My So-Called Perfect Life

by K. A. Berg

  His walls are gray, and his couch is black. A big screen takes up one of the walls, and what looks like an autographed bat hangs above it.

  He really likes his baseball.

  As I finish my appraisal of his space, I find Ryan leaning against the wall, just watching me, taking in me being in his space.

  I drop my bag on the floor next to the couch and saunter over to him with a sexy sway I didn’t know I had. When I see Ryan looking at me with desire, it makes me feel confident, makes me comfortable. It empowers me to be sexy.

  I run my fingernail down the front of his shirt. “Do I get a proper tour of the bedroom?”

  A fire blazes in the blue of Ryan’s eyes. “You’re going to meet the wall, the bed, and maybe even the floor intimately. The things I plan to do to you will forever link you to those walls and the way your screams of pleasure bounce off each of them will be permanently entered into my spank bank.”

  Is it possible to come from just words? Because I’m pretty sure, with another string of filthy promises from his lips, I’ll come right here in the entryway. Screw the bedroom.

  “Now, please,” I beg. “I’d like to start the tour now.”

  Ryan growls as he bends and tosses me over his shoulder like a rag doll. “I hope you don’t plan on walking tomorrow.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Ryan

  “Hi.” I smile at Danielle when she opens her apartment door. “Are you ready to go?”

  She returns my smile with a grin of her own. “I think so. Am I dressed okay for whatever you have planned?”

  There’s this little restaurant/bar downtown that I want to take Danielle to, but I haven’t told her anything about it. I texted her earlier and told her to wear something comfortable.

  I scan her converse sneakers, jeans, and black crop top appreciatively before nodding. “You look great.” Her hair is tied back in a bun at the nape of her neck and she has in long dangling earrings. She looks perfect for Amigos.

  She grabs her bag off the table near the door and slings it across her body. “Then I’m ready.”

  She locks the door and taking her hand in mine, we head down the hall to the stairs of her building. “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?”

  I shake my head. “Nope, it’s a surprise.”

  She laughs. “Everything with you is a surprise.”.

  “That’s how I like it,” I tell her as we exit the door to her building onto the sidewalk. The air is thick and humid, almost stifling. “I need to keep you guessing.”

  Truth is, while I may not know her all that well, there is one thing I do know, Danielle is a bit of a control freak. She’s methodical and structured. It didn’t take me long to figure out after spending a morning making her breakfast in her apartment. Her refrigerator is arranged by food groups. Her pots and pans are in size order, the lids stacked neatly beside them. She stocks her cabinet with boxes and cans stacked from smallest to tallest, with all labels facing out. Her bookshelves are alphabetized. Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those things but I’d like to show her that there’s more to life. That things can be fun even when you don’t plan every moment of it.

  She looked a little embarrassed and unsure when I told her she has the most organized kitchen I’ve seen so I let it go and didn’t ask too many questions. When another opportunity presents itself, I’ll bring it up.

  Amigos is only about a ten-minute ride downtown and we chat idly about our days as we hop on the subway a few blocks from Danielle’s.

  “How about a game?” she asks as the train pulls from the stop.

  “Sure.” I wrap my hand around one of the silver subway poles, steadying myself. “What do you have in mind?”

  The train jolts and the momentum propels Danielle forward, pressing her into the side of my body. Her eyes sparkle as she looks up. “This or that?”

  Goosebumps rise under my fingertips as I wrap my free hand around her mid-section. My thumb glides over the pebbled skin loving the feeling of her softness. “I’ve never played before.”

  “It’s easy.” She grins and leans into me. “Summer or Winter?”

  The train hits a rough patch and we’re bobbled around for a moment. When all goes calm, or as calm as it can be on a train, I answer, “Summer.”

  She cocks her head to the side. “Yeah? How come?”

  “Nothing in particular,” I say after some thought. “I just prefer it, I guess. My birthday is the last day of summer, too.”

  She smiles as if she’s just learned her own little secret. “Good to know.”

