Annihilate Me Read Free Page A

and we walked together toward our new table.   He’d just called me his girlfriend
twice, and this was only our second legitimate date.   That is, if we were considering burgers
at the diner a date.   What the hell
was I to make of that?
    Nothing.
    Because,
if I was being honest with myself, what he just said is exactly what I wanted
to hear, though I’d never admit it to him.   Not yet.   We’d moved beyond
the past and into another stage.   To
him, I was his girlfriend.   And I
was as thrilled about it as I was nervous about it.  
    What
the hell was I going to do when he wanted to become intimate?

 
 
 
 
    CHAPTE R TWO

 
    The
next week passed in a blur.   And
while I didn’t see Alex as much as I wanted to because we both worked
nights—me at the restaurant, he at the events he needed to
attend—we met twice for breakfast, we spoke when we could by phone, we
texted each other throughout the day, and he always picked me up when the
restaurant closed.  
    Each
night, he was fresh from a party and in a tuxedo, looking dashing.   Though increasingly, he also looked
either distracted or stressed.   Tonight was no exception.  
    When
I left the restaurant, he was leaning against the limousine with his feet
crossed at the ankles and his arms folded across his chest.   He smiled when he saw me, and we kissed
for a long, lingering moment, but something was off.   I could sense it, and I had to wonder if
he was having second thoughts about reigniting this relationship, probably
because we still hadn’t slept together.   By today’s standards, that should have happened after the event at the
museum.   But, despite his efforts,
it didn’t.
    At
the end of the night, he asked me up to his penthouse at Wenn and made an
effort to progress in that direction, but I told him I wasn’t ready.   He said there was no hurry, but he might
go nuts if he had to wait much longer.   He had no clue that I was still a virgin.   And he didn’t know the reasons why I was
still a virgin.   At some point, if I
was going to continue this relationship with him, I would have to tell him all
that I needed to tell him about me and my past.   Sooner rather than later.   It was unfair to him otherwise.
    When
we were in the limousine, I put my hand on his leg, and he wrapped his arm
around my shoulder.   “Hey,” he said.
    “How
do you feel about taking me to your place tonight?” I asked.   “I need to talk to you about
something.   Well, a few things,
actually.”
    “Is
everything all right?”
    “I
just need to talk to you, Alex.”
    “That
sounds ominous.”
    He
lived on the top two floors of Wenn, where his parents once lived.   The space was now his.   When I first saw it, I wasn’t surprised
to find how beautifully designed and decorated it was.   Save for the colorful, original
paintings on the walls, everything was white, from the furniture to the marble
floors.   At this height, the city
views beyond the sweeping surround of windows were spectacular.
    “Would
you like something to drink?” he asked when we stepped out of his private
elevator and into the foyer.
    “A
martini would be nice.”
    “You are a martini girl, aren’t you?”
    “Guilty.”
    “Actually,
after today, I wouldn’t mind one myself.   Give me a few minutes.   If
you’d like, take off your shoes and relax in the living room.   You’ve been on your feet all night.”
    “You
sound tense,” I said as I moved into the room.
    “A
little.   But we’ll save talking
about that for another time.   Right
now, I just want to be with you.”
    Why is he tense?
    I
looked out at the views, listened to him shake our drinks in the kitchen, and
then turned to him when he entered the living room with them.   He handed me mine, and we touched
glasses.   He kissed me meaningfully
on the mouth, and we took a sip before sitting down next to each other on the
leather sofa.
    “Have
I told you that you look beautiful tonight,