A Week in New York (The Empire State Series Book 1) Read online

  “I’m supposed to go to the Hamptons this weekend with Andrew and Mandy.”

  And there it was: his excuse to get out of Dodge. I’d said too much. Fuck, Anna. No complications, remember?

  “Cool.” I continued to stare at my food.

  “Will you come with me?” he asked, and my stomach twisted and spun.

  I looked at him sideways to see if maybe I’d heard him wrong.

  “We could get out of the city and spend the weekend together before you go back to London.”

  I wanted to say yes. I really wanted to say yes, but I could feel myself opening up to him. I could feel my guard coming down, and he was peering across the threshold, about to step inside. In normal circumstances between two normal people, that might have been a good thing, but we were supposed to be just having fun. I was getting over someone else. He wasn’t meant to be the guy that got to know me, that took me away for weekends, that gave me more orgasms in the past three days than I’d ever had in my life. He was meant to be uncomplicated fun. This felt like it was verging on complicated.

  “Jesus, I can see the cogs in your brain working at a million miles an hour. What are you thinking? No bullshit.”

  “I’m thinking I don’t know you.”

  “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, but you’ll have to tell me some stuff first.”

  I pursed my lips at him. “Go on,” I said.

  “First, you tell me your name.”

  I nodded. “And?”

  “And then second, you come to the Hamptons this weekend.”

  “Anything else?”

  “You tell me about what or who you’re escaping.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The guy. The guy before New York.”

  I started to remove my legs from his lap, but he dropped his fork to his plate and held them where they were.

  “I’m not sure I want to know you that badly,” I said under my breath.

  “The construction thing is bullshit, I have an older sister, I work too hard, I’ve slept with too many women and mushrooms are my favorite food.”

  “So now, you have to tell me,” he said.

  “My name?” I asked staring at my plate. I took a deep breath. “Anna. No bullshit.”

  “But I chose your name.” He sounded confused. I stayed silent, playing with my risotto. “I chose your real name?” I could tell he was looking at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to look up.

  “Like you knew me before you met me,” I said so quietly I almost couldn’t hear myself.

  “I think I did,” he said.

  Ethan

  I was thrown off balance by Anna’s revelation. It felt like it meant something—something big—and that made me feel fucking uncomfortable. It was new territory for me. I didn’t do meaning or anything big. I stared at my plate. Fuck.

  “Tell me about the guy.” I wanted to know, and I needed the distraction from my own thoughts.

  “Tell you what?”

  “What happened that made you need to get away. To have these rules.”

  “You know what we need?” She jumped up from the table and dived into her bag. She retrieved an iPod.

  She wasn’t going to be pushed.

  “An '80s dance-off.”

  I couldn’t help but grin at her. “I would say that that’s exactly what we don’t need.”

  She bent over the iPod station until music blared. She spun around, her eyes bright in expectation. “Come on, dance with me.” Her hands flew up in the air and she started to jump up and down. “I love this one.”

  It was Duran Duran, I was pretty sure. I did not love it, but I enjoyed watching her love it, even though she was dancing like a complete lunatic.

  I stood and folded my arms as I watched her, determined that I wouldn’t join in. She came over and grabbed at my robe. I laughed at her as she dragged me a few feet toward the music. “I’m not dancing to this shit.”

  “Dancing is the best distraction there is,” she said as she spun around and continued to jump and move in front of me. After a few minutes the music faded and the beginning of another song, a better song, drifted between us. It was Chaka Khan’s classic, Ain’t Nobody. Her laughter faded and she turned and started to walk toward the music. “What about some Blondie?”

  My arms unfolded and stopped her and I turned her around and pulled her toward me.

  “Dance with me,” I said pulling her arms up around my neck, then sliding mine around her waist and moving to the music. The beat was sensual and yearning. I’d forgotten how much I liked this song and I liked dancing to it with her. I’d not danced with a woman since high school. I didn’t often listen to music anymore, but listening to this I wondered why. The music matched my mood completely and the voice was telling me everything I wished Anna would say to me. Jesus. I was fucked.

