“I think it was parked outside my apartment this morning.”
“And I think you’re getting paranoid about Sandra Trout.”
“It’s not that,” she said. “You saw the email she sent back. She’s happy with how we handled the grants. But I’m almost positive that car was outside my place.”
“There are a lot of black SUVs,” I replied, holding the door for her. “It’s probably your imagination.
“You’re probably right.”
We drove back to work and parked in the garage. It was full at this time of day, so Ginny had to circle around and around until we were on a level all by ourselves. She parked the car and turned to me.
“Thanks for coming along and giving me the push I needed,” she said. “I feel really good about putting an offer on this house. I appreciate that you’re in my life, one way or another.”
I shrugged. “Happy to help. And I’m sure you’ll think of a way to repay me later.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned toward me. “I’m thinking of a wayright now.”
Ginny had my pants unzipped and my cock out before I could stop her. And once she started sucking me off, I didn’t want to. I gazed out both windows to make sure no cars were coming, then relaxed and savored the way her lips felt around my hard length. And it had been several days since we’d last had sex, so she soon had me moaning and palming the car window like Rose from Titanic. As I erupted in her mouth, she kept her lips wrapped tightly around me so nothing would get on my dress pants. And she swallowed every drop and grinned up at me like it was her favorite part of her day.
Fuck,I thought.I think I’m falling in love with this girl.
47
Michael
August liked to joke that I had a weak immune system brought on by too much exercise. This was because I got sick every single year, like clockwork. As soon as the temperature dropped, and that New Mexico dry air invaded my lungs, I wound up missing some work.
The morning after visiting Ginny at her pink house, I woke up with a sore throat and a low-grade fever. As I said: like clockwork. I sent an email to August to notify him, chugged some NyQuil, and passed out under a blanket on my couch.
I had some vivid cough-syrup-induced dreams. Most of them involved Ginny. All the sex stuff we’d been doing, sure, but plenty of non-sexy activities as well. House shopping. Picking out a dog at the shelter. Laying on the couch on a rainy Saturday and marathoning TV shows while eating Chinese food right out of the containers.
I woke around lunchtime feeling strange about the whole thing. Then there was the thought I’d had yesterday in the parking garage:I’m falling in love with this girl.She was the last thing on my mind when I fell asleep, and the first person I thought about in the morning. That had to be love.
But it was too early. We were moving too fast. We weren’t even reallydating, let alone progressing in a normal relationship. Sure, we had almost daily lunches together in the conference room. And yeah, we were hooking up two or three times a week. But that wasn’t enough to calllove, right?
Yet I couldn’t shake this feeling…
When I opened my laptop, I had an email from August calling me a weak-gened peasant. I replied with a middle-finger emoji. Then I logged onto our company chat program and saw that I had a message from Ginny.
Hanover, Ginny: You’re sick too, huh?
Bauer, Michael: Yup. Fever of 100, and a sore throat.
Hanover, Ginny: I’ve been coughing since about 2:00am. My fever isn’t as bad as yours, though.
Bauer, Michael: You probably got the cold from me.
Hanover, Ginny: Yeah, you delivered it directly to the back of my throat in the car yesterday. That’s a surefire way of getting sick
Bauer, Michael: LOL
Bauer, Michael: Want to come over to my place? We can be sick together. Misery loves company.
Hanover, Ginny: That’s extremely tempting. But I don’t think I have the strength to get off my couch.
Hanover, Ginny: Maybe tomorrow, if we’re both still sick?
Bauer, Michael: It’s a date.