David laughed. Then, his face growing thoughtful, he added, “That’s still pretty new to me.”
Katy knew exactly what he was talking about, though she found it hard to believe. “I can’t really blame her. I find you pretty irresistible, too.”
After her earlier worries, it felt good to laugh it off now. Having strangers instantly want to get in your pants was just one of the many consequences of sudden fame, but David was handling it very well. And that made Katy feel even better about all of this. She thought she’d handled it all pretty well, too.
“How’s your latte?” David asked casually. He was looking less stressed already.
Katy took a sip, hoping the caffeine would help clear her cluttered brain. “It’s good,” she replied. “Thank you for buying it for me.”
“No problem,” David replied. As they walked, he slid his arm around Katy, pulling her in close, his body heating hers.
Happiness flooded Katy all over again. David was already taking his whole life’s upheaval in stride because he wanted to be with her. And he hadn’t given either of the girls who so blatantly hit on him the time of day—he barely even seemed to have noticed. It really felt like he only had eyes for Katy. And that was strange and new to her—in a good way.
Katy snuggled close to David. She hadn’t thought that it would be this easy to trust again, after everything that Al had put her through. Thinking back on Alexei’s bad attitude, entitled behavior, and overdramatic, stereotypical romantic gestures, Katy could see clearly now how things she’d thought of as normal at the time, even sweet, were really just signs of how much more he’d cared about himself than he did her.
Now, with David, she could see what she’d been missing. The easiness, the respect, the intellectual curiosity, the genuine care about what she thought. And the more that she experienced it, day after day, she couldn’t imagine ever settling for something like that again.
She couldn’t imagine being apart from him.
8
David
David’s hands roamed over Katy’s sweater. Zeke was away for the evening with Nur, and some action movie was playing on the TV on David’s dresser. But David could only think about Katy: her warmth, her sweet scent, and the supple feel of her body in his hands, the softness of her breasts underneath her sweater, separated from his skin by such a small amount of fabric; moving, responding to his touch.
As he kissed her, enjoying the feel of her fingers raking through his hair, he tried to steady himself. He knew that Katy could only go so far, and he wanted to respect that. Still, they hadn’t yet established just how far was acceptable. And he wanted to be as close to Katy as she would let him . . . The soft sounds she made against his lips intoxicated him, made him feel drunk, his head spinning.
Katy’s hands traveled down David’s back, her mouth pressing hungrily into his, her lips feverishly taking his own. Slowly, her fingers made their way to his sides, and then she pulled David over on top of her.
Oh. David felt a rush of blood hit him, strong as an ocean wave.
On top of Katy, his arms on either side of her head, David eased his hips between her parted thighs, pressing himself against her. She drew in a ragged breath, her mouth opening wider in some mix of pleasure and surprise. Save for just a few layers of clothes . . .
David lowered his mouth to Katy’s neck, kissing gently, running his teeth lightly over the sensitive spots. Then he lowered his lips further, grazing over her chest as his fingers gently tugged down her collar, exposing a few extra enticing inches of flesh. He smiled to himself, his lips curving up against her skin, her sweet little gasps and the subtle writhing of her body telling him that Katy was enjoying herself as much as he was.
But then, as his hips bucked almost involuntarily against hers, he felt Katy stiffen underneath him, her voice going quiet, her body stilling.
David stopped and looked at her, swallowing.
“Is everything okay?” he asked with concern.
She looked up at David hesitantly, her gray eyes clouded with some emotion. “Yeah,” she replied. But the tenor of her voice belied her certainty.
David pushed up on the bed, relieving Katy of his weight. “Katy,” he prompted. What’s wrong? You can tell me.
Katy smiled, but it looked hollow to David. “I’m just . . . nervous. But I want to do this,” she replied, her voice dropping into a husky whisper, her eyes softening perceptibly. But her body, pressed close against him, was still so tense.
“Do what?” he asked. Surely she didn’t mean . . .
