I washed my face and found a new toothbrush in the closet, freshening myself up to do the walk of shame back to my car, which was parked near the college.
When I walked out of the bedroom, I found Sadie sipping a cup of coffee. “If it isn’t director of the year.”
“Hi, Sadie.” I walked into the kitchen, stifling my yawn. Before I had a chance to sit at the small table, she’d shoved a cup of coffee in my hand. “Thank you.”
“I should be thanking you.” She took out a container from the fridge. The blue and red fruit looked fresh and bright.
“Why would you thank me?”
“Because you’ve gotten Grace to pop her cherry. I thought she was becoming a virgin all over again, it had been so long.”
“What do you mean?” I sipped my coffee, uncertainties swirling around my brain.
“She hasn’t had sex since she stopped working as an escort.”
That couldn’t be true. Grace was…experienced. Grace was a beautiful, smart, a perfect woman, and she could have any man she wanted. Paid or not.
“That can’t be true. She would have said something.”
Wouldn’t she have said something? I couldn’t believe that she’d pick me to be the one to “pop her cherry,” according to Sadie.
I had started off hell-bent on keeping my distance, but she’d made it more difficult than finishing the crossword in the New York Times. But the woman I’d thought I had taken into my bed wasn’t the same one I had woken up beside this morning. In fact, she wasn’t the same one I had started this thing with, whatever this was. She never had been, because I had assumed she was just like every other woman I had been with.
But the more time I spent with Grace, the more I realized she was the exception. I didn’t have anything to give her, nothing to offer, and yet she’d helped me. I had just thought I was one of many men she’d had over the last few months. I had thought I was just another penis giving her what she wanted.
But I wasn’t.
I was her exception.
“You look like someone pissed in that cup of coffee. What’s wrong?”
Sadie’s red hair was piled on top of her head. She still had the faint line of black makeup around her eyes from the night before. Even a bit of red lining her lips. She was beautiful, a sexy siren who could wrap any man around her finger and use them until she got bored, spitting them out without a second thought.
“Nothing.” You’re just a complete asshole because you turned away from her kiss. “I just have a lot to do today.”
Which wasn’t a lie. I had promised Cory that I’d take him to the set today, on top of my meeting with the actors I had delegated some of the location scouting and casting work to. It had lightened the load on my desk, but at the end of the day it was still my decision as to how to proceed. And that made me twitchy.
Sadie popped a strawberry into her mouth and sucked on her finger. It wasn’t to seduce me. It wasn’t to entice me. It was just her. Somehow she had taken on the escort persona and it had merged with her real person. There was no distinction between Stella and Sadie. They were one and the same. Whether that was from the number of years on the job, or her own decisions, I didn’t know. But I did know that part of the reason I found Grace so intriguing was because she had kept herself separate. And I liked knowing that I was getting a piece of her that no other man did.
“I’m going for a run.” She grabbed a bottle of water and shoved her iPod into a Velcro band she’d wrapped around her bicep. Reaching into a drawer by the sink, she pulled out a key and left it on the counter. “Will you lock up on your way out?”
I nodded.
With a bounce in her step and a flick of her chin, she put in her earbuds and left me.
I put my cup in the sink and jumped in the shower. I didn’t have enough time to drive all the way home without being a couple of hours late, and I didn’t want to leave Cory hanging.
In the shower, there were only fruity shampoos and soaps. I did my best to rinse as much of it off as I could…but then couldn’t help but notice when I was toweling dry how soft my skin was. Maybe there was something to all this garbage that women used. I slipped into my dress pants and did without the jacket and tie, leaving the white button-down shirt untucked, and open at the collar. Surprisingly, with the amount of sweat that had secreted from my body in nervousness last night, the shirt didn’t stink. And I knew I had a couple of clean T-shirts at the office I could change into when I got there.
I grabbed the key Sadie had left on the counter, said goodbye to my new buddy, Arnold Schwarzenegger, then locked the front door behind me.
When I strolled into the White Lace offices, I was struck by how quiet it was. Usually Barbara had music on and it filled the halls. Instead, now I heard muffled voices. And when I turned the corner, it was my voice I heard.
Cory and Barbara were huddled at her desk, watching something on her screen.
The closer I got to them, the louder my voice became. And then I realized it was from last night.
When they noticed me, Barbara quickly grabbed her mouse and the sound stopped. She cleared her throat, thrusting a folder into Cory’s hand. “You should take this to the set with you today.”