The Exception (14 page)

Drew

As I stroked her soft hair, I kissed the top of her head.

“I have a charity event to attend on Friday night and I would like to know if you’d be my date.”

She lifted her head from my chest and her eyes locked onto mine.

“I’d love to go with you. Where’s it at?”

“The Bank Ballroom over in the Financial District. It’s Connor Black’s annual autism gala.”

“Sounds nice.” She lay her head back down. “I’ll have to go buy a fancy dress. I’ll look when Kristen and I go shopping tomorrow for wedding dresses. Speaking of which, I’m going to call her right now and tell her about the Harmonie Club and see if she’s interested.”

“Good idea, and if she is, we can go look at it tomorrow after you look for wedding dresses.”

“Oh shit.” She lifted her head and sat up.

“What’s wrong?”

“Kellan is flying in Friday for the weekend.”

“Well, he can come with us to the charity event.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.” I smiled.

“Thank you.” She leaned over and kissed me. “I’ll ask him.”

I couldn’t resist. Pulling her on top of me, I wrapped my arms around her as my cock started to rise and press against her belly.

“I’m pretty sure I need to fuck you again.” I grinned as I brushed a strand of her hair away from her face.

“I’m pretty sure you do too.” She bit down on her bottom lip.

****

I moaned as the alarm went off and I fumbled to shut it down. Jillian rolled over into my arms and softly stroked my chest.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning,” she whispered as her body pressed tightly against mine.

“How did you sleep?” I asked.

“Great. How about you?”

“Great as well.”

Kissing the top of her head, I climbed out of bed. “You can sleep in as late as you want. I’m going to take a shower and get ready for work.”

“I’m up.” She stretched.

“Okay then. Get that hot ass of yours in the shower with me.”

“Mhmm. It would be my pleasure.” She threw the sheet off her, exposing her sexy naked body.

After one of the longest showers I had ever taken, Jillian slipped into one of my t-shirts and called Kellan while I got dressed. Heading downstairs, I greeted Jane in the kitchen with a smile.

“Good morning, Jane.”

“Good morning, Drew. I see Jillian stayed the night.”

“How do you know that? She hasn’t been down yet,” I spoke as she handed me a cup of hot coffee.

“Her purse is right over there.” She winked. “I like her, Drew. Even though I just briefly talked to her last night, I have to say, she’s perfect.”

“She is perfect, Jane.”

“Good morning, Jane.” Jillian smiled as she took a seat next to me at the island.

“Good morning, Jillian. Coffee?”

“Yes. Please.”

“Thank you again for cleaning up last night,” Jane spoke as she poured coffee into Jillian’s cup.

“You’re welcome. It was my pleasure.”

“Excuse me. What about me? I helped clean up,” I growled.

“Of course you did.” Jillian leaned over and kissed my cheek.

Jane laughed and patted my hand. “Thank you, Drew.”

After finishing our breakfast, I put on my suitcoat and Jillian walked me to the door.

“Call me later,” I spoke as I kissed her goodbye.

“I will. I’m going to get dressed, head over to my place to change clothes, and then go to Kristen’s.”

“Sounds good.” I placed my thumb on her chin. “I really enjoyed last night and in the shower this morning.” I smiled.

“Me too.” She bit down on her bottom lip.

Fuck. She was adorable and her beautiful face would forever be etched into my mind. I needed to leave or else I’d be picking her up and taking her back to my bed. This craving I had for her was unreal and I found it difficult to control myself around her.

“On that note, I need to leave.” I winked. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Stepping out the door, I climbed inside the Bentley and sighed. For the first time in my entire life, I envisioned my future. It was a future that included Jillian and a life where we grow old together. It scared me to think that she wouldn’t see the same future as I did and I wasn’t sure if I was ready for that.

****

Jillian

Just as I entered Kristen’s apartment building, Noah was on his way down.

“Morning, Jillian,” he spoke as he kissed my cheek.

“Good morning. How is she today?”

