by Anna Durand
Reese is different. I feel it. He passed my kookiness test, and after a couple days with him, I get the sense he might pass the other test. Do I want him to? He lives in another country, and we're such opposites.
What have I got to lose? I gave this man my virginity, so maybe I should go ahead and tell him everything.
"Did I push too far?" he asks.
"No, not at all." I take a deep breath and dive in. "Grams set up a trust fund for me when I was born. On my eighteenth birthday, I started receiving a monthly stipend that more than covers anything I might need or want. I can request more if I have an emergency or something. When my grandmother dies, I'll get the whole enchilada. I hope that doesn't happen for a long, long time."
Reese seems to be waiting for me to go on.
I suck in a breath and blurt out the rest. "My trust fund is five hundred million dollars."
His jaw drops. He keeps hold of my hand, but he doesn't move or speak for several seconds. "Five hundred million?"
I nod, biting my lip. "Grams is very generous."
"Well, that's bloody fantastic for you."
He's smiling, like he means that.
"You're not, like, disgusted?" I ask. "Or seeing dollar signs floating in front of your eyes? You don't feel the urge to ask me to marry you?"
"No," he says, laughing. "I don't do relationships, Arden, I told you that. But I'm glad you don't need to worry about money. It's awful having to think about that all the time."
"Chance has a lot of money, right?"
"He does, and I'm happy for him too."
"Not being well off doesn't make you a loser or a disappointment."
He lets go of my hand to scratch his chin. "I know that, but knowing it and feeling it are different things."
"You can have half my money if you want."
He chuckles at my offer. "That's generous, but no thank you. I don't know you well enough to accept a gift like that, and I wouldn't accept it even if we did know each other well. It's too much."
"You mean that, don't you?"
"I do."
I clasp his hand again and lead him away from the butterfly garden. "Tell me about your brother Dane. You said he invents things."
"Let's not talk about Dane right now."
"Why not? Does he make nuclear weapons for terrorists?"
Reese chuckles. "No, love, he doesn't work for terrorists. He started his own company a few years ago, to sell the devices he designs."
We pass the gorilla exhibit, but I keep us headed down the path because I have a destination in mind. And an activity in mind. He'll say no, but I'm determined to have my way. Reese doesn't seem like he can say no for long, which means I'll get what I want.
Him. His body. His incredible dick.
Maybe I'm going a little crazy with the "shagging," as Reese calls it, because I was a virgin until last night. But no, I'm sure it's more than that. It's him. Reese Dixon is so... lovable. Getting to know him a little better makes me want him even more.
"What kind of devices?" I ask.
"Devices? Oh, you mean the bits and bobs Dane makes." Reese grumbles, and if he's saying words, I can't understand them. Finally, he says, "My brother designs, manufactures, and sells sexual wellness devices."
I stop, bringing Reese to a halt with me. "Sexual wellness?"
Reese bows his head. "Dane makes sex toys. Vibrators. Dildos. Anything that helps women satisfy their needs."
"Only for women? He doesn't make things for men?"
"No. Only women." Reese's mouth jacks up at one corner. "As you can imagine, Dane is very, very popular with the ladies."
"Making sex toys doesn't mean he's great in bed." I seize a handful of Reese's shirt and drag him closer. "Nobody does it better than you."
"I appreciate the compliment, but I'm the only man you've been with."
"Maybe I should do your brothers, so I have something to compare you to."
"That's not funny." He slides an arm around my waist. "I'd love to do you right here in the zoo, on the main path, but we'd both get arrested for that."
I put my arms around him and raise onto my tippy toes, intending to kiss him.
He pushes me away and stumbles backward a few steps. "No, Arden, we're not doing that anymore."
"Who knew hot sex would make you so uptight?"
"I am not uptight. I'm trying to do the right thing, which I admit is a bit of a stretch for me. But I'm giving it a go, and your constant attempts to break my willpower aren't helping."
Am I being a total slut? If I am, it's kind of his fault for being so great at sex. Still, I don't want to scare him away. "I'm sorry. You're being so nice, and I'm acting like a crazy person. I promise to stop trying to seduce you."
"That would be helpful."
Guess I have to nix my plan to drag him into a secluded, shady spot and beg him to corrupt me some more. Well, let's say I'm pressing pause on that plan.
I turn and wave for him to follow me. "Come on. We've got plenty more places to see."
Chapter Eleven
Reese
Arden tows me down various paths until we exit the zoo. She stops us outside the entrance and smiles so brightly it gives me a different sort of warm feeling, the kind that makes me want to hug her instead of doing dirty things to her.
"Should we go to the aquarium or museums first?" she asks.
Her excitement about zoos and museums makes me like her even more. I know she loves science---she told me she specializes in that subject in her fact-checking job---and I want to see how excited she'll get about it. "Museums first."
"Awesome. I love museums even more than the zoo. Should we start with history or science?"
"Your choice."
She grabs my hand again and leads me away. "Science it is."
A taxi takes us to our destination, and now we're inside the New York Hall of Science surrounded by children and their parents. I don't see any other adults without children, only me and Arden.
