Unbroken Pleasures (16 page)

“They are good,
thanks. You should have stuck around. They are really eager to meet you.”

I laughed. “I
don’t think I was dressed appropriately to meet your family.”

“Well, not that
time,” he said, “not that I am complaining. I think you should come by my house
wearing that particular outfit again.”

I felt my face
flush and looked away to avoid his eyes. He took it as a sign of shyness but
really it was the guilt gnawing away at the pit of my stomach again. I’d been
with someone else last night. Should I tell him?

“They would like
to meet you,” he said. I looked at him in alarm.

“I couldn’t… I
mean…”

“It’s a little
early,” I know. He used the arm around my shoulder to pull us a little closer
together, “They are just excited to meet the girl they’ve heard so much about.”

“You told them
about me?”

“Of course.”

This time it was
his turn to blush and I wondered what he might have told his family considering
the fact that we still barely knew each other and I’d still managed to screw
things up so much along the way. After all, I’d been nearly naked on his
kitchen counter with his hands all over me only moments before his mom and
sister had shown up.

“All good I
hope?”

“Every word.” He
leaned in and kissed my cheek. “They were curious about the lovely young woman
who has stolen my heart.”

“Wow… I mean…”

“Not pushing, I
know it’s still too soon and you don’t feel the same way about me, at least not
yet. It’s okay though, we’ll work on that.” He released his arm from around my
shoulder and finished off the last of his drink and gave Tiger a big fuss.

“I really do
like you.”

“It’s okay, really,
you don’t have to say anything,” he said turning back to me and giving me a
reassuring smile. I wasn’t sure if it made me feel better or worse. Adam didn’t
deserve to be strung along.

“I better get
back to work.”

“We’ll walk with
you,” he said standing up and reaching out to take my hand. I slipped my hand
into his even though it felt awkward sharing such intimacy with him when all I
could think about was tearing off my clothes and having my way with Reese.

“So, I’m free
tonight, you know,” he said as we walked back in the direction of my office.

I looked up at
him wondering what exactly he was implying. He hesitated and looked nervous
before speaking again.

“I mean, if you
wanted to ummm… surprise me again.”

“Oh…”

“I mean, only if
you really wanted to, of course.”

“Of course. I
mean, I don’t know. I think I might have plans with Sylvia tonight but I’ll
think about it, okay?”

“No pressure. I
just thought that maybe we could pick up where we left off and see where it
leads. You never know. You might be pleasantly surprised if you gave me half a
chance.”

We stopped in
front of my office building and I paused nervously fishing for the right words
to put him off any plans to seduce me without hurting his feelings or crushing
him completely.

“I’m really
sorry about turning up unannounced at your house like that,” I stammered.

“Don’t be. I’m
not.”

“It’s just that,
I didn’t mean for things to get serious so quickly.”

I could see the
disappointment in his face as he looked down at Tiger instead of me and I felt
like I would be in jeopardy of losing my lunch. I was never very good at
disappointing people. That’s one of the things that always got me into trouble.

“It’s not that I
don’t want to. I really do,” I said trying to explain myself and feeling like I
was only making it worse. Worse yet, was I only lying? I wanted to be with Reese.

“All in good
time, right? In the meantime, I have enough to fuel my fantasies.” He flashed
me a shy smile that made me smile in return. He really could be very charming
when he wanted to be. That would make it all the harder when the time came to
break up with him but I hated myself for even thinking that.

“Listen, I
said,” just as he was turning around to leave, “I was wondering if you would be
up for a double date with Sylvia and her boyfriend?”

He turned back
to me and smiled again. Whatever it was about that invitation seemed to do more
to smooth over the sting of rejection he’d felt when I’d been reluctant to show
up at his house wearing next to nothing.

“That sounds
like fun,” he said.

“I need to work
out the details with Sylvia. She doesn’t actually know about it yet. To make a
long story short, I’m trying to convince her to give her boyfriend another
chance and I think the only shot I have at getting her in the same room is if I
arrange a surprise double date. I’m going to lure her in by telling her that
she’s meeting you.”

