A Question of Marriage Read Free Page A

replied over the music playing overhead. “Remember the guy I met on line
    a couple of months ago, the investment banker?”
    “Didn’t you show us his picture?” Payton asked. “I thought he looked nice.”
    “Oh, he was ni ce alright,” Andrea assured her. “Right up until the moment he tried to grope me,”
    “He tried to grope you? What did you do?”
    “After rebuffing his advances in the restaurant hadn’t worked on the way home I grabbed a handful of his balls.”
    Payton laughed “ I bet that put the kibosh on that. So what happened next?”
    “On the way home I made the driver stop long enough to push him into t he street. Then I had him take me home.” Andrea waved her hand, shooing away the memory of her bad date. “From now on, no more internet dates. I’m going to meet men the old fashioned way, in clubs like everyone else.”
    Of the three of them Andrea was the most hopeful when it came to finding love. A hopeless romantic, the petite blonde vowed she’d be married by the time she turned thirty-four she had two years left.
    “I’m not sure looking for your future spouse in clubs is such a good idea,” Mavis pointed out. “Maybe for a one night stand but for a husband, I don’t think so.”
    “Maybe you’re right,” Andrea conceded. “What about you Payton, ever think about finding your one true love?”
    “I haven’t given it much thought,” Payton responded as an image of Jordan flashed in her mind.
    “I never think about those things,” Mavis told them, “I’m way too busy enjoying the life I have , without messing it up, bringing a man into the mix.”
    “Since when did you become so cynical?” Payton wondered. “I thought you wanted that happily ever after.”
    Mavis snorted. “You’re mistaking me for that on e over there.” She pointed at Andrea.
    Andre a frowned. “Hey! What’s wrong with wanting a husband and family?”
    “Everything,” Mavis retorted.
    Andrea shot her a disapproving glare. “I bet before long you’ll find the man of your dreams and fall hopelessly in love.”
    “Highly doubtful,” Mavis shot back then raised her hand signaling the waiter for a refill.
    While she listened to her friends talk Payton’s thoughts went back to the situation with Jordan, tomorrow she would give him her decision, the fact that she’d made up her mind to help him, knowing they were basically using one another as a means to an end. He needed a wife and she wanted her own magazine, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t make her feel any better about what she was about to do.
     
    ******************
     
    As she rode the elevator up to Jordan’s penthouse apartment, Payton was a bundle of nerves, butterflies fluttered around in her stomach. When the door slid open she stepped off the elevator walked up to the door took a deep breath and rang the bell. A few minutes later the door opened revealing a bare-chested Jordan, dressed only in faded jeans, his hair was damp and a white towel was draped around his shoulders. Her eyes followed a drop of water rolling over his well sculpted chest and abs until it disappeared past the waistband of his jeans she realized she was gawking when he cleared his throat.
    “Come in. ”
    S tepping aside, he let her in then shut the door. “Give me a few minutes I just got out of the shower, be back in a second.”
    While she waited, Payton surveyed the interior of his apartment with a mixture of surprise and awe. The living room was spacious and airy; there were floor to ceiling windows, the walls were painted a cream color. There was a black marble fireplace against one wall and a black lacquer entertainment center stood against another. The furnishings were beige and brown, colorful paintings hung on the wall, a burgundy and beige Persian rug lay underneath a smoky glass table on top of a highly shined parquet floor and various plants sitting in different corners of the room. This did not resemble a normal bachelor’s