21. Sebastian
Chapter twenty-one
Sebastian
I ris is sleeping soundly still, her dark hair spread across my pillow.
Her eyelashes are so dark against her pale skin. Her lips are still full from all the kissing last night.
I’m falling way too quickly.
This is probably a weakness of my happily single plan—that I’m way too vulnerable now because I’ve been solitary for so long. I should be less vulnerable, though, because I’m fine on my own.
But I’m even better with Iris. Last night was everything.
Sneaking out of my parents’ house and back to mine, I felt like a randy teenager again. But one who was very happy I was not and had my own apartment.
I want to smooth back Iris’s hair from her face again and kiss her awake and start all over again now that I know what makes her arch her back in delight.
But she looks so cute sleeping.
I pull the cover up over her bare shoulder.
Iris opens her eyes, and I kiss her firmly on the lips.
“Morning,” I say.
“Hmm.” She stretches. “Morning.”
I run my fingers through her hair. It’s so soft.
“I have to run to the bathroom, but hold that thought,” she says. She grabs a T-shirt from the floor.
She comes back, looking like a cat that ate the cream. “Do you know what I remembered?”
“What?” I ask.
“That you still haven’t told me what you were thinking when you hoisted me through the window. And now we’re not just colleagues…and we’re more than friends,” she says.
“Definitely more than friends,” I say. “But I don’t think I should tell you. Right now, you have a good opinion of me.”
She bites her lip. “We’ll see. I think I have my ways of getting it out of you.”
She crawls back into the bed and straddles me.
“I’m definitely intrigued,” I say.
And then she tickles me. I squirm, weakening, but tighten my abs.
“Surrender?” she asks.
“Not on your life.” We wrestle, and she ends up below me, her cheeks flushed, and I can’t help kissing her again. When we come back up for air, I tenderly brush her hair out of her face. She’s so gorgeous.
“You’re not going to tell me?” she pouts, and she traces a heart across my chest.
“Seduction.” I groan. “They gave me thoughts of seduction.”
“I thought you didn’t like them,” she says.
“I liked them way too much. I was very happy to see another pair last night.” In purple.
She giggles. “Keep kissing me, and maybe you’ll meet the rest of the bunch.”
“I hope so.” I stare into her green eyes, so full of vitality, mischief, and intelligence. She pulls down my head to kiss me again, and the world dissolves to just the two of us, communicating our feelings—by touch, by sensation, shiver by shiver.
W e finally get up because we’re hungry. Iris picks out some sweatpants and a very oversized sweatshirt. She looks adorable in my clothes. I make oatmeal with sliced bananas and strawberries as the topping while Iris brews some coffee.
“Your place is really nice,” Iris says. “I barely saw it last night.”
I kiss her on the lips lightly. “That’s because we had more important things to do than look at my apartment.”
“But why do you have no Christmas decorations at all?”
“Because I’m a guy?”
“Seriously? My brother has Christmas decorations.”
“Because I’ve been so busy at the office?”
“You should get something, even some pine boughs from Trader Joe’s.”
“Maybe we can do that together,” I say.
“You didn’t want to live on the Upper East Side?” Iris asks.
“And have my mom stopping by all the time? Definitely not,” I say.
Iris hides her face in her hands. “I can’t believe we sent that photo to your mom last night.”
I laugh. We sent my mom a picture of us both holding a banana as a telephone with my apartment as a backdrop. Iris insisted on saying thank you, and I told her this would make my mom’s night, even more than a handwritten note.
I was way too…happy last night. Because that’s a pretty cringey thing to do. I wince. But at least it prevented my mom from showing up to steal my bananas this morning.
“I’m not sure I would’ve necessarily picked the Upper West Side, but I love it now that I’m here. I love having the two parks so close. And then we’ve got Fairway, Citarella, and Zabar’s. And so many bakeries. I have no idea who is supporting all these bakeries. I moved in here because Rupert convinced his uncle and grandfather to include squash courts when they developed the building and Rupert promised to play with me. And they gave me a friend-of-the-family sale price.”
We sit at my round dining table as I serve us breakfast.
“Lucky you,” Iris says. “This oatmeal with bananas is yummy. But I still promise not to steal your last banana.”
“I’ll buy two bananas for us. Do you still want to live downtown?” I ask.
“I thought I did, when I was dating Patrick. We were planning to buy my neighbor’s apartment when she was ready to sell. I was saving up for that.” Iris looks down. “But I’ve slept over at Tessa’s a lot, and this neighborhood also feels like home. Plus, I also like the parks close by. I don’t know.” She sips her coffee. “Your parents are pretty cool. Where was Pepper?”
“Our neighbor took her. She’s a puppy, so all those people would have been too much for her. Plus, our neighbor’s daughter loves dogs. I can understand that you think my mom is cool—because she is—but even my dad?”
“I like that he’s still so in love with your mom,” she says.
I nod.
“Why is he pressuring you to leave law?” she asks.
I sigh. “He just thinks that the payoff is better in finance. And that the hours can be better when you get more senior. He has some good points, but I like practicing law.”
“I’m sure he’ll come around,” she says.
My phone beeps, and I read the text. “Melody. Weird. She wrote that she feels bad that she left early last night and wants to know if I want to get together today.”
“She’s totally fishing to see if we ended up together,” Iris says.
I grin. “Well, we did. So, I definitely can’t meet up today.” I text back that I’m spending the day with Iris.
There’s no reply.
I finish my oatmeal. “What should we do today?”
She looks out the window. The sky is a bright blue.
“We could go for a bike ride. We could go down Riverside Park, and I can take you to some of my favorite restaurants on the Lower East Side. I was planning to do some Christmas shopping today. I thought I’d give Ernest some coffee beans from Porto in Essex Market. He seems to drink a lot of coffee. And I’ll get some for Jazmine to give Aaron because he also drinks coffee. And you could show me some of your favorite places on the Upper West Side.”
“I’m all for that,” I say.