  “Do I get to ask now?” I tickle her side a bit until she lets out a giggle. “Is it my turn?”

  I want to know more about the innerworkings of Danielle’s mind. I want to know about the sweet girl, who makes me laugh, who isn’t afraid to be herself, who has me looking at life through different glasses. If I could crawl inside her head, I would. Just so I could pick apart the way she thinks in such order. I think I’m fascinated with it. Or maybe, I just want to break her out of her mold and show her how much fun she can have in life by just enjoying things as they come. It’s probably more of the latter.

  “Adventure or consistency?”

  She tips her head. “Hats off to you,” she says. “Diving deep right out of the gate. I guess I should’ve expected that with you, huh?”

  Shrugging my shoulders, I nod. “Yeah, you probably should have.”

  She takes a deep breath and exhales. The movement drawing my attention down to her impressive cleavage for a moment. Can’t say I’m disappointed with the slight distraction. “Consistency is always going to be my answer, but that isn’t to say I don’t like adventure. I like having fun and doing new things. I just usually like to have a plan in place for it. Time to prepare and all.”

  “How well do you fair with surprises?” I ask. “Does it bother you not knowing where we’re going?”

  She steps to the side letting a couple walk past us as the next stop is announced. “Not really,” she answers as she saddles back in against me. “The only thing I don’t know is where we’re going or what we’re doing, but the date itself wasn’t a surprise. I was ready for it.”

  “So, adventure doesn’t bother you?”

  Her smile brightens as she shakes her head. “Not at all. I like trying new things and going out.”

  The train slows as the next stop approaches and I pull Danielle toward the doors of the car. “Well good, then you should have a ton of fun tonight.”

  The doors open and we shuffle off the train and head to the stairs. “What are we doing?” she asks as we walk through a crowd of people all heading the same direction.

  “Going to my friend’s bar,” I say as we hit the sidewalk.

  She looks confused. “Your friend’s bar? Why not just Cohen’s?”

  Raul’s place is nothing like mine. “Cohen’s is more of a modern type sports bar. Amigos is a whole different animal.”

  She suddenly looks apprehensive. “Different animal how?”

  I smirk as I round the corner into the alley where the back entrance to Amigos is. “You’ll see.”

  Music spills into the alley as the door to Amigo’s kitchen opens.

  Miguel, the chef, greets us first. “Ryan, hola!” He grabs Danielle and kisses her hand. “And who is the beautiful señorita?”

  “Miguel, this is Danielle,” I say placing my arm around her shoulders. “Danielle, this is Miguel.”

  Her cheeks blush. “Nice to meet you.”

  Raul steps out of his office and his voice carries over the music “Miguel, stop harassing my friend’s date.”

  “But she is much too beautiful,” Miguel winks before dropping her hand. Danielle’s cheeks redden even deeper. I pull her into my side as Raul crosses the kitchen.

  He pulls me into a half hug while he kisses both of my cheeks. “It’s so good to see you, Ryan.”

  “You, too, my friend.” I nod. “It’s been too long.”

&nbs
p; “And who is this?” he looks down at Danielle who is watching the two of us with a thorough interest in her eyes.

  “This is Danielle.”

  She smiles at him and waves her fingers. “Hi. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for having us.”

  “Never a bother. Let me take you out front, give you the VIP treatment.” Raul ushers us from the back door through the kitchen out onto the floor of the bar.

  Danielle’s eyes widen in surprise when she catches a glimpse of Amigos.

  At the front of the building is a stage where a very attractive woman in a red satin dress sings a magnificent melody in Spanish. Next to her, a man plays the saxophone on one side and on the other another man plays the keyboard.

  “Wow, live music,” Danielle says with awe in her voice. Then she notices the people dancing all around the stage. “Look at them dance. They’re so good.”

  “They will teach you, if you’d like,” Raul tells her.

  She adamantly shakes her head. “Oh, no. No, thank you. I couldn’t move like that.”