“Cupid strikes
again,” he teased, “Consider me in. I’m all for Cupid.”

I giggled and he
walked back to me taking my face into his hand and pressing his lips into mine.
I felt him try to intensify the kiss but I held back and he let go and wished
me a good afternoon.

Mary pounced on
me almost the moment I’d walked through the door. Apparently she’d eaten her
lunch in the office and had been watching and waiting. It was times like these
that I wished our professional relationship hadn’t crossed the borders into
friendship over the years. Mary was older, married for many years, and had a
family of nearly grown boys. She’d taken on a motherly tone with me from the
moment we met and I’d never done anything to stop that. I shouldn’t have been
surprised that she was going to push for details even though I didn’t find it
appropriate to supply them.

“You’re in love,
young lady,” she said persisting and following me around the office as I
prepared for surgery. I had two neuterings this afternoon and I was wishing I’d
had a few cups of coffee to help wake me up. My lack of sleep was quickly
catching up with me.

“I’m not in
love,” I said trying to pass it off. I knew there was no fooling Mary but even
still, I couldn’t face the possibility that I might actually be in love with a
man that I didn’t even know.

“Not with Adam,
you’re not.” She’d spoken out loud the reality that I knew we both were
thinking. It definitely wasn’t Adam who had managed to so completely capture my
attention. “So who is this big mystery man then?”

“I don’t know
what you’re talking about.”

She opened her
mouth to say something but seemed to think better of it. I took my cue to lock myself
in my little office where I could escape the awkward conversation. I loved Mary
like she was a member of my own family. I didn’t want things to get weird
around the office but at the same time, I didn’t need her to push into secrets
that I wasn’t willing to share right now. There had to be a line and perhaps I
would have to be the one to draw it. This was one matter which I was unwilling
to discuss at work.

I pulled out my
cell phone and flipped to Sylvia’s number on my speed dial. I hadn’t spoken to
her since I ran into Ben at the grocery store so she still didn’t know that I
knew the real reason that she wasn’t seeing him anymore. I didn’t plan to
reveal this particular secret either. I sighed to myself. My life was growing
out of control with secrets lately and I wasn’t sure at which point it was
simply going to burst at the seams unable to contain itself any longer. I had
never been very good at keeping secrets.

“Hello,” said a
slightly flustered voice on the other end of the line when she picked up.

“How’s it going,
Sylvia?” I said trying my best to act casual. I still hadn’t entirely devised
my plan of attack.

“It’s been a
full morning of divorce drama by couples that had no business getting married
in the first place but otherwise, it is good. What’s up?”

“You’ll never
guess who surprised me for lunch at work today,” I said knowing that I’d reel
her in by the temptations of my apparently blossoming social life.

“Adam!”

“Yes, seems that
everything is just peachy keen between us. Better even.”

“My, my, well
isn’t this good news. So when are you dropping your panties?”

Sylvia always
managed to get straight to the point, one of the reasons I loved her so much. I
swallowed hard trying not to let her hear the cringe in my voice. Mary had seen
through me easily enough. Given half a chance, so would Sylvia. Please god, I
prayed, let me be a brilliant liar just one day.

“Soon,” I said
deciding that it was better to keep it simple. Give her hope without
elaborating and she’d be more likely to buy it.

“And you are
going to give me all the details when you do.”

“Of course,
Sylvia, but I’m not planning to rush into anything.”

“Oh, don’t be so
practical all the time, Alex. It ruins all the fun. Sounds to me like this guy
is getting pretty serious about you. How do you feel about that?”

“It’s okay. I
think I’m finally ready to let go of everything that happened with Ed and move
forward with my life,” I lied. I didn’t really want to think that Adam was
getting serious about me. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

“That’s big,
Alex. I’m really happy for you. I think there is a lot of potential for you
with this Adam guy. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Yes, about that…”

“Oh! You’re
going to actually let me meet this guy. This is big. This is even bigger than I
thought. You’re falling in love with this guy, aren’t you?”

