Solid Stone: Revolving Door

by E. G. Patrick

  “It’s warm and very old. Something my mother bought me ages ago.”

  He smiles. “Hey coming here today made me realize how convenient and close it is to my office. It’s given me something to think about.” For a hopeful second I think he is going to ask if he can move in with me during the week, but he doesn’t. He simply meant he saw the convenience in having a place down here and likely one of his own.

  He says, “I really should get going. Let me help you clean up before I go. I didn’t see a dishwasher in your kitchen.”

  “No, I don’t have a dishwasher. This place is really a student rental.” He nods and then helps me clear the table. I wash and he dries the dishes. We are even happy washing dishes together. It’s a simple act, but more enjoyable with him at my side. I wonder what his employees would think, seeing him like this; they would be shocked for sure. The thought makes me grin. There is so much more to Adam Stone, who knew? I ask, “Do you want to take some lasagna home?”

  “Babe I would take it all home if I wasn’t traveling, but I leave tomorrow morning and I’m too full to eat more. Both of my desserts filled me to the brim.” I laugh and smile at him.

  “Yes, me too.” I watch him get ready to leave when I realize I haven’t thanked him for the flowers. “Thanks for the flowers, Adam. They will remind me of you every time I look at them this week.”

  “I hope that’s not the only thing that will remind you of me.” He looks down to between my thighs.

  “Yes, the tenderness down there will be a constant reminder too.”

  “Good, I want you to think of me all the time and what I will do to you when I get back.” Hungry and lustful Adam is back. He kisses me again and hugs me before he walks out the door. I stay and watch him walk down the hallway. He turns at the top of the stairs to wave and I blow a kiss at him before closing the door and locking it. I open the bouquet of flowers. It’s a lovely assortment of white, pink, and lilac colors. I cut the stems and put them in a vase on my table.

  Chapter 19

  The work week flies by and I’m happy to be meeting Ann at our favorite deli on Thursday night. It’s always good to see her. She stands up to hug me as I reach the table.

  “So how’s it going with Adam?”

  “He’s agreed to meet my dad. And we celebrated his birthday last weekend.”

  “Have you met his parents yet?”

  “Yes, a couple of times now and his younger sister Olivia just this past weekend. She is my age and seems nice. She wasn’t overly talkative, but polite. She is working on a Master’s degree in international business.”

  “Ambition must run in their family! This sounds like serious stuff to me, Vee. Remember back in May when you thought you didn’t stand a chance? You’ve come a long way from those days, my friend. Meeting the family is a step forward. Has he taken anyone else home?”

  “No. I’m the only one who’s met his parents, but I’ve also learned not to read anything into what Adam does. His mother insisted on meeting me. We ran into each other at the museum opening. Anyway, they’re really nice and I liked them.”

  “How’s the sex?” I can’t believe she’s asking me this. I don’t recall ever asking her that about Ted. I try not to gloat when I calmly say, “Excellent. He has ruined me for any other man.”

  She shifts in her seat. “You lucky girl, you have it all. He’s good in bed, nice looking, and successful. You waited for the right man to step into your life and it sounds like it was worth the wait. I feel bad for pressuring you to date more. Clearly, you were meant to wait for Mr. Right. I’m so happy for you!” I know she means every word and I squeeze her hand with friendly affection.

  “Thanks. I still pinch myself some days.” I’m not going to get into his controlling nature or hang ups about long-term relationships. I don’t want her to worry. I seem to be managing okay anyway. Adam’s work with the actor Brad Pearce flashes through my mind. Ann would be so thrilled to know and probably wouldn’t tell anyone anyway. I sigh and change the subject, giving myself more time to think.

  “How is Ted doing? How are things at work for him?”

  “Oh Ted is good. We’re still madly in love. His job’s going well.” Ted is a journalist and wants to be the editor of a paper or magazine one day.

  “We’ve been to a few cool parties because of the magazine. We’ve even been invited to a couple of book launches. It’s been fun, and with quite an interesting group of people. I’m enjoying my life with him, that’s for sure.”

