tomasina spoke directly to Dash. “Not to mention, his face is plastered all over; every woman is posting their pictures with him. Check your notifications, Rexy.” She poked Rex’s side playfully.
Hmmm…
I would be questioning her later.

“My what?” It was obvious Rex wasn’t completely up on social media even though he was an online graphic designer. The book world social network was new to him, apparently.
Time to come out of the dark!

“For a computer person, you’re not informed about how it works to benefit you.” Even Dash was jumping into the conversation.

“I create for others. I don’t use it.”

“
Now
you do.” Tomasina grabbed his cellphone and hit the icon button to his social media. “Look at this; eight hundred and thirty-eight notifications. Holy shit! It’s all tags to photos. Damn! Just jumped another ten. I’m betting you hit at least one-K soon. Definitely after your morning session.”

“You didn’t deter the masses from picture taking?” I asked Tomasina.

“Hell no. They pushed past me or handed me their cameras, phones and smiled with their mitts on Mr. I-Write-to-Please-My-Readers. I may have some bruises.” She looked at her arms for evidence. “He sounds put out, but his participation in this event was through the roof. He had to suck it up. They groped him, propositioned him, and slipped him their phone numbers and room keys…”

“Don’t forget the woman that crawled under the table and tried to give me a blow job.” On that one, we all cracked up.

“Are you alright, man?” Dash asked with a smirking grin.

“He’s fine. I protected him. Had to stay in his room, so I could answer the door every time a half-naked woman knocked on it. Thank God they finally stopped coming around three-ish in the morning.”

“Look at this.” Dash held up his buzzing phone. “You’re
trending
, Rex Holden is ALL man accompanied by photos of you with readers. You’re everywhere!”

With a sigh, Rex stood. “Let’s go TomKat. Back to my author booth one last time. We need to put on a little show for the horny women before you leave me alone with Dash for the day. I’m thinking a passionate kiss goodbye, followed by a good slap on that nice ass of yours and away you can go to your event.” They laughed, joined hands, and sauntered off—the happy engaged couple.

We stayed behind, drinking more coffee. I was reading the newspaper, including the bestseller list which had Rex Holden’s latest release ranked at number three on the fiction list. He was going over more of Rex’s social media accounts, the numbers were still climbing up. Wrapped up in an article about Lark’s upcoming fashion event and no mention of the wine company that was supposed to be sponsoring the whole thing, I didn’t notice that Dash was talking to me. I looked up baffled.

“I imagine you reading
The Weekly
on Saturday mornings.” The expression on his face told me he was picturing more than me just casually reading the newspaper.

“Oh?!” I raised a recently threaded eyebrow.

“Naked.”

“Naked? Go on.”

“You’re sitting at a small cafe table…”

“You picture me nude in a cafe? You have a tendency to fantasize about things that involve me possibly in handcuffs.”

“No. But, you in handcuffs is a great visual. I see you at a bistro-style table in your loft. By the window. The sun is completely up. No sunrise reading for you.”

“Definitely not.” Amazing how well he knew me without breaching my “no details” rule. Loft. Bistro table. Window. Reading
The Weekly
. At least he didn’t say the
LA
Weekly
.

“You’re looking for a yoga class. You’re wondering if I’m teaching one of them. You’re picturing me in just a pair of yoga shorts. Tight—nothing left to your imagination—you can see every definition of the bulge in my pants. You breathe in deeply as you lick your ruby-red lips, thinking about mine on your pussy. You reach down with one hand between your long legs. You’re sopping wet…”

“Holy shit! You cannot tell me things like that without me not wanting to jump your hotter-than-hot body. Not fair. Take me to the room—
now!
”

“Touch yourself.” His lips are turned up in the corners, grinning. “Now.” I did as he commanded. Looking around first. I wasn’t up for entertaining our fellow diners. Sure that I could not be seen, I reached down and slipped my fingers covertly inside of my panties. I was very wet. “Show me,” he demanded. I lifted my fingers. He leaned forward and sucked them into his mouth. “Delicious.” Then he stood, extended his hand to help me up, and walked me out of the restaurant to join our friends in the ballroom.

I couldn’t believe he just left me hanging… wanting more. Teased me unmercifully. One touch from him and I could’ve shuttered out an orgasm in record time. Instead, I was denied. Parting ways for the day, I reluctantly left Dash. I couldn’t believe that was to be my last moment with him. An unsatisfying one, at that. Meeting up later would be brief. We would be checked out of our rooms already. No chance at intimacy. I guess it was just as well. That would be another ending to us. What were the odds that we would run into each other again?

Getting my head back in the game, we made our way over to the main exhibit hall for the book convention. Next up was Tomasina’s time to shine in the spotlight. To show off her beautiful full-color book of gems from exotic locales, along with travel photos. It really was a stunning presentation. She had to be pleased with it; proud.

Waiting for the doors to open to the more conservative masses, I pulled out my tablet again. In a hurry to hide Tomasina’s posting, I hadn’t had a chance to see what my mother had emailed me.