"Is this a children's museum?" I ask.
"Technically, I guess. But the exhibits are fantastic." She eyes me sideways, her hand clamped around mine and her lips curling up in a teasing way. "I know you're a naughty boy, but surely you know how to have innocent fun too."
Christ, I wish she wouldn't say things like that. Or look at me that way. Or... exist. Nothing short of annihilating her from history seems likely to keep my cock at bay.
I let her guide me through the museum and can't help smiling every time she gets excited about something, anything, everything. I've never met anyone as happy as Arden. She takes pleasure in the simplest things, from a display of orange pink flagging tape that hangs above our heads to an exhibit about health and human evolution. Arden insists I pose next to the articulated human skeleton on display there so she can take a picture. Then she asks me to take a picture of her posing with the skeleton. Finally, she has us both pose with it while she takes a selfie of us.
Strangely, it's the most fun I've had in ages.
Next, she takes me to the American Museum of Natural History. I love watching her enjoy these places. She's so alive and engaged, excited by every little thing even though she tells me she's visited these museums many times. I've gone to museums with my parents when I was younger, but I never had such a good time doing it. My parents are plenty of fun, but no one on earth relishes life the way Arden does.
She insists we buy tickets for the Hayden Planetarium, which has some sort of show about alien planets. I let her decide where we sit once we're inside, and she chooses seats in the third row because, she assures me, "it's the absolute best place to see everything and feel like you're right in the middle of it all." We're very close to the giant black ball that she tells me is the projector for the movie-like show.
"Will your grey alien friends pop out of the projector?" I ask.
"No, they're way too covert to do something like that."
Lately, I've
gotten to know her playful looks, and she's giving me one of them right now.
I smirk and say, "I'm sure you've been to these alien worlds we're about to see."
"Oh yeah, loads of times. I'm a frequent flyer on the ET Express."
The room goes dark as the show begins. Arden holds my hand throughout it, and we both lean our heads back to take in the experience. I find myself ignoring the film projected above our heads and instead watching Arden. The delight and wonder on her face captivates me, and rather than thinking about sex, I imagine walking through the park with her again, or having dinner with her, or... doing all sorts of normal, boring things that I know won't seem normal or boring if I'm with her. I realize with a mental jolt what it is I really want.
I want to date her.
We've known each other for a few days, but I want---no, I need more time with her. Time to see more of the world through her eyes. Time to hold her hand like I'm doing right now, and time to hold her in my arms while we talk or watch the telly or... anything.
Chance and Dane will never believe this if I tell them.
After the natural history museum, we go back to the apartment, having had our fill of fun for the day. Arden collapses onto the sofa, pretending to be so exhausted she can't stay awake. She has one leg hooked over the sofa's arm, the other on the coffee table, her arms flung out to the sides, and her eyes closed. She's also fake snoring.
"I'll make dinner," I say. "What are you in the mood for? Grasshoppers on a bed of wild rice?"
She cracks one lid open. "Ha-ha, you're hilarious. Do you even know how to cook rice?"
"I told you about the exploded egg incident."
"Right." She starts to heave herself off the sofa. "I'll make dinner."
"No, you won't." I grasp her shoulders and push her back down. "Relax. I'll figure something out."
And by figuring something out, I mean I'll ring a pizza place and have our dinner delivered right to our door. I even order one of those apple pizzas for dessert. Don't I know how to impress a woman?
We eat on the sofa and talk more in between mouthfuls of cheese-laden food.
"Tell me more about your parents," I say. "You mentioned they're hippies."
"Yep. They own a really cool shop in Stockbridge. That's in Massachusetts, which is right next to New York. The state, not the city. Anyway, Mom and Dad have a New Agey store called the Emerald Eye. Don't ask me why, but that's what my parents decided to call it."
"I thought you were from New York."
"No, I'm from Stockbridge. My grandparents are from New York, and Grams's company is here." Arden consumes a bite of pizza before continuing. "My parents aren't into the whole corporate lifestyle, even though Grams tried to get Dad to take a job at her company. More than once she's tried. Dad always says no. When he married my mom, they moved to Stockbridge. It's a cool, artsy town. That's where Mom's from, and where I was born and raised."
"How did you meet Elena?"
"In college. We both went to Northwestern. That's a university in Illinois." She studies her half-eaten slice of pizza for several seconds, then sets it down on the paper plate on her lap. "I wanted to see a new place, so I decided going away to college was the right option for me."
Eating a couple mouthfuls of pizza gives me a chance to think about what to say next. I want to ask her a million questions, but I don't want to seem like an annoying prick who's poking his nose into her life.
Finally, I settle on a question. "If you're not from New York, how do you know all the museums so well? And the zoo? And all the restaurants?"
"Because I've visited Elena lots. She lived here for years and years."
"Chance has lived in America for a long time, but I never visited him."
"You said once you never 'got round' to it. Why is that?"
I shrug. "Never thought about it. I grew up in the country, just outside one of those chocolate-box villages. I went to uni in London, but that's the extent of my travels, until now."
"What's uni?"
"University."