“Sylvia, I
hardly know him.”

“So what, that
didn’t stop you with Ed. You guys weren’t dating more than a couple months
before you started sizing him up as husband material. You couldn’t drag that
guy down the aisle fast enough. No wonder he took off running in the other
direction.”

“Sylvia!”

I wanted to slam
the phone down but I took a deep breath and tried to steady my nerves. Sylvia
had the bad habit of speaking her mind even to the detriment of friendships or
other relationships. I was better than most at ignoring her comments and
understanding that she didn’t really mean any harm in them. This was one of
those times when I found it more difficult to accept.

“Sorry, Alex, I
guess you’re not quite over him.”

“It’s not that
I’m not over him. Really, I am so over him and there are mistakes that I made
with him that I never want to make again but that doesn’t mean it’s okay to
make me feel bad about what happened. I didn’t force him to walk down that
aisle. He asked me to marry him, not the other way around and when we said ‘I
do’, I took those vows seriously. I didn’t deserve what he did to me.”

“You’re right.
My comments were out of line. I’m sorry, Alex. I hate that he hurt you like he
did. He’s a scum and you deserve so much better.”

“Thanks, Sylvia.
I know you didn’t mean to say it but I know how you can make it up to me.”

“Anything, say
the word and I’ll do it.”

“Have dinner
with Adam and me this Thursday evening.”

“Absolutely! I
would love to.”

“Bring Ben too.”

“Alex, you know
I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” I
faked innocence, giving her the chance to come clean about the real reason she
was no longer seeing him even though I knew she wouldn’t admit it.

“He’s moved on. We’re
not seeing each other anymore, remember?”

“Oh yes,” I
pretended to be surprised, “You mentioned having a date with someone new last
night. How did that go?”

“It was fine. I
mean… well, it was okay.”

“Not quite as
good as Ben?”

“I don’t know
what you’re talking about. I’m over that whole thing with Ben. I don’t know
what I was thinking. You see, I gave the guy a chance and he left me high and
dry. You can never really trust a man, Alex.”

“Yeah, well, you
know what, Sylvia?”

“What?”

“I don’t think
you should give up so easily.”

“I don’t care
about the guy.”

“I think you
do.”

“Well, you’re
wrong.”

“I would really
like you to bring him to dinner with Adam and me. Adam wants to meet him.”

“It’s not going
to happen, Alex. I don’t mind being a third wheel but if it’s really so
important to you that I have a date for the evening, I’ll find someone. There
are plenty of guys lining up just waiting for a chance to go out with me. But I
am not bringing Ben. He’s not worth the time of day.”

“Well, I happen
to think he’s very sweet but if you don’t want to bring him, that’s fine. Just
come yourself and meet Adam.”

“I would love
to, Alex. I’m really looking forward to meeting him.”

After I hung up,
I sighed heavily as I slumped against my desk. I didn’t really expect her to
give in to inviting Ben but I was really hoping that she wouldn’t be so
stubborn against the idea.

Chapter 15

I had to do a
little digging but I eventually came across Ben’s phone number tucked away in
my desk after our little run in at the grocery store. I dialed his number and
held my breath hoping he would answer. I was in luck. He was home.

“We need to
talk,” I told him.

I gave him a
quick run down of the conversation that I’d had with Sylvia and her reluctance
to the double date. Despite her stubbornness, Ben didn’t seem deterred to go
ahead with our dinner plans. I hoped that we weren’t making a mistake by
tricking her into the same room with him under the guise of meeting Adam. Even
though I felt like the ends justified the means, it didn’t really seem fair.

I couldn’t
expect her to talk about Ben anymore than I was willing to talk about Reese. I
wished that he was the one that I was introducing her to at the restaurant on
Thursday, rather than Adam.

I was
momentarily distracted by images of Reese again and the amazing night that I’d
had with him and I even felt a little guilty that I expected Sylvia to spill
her guts about her feelings for Ben even though I continued to keep Reese a
secret.