“Do it,” Katy clarified, her voice clear and brave. “Go all the way.”
A rush of feelings passed through him all at once. David rolled off of Katy and sat up to give her more room.
“But it’s still all so new to me,” she said, pushing up on her hands to sit up, then looking down into her lap. “I mean, how do you know when you’re ready?”
David cocked his head to the side. He hadn’t expected that question. “Honestly, I don’t know. But are you doing this for us? Or just for me?”
She adjusted the hem of her shirt, smoothing her wild hair down. “For us,” she said. But the uncertainty still clung to her words.
“You can always tell me how you’re feeling,” David said gently. He turned to face Katy and took her small, elegant hands, covering them with his own. “I hope you know that.”
Katy looked down briefly, biting her lip like she did when she was thinking deeply about something. When she looked back up, David could see that she was fully herself again. Her voice was honest. “I guess I still feel afraid. But I don’t know if that will ever fully go away. So how much fear is too much?”
David scoffed—playfully, but genuinely. “I’m nervous around you, too. So I think you’re right; it never fully goes away.”
“But you have . . . experience, right?” Katy asked hesitantly.
David felt his hands go a bit clammy. It felt strange talking to Katy about other women, but she was asking. And he had nothing to hide.
“Not much. But, yes. Technically. Just with one person,” David replied.
Katy nodded and stared at David quietly, cueing him to continue.
“After my parents died,” he began, dredging up the memories, “I did that cliché thing that people do where they try to find themselves. I backpacked through Europe for a while after I graduated.” He chuckled softly to himself and Katy smiled. “When I was in Paris, I met a girl. Or perhaps I should say a woman. She was my senior by some years.”
David thought back to Yvette, with her raven hair and condescending laughter. At the time, David had thought she was the smartest, most beautiful woman he had ever known. “She’s the only woman I’ve ever been with. And I have to admit, I was very afraid, but, uh, she was . . . pretty experienced.”
Katy stifled a laugh. David was relieved to see that she didn’t seem bothered or jealous by his admissions. Maybe she had truly just been curious.
“What happened with her?” Katy asked. “I mean, with the relationship?”
David furrowed his brow, bringing up the details he had tried to forget. “I don’t know if there ever really was a relationship, actually. I was obsessed with her, but she was always against the idea of any kind of commitment. I knew that, but it still stung when I came to visit one day and found that she wasn’t alone.” He was tempering it slightly for conversation, but the reality had been much more lurid. Yvette, her hair mussed and tousled, answering the door in her silken robe and showing David no sign of apology or shame as a naked man walked through her apartment behind her. And David standing there like a fool, holding flowers and coffee in his naïve hope to surprise her.
Katy inched closer to David comfortingly. He turned to look at her, wondering what she’d think, now that he’d laid that old story bare.
“That’s a rotten feeling,” she said gently. “I know. I’m sorry that you had to go through that.”
David shook his head, a warmth growing at him i
n her trust and understanding. “It hurt at the time, but I’m not sorry. If it hadn’t happened, I might have stayed in Paris. I might not have applied at Harvard. And then I might never have met you. So, I’m glad it happened.”
He felt his chest tighten again with admiration and contentment as he looked into Katy’s gray eyes. Somewhere in the heat and comfort, he had become aware of some new flame that was growing brighter. He was falling in love with Katy. He wondered if now was the time to say it, while their souls were bare and raw.
But, to his surprise, Katy cracked a wry grin, her face betraying a secret wonder.
“Just one,” she mused. “Guess you’re not the Lothario I thought you were. Perhaps when it finally happens, I’ll be the one teaching you.”
David laughed. His heart felt full to bursting, realizing as he sat beside Katy how far he had come since losing his parents and having his heart broken. He wasn’t afraid of loss. He wasn’t afraid to trust. And, around Katy, he felt . . . well, complete.
“I bet you will,” he replied mischievously. “When you’re ready.”