  Her head rested on my chest and I pressed my lips to her hair. We stayed like that until the song drifted out and something I didn’t recognize replaced it.

  “Ethan,” she whispered against my chest and I squeezed her tighter to me. “Take me to bed.”

  ***

  “So this weekend, we’ll leave Friday lunchtime,” I said as I emerged from the bathroom after disposing of another condom.

  “I haven’t said I’ll come with you.”

  “But you said your body was mine.”

  “I lied.”

  “You did not.” I dived back into bed and dragged her back toward me, wrapping my arms around her waist.

  “I tell you I’m a liar and you don’t believe me?”

  “Nope.”

  “You’re crazy.”

  “I’m not. I just know you.” She couldn’t hide anything from me. I knew that now. “Do you want to pick you up from Armitage’s apartment?”

  “I have to speak to Leah. I came to New York to spend time with her, and anyway, I’m not so sure that it’s a good idea if I come with you.”

  I didn’t say anything. I wanted her to want to come with me. I didn’t want to have to convince her. She wriggled around in my arms to face me.

  “Do you know what I mean?” she asked.

  I laughed. “No. Why don’t you just cut the bullshit and say what you mean.”

  She kicked me and I wrapped my legs around hers so she couldn’t do it again.

  “I just mean that, you know, this … the hot sex we’re having … Our week of fun, I’m not sure how it translates to a weekend away in the Hamptons and meeting your friends and not having hot sex because we’re down the hall from these people I’ve never met.”

  I pushed her back around so her back was against me again. “Oh, now we’re getting to it. I’m not worth the effort if you’re not going to get your rocks off,” I said. She giggled and I maneuvered my hardening dick against the crease in her perfect ass.

  “Like you could handle it. You’re ready to go again, Sex God.”

  “I’m always ready around you. And anyway, it’s not a problem because we’re staying at my sister’s, and Andrew and Mandy will be at their place. We can still fuck like rabbits.”

  She pushed back on my dick, increasing the friction. I reached down to her pussy. Her breathing quickened as my fingers found her clit.

  “And don’t you think it sounds a bit— Oh god, yes.”

  “Sounds a bit what, beautiful?” I stilled my hand and she quickly placed her hand over mine and started moving my fingers.

  “Don’t stop,” she breathed. Fuck, this woman was insatiable. “Sounds a bit … oh God … against the rules.”

  “Game’s changed, baby.” I hooked her leg up and back over mine and grabbed a condom, tearing it open with my fingers and mouth, trying not to waste another second, and I sank into her. It felt like home. It felt like the first time. I was going to come in about ten seconds if I didn’t concentrate. I slowed my pace and nibbled along her shoulder, my fingers circling and pushing. The sounds she made told me she was close. I realized I knew this about her and it made me want
her more.

  “Look at me. I want to see your face,” I said.

  She turned her shoulders and her eyes met mine. They were full of lust and confusion and questions.

  “Feel this?” I asked as I drove into her. She nodded. “No one else can make you feel like this, can they, Anna?” Her hand came to my shoulder and she shook her head. “Tell me.”

  “No one makes me feel like you do.” And as she said it she clenched around me and her breath held. She was there and I couldn’t hold back for a second longer. I increased my pace, pushing myself closer to her, closer to my climax, and then exploded into her.

  Chapter Nine

  Anna

  “What are your plans for the day?” Ethan asked me as he came out of the bathroom after his shower.

  “Sleep.” I was exhausted. The frequent interruptions to my sleep were welcome, but I could quite happily spend the day in bed snoozing.

  “You’re not staying in bed if I’m not there with you.”

  “Are you always this cheerful in the mornings? It’s annoying,” I huffed and turned over away from him.

  “You’re cute when you’re sleepy and grumpy.”

  “Go to work.”

