“We did, Miss Robyn, thank you for asking. We…” He opened the door for us as he was talking and Aaron tried to help me in.
“Just a second,” I told him, “Jeffrey was still talking.” Aaron gave me a disapproving look. He turned his head towards Jeffrey then and I didn’t see the look he gave him, but judging by the way Jeffrey was suddenly stone-faced and professional again, it was probably not good. I let it go, but I did file it away for something to talk to him about later. I liked Jeffrey, why shouldn’t he be able to make conversation with me…because he’s “the help?” Surely as generous an employer as Aaron was he didn’t stick to that hard of a line with his wait staff.
The concert was in Central Park and it was crowded when we got there. We finally found a spot and Aaron set up the two canvas chairs that we’d bought from a little stand on our way in. Aaron left me there and came back a few minutes later with two hot chocolates. We covered up together, snuggling under the blanket and sipped the hot cocoa while we listened to the sounds of the smooth jazz music float out through the park. There was a giant Christmas tree just to our right with the bright lights twinkling and although the night was freezing, the sky was clear and the stars looked almost close enough to touch. I felt like the fates had aligned just for us.
“You look like a little girl wishing on a star,” Aaron said.
I looked over at him. The glow from the lights of the tree illuminated his strong, handsome features. I loved the fact that when I looked at him I could see desire burning in his eyes. He reached over and touched my cheek with his gloved hand. I leaned my head against it for a minute and said,
“I feel like a little girl, I’m so happy here with you.”
He smiled and said, “Grown-ups get to be happy too.” I heard myself whimper as he leaned close and said, “You are surely no little girl.” His mouth widened and I felt his tongue slip between the seams of my lips. He tasted like cinnamon and hot chocolate and as I offered him my tongue, he sucked it into his mouth, that time causing me to moan. The heat that he stirred in me was growing stronger each time we kissed, spreading out from somewhere deep in my core. I felt his hand slip underneath the blanket and take mine in his. My world was complete….
We stayed until the last band played and then Aaron said,
“Are you ready to go get some dinner?”
“Yes, I’m actually starving,” I told him.
“Do you like Chinese food?”
“Love it!”
“How about we pick some up and take it back to my apartment?”
I have to admit, I was mildly disappointed. I had been looking forward to dinner out with him. But I told myself that being with him was the point after all. “That sounds great,” I said.
Aaron asked me what I liked to eat and ordered the food online. Jeffrey pulled the car up near the door of the restaurant and one of the waiters brought the food out to the car. I had a hard time imagining they would do that for anyone not named Aaron Winters, especially when I saw him slip the man a fifty dollar tip.
Jeffrey drove us to the Upper East Side, which didn’t surprise me. It was where some of the most coveted real estate in New York was located. Aaron lived in a building called the Strathmore. Being a New Yorker born and bred I had of course heard of it although I’d never been inside. It was on east 84th street in the heart of Manhattan. The building was huge and looked like it was trying to reach the sky to me. The smartly dressed doorman opened the door for us and Aaron greeted him, but it wasn’t the warm greeting that I might imagine I would give someone I saw every day.
The lobby was gorgeous, decorated in a Mediterranean style with large potted palms and comfy looking overstuffed couches and chairs. The coffee and end tables were made of white wicker with glass tops and expensive looking vases filled with fresh flowers. The elevators were almost as elegant as the lobby and smoothly took us up to the forty-second floor. We stepped off into an almost deathly quiet hallway with one door directly in front of us, one across the hall and another at the far end of the hall.
“Are there only three apartments on the whole floor?” I asked him as he was unlocking the one in front of us.
“Yes, just three,” he said.
When we walked inside and he flipped on the light, I saw why. His apartment was huge. It had to be at least 2500 square feet with three bedrooms and three bathrooms. There was a gourmet kitchen and a formal dining room. But what completely took my breath away was the view. You could see all of Manhattan and the living room was surrounded by floor to ceiling windows and a set of glass doors that led out to a beautiful little balcony.