I had never used the new downstairs bathroom since I had gotten it renovated. I didn’t know when I was going to get the chance, but this was the best way I could possibly use it. The bath could be filled up automatically and Missy didn’t realize when I got away for a while to light the fireplace. I was going for romantic. I wished I had some candles or something, but it seemed like I had gotten the job done even without them.
If I wasn’t sure before, I was sure now. There was this something between us, my plan worked. This was the intimacy that I wanted with her so much. Things were different this time. We were in the bathroom for one thing, but that wasn’t it. We were together because we wanted to be, more importantly, she had followed me here because she wanted to.
The way it felt when I finally slid into her, you would think it had been years since we had had sex. Nope, just a few weeks. She rode me as the water in the tub sloshed around loudly. We were totally alone, nobody for miles, and all I wanted right then was to stay there just like that. I had never been so happy to have been purchased like a piece of meat in my life.
Of course, with her wrapped around me, pulling me closer and closer to climax, I didn’t last. I held her immobile and thrust up into her, blowing my load. I leaned back against the side of the toe, hearing her stand up. My eyes were closed, I opened them to look up at her. Even from that angle, she was utter perfection. The curves of her body covered in a sheen of water.
“Where are you going?” I asked her.
“Oh, I thought you were done,” she said to me. The glint in her eye told me that she was just playing with me. I was far from finished with her. The sun was on its way down when we finally emerged from the bathroom. The fire in the fireplace had burned itself out, and the water in the tub was completely cold. I lit up another fire in the living room fireplace so we could warm ourselves up with cups of hot cocoa. When the fantasies of spending more time in the cabin with her, or even worse, living with her on a more permanent basis in New York City, came up in my mind, I didn’t push them away. I loved the way it felt. That was the reality that I wanted. We spent our last several hours in the cabin huddled together, warm, savoring the last of the experience before it was over.
The next day, it was time to go. We emptied the refrigerator and cleaned up, getting packed. We didn’t talk much, I knew the reason why I was silent, but I wasn’t sure why she was so silent. During the entire weekend, we hadn’t really had a formal discussion about anything. Things were still very undefined and as much as I hated that, I felt that some progress had been made.
I drove us to the airport and we got a flight back on the company jet. Thousands of miles up in the sky, Missy fell asleep, resting her head on my shoulder. I felt this incredible urge to say it. I wanted to tell her, even though she wouldn’t be able to hear me. I loved her. I knew that was true for a while now, but I finally felt comfortable enough to tell her. I needed to find a way to make her stick around now that our professional relationship was technically over and we weren’t obligated to spend time with each other anymore. This weekend was supposed to convince her that and I needed to be sure that it had worked.
The mood was somewhat subdued when we got back to the city. Since we didn’t have the helicopter this time, we spent a good amount of time in traffic getting from the airport to her townhouse. I knew that she had had a good time, but I couldn’t tell much more than that. She hadn’t given me any indication of where her head was at, or what she was feeling. I felt pretty safe making the assumptions that I had made, but they were still just assumptions. Nothing would be as strong as her just telling me herself. When we got to her townhouse, I walked her to her door, carrying her bag for her. We stood facing each other like the end of a date where neither party was sure what the next step was.
“Thank you so much for the weekend away. I definitely needed it and I had a lot of fun.”
I nodded.
“Don’t mention it, I’m glad you had a good time.”
She smiled and looked down. I dug my hands into my pockets. There was a driver waiting so I was not going to see whether I could get invited into her place. That left only one way to end the date. I got my hands out of my pockets and cupped her face so she looked up at me. I kissed her, telling her all the things that I hadn’t said yet. It was long and lingering and it would’ve been even longer if I didn’t feel bad about making the driver wait. I pulled away.
“I want to see you again.” Her lips were still parted and her cheeks were pink. The whole trip, she hadn’t done her hair or makeup, spending the days in comfy loungewear; that was the way I liked her the best. She was gorgeous and I wished she would let that shine through without all the extra stuff more often. She nodded.
“I’d like that.”
The ride to my loft was almost painful. I immediately wanted to be with her again. We hadn’t made plans, so it didn’t matter when I called her up to be heading out again, did it? As long as she was free, I didn’t see what the problem was. The weekend together had spoiled me already. I didn’t want to wait until the next time she was free. If we lived together, we wouldn’t be having this problem. I reeled it back in because I knew I couldn’t afford to move back quickly with her. She hadn’t asked for it and technically, we had only just gone on our first date.
I made myself busy when I got back home, starting on my laundry. If I didn’t do anything, I’d just end up thinking about her. I had only been gone for a little while, and it had been a weekend, but I still routinely got work emails when I was out of the office. When the machine was running, I turned on the TV and plopped onto the couch to see how many I could get back to. I looked up when I thought I heard my name on the TV. I hadn’t paid attention when I turned it on, it was just some random channel, seemed to be an entertainment show.
Missy was on it too. It was an interview and they were talking about a feature in a magazine. It looked like I was being featured as well since I was her latest client. I turned the volume up a little bit.
“We heard that Easton Schultz is your first male client,” the interviewer said. Missy scoffed on my TV screen.
“He needed the help; you should have gotten a look at him before we met.”
“He was a challenge, then, you’d say?” the interviewer asked.
“Easton Schultz was half-nerd, and half-rube who thought it was acceptable to run a company in a stained t-shirt and pajama pants.” I bristled hearing her. She seemed out of it, a little drunk, or a lot drunk but she was lucid enough to express that. They kept cutting back and forth between her and clips of me and her from the carpet.
“So, we have you to thank for his look tonight.”
“He’s barely paying me enough. He was a mess when we met. Couldn’t dress himself with a Youtube tutorial.” That was it, I got up and turned the television off. My chest hurt. Part of me wanted to hear the rest but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So… that was the truth, huh? That was what she thought of me.
Well. Good to know.
30
Artemis
“Have you seen it?” I asked.
“Wait, I’m watching it right now,” Brenna said over video chat. She was standing, holding her baby while the sound of the interview played from her laptop. I was sitting at my table, pulling my hair out.
“Oh… oh wow,” she said.