Katy’s eyes twinkled with mirth and desire as she pushed forward, her lips meeting David’s hungrily. She wrapped her arms around him, enveloping David in a passionate embrace.
David kissed her back, holding her as tightly as he could.
* * *
“I can barely hear myself think in here. How are you studying?”
David didn’t have a good answer. Truthfully, he wasn’t studying very well. He could barely focus over the din of the first Wolf Club party of the spring semester. The rap music coming from the stereo in the living room was so loud that he could feel the bass in his room, pulsing right up into his feet. He could also hear every laugh, every whoop, every cheer, every chant of “Chug, chug, chug!” He knew every time someone did a keg stand. He knew who was throwing up, who was making out, and who was just showing up with another six-pack.
The walls were too thin for this type of activity. And by now, with all of the stares and attention he got, the library didn’t really appeal to him either.
David turned to Zeke. “It’s a fool’s errand, really.”
Zeke smiled. He was holding a red plastic cup, but David noticed that he wasn’t drinking from it. He knew how that went. It was a tactic the two of them had developed together during Wolf Club initiation: as long as you’re holding a drink, the other guys will mostly leave you alone. Just pretend to take a sip every few minutes. But if you didn’t have the decoy drink, the guys would harass you incessantly. “Take a shot!” “Have a beer!” “Come on, man!”
“Is Katy coming over tonight?” Zeke asked. “Nur said she’d stop by later.”
David shook his head. He hadn’t said anything to his roommate about the unpleasant conversation he’d had with Max and Seb about not inviting Katy to house parties so the Wolf Club wouldn’t wind up under the microscope. Maybe because he didn’t want to pull Zeke into it, but mostly because he had no intention of honoring the request. Luckily for the guys, Katy couldn’t come anyway.
“She’s studying tonight,” he told Zeke. “She has a big paper coming up in Comparative Lit.”
His roommate nodded. “Are you going to come downstairs at all?”
David sighed. He knew it’d be polite to make at least a brief appearance. But, unlike Max and Seb and the seemingly hundreds of people currently crammed into their house and yard, he would really rather spend the time preparing for his courses. “Yeah, I’ll come down in a bit. Just want to finish this chapter.”
“All right, man. See you soon,” Zeke said. Then he disappeared back down the hall.
David leaned back in his desk chair. There was no way he’d be able to finish the chapter, not with the incessant noise all around him. But he wasn’t ready to go downstairs just yet.
Before he had too much time to consider his options, a female voice called to him from the doorway.
“Hey, David.”
David turned to look at a stranger. She was tall and curvy, wearing far too little clothing to stay warm in the chilly weather. David’s guard was immediately raised, though he tried to remain polite. “Hey,” he replied cautiously. Do I know you? A question that had been coming up in his life a lot lately . . .
The girl sauntered into David’s room uninvited. Her midriff and shoulders were exposed, along with the vast majority of her thighs. A tiny skirt clung tightly to her hips, and a matching crop top covered her chest. David noticed with embarrassment that she was braless. He looked away.
“Aren’t you coming down to join the party, David?” The girl placed an unnecessary emphasis on his name. “Or do you prefer to stay hidden away?”
“Um,” David said. She kept walking toward him, swaying just slightly—probably tipsy—until she was only inches from the chair he was sitting in.
“I’m Rose, by the way,” she went on. She was standing over David now, looking down at him intently.
“Rose,” David echoed. Her sudden closeness was getting on his nerves, making his heart flutter, not with excitement, but with a creeping anxiety. He pushed back in his chair and stood, finding himself still far too close to the woman for comfort. “Well, Rose. It was nice to meet you.”
It wasn’t, really. But David wanted to end their conversation politely. He still couldn’t quite understand what the woman had barged in for to begin with.
“If you don’t want to go downstairs,” Rose went on, not backing away, “then I could stay up here with you.”