  “Lupe,” he calls out and one of the servers turns around. “Come here for a moment, por favor.”

  Lupe hurries over and Raul takes the tray from her hands. “Danielle would like to learn a few steps.”

  “No hay problema,” Lupe smiles. “Ven conmigo. Come with me.”

  “But—” Danielle tries to protest but it’s no use. Lupe has her out on the dance floor before she can finish her objection.

  “Is this one special?” Raul asks as we step over to the bar. My eyes stay glued on Danielle as she tries to follow the movements of Lupe’s feet and hips.

  Raul pours two shots of Patrôn as he waits for my answer. “I’m not sure yet.” I swipe the shot from his outstretched hand and toss it back. “She could be.”

  He tilts his head appraising my face for something. Secretly, I think Raul has some mind reading powers. “You’ve never brought anyone else here with you before?”

  He’s right. “True.”

  He raises a thick black eyebrow at me as he pours a second shot. “You don’t think that right there makes her special?”

  Raul has known me for a while. Women haven’t come up much in our conversations over the years. Family, yes. Our businesses, definitely. But women, not so much. Raul and Esperanza are blissfully happy, and I’ve never really dated.

  I toss back my shot with ease. “Time will tell.”

  Danielle bounces back over with Lupe by her side smiling wide. “She’ll be a pro in no-time.”

  “She’s just being nice,” Danielle counters.

  Raul winks at me before turning his attention on Danielle. “You look like a natural out there.” He holds up the bottle of Patrôn. “Plus, this always loosens the hips up.”

  He places a shot glass in front of Danielle and fills it up. Then one for me. And one for him.

  Raul holds up his shot and we follow suit. “Salud!”

  “Go have a seat in the back booth,” Raul says pointing a finger to the large booth back to the left. “I’ll send over some tapas. Here’s a beer to get you started.”

  He places two beers on the bar, and we take them before heading to the corner.

  “What’s tapas?” she asks as we slide into the booth.

  “It’s a bunch of different small portions of appetizers and snacks.” I explain. “Miguel does an awesome spread, you’ll love it.”

  She nods and takes a pull of her beer. “How do you know Raul?”

  Pure luck really. “We met on a plane about six years ago. I was on my way back from hiking in Costa Rica and he was returning home from visiting his family there. We spent the long hours talking, found out we were both opening bars in the city, and kept in touch over the years. I stop in whenever I’m craving great Spanish cuisine and he comes to Cohen’s to catch a soccer game every now and again.”

  She looks astonished. “Wow, I’ve never been lucky enough to be stuck next to someone I can stand for the duration of the flight, never mind years of friendship.”

  I sit back and cross my arms over my chest. I mock sigh. “What can I say? I make friends in the oddest ways.”

  I toss her a wink for good measure, and she laughs. “I almost forgot how cocky you can be.”

  “Me?”

  She nods, “Yes, you. That first night you were all ‘you’re not the revenge sex type’ like you knew me or something.”

  “Oh, you got your revenge that day,” I joke about her giving me chlamydia. “Just on the wrong person.”

  She hangs her head in her hands and lets out a small chuckle. “I’m never going to live it down, am I?”

  “Why would you want to?” I poke her in the side. “It’s the perfect meet-cute. It makes a great story.”

  Her head snaps up and her eyes fill with horror. “Oh my god. Please don’t ever tell people that story. It’s not cute. At all. Please don’t tell me you’ve been telling people that’s how we met.”

  For a second, I feel bad. She really does look horrified. “No,” I ease her fears. “I haven’t told anyone other than my buddy, Evan. But that was before.”

  “Thank God,” she sighs in relief just as Raul comes by with two platters of food.

  He places them down on the table and smiles proudly. “Enjoy. Miguel is a wizard in that kitchen.”

  We eat. We chat. We laugh.

  We play a few more rounds of Danielle’s this or that game. I learn she’s a morning person, likes books over movies, and prefers salty to sweet.

  Sliding out, I stand in front of the table and offer a hand. “How about you show me those dance moves Lupe taught you?”