“She’s tired, but other than that, she says she’s fine.”

“Do you believe her?”

“No.” He smiled. “I’m glad you’re spending the day with her. Listen, I’m running late. I’ll see you later.”

“Oh wait!” I exclaimed as he walked away. Drew called the Harmonie Club and they have next Saturday open for the wedding. What do you think?”

“Isn’t that a private club for the elite?”

“Yeah, and Drew is elite.” I winked.

“Sounds good to me. I’m sure Kristen will be thrilled.”

Lightly knocking on the door, I heard Kristen yell, “Come in.”

“Hey, sis.” I smiled as I walked to the kitchen. “How are you feeling today?”

She narrowed her eye at me and handed me a cup of coffee.

“I’m fine. Just a little tired.”

“Are you sure you want to go look at dresses today? We can do it tomorrow.”

“Nope. Today is the day. I’m not going to let a little bit of tiredness stop me from living the rest of my life. So tell me,” she smiled as she leaned across the counter, “how was your night with Drew?”

“Amazing as always.” I shyly grinned. “Listen, I have something to discuss with you.”

“What’s up?”

“Drew called a friend of his last night at the Harmonie Club and they have a room available for your wedding next Saturday. He said that if you’re interested, he’ll take us over there this afternoon so you can look at it.”

“Really?” Her smile grew wide. “That was so nice of him to do that. Of course I’m interested. I can’t wait to meet Mr. Drew Westbrook.”

“I will let him know right now.” I smiled as I pulled my phone from my purse and sent him a text message.

“Hi. Kristen would like to go look at the room.”

“Excellent. I know she’ll love it. I’ll pick the two of you up around five o’clock. I’ll call and let them know we’re coming. Where do you want me to pick you up?”

“Great. I’m not quite sure where we’ll be.”

“Doesn’t matter. Just call or text me the location and I’ll be there.”

“Thanks, Drew. This means a lot.”

“You’re welcome, Jillian. I’ll see you later.”

Taking a sip of my coffee, I looked at Kristen. “Drew will pick us up at five. He said just to text him the location of where we’re at.”

“He seems like a wonderful man.”

“He is.” I looked down at my cup and slowly traced the rim with my finger. “Too wonderful. You know what he did on the plane?”

“What?”

“He offered me his protein bar because I had mentioned that I was hungry. A total stranger. Grant never would have done that. He would have just eaten it in front of me.”

“And that is why Grant is a fuckwad.” She grinned.

“He is. Isn’t he? Oh, by the way, Drew invited me and Kellan to attend a charity event on Friday night, so I’m going to need a new dress.”

“Fun. You can help me pick out a wedding dress and I’ll help you pick out a formal dress for the event.”

“Are you sure you’re up to it today?” I asked.

“Stop asking me. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t go. Now come on; we have dresses to shop for.”

Jillian

The minute Kristen stepped out of the dressing room at Kleinfeld’s, tears instantly filled my eyes. She looked so beautiful.

“No tears, Jill. Come on; we talked about this.”

Wiping my eye, I spoke, “I’m sorry but you look so beautiful.”

“I don’t want to look beautiful. I want to look sexy as fuck.” She smiled as she checked herself out in the mirror.

“You do.”

“Nah. This dress isn’t for me. Let me try on the others.”

As she began to walk back into the dressing room, she stopped and turned to me.

“Why don’t you try one on?”

“Who me?” I pointed to myself.

“Yes, you. Come on. Don’t make me do this alone.”

“No. I don’t want to try on wedding dresses. I wore one for a couple of hours not too long ago. Remember?”

“Yeah. But I didn’t get to see you in it.”

“Trust me, you missed nothing. Besides, it’ll be a cold day in hell before I ever get back into a wedding dress.”

“Don’t say that, Jill.”

“It’s true.”

She shook her head and headed into the dressing room. After trying on six different dresses and not liking any of them, she stepped out in the last dress she had in the room.

“Wow,” I spoke as I got up from the plush chair and walked over to her as she stared at herself in the three-way mirror.