Ah, there it is. David wasn’t stupid. He wasn’t a stranger to flirting. But this new level of attention he’d been getting was so new and strange that it was still hard to believe. He’d never believed until now that there were people out there who would go to such painfully obvious lengths to make their intentions known, not even bothering to get to know him.
But only an idiot would’ve missed that clue.
“Rose, I have a girlfriend,” David said. He took a step back.
She took a step forward. “I can keep my mouth closed.” Then, with a devilish smile, she added, “Well, unless you don’t want me to.”
“Okay, that’s enough of that,” David said flatly. He stepped around Rose and walked out, feeling gross. He wasn’t about to stand and argue with a forward stranger in his own room.
But, walking down the hallway, David couldn’t shake the weirdness that seemed to follow him like a cloud. The halls of the familiar Wolf Club house, even his room, no longer a haven, suddenly felt like another planet. Was this really all due to his sudden fame? And, if so, how was it going to affect his and Katy’s relationship?
9
Katy
“Guess who got a letter from Moscow?”
Katy shook her head in disbelief. “You’re kidding.”
“See for yourself,” Cassie replied with a knowing smile. She stuck her arm out, and Katy grabbed the sealed envelope from her hand.
Sure enough, it was addressed to Katerina de Courtes, the writing printed on a fancy, preprinted Sokolov envelope. Katy paused.
“I’m just going to toss it,” she said definitively. She moved toward the kitchen trash bin.
“No, come on!” Cassie implored her. “Let’s read it together. I’m dying to know what he has to say. I mean, he’s a married man now! Is he inviting you to the baby shower?”
Katy winced. Not because it bothered her that her ex would be having children with someone else soon—if his marriage lasted that long—but because she couldn’t even imagine how awkward that invitation would be.
“Madam Sokolov would never let Al flout tradition by inviting me to something like that,” she said. Katy’s presence would cause a brief media firestorm. Not to mention, she had no intention of introducing herself to Al’s new bride.
“Well, aren’t you curious?” Cassie pressed. “I know I am!”
Katy sighed. No, she wasn’t curious. Not one bit, honestly. But she also couldn't see any real harm in opening it. Unless of course it was a
n invoice for the diamond-encrusted jewelry Al had sent her the previous semester. He could take that up with the charity auction Katy had sent it to.
“All right,” Katy finally relented.
Cassie’s eyes lit up. “Yes! Rip it open.”
Katy looked over the envelope again. Her name was written in a stranger’s elegant script, though that didn’t mean that Al hadn’t sent the letter himself. He had probably had one of the Sokolovs’ many assistants mail it for him. He had never been one for doing something that someone else could be paid to do.
Katy slid her finger under the seal and broke it. She pulled out a tri-folded letter and hesitantly opened it up.
“Katy,” she read aloud. This part was definitely in Al’s blocky writing style. “I’ll be in New York City for business in March. Perhaps we could make it a business/pleasure trip. Text me. Signed, Al.”
Katy grimaced. Gross!
“Oh, wow,” Cassie said, seeming totally unbothered by this. “He’s already cheating on Paola!”
Paola. It was the first time Katy had heard his wife’s name. A wave of guilt passed through her. “Should I tell her about this?”
Cassie looked at Katy incredulously. “Hon, it was international news. Girl knew what she was getting into,” she summed up callously.
Katy tried not to remember that news cycle; it was still rather painful.
“Well,” Katy said, trying not to grind the words out through her teeth, “if he wants to ruin a marriage, that’s on him. I just can’t imagine the nerve of trying to enlist me.” And, just to prove her point, she ripped the letter into pieces. It didn’t feel that much better, but it was satisfying in its own way.
“Maybe he’s nursing wounded pride,” Cassie offered.
Katy wrinkled her nose. “How? He’s the one who made a fool out of me. And then he beat me to the altar—though it’s not like I was in on the race.” But to the media, it was certainly a race. And Al had come out victorious. “How would doing anything with me now boost his considerable pride further?”
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