“Other than needing Tylenol I think I’m good.”
“There’s some right here for you.” He taps the nightstand.
I stretch and then groan. “What time is it? Where’re you going?”
Lex reaches out and caresses a bare nipple with his fingertip. “It’s eight-thirty. I have a meeting. I actually have meetings most of the day, but I’ll be back around dinner. Would you like to eat with me tonight?”
“Sure. Yes. Okay.” I guess this means he was serious about this not being a one-night thing. Relief threads through my anxiety.
“We can talk then.”
“Talk?”
“I can see your mind working, Amie. The second your eyes opened. Everything is going to be fine. Go back to sleep, but make sure you’re up by noon.”
“Why noon?”
“I set up some spa appointments, market research and all that. I’ll message later.” He presses a soft kiss to my lips and then he’s crossing the room.
“Wait,” I call out. “Let me see your socks.”
He pauses. “My socks?”
“I want to see them.”
He lifts the hem of his right pant leg. His socks are sky blue.
“Are those palm trees?”
“Fitting for the location. Anything else you need to see?”
“Do your boxers match?”
“You’ll find out the answer to that later.” With a wink, he turns and walks out the door.
He’s such an interesting paradox. The intense sexuality he oozes seems to be balanced with this fun side I’m getting to know better. I like that he doesn’t take himself too seriously.
I flop back on the pillow, my smile slipping a little. Spa appointments? Dinner? Talking?
I have to wonder exactly how complicated we’re about to make things.
He said everything will be fine. I want to believe him.
I want him to be right, even though I know he isn’t.
Thirteen: Swoon
Amie
At noon a tiny woman shows up at my door and escorts me to the spa. I spend the afternoon being pampered, starting with a full body soak, followed by a wrap, a massage, a facial, and ending with a blow out and a mani-pedi. My toe is bruised and the nail is destroyed. Heels won’t be an option for a while, but I can walk in flats without a limp.
It’s five by the time I return to the bungalow. A gorgeous bouquet of flowers sits in the middle of the table. I pluck the card from the center.
Looking forward to dinner. See you at 7:30. Check your closet.
~Lex
I do exactly as the card demands. Sadly, Lex is not inside, naked, but there is a garment bag. Dragging the zipper down, I reveal a gorgeous flowy dress in a shade of blue that I’m almost positive matches my eyes. Based on the designer, it was probably expensive, and it’s also my size. I wonder how Lex managed that.
I left my phone to charge while I was busy being pampered, so it’s full of texts and messages. I have several from Ruby, a couple from my mother, one from Armstrong’s mother, and more than I’d like from Armstrong, including a few voicemails.
The only ones I check are Ruby’s, asking if I’m okay, and to please give her a call when I’m done with the dick in my mouth. I really do love her and her faith that I’ve managed to secure a hook-up while I’m here. But that gets me thinking about what happened last night, and what’s likely going to happen tonight, as well.
Lex setting up a day of spa treatments, sending me flowers, buying me a dress—which is totally unnecessary but so thoughtful—and arranging a dinner date is beyond sweet, but it raises a lot of questions. I need to squelch any ideas that this can be more than just two people having sex. Getting comfortable with him isn’t a good idea. I’m worried it’s already happening, that it started when we sat next to each other on a plane for all those hours, and that I want it to continue. I shouldn’t even be considering anything beyond my time here, but I am.
I’m amazed at how much lighter I feel emotionally today, despite everything. These simple, but thoughtful gifts and all this pampering make me feel appreciated in a way I never did with Armstrong.
Sex and drinks is one thing, sex and food and gifts and thoughtfulness make me want to swoon, and that’s dangerous. Swooning leads to feelings, and I’m only in the beginning stages of dealing with what Armstrong has done. The annulment papers haven’t even made it into his hands. I’m aware that by seeking comfort in Lex physically, making him my escape from reality, I’m transferring my emotional state onto him. Either way, tonight we should set boundaries.
I don’t even know if I can or should tell Ruby about this. It adds another layer of complication. I don’t reply to her messages yet, she’ll have just finished her performance for the night. She’s usually hopped up afterward, and that means she’ll want to talk and I’m not sure what I should or shouldn’t say.
I grab a bottle of water from the bar fridge and head out to the deck so I can enjoy the fabulous view and the sunshine. The volcano rises out of the pale blue water, vibrant green against the cloudless sky. I wonder if the people who live here ever worry that one day a switch will flip and that sleepy volcano will awaken and destroy all this beauty. Sort of like Armstrong did to our relationship by putting his penis in Brittany’s mouth.
No matter how hard I try, when I’m alone like this, I can see very clearly how I ended up in this situation. I tried to make the idea of Armstrong into something real.
Only too soon will I be home and forced to face the mess that is now my life. At least with Lex I can play pretend, and he seems to be willing to be part of the fantasy.
Tonight I’m going to be my best, uninhibited self. I have plans to deep throat Lex since I haven’t done that yet. I’d go straight for anal as a big double middle finger to Armstrong for being so vanilla about sex, but Lex has a lot of cock and I think I’m going to need to work my way up to the stainless-steel butt plug before I can honestly make an attempt with his man dangle. I’d be willing to give it a shot out of more than just sheer spite, though.
Unable to relax thanks to nerves and giddiness, I grab my makeup case from the bathroom and bring it outside. Creating a video tutorial with a volcano background is exactly the kind of distraction I need. The last time I put up a makeup tutorial was just before the Halloween soirée, which was months ago. My makeup wasn’t particularly exciting, but I’d had some fun ideas and it had been months since I’d uploaded a video. Mostly I just wanted to see if I still had any kind of audience. The video garnered over a quarter of a million views in twenty-four hours.