“This is the one, Jill.” Her eyes filled with tears.

Laying my head on her shoulder, I spoke, “It’s perfect, Kristen.”

“I have the perfect head piece for you.” The saleswoman smiled.

After a few moments, she returned with a lightly beaded white satin head scarf with a veil attached to the back of it. Taking it from her hands, I placed it on Kristen’s head.

“What do you think?”

“Now it’s complete.”

As soon as Kristen went to change out of the dress, I pulled the saleswoman to the side.

“How fast can you get this dress altered?”

“We would order her a brand new one closer to her size.”

“We don’t have time. She’s getting married next Saturday.”

“I’m sorry, but that’s impossible. We send our dresses out to be altered.”

“Not good enough. I need you to listen to me very carefully. My sister only has six to nine months left to live. Her cancer has spread and there’s nothing more the doctors can do to help her. This wedding will be the last thing she ever does and I’m going to make sure it’s perfect.”

“I’m very sorry to hear that. A friend of mine is a seamstress and she owns a shop over on East 48
th
Street. I can give her a call for you and see what she says.”

“Thank you.” I smiled. “Also, I’ll be paying for the dress and headpiece. I can give you a deposit today and bring in the rest of the cash tomorrow. Please let me know what your friend says. Here’s my phone number.”

Kristen walked out and handed the dress to the saleswoman. “I’ll be putting this on my credit card,” she spoke.

“No need. I’m buying you the dress.”

“No, Jill. No you’re not.”

“Actually, I am, and there’s nothing you can do about it.” I grabbed both her hands and held them tight. “The mother of the bride is supposed to buy the wedding dress, but since your mom can’t be here, your sister is the next best thing.”

“Jill.” Tears formed in her eyes.

“I want to do this for you. So let me.”

She let go of my hands and wrapped her arms around me.

“Thank you. I don’t know what to say.”

“You’re welcome and you don’t need to say anything.”

“Excuse me,” the saleswoman interrupted our sisterly moment. “My friend, Gina, said she’d be more than happy to alter the dress for you. She said you can come now if you would like and she’d get started on it right away.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem. By the way, the dress rang up on clearance.” She winked at me. “Your deposit was enough to cover it.”

“Thank you.” I gave her a light hug.

She bagged up the dress and we hailed a cab over to Gina’s Seam Shop over on East 48
th
Street. After we met with Gina, I could tell Kristen was exhausted.

“I’m starving,” I spoke. “Let’s go sit down and grab some lunch.”

“Sounds good to me. Where do you want to go?”

“I’m new to this city, so you pick.”

We ended up taking a cab over to SoHo and eating at a place called Balthazar. As I was taking a bite of my chicken club sandwich, I almost choked on it when I saw Jess walking over to the table.

“Jillian?” She cocked her head as a look of disbelief swept over her face.

“Jess. Oh my God.” I stood up and gave her a light fake hug.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Having lunch.”

“I mean in New York.”

“I live here now.”

“I thought you were on a self-discovery journey.”

“I am.”

“Does Drew know you’re here in New York?” Her eyes shot back at me.

Shit. Shit. Shit
. What do I say? It was none of her fucking business and I had nothing to hide.

“Yes. I ran into him the other day. He was just as surprised as you are right now.”

“I’m sure he was. Well, it was nice seeing you again. Maybe we can do lunch some time.”

“That would be great,” I lied. There was no way in hell I would have lunch with her.

As soon as she walked away, Kristen leaned over the table.

“Who the fuck was that snobby bitch?”

“Drew’s ex-girlfriend.”

“The one he dumped in Hawaii?”

“Yep. She’s the one.” I rolled my eyes.

After finishing lunch, Kristen couldn’t stop yawning.

“Why don’t I see if Drew can take us to the Harmonie Club now? You really need to get home and lie down.”

“I am really beat.” She sighed.

Taking my phone from the table, I sent Drew a text message.