  I felt the mattress dip on my side of the bed and his hand stroked my ass. “I might have to work late tonight.” My stomach twisted. “Did you hear me?”

  I sat up and nodded, pulling my knees to my chest. He looked at me. “Do you have plans? Tonight? I mean later?”

  I shrugged. I’d kinda assumed that I’d see him tonight. He’d become a habit in just a few days.

  “You could stay here tonight, and then we could go up to the Hamptons first thing Friday.”

  “You don’t have to work Friday?”

  “I can do some calls from the car on the way up there. I should be able to manage a day off.”

  “Ok,” I said. I was half-delighted, half-terrified. I wanted to spend the day with him Friday. I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible before I left, and I was terrified about that. I didn’t want to want that. I’d promised myself I wouldn’t want a man again. 3,000 miles apart after Monday should do it. I took a deep breath. “I’m in.”

  “I knew I’d wear you down,” he said grinning at me.

  “I just feel sorry for you, that’s all.”

  He pulled my legs away from my chest and climbed over me, pinning my arms above my head. “What did you say?”

  “I feel sorry for you.” He dipped his head to my neck and started to suck as I started to giggle. “I know you must have been having a drought before I came along. How long had it been? Five, six years?”

  “Since a woman took pity on me and let me fuck her?” he asked and I laughed and tried to break my wrists free of his hands as his mouth tracked lower and started to suck again. “Since a woman let me give her three, four, five orgasms a night?”

  “Since a woman came back for seconds.”

  He let go of my wrists and moved off me.

  “Hey, are you going to finish what you started?” I asked, propping myself up on my elbows.

  “I have to get to work. Stop distracting me,” he said as pulled a tie on. He smiled, but I could detect that his mood had shifted.

  “Sorry,” I said, trying to meet his eyes.

  He nodded. I was joking. He must know I was joking.

  I crawled out of bed and put on a robe as Ethan gathered his wallet and keys. I followed him to the door of the suite.

  “Go do something cultural,” he said as he opened the door. Then he turned, kissed me on the forehead, and left.

  Fear unfurled in my stomach. I wasn’t quite sure of the cause. Fear of not seeing him again, fear that I’d hurt his feelings, fear of going with him to the Hamptons, fear of complications, fear of going back to London.

  I stood under the shower trying to decide whether to text him when my phone started to ring. I leapt out of the shower. It must be Ethan letting me know about plans tonight. I hoped it would Ethan letting me know about plans tonight.

  It was Leah. I pressed Accept and hooked the phone under my chin while I grabbed a towel to wrap around me.

  “Hey, I have a fun-packed day planned. I got those tickets for Book of Mormon and I thought we could go do the Empire State this morning. How long are you going to be?”

  “Oh, great. You got those tickets. That’s awesome.”

  “Don’t worry. It’s the matinee. It won’t interrupt your holiday romance.”

  “There’s no romance, Leah. And anyway, it wouldn’t interrupt anything. I don’t think we’re seeing each other tonight.” I wasn’t sure if we were seeing each other tonight. How did we leave it? Fuck. This wasn’t supposed to be complicated.

  “Oh. Are you ok?”

  “Of course. We’re not attached at the hip. It was just a fling. Nothing complicated.”

  “Was?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll be ready in 15 minutes. Shall I meet you somewhere?”

  We agreed to meet in line at the Empire State Building. I pulled on my jeans and a t-shirt and combed my wet hair. There was no point in blow drying it in this humidity. I’d leave it to frizz. I’d brought a few more things with me last night, thinking I may be staying tonight as well but I was careful to collect everything. I didn’t know if I’d be back. Before I left I took out my phone and snapped a couple of photos of the view. God it was amazing. Worth every penny this ginormous suite must have cost. When I grew up and won the lottery, I was going to live here.

  Leah waved at me from the entrance to the ticket hall.

  “There isn’t much of a queue.”