  “I’m so glad to hear that and not surprised. I liked Ted from the moment I met him. He is a great guy and also easy on the eyes, don’t forget.”

  Ann smiles and then probes more about Adam. “So, are you in love with him? Does he love you?”

  I feel my face flush as I say, “Yes, I do love him. I really don’t know if he loves me. He definitely cares about me, but the ‘love’ word hasn’t happened yet. Neither one of us has actually said it. I keep coming close, but change my mind for fear of scaring him. He’s had a lot of girlfriends and they never seem to get past six months. I was thinking when we pass that mark I’ll tell him.”

  “That’s a good idea. You’ll know when the time is right. Hey, he may tell you first. You don’t know.”

  “Yes I suppose so. We’ll see.”

  “Has he ever met any of his girlfriends’ parents?”

  “No. He didn’t seem to let any of them get close enough to him. Meeting my dad will be his first interaction with a parent other than his own. He agreed only because I agreed to meet his parents to appease his mother. He even thought it was smart of me to get my request in when I knew he needed me to do something for him. He’s all business.” We both laugh.

  “It really sounds promising to me. You enjoy each other. That’s what matters.”

  “I hope so. I would be devastated if things went wrong now. I just love being with him.”

  “Do you have a key to his place yet?”

  “Not yet, but he did offer to leave me at his house alone this past weekend. I refused, but he seemed comfortable enough leaving me there. That’s a big thing for him as he puts so much value on his privacy.”

  “So he does trust you then. Guys can be funny about stuff like that. Is he romantic with you?”

  “Yes, we’ve had many romantic moments. He also cooks for us if we aren’t going out.”

  “He cooks too? Like I said, you’ve hit the jackpot! So what are you afraid of? Just tell him! He might even be relieved to hear it.”

  “I’ll think about telling him. The time just hasn’t been right yet.” We’ve ignored the waiter long enough, it seems, and he stands patiently at our table.

  “Ladies, what are you having?” he says politely. We both order our usual corned beef on rye with red wine. As he leaves the table we resume our conversation.

  “Are you guys coming up to the cottage the weekend after next?”

  “Oh yes, sorry, we are coming. I promised him we’d have our own room.”

  She smiles. “You dirty girl. You want to make sure you can get laid while you’re away. Well you have certainly come a long way haven’t you?” I can’t help but blush because she is right.

  I tell her, “To be honest we mostly only see each other on weekends because he travels a lot, so those days are very precious to us.”

  “No problem, I’m only joking. You can have one of the spare bedrooms in the main house and the one farthest away from mine so I don’t hear you all night.” She laughs out loud and so do I.

  “Okay, then we’re definitely coming.”

  “Great. It’ll be a fun weekend.”

  “What can we bring? Maybe wine? Adam has a wine cellar and quite a nice collection from what I can tell.”

  Ann says, “Oh, wine is good. I’ll email the group once I confirm who is coming up. It’ll likely be eight of us: you, me, Sarah,
our partners make six, and then Derek and Steve. It’ll be fun having some of the old group together.”

  “That sounds good to me.” Our wine arrives and our sandwiches soon follow.

  “These always taste so good,” I say.

  “Yes, I know. Even though we have them all the time they always taste great. Let’s hope our love lives have that long term effect as well.” I smile. I truly wish the same. We enjoy our food and move on to less provocative conversation. Both our jobs are going well. We’re fortunate to have great bosses and colleagues. “So are you going to tell the poor guy you love him?” Ann can be like a dog with a bone.

  “I will when I am ready, Miss Bossy Boots.” She smiles at me.

  “Okay, keep me posted. This one’s on me.” Ann pays the bill and we walk to the train together. We hug as we go in our different directions. I wave and say, “We’ll see you in a couple of weeks.” As I walk to my train platform I look at my cell phone. Adam has called five times. With the noise in the restaurant I must’ve not heard the ringer. My gut sinks that I missed his call. I can’t get a signal at the moment so I can’t call him back for at least another fifteen minutes. I send him a text hoping it will get out through one of the open-air tunnels.

