Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)

Several minutes later we were back in the kitchen.

“Hey,” I said as I put the last wine glass away, and slid my hand in to his back pocket to retrieve his cell phone, “let me give you my number.”

I tapped my number into his phone, entered my name as November Blue, and slid the phone back in to his pocket.

“Awesome,” he beamed, “I’ll call you to get together sometime this week?”

“Sounds great. I typically work 8 to 4, but you can text me during work if you want to set something up.” My attempt at not sounding desperate wasn’t going quite as I’d hoped.

Bo walked over to the door and took a long, slow breath. “Thank you for having me over, Ember.” His tone was sweet, carrying through my apartment like an aria. “This night was…”

“Yea,” I tipped my head up and kissed him, “it really was, Bo. I’ll talk to you later, K?”

I met him at my door and gripped my fingers around the edges of his jeans pockets.

“Absolutely.” He pulled me in to him and gave me one hard, demanding kiss. “Later.”

I shut the door behind him and thumped my forehead against it, letting out a small hum of sexual frustration. His sensitivity and understanding when I didn’t want things to go any further flooded me with relief, and respect for him. When I got into bed five minutes later, my cell phone dinged with a text. The number wasn’t one I recognized, so I took it to be Bo’s. I opened the message, smiling.

Bo: Hey, it’s Bowan, now you have my number Me: Excellent :) Bowan, is it?

Bo: It’s only fair, November Blue :) Me: Fair’s fair. Good night.

Bo: Hey I hope to see you during the week, but in case work gets ahead of me, I definitely want to see you on Friday Me: Great! But I thought you told Josh you had plans Friday?

Bo: You are my plans on Friday Horray!

Me: Presumptuous, don’t you think?

Bo: Sorry. Would you like to get together on Friday?

Me: Better :) I’d love to. Talk to you this week I hope.

Bo: Night Me: Night :-*

Crap, I kissy-faced in a text. I rolled on to my belly, threw my pillow over my head and endured the most angst-filled sleep I’d had in years.





Chapter Five

“We had the decency to duck out early and you mean to tell me nothing happened?!” Monica sat, exasperated, on my couch.

Her early morning texts didn’t wake me - since I hadn’t slept much - but she made up for her dramatic entrance by bringing me a latte.

“You are a bad influence. He was a perfect gentleman, Monica. So . . .” My face heated as I recounted the details of our kiss and his request for a date on Friday.

“I thought he told Josh he had plans on Friday.” She raised an eyebrow as if she knew what I was about to say.

“Evidently I am the plans he had for Friday night.”

“Hell yes!” Monica cheered.

“Hell yes, indeed.” I let seduction paint my smile as we toasted our coffee cups.

When I went back to my bedroom after Monica left, I saw I had two missed texts from Bo.

Bo: Good morning.

Bo: I had a great time last night, thank you.

Even in his absence, my body reacted to him. I couldn’t form anything intelligent, or witty, but I didn’t want to be rude and not reply.

Me: You’re welcome-I had a great time too.

I needed to go for a run. I put on my shorts, tank, and shoes and headed out the door.

As I ran past the garage, which was closed on Sundays, I instinctively turned to the left to look. I nearly tripped and fell as I saw the exact pick-up truck in the same spot, engine running. Two bodies were inside, and one was as broad as I remembered Bill to be. I ran like hell and didn’t double-back; I took the long route, which allowed me to avoid the garage completely on my way back to my apartment. Why the garage? Why in the daylight? These were questions I shook from my head as I rounded the corner to my apartment and flew up the stairs. I wouldn’t tell Monica about this tomorrow at work because she might lose her head and call the police herself. I was exhausted by the time nightfall arrived, since my raging libido prevented a sound sleep the night before, so I drifted off early.

***

I shot out of bed with my alarm on Monday; I had dreamt of Adrian, and woke up feeling flustered. Monica had talked about Adrian Saturday night. My feelings for Bo were mixed with my relationship with Adrian, and it led to a weird mash-up of Finnegan’s, Princeton, and Adrian Turner inside my subconscious.