  “Who’d have thought it? It’s 8-frigging-15 a.m. on a random Thursday in July. Of course there isn’t much of a queue.” I hadn’t realized how early it was until I was in the cab on the way to meet Leah.

  “Alright, grumpy knickers. I’m just trying to make sure we squeeze everything in. I want to make sure it’s not just the New York men you get to experience.”

  I rolled my eyes at Leah and then leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “Sorry.”

  Without the queues we got to the top quickly and without the pushing and shoving that the crowds would inevitably bring later. The view of the park was almost surreal. Unlike from the hotel, where the view was lower, you could see the whole thing—as if a slice of somewhere else had been picked up and planted in amongst the buildings and bustle of the city.

  “So you’re not seeing him tonight?” Leah interrupted my thoughts that for just the twenty seconds before hadn’t been full of Ethan.

  “I’m not sure. We were and he invited me to the Hamptons, and then it got weird, and now I’m not sure.”

  “Wait, he invited you to the Hamptons?”

  “Oh, yes. Sorry. I was going to speak to you to see if you would mind if I went. I guess it doesn’t matter now.”

  “Of course I don’t mind. You should go. I’m sure it’s fine. He didn’t uninvite you, did he?”

  I shook my head. No, not yet. That would come later … I was sure of it.

  Ethan

  I’d officially grown a vagina.

  Make that two vaginas. I was becoming a vagina farmer. What the fuck was the matter with me? It stung when she said that women didn’t want to sleep with me more than once. I mean, I knew it wasn’t true, but the fact that she might think that. A vagina farmer. Fuck.

  She was the greatest lay I’d ever had and I had to wear her down to spend the weekend with me. That stung, too. That was it. I needed to kick some ass and take some names. I wanted to get this work done so I could fuck her out of my system. Just after I had another look at that sexy-as-hell text she’d sent me of her in her underwear.

  I worked like a maniac all day. I was sure that my associate was on the verge of quitting two or three times. I could see the panic in his eyes as I piled more and more work onto him, but I was too busy to think about it. He said that he wanted more responsibility, so he shouldn’t fucking whine when I gave it to him. I was going to have
to look over various documents over the weekend, but I was going to be able to get out of the office. My biggest client was on vacation, which couldn’t have come at a better time. I looked at my watch. Jesus. How was it 6 p.m. already? Would she be at the hotel by now or was she spending the evening with Armitage’s girlfriend? Had she said? I checked my cell for messages but there was nothing.

  Me: Hey sexy. What are you wearing?

  Nothing. For thirty minutes.

  Anna: Hey.

  Hey?

  Me: Are you at the hotel?

  Anna: No.

  Me: When will you be there? Make sure you bring your case so we can get straight off in the morning.

  Anna: Later. Okay.

  Me: Let me know when you’re at the hotel. I should be back by midnight.

  Three hours later and I’d just come off the least useful conference call in my career. At least it hadn’t generated more work. The ball was in the court of the Chinese. We had the weekend off.

  Back at my desk, I checked my phone.

  Anna: At the hotel bar.

  The text was sent over an hour ago. The hotel bar, for Christ’s sake? It was close to 9:30. No doubt a million sleazy guys had hit on her.

  Me: On your own?

  Anna: You haven’t died then.

  Me: On your own?

  Anna: I’m making new friends.

  New friends? New friends with dicks? My fists clenched. Jesus. I was going to end up in prison by the end of the weekend if I wasn’t careful. I put some papers together quickly and left the office earlier than I should have.

  ***

  I saw her as soon as I entered the bar. She was sitting at the bar, her head tipped back, and she was laughing at something the bartender had said to her. He looked like he’d just hit a home run. I knew how that felt—it lit me up when I made her laugh. I didn’t like that he got to feel that, too. I’d never felt jealousy over a woman before now.

  I came up behind her and rubbed her back. She was mid-laugh and she jumped when I touched her. I hated that.

  “Hey!” she said a little too loudly and both her hands flew into the air. “He’s here,” she said to the bartender.