  She grabs my hand and pulls herself up. She cocks a hip while planting her hand on it. “I don’t know if you can handle me.”

  Damn, she’s sexy. She’s not even trying either. That’s what makes her alluring. She’s just naturally sexy—to me anyway. I want to take her ass, plop it on this table, and devour her.

  My dick throbs against the zipper of my jeans. Gripping her by the arm, I pull her body to mine and let her feel what she does to me. “I’m up for the challenge.”

  Her eyes swirl with desire. I’m looking forward to feeling her move to the music.

  The performers take a break and house music plays through the speakers.

  Two minutes dancing with Danielle and I realize how hard it is going to be to keep my hands to myself. The way Danielle moves freely to the rhythm has me ready to bust a nut in my pants. She’s not the greatest dancer but the way she enjoys herself in the moment is something to witness. She is beautiful. Her confidence is intoxicating.

  She steps into me and I spin her back as we move in circles. “You’re a great dancer,” she says. “Mercy was right. You could totally be the bad boy in a boy band.”

  There’s nothing to do except laugh. She says it so seriously.

  “If you tell me you can sing.—”

  Grinding my hips into hers, I interrupt. “You wouldn’t be able to control yourself. I know you’ve been thinking about it since that night. Want me to play boy bander for you?”

  Her pupils dilate and she full on smirks. “Who said I could control myself around you now?”

  Lowering my head, I take her lips with mine. “There’s no need for control, Dani Girl. We can go satisfy your needs right now.”

  She links her fingers through mine. “So generous of you.”

  Lifting her hand, I lean down and bite the tip of her finger softly. “I’m good like that, sweet girl. I’ll show you just how well I can satisfy you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Danielle

  Standing in front of the mirror, I toss my hair to the left then right, trying to give it some kind of volume, when I hear a knock at the door. Glancing at the clock on my cable box, I see it’s only five fifteen. Ryan is early.

  Smacking my lips together one more time, I smooth out my bright pink lipstick—an impulse-buy the other day at Ulta.

  Flirty sundress? Check. />
  Cute wedges on my feet? Check.

  Perfect eyelashes? Double check.

  “Coming,” I call out as I exit my bedroom and head across my fairly small apartment to the front door. “You’re early,” I say, opening the door, expecting to see Ryan.

  But nope, not Ryan. A cheating ex-bastard is standing at my door instead.

  Scott jostles the box in his hand and gives me a timid smile. “Expecting someone?”

  “Definitely not you,” I bite out.

  I haven’t thought about Scott often over the last month of seeing Ryan. I’ve had so much other stuff going on more worthy of my attention. But the anger that I thought had pretty much fizzled out rears its ugly head.

  “What are you doing here, Scott?”

  He awkwardly stands there as I glare at him.

  “I sent you a few texts,” he says. “But you haven’t responded. You left some things at my place. I figured you might want them back.”

  I don’t want anything back from his place. It could all be infested with crabs for all I know. “Because I blocked you. I have nothing to say to you. Especially after how you acted the last time you were here.”

  “Come on, Danielle. I was drunk and mad. I used some bad judgment. You called the cops and got me back. Plus, you stole all the money. But, still. We spent six years of our lives together. Is this how it’s going to be between us now?”

  “Are you kidding me with this shit?” I scoff, standing in the doorway. He’s fucking delusional!

  “Six years where I clearly never even knew you. How long were you cheating on me, Scott? Were any of those messages you sent me to inform me that you gave me chlamydia or to apologize for trying to break my door down?”

  “I didn’t know I gave it to you. I made a mistake, Danielle,” he says lamely. “I told you that.”

  “You didn’t bother to make sure you didn’t give it to me either, asshole. You clearly never cared about me.” I didn’t even know Ryan and I made sure to go back when I’d found out the truth. It’s called being a decent human being; which Scott is not. “Nothing you did was a mistake, Scott. It was all deliberate. Your only mistake was leaving your phone on the roof.”