“I’m sorry to bother you because I know you’re busy, but would it be possible to go look at the Harmonie Club now? Kristen is exhausted and I’m afraid she won’t make it until five o’clock.”

“Of course. I just finished lunch. Where are you?”

“A restaurant called Balthazar.”

“Ah. One of my favorite places. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

“Thank you, Drew.”

“I’ll see you soon, baby.”

I sat and stared at the last word he typed. An uneasy feeling swept over me. He called me “baby” during sex, which was acceptable because it was spoken in the midst of hot steamy sex. But for him to call me that while not having hot steamy sex didn’t sit right with me.

“What’s wrong?” Kristen asked. “Did he say no?”

“No. He said he’s on his way.”

“Okay. What’s the look for then?”

“It’s just he called me baby.”

“Aw, that’s sweet, Jill. Why does that bother you?”

“Because we’re not in a relationship. Names like that are reserved for couples. Not for two people who are friends.”

Narrowing her eye at me from across the table, she spoke, “You mean two people who are having a lot of sex and spending the nights with each other.”

“We aren’t in a relationship.”

“Actually, you are. You’re in a sexual relationship. If you don’t want to be in any kind of relationship with him at all, then you need to stop fucking him.” She graciously smiled.

“What if I don’t want to? He makes me feel incredible and sex with him is very addicting.”

“Then stop getting all pissed off when he calls you baby. You can’t have your cake and eat it too, Jill. I have a feeling that Mr. Drew Westbrook wants more from you than just a sexual relationship.”

“That’s too bad. I’ve made it very clear to him that I’m not interested in a relationship.”

She sighed. “Okay. Okay. Let’s go wait outside.”

Just as we stepped out the doors of Balthazar, Drew’s Bentley pulled up to the curb and Roland stepped out and opened the door for us.

“Hi.” I smiled as I climbed in next to Drew.

“Hi.” He grabbed hold of my hand.

Kristen climbed in and I immediately introduced them.

“Drew, this is my sister, Kristen. Kristen, meet Drew Westbrook.”

“Hello, Kristen. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise, Drew. Thank you for doing this for us.”

“No problem. It’s my pleasure to help you in any way I can. How was your lunch?”

“Lunch was good. The food was great and I ran into someone I know.” I smirked.

“Really? Who?”

“Jess.”

“Fuck. What did she say?” He slowly shook his head.

“She wanted to know why I was in New York and then asked me if you knew I was here.”

Rolling his eyes, he sighed. “What did you tell her?”

“That you knew because we ran into each other and then she said we should do lunch some time.”

“You’re not going to, are you?”

“Of course not. Why would I?”

Roland pulled up to the Harmonie Club and the three of us climbed out and went inside. Drew told the lady at the desk to alert Lester that we had arrived.

“Good to see you, Drew.” Lester smiled as they shook hands. “Follow me and I’ll show you what’s available.”

He took us up to the third floor where the Harmonie Room was located.

“Take a look around and let me know what you think. This room holds up to three hundred and fifty guests very comfortably. If you’re interested in having the ceremony here, we can accommodate you in the main dining room for an additional fee and you’re free to decorate it how you wish.”

“Thank you, Lester. We’ll let you know.”

Giving Drew a pat on the back, he stepped out of the room while we looked around.

“Wow. This is beautiful,” Kristen spoke. “I’m afraid to ask how much this would cost.” She bit down on her bottom lip.

“Don’t worry about the cost, Kristen,” Drew spoke. “Being a member, I get a discount.” He winked.

After looking around, Kristen agreed to have the reception and ceremony at the Harmonie Club. Things were coming together and I couldn’t be happier for her. After we climbed back into the Bentley, Roland drove us back to Kristen’s apartment.

“Are you coming up?” she asked me.

“I think I’m going to head home. You, my tired sister, need to go take a long nap.”

“True.” She smiled. “Call me later.” She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Thank you again, Drew. You are a lifesaver.”

“You’re welcome. I’m happy you liked it.”