From: Marian Dane

To: Willow Dane

Sorry

Yesterday at 11:30 PM

Hello Dear,

I just finished watching the news. So happy to hear you and TomKat are still friends. People losing their families; so sad. I lost my daughter years ago. I wasn’t the right mother for her. I wasn’t strong enough. I’m sorry. I should’ve stood up to your father. I’ve been upset with him over the years. I didn’t like some of the things he has said to you. I loved my life. I always wanted a husband and children. I never wanted the career. I wanted to be home. I didn’t want to rock the boat. I didn’t want a divorce. I guess you’d call me old fashioned. I’m sorry he drove you away. I’m sorry I let him.

Love,

Your Mother

Sitting in the convention room, I filled Tomasina in on all of the emails I had been getting from mother. How she was jabbering on about whatever, mixed in with opening up about herself and hints about my father. Her most recent one, stating that she was happy about my continuing friendship with
TomKat
. If only she knew that that was Tomasina’s name for her female anatomy these days, she’d probably blush and never use it again.

“What?!
Stepford’s
finest, Marian Dane, lost her microchip? Or did her master re-program her?” She roared with laughter. I smacked her arm lightly. Cringing at her reference to my mother being a
Stepford Wife.
Though her use of it wasn’t like the teasing my brothers and I endured over the years, it still made me stiffen.

“You’re going to love this.” I looked around as if someone would care about my mother and her antics. “She’s sneaking around behind Hugh’s back.”

“Nooooo!” Tomasina’s eyes went wide and her mouth fell open.

“Yes. Her book club…”

“No. No. No. Please no more.” Doubled over. Making a scene, she was gasping with laughter. “Do. Not. Tell. Me. She. Knows. Mr. Grey…”

“Sssssh! You’re turning heads. Remember we’re not in the naughty romance room.” I tried my best not to join in her contagious laughter. It was no use. As I filled her in on my mother’s coming-of-age at sixty-something, we both broke up in fits of laughter.

“Priceless. Marian would make a fabulous supporting character in a dirty novel: housewife extraordinaire loses her shit over her hunky gardener. He pruned her rose
bush
as she panted for more. She couldn’t wait to see how big his
shovel
would be, digging into her
flowerbed
.” She snickered at her own words. She made me laugh.

“You have quite an imagination. You should pen a book like Rex. You fit in better in a spicier venue…”

“Well… Rex and I discussed a collaboration; his point of view for the male character and me, of course, the female. A little back and forth; dueling chapters.”

“Somehow, I’m not surprised. Did you work through some
scenes
already?” I arched an eyebrow, waiting for her smutty details.

“No. Not that he wasn’t tempting. That man is hotness personified. That body is to be worshiped! He has solid muscles everywhere!” She licked her lips.

“I thought you said you didn’t have sex?”

“We didn’t, but I’m not one to sleep in my clothes. Neither is he.” An evil smile broke across her face as she bit her finger to keep the giggles that were threatening to burst forth.

“I noticed he also called you TomKat, like my mother. It appears your nickname is making a public comeback?! Is he in the dark about it, too? Or does he know your use of that name?”

“Of course! Obviously that’s why he uses it!” Another naughty smile.

“Are you sure you don’t want to confess? Change your earlier story?”

“I swear to you, Lolo. All we did was talk and sleep… naked.” More giddy laughter filled our booth. We really needed to behave. People were beginning to glare at us. I was certain we were having the most fun as I looked around.

Though Tomasina’s book’s appearance was not a grand success, her attendance proved to be helpful. Good ideas for future marketing. New book focus: museum gift shops, gem shows, and jewelry stores. The biggest plus was how several people were fascinated with the jewels she wore in the last two days. A different one on each of her fingers. On someone other than my model-like friend, they would look gaudy. She, however, had the whole look that easily pulled it off. Put together perfectly in stylish designer clothing that coordinated with her current hair and nail color. She was stunning. Her admirers walked away from her with stacks of business cards.

The book convention trip had turned out to be quite enjoyable. We had fun with the romance festivities. We learned a lot about selling and distributing picture books, for lack of a better name. Tomasina and Rex had met; God only knew what those two would publish together. My money was on them publishing a scorching hot book that would include some extensive research between the two of them. And for me, my renewed introduction to body bending, invigorating yoga moves, taught by Dash, had been mind-blowing.

My friend didn’t miss anything that was flowing between us. She razzed me until I broke and told her about our night together. Our time together on the island wasn’t just a fluke… just an island thing; there was more to us. The problem was, there really wasn’t an
us
. My rules and regulations were still intact. I had mentioned them briefly. We just stuck to them. Neither of us shared anything about ourselves. Everything was superficial, but emotions and feelings were expressed non-verbally. Our undeniable connection. It was alive and more than well.

Yet later, when Tomasina and I met up with Rex and Dash, things were turned down to a low simmer. Which was fine. It made walking away… saying goodbye, again, easier. However, this time, new players had joined our… our… I couldn’t think of the right word to describe what we had between us. But Rex was Dash’s friend and Tomasina was my friend, and they had plans to see each other again.

How was that going to work out?

How was that going to affect us?

What had those two discussed that would involve us?

Rex had to know where I lived. Maybe even what I did for a profession. If pushed, he could tell Dash. That was, if he even wanted to know more about me. While our bodies and souls were open to each other, the details of our pasts and everyday lives were closed and hidden.
What would happen next?