  Adam, sorry I missed your call. I was with Ann having dinner and didn’t hear my phone ring. I’ll call you back in about twenty minutes. xo

  Entering my building, I check my phone again. There is a reply to my text from Adam: I wish you valued my time. I jump through hoops to call you between meetings the least you can do is answer the phone. You need to let me know when you are out gallivanting around at night.

  The text oozes with his reprimanding tone that I am unfortunately familiar with, which annoys me. Why is he making a mountain out of a molehill? I drop the phone back in my bag as I let myself into my apartment. My heart is pounding, not with desire but with anger. I debate whether to reply and decide to wait and think for a while. I change out of my work clothes into leggings and a T-shirt. I pull my hair into a ponytail and sit thinking about how I am going to reply to Adam. As different scenarios run through my mind I hear my phone ring and sure enough it’s him. I answer.

  “It’s me.” He’s sulking, I can tell.

  “How are you?” I’m cool, still angry at his text message.

  “I was worried when you didn’t answer my calls. I’m annoyed that you didn’t tell me you were out for dinner so I’d at least know where you are.” He tries to sound sincere instead of domineering.

  He was worried, okay, that makes me feel a little better, I think, but the tone of the text still concerns me.

  I decide to ask him, “Adam, your text message came across as abrupt. Did you mean to sound that way?” He doesn’t respond right away.

  “Like I said, I was worried about you. It’s late there and you usually answer my calls right away.” I am thinking now, do I delve into this deeper or let it go and keep the peace? I blurt my response out before I can change my mind.

  “I didn’t appreciate the tone in your message.”

  He replies abruptly, “I gathered that, given I had to call you six times to get an answer.”

  I manage to remain composed when I say, “It didn’t make me feel good.”

  He says stiffly, “Like I said, I was worried.” He is stubborn and domineering!

  Instead of getting frustrated I ask, “Adam, do you care how you make me feel?”

  There is silence down the line and I have no idea what is running through his mind. He can be so unpredictable. He sighs and then says, “Okay, I have just reread my text message and maybe it was a bit terse. I do care about how I make you feel. I really was worried. I hope you believe me.”

  I think this is as close to an apology as I am going to get from him. I hope he will think twice next time. My heart tells me to end this part of our conversation so I do.

  “Okay. How was your day?” Sounding more pleasant, he goes on to tell me about his meetings and how he ran into a former university classmate named Charles. He is meeting him for a drink when he finishes speaking with me. I share my day with him before we get ready to finish our call.

  He says, “Good night Babe, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow and I hope we’re okay now.”

  “Yeah, we’re okay. I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye Adam.” I put my phone down and find myself still feeling slightly annoyed at him, but also excited about seeing him. He has some magic power over me called ‘madly in love’.

  Chapter 20

  Adam should be here any minute. I have my bag packed and am waiting for his call to let me know he’s close by. I spoke with my dad and we are going to meet him for brunch on Sunday. My cell rings and its Adam, “I’ll be there in five minutes sweetheart.” I love it when he calls me that, even more so now.

  I see Adam pull up as I reach the bottom step. He gets out of the sexy black car as I walk toward him and takes my overnight bag from me. He seems distracted at first and then pulls me into him for a nice kiss. My body quivers and my heart rate quickens. I don’t think my body will ever not be excited at the sight of him. He pulls the car out onto the road. The traffic seems heavier tonight. Adam says, “I may consider looking for a place downtown. This traffic on Friday is becoming a nightmare and it’s only going to get worse on the long weekends.”

  “You could stay at my place during the week if you want?”

  “Thanks sweetheart. My work hours are all over the place though and I don’t want to interrupt your lifestyle, showing up at all hours after late meetings. Plus, I would just jam up your apartment with all my stuff.”

  “Okay. It was just a suggestion,” I reply as if that’s fine. I know my place is small and definitely not in line with what he’s used to. I sit quietly for a while pretending to listen to the music.