She sets her plate on the table. "What did you study in college?"
"Business." I give her a wry smile. "I know that sounds odd coming from someone like me, but I always wanted to have a business of my own. Hasn't worked out that way, though."
"What do you mean 'coming from someone like' you?"
"I'm not the serious type, like my brothers. Shagging and playing sports are my favorite pastimes."
"Seems like shagging is Chance's favorite pastime too. Elena says he's completely obsessed with getting her naked and---"
"You stop right there." I hold up a hand to emphasize how much I want her to not talk about my brother's sex life. Chance told me he screwed Elena five minutes after they met, but he didn't give me the graphic details of their elevator encounter. "I don't need or want to know anything about what Chance and Elena do in bed."
"Point taken." She tears off another bite of pizza and speaks with her mouth full. "When are you going to tell me why you're afraid of relationships?"
I open my mouth to deny it, again, but freeze. Ever since Arden first suggested I'm scared of relationships, I've kept thinking about that. Whether she's right. Whether there is a reason behind my behavior. I can't believe I want to talk to her about this, but I suddenly realize I do want that. "Let me start by saying I'm not afraid. But I might be... reluctant."
"Okay. I'll accept 'reluctant' for the moment."
Setting down my paper plate, I rub my hands up and down my thighs. "When I was at school, girls didn't pay much attention to me until I joined the rugby team. I was sort of shy back then. Sports helped me get over that. And when I started scoring the winning goals, girls started propositioning me. I guess I learned that sports and sex go hand in hand, and that women only want me for one thing."
"Hmm. Did your parents know what was going on?"
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" I say. "I learned how to hide things from them. They caught me with a girl in my bedroom once, and I got a stern talking-to. But by then, I liked sex too much to give it up. I got better at hiding what I was up to."
She chews her last mouthful of pizza and swallows before she asks, "Do you still think sex is all you're good for?"
"No. At uni, I realized I'm pretty good at business too, especially marketing and advertising."
"But you still think you don't want a relationship with any woman."
Here, tonight, with Arden... I'm beginning to reevaluate what I want. My realization from earlier today comes back to me, and I know without any doubts that I want more than sex with this woman.
"Never mind, I'm being too nosy," Arden says. She grabs a fresh paper plate and puts two slices of apple pizza on it. She holds the plate between us. "Time for dessert."
After we eat the apple strudel pizza, we watch two movies on television, then it's time for bed. Arden asks if I want to sleep with her---just sleep, no sex---but I say I'd rather sleep in my own room. It's a lie. I'd much rather crawl into bed with her for the night, but I don't trust my willpower.
I walk her to her bedroom door.
She kisses my cheek.
"There's something I need to tell you," I say.
"Go on."
"I want to date you, Arden."
She stares at me, her gaze nailed to mine. "Date? As in... date?"
"Yes."
"Isn't that kind of what we've been doing all day?"
"Sure, but I want to make it official." I hold out my hand like I want to shake hers, realize that's a stupid thing to do, and clasp her hands instead. "Let's get to know each other for the rest of the two weeks until the wedding. No sex, just dating. Are you interested in that? With me?"
"Of course I am." She smiles shyly, the way she did right before we had sex for the first time. "I'd love to date you, Reese."
"Brilliant." I kiss her forehead. "Good night, Arden."
"Good night."
She goes int
o her room and shuts the door.
I'm dating. Me. Dating. It's a precursor to a relationship, and I'm volunteering for it.
And it feels bloody fantastic.
Chapter Twelve
Arden
This morning seems brighter and more beautiful than ever before. Reese and I are dating. For the first time ever, I feel like I'm with a guy who doesn't want my trust fund or my body. Well, not only my body. Reese asks about my family and the things I like to do. He lets me drag him through museum after museum and even seems to enjoy it.
I love being with him.
Okay, I've known him for barely more than two days, three counting today which has just begun. I don't love him. But I can love being with him and love the way he makes me feel. Reese is surprisingly sweet, given his reputation as a player. And his determination to not have sex with me only makes me like him even more.
Despite the fact I want to climb all over his naked body.
I've decided to give him the rest of the week for just dating. After that, I want him. If I have to prance around in my undies all day and all night to get his attention, I will do it. Maybe I'll try walking around buck naked in the apartment. He can't resist that, can he?
I climb out of bed, stretch, and yawn, while I think about what Reese and I can do together today. I haven't shown him the art museums yet. Or Central Park. Or Coney Island. Ooooh, so many wonderfully fun places to take him.
Today, we are going to make out. No sex does not mean no kissing, and I'm in desperate need of his lips on mine and his tongue in my mouth.
But I'd really love his tongue somewhere else...
I put on panties and a bra, then by habit I open the bedroom door. I don't like being shut in all the time, and I'm used to living alone. Reese's bedroom door is shut, so I assume he's still sleeping. I start doing tai chi, relaxing into the sequence of gentle, easy movements. The peacefulness of the routine sends all thoughts drifting away, so for once, I'm free of lustful fantasies about the sexy Brit sleeping across the hall.
Out the corner of my eye, I see the door to Reese's bedroom swing open.