by Holly Rayner
I woke up Sunday morning with the same thought on my mind that I’d had every day for the past two months: Erin. I couldn’t get her out of my mind and the strangest part of all was that I hadn’t even had her in my bed yet. For me, that was an oddity. Erin was the first woman I’d ever met that I had found worth waiting for. I typically met women who were ready for my bed as soon as they heard my name. The Hunter name carried a lot of clout in New York’s circles of high society. Any number of women were eager to get close to me. It brought them one step closer to my name and my father’s money. That was how I thought of it… my father’s money. The money I made as CEO of the company I spent without qualms. I worked hard and I felt deserving of it. The money in the trust fund that my father set up for me and allowed me access to on my twenty-fifth birthday was his money, not mine. I had yet to touch it.
I got out of bed and shook off thoughts of my father, replacing them with the much more pleasant ones of Erin. I took my shower and dressed in anticipation of the day we were going to spend together. This was my weekend to choose and since she’d had an obligation with her roommate on Saturday night, I had chosen tennis at the country club on Sunday. It would afford me an entire day with her and if things went as I hoped, a room at the club would be waiting for us when it was over.
I picked up Erin outside of her apartment at ten a.m. I found it strange that I still hadn’t been inside her apartment, or that I hadn’t met the roommate she talked with such fondness about. I didn’t get the feeling that she was hiding anything sinister. It was almost as if whatever she hadn’t shared with me was too painful and it kept her from crossing that final line that would bring us together as a couple. I had some painful secrets of my own, however so I wasn’t in a position to demand answers. I was certain of how I felt for her, however. All I needed to do now was make sure she was certain of how she felt about me.
I started to get out of the jaguar and open the door for her, but by the time I was halfway out, she was already sliding onto the passenger seat.
“Hi,” she said, with that trademark smile of hers that I’d come to love. I realized then and there that I would probably do anything to see that smile. So far, she had made that easy. Erin wasn’t looking for money or a family name that would take her to the top of the high society crowd. She seemed to be happy just being with me and although that was a new feeling, I was quickly becoming accustomed to it.
“Good morning. Look at you. You look like a tennis professional.”
She laughed. “I haven’t played tennis since I was in middle school.”
“Why?”
She shrugged and I knew she was going to leave it at that. Her background seemed so strange to me sometimes. It was like she had a life of privilege where she rode horses and played tennis and attended grand parties and once she was grown, she had literally done nothing except work towards her future. I respected that greatly, but as a child of privilege myself, I found it odd.
“I just haven’t had the time. I was too busy working towards my degree, and then just plain working.”
“Hmm,” I said.
“Hmm, what?”
“Have you had any fun at all over the last ten years?”
She looked at me with a look that left me smoldering and said, “I’ve had lots of it in the past two months.”
For the time being, that answer was good enough. The conversation turned to light discussions of the agenda for tomorrow morning’s executive meeting and as we turned onto the tree lined street that led up to the Country Club my family had belonged to for ages, I basked in the simple comfort that spending time with her gave me.
When we got out of the car at the club Erin’s green eyes filled with joy as she looked out across the gardens. They were filled with blood red roses and lavender lilies. The fragrance from them wafted across the parking lot and I just stood there for a few minutes watching her breathe it in. I walked around and when she saw me her attention was refocused. “This place is beautiful,” she said.
I took her hands in mine and looked into her dark jade green eyes and said, “Not as beautiful as you.”
She smiled, “You probably say that to all the girls.”
I leaned in so that I was so close to her ear that when my mouth moved, my lips brushed up against it and I said, “Not anymore. I’ve finally found the only one I want to say it to.” I felt her shiver and when I looked at her face; her eyes were wide like she didn’t believe what I had just said. I knew that she thought I was a player and when she first met me that was true. Something about knowing Erin had changed me. I didn’t want to be that man any longer. I wanted to be a better one. I wanted to be the only man that she wanted.
“So, are we going to play tennis, or what?” Erin said, in a little shaky voice.
I smiled, “Of course. We can’t have that crisp, white… and if you don’t mind me saying, incredibly sexy, tennis dress going to waste.”
“No we can’t,” she said. She flipped that long red hair that drove me mad over her shoulder and turned to walk towards the entrance of the club. I had done my best once I realized she was different from most of the women I knew to hide the pervert that dwelled at my core. But with that sexy little flip and the V-neck, starch white dress that accentuated every one of her delightful curves… It was on the verge of being unleashed.
ERIN