  He looks over at me and takes my hand. “I hope I haven’t offended you. If I was going to live with anyone it would be you. I hope you know that.” That helps and I squeeze his hand. I relax and sit back, really listening to the music this time. He pulls into his driveway and we go inside. It’s almost 8 and I realize I’m hungry. He reads my mind and asks if I’ve eaten.

  “No, I was just thinking I should have brought some of the lasagna I made last weekend. I froze some.”

  “Yes, that would have been good. Let’s see if Joyce has left me anything in the fridge or freezer.” He pulls out a shepherd’s pie. “Good. It looks like she left this for tonight as it’s not frozen.” He pulls the casserole dish out of the fridge. He turns on the oven to preheat it. I sit at one of the chairs at the island. “Want some wine?” he asks.

  “Yes, that would be nice, my mouth waters at the thought.”

  “Is that all its watering for?” he says as he reaches across the island pulling my body forward causing my breasts to dangle above the island top. My T-shirt gapes and he smiles. “Nice view. Stay put and I’ll get some wine.” It’s nice seeing him so carefree and happy. It rubs off, making me feel the same way. This is going to be another great weekend, I can feel it. He comes back with two bottles and opens one with a black label. Handing me a glass, he turns back to put the casserole in the oven. “I think this will take about thirty minutes. Want some cheese to take the edge off?”

  “That sounds good.” He reaches into the fridge and pulls out some different cheeses which he slices and plates for us to share. He comes to my side of the island to sit down next to me. Our legs are touching as we half face the island and half face each other. I find him so attractive and the closeness of his body makes me want him right now. He presses a button and smooth jazz rings through the built in speakers throughout the house. There is high-tech everything in this place, some things I’m sure I’m still unaware of. What do they say about boys and their toys? I laugh inside. The jazz saxophone sounds so sexy, just like him.

  “Now this feels like a Friday night, doesn’t it Babe?”

&nbs
p; “Yes, it does. I live for the weekends now. I am always happy to be with you.”

  “Yes, me too.” He kisses me and begins to run a finger over my one of my breasts. My nipple stands tall at his touch.

  “Someone is happy to see me,” Adam says as he continues his investigation with his finger.

  He moves to breast number two achieving the same result instantly. He pulls my top down making it a V shape and exposing my cleavage. “I like this view. I need to get you some more revealing tops. Ones you can only wear with me though.” He continues to tease me. I know he won’t make his move until after we eat so he won’t have to rush. He kisses me lightly on my lips as he jumps off the stool to check on the casserole in the oven. My heart is pounding and my groin is longing to feel him deep inside of me. A part of me wishes I’d said I was only hungry for him. I wait and watch him pull out some lettuce and tomatoes to make us a salad. I sigh, showing my impatience at having to wait for his touch.

  “Babe, I promise I will fuck you hard momentarily. Let’s eat first and then I will devour you. That is what you want isn’t it?” The fact that he reads my mind and does it so often now causes my heart to beat harder.

  “Yes, urgently.” He must see the longing in my eyes as he speeds up dinner. It’s finally ready and he dishes it out.

  “I must admit the shepherd’s pie is delicious,” I say to Adam.

  “Joyce is a good cook. It’s worth the wait then?” he says to me with a raised eyebrow.

  “Yes, I suppose so. Hurry up and eat so we can go to bed.”

  “You’re tired and you want to sleep? I’ll tuck you in then.” He grins.

  “Very funny, tucking me in won’t satisfy my needs, but you inside me will do the trick,” I reply with my own grin.

  “Let’s finish up here and head upstairs. If I get upstairs before you, then you’re on your knees. If you get upstairs before me, then I’m on my knees.” He has very mischievous look on his face and before I can even accept the challenge he is bolting down the hallway for the stairs. I jump off my chair and tear down the hall behind him. I don’t stand a chance as I see him halfway up the stairs already. I walk into the master bedroom to find him sitting at the foot of the bed in a partial state of undress. He is smiling at me as he points to floor in front of him.