28. Victoria
28
VICTORIA
A s I walk around the yard, tidying up from my gardening and talking to Fiona on a video call, I yawn. My mind is tired, and my body is still sore in places it hasn’t been for some time. I then smile, thinking about the reason that is the case.
“That is like the fifth time you’ve yawned already today,” she says, looking at me suspiciously.
“I’m tired. The new goats kept me up all night,” I say, but it must be the look on my face that gives me away.
“You said they were born before midnight. So what else went on last night? What time did Tanner leave?” she asks like an FBI interrogator. Not much gets past her.
“Oh, ahhh… about nine,” I say, before biting my lip, “a.m.” I wait for the penny to drop.
“Holy hell, you had sex with the hot neighbor!” she almost screams through the phone, and I laugh at her.
“Well, it kinda wasn’t the first time…” I tease her. It has been a little while since we last spoke and so much has happened .
“Wait. What !” she yells, and I hear her colleagues all shush her at her office before she moves into a meeting room for privacy.
“Should I be offended that you seem so shocked?” I ask her as I put away my gardening tools and sit on my back porch steps to chat.
“I want all those details, but I am at work and I don’t want to get fired. So how was it? I mean, anything would be an improvement from Josh, right.”
I smile, the wide, lip-splitting grin hasn’t left my face all day. After our rendezvous in the shower, we went to my bed and stayed there all night, enjoying each other some more before he had to leave this morning right after breakfast.
“So much better, and Fi…” I say, thinking about my words. “He is, like… so good at like everything. He came straight over last night when I called. Dropped everything for me and my panic over Gertie. He cooks for me, he looked after me when I hurt my ankle. I mean, I don’t think anyone has ever done anything like that for me before. Certainly not a man.”
“You really like him, don’t you?” she asks, and I look at her with a deep breath. I do, but I don’t want to admit it out loud yet. It already feels too good to be true.
“He has a body like a Greek god, and if it wasn’t a crime, I would demand he walk around naked all the time just so I can look at him,” I tell her, laughing.
“So did Tyler,” Fiona says with a sigh.
“Did he ever call?” I ask her, knowing that she had a great time with him the night before my life imploded, but it seems it was a one-night thing .
“No. I guess you just can’t win them all,” she says glumly, then snaps herself out of it. “Anyway, back to your man. When are you seeing him again?” she asks, just as I hear a truck in my driveway and look up to see his familiar black and gold branding.
“He actually just arrived.” He told me this morning he would come back after work tonight, and now as the sun sets on the horizon, he proves yet again that he is a man of his word.
“Argh. Alright, go. Have sweaty, amazing sex with your hot billionaire neighbor. Tonight is hair washing night for me, and just for fun, I might even shave my legs too. Don’t worry about me,” she says sarcastically, and I giggle at her as I watch Tanner step out of his truck, his eyes already glued to me as he starts striding over.
“Wait, let me show you something.” I laugh as I press a button and flick the camera around so she can see the vision I am seeing. Tanner, tall, dark, and brooding, his sleeves rolled up to showcase his muscular forearms, his shirt fitting him extremely well over his broad shoulders.
“Oh God. I hate you,” she says, and I can’t stop laughing.
“I love you too,” I singsong sweetly. “Gotta go. Talk later,” I tell her before I hang up.
“Who you loving, baby girl?” Tanner asks as he steps closer.
“My friend, Fiona. She is working late.”
“Do you miss it? The city? Your friends?” he asks as he steps toward me, his hand immediately circling around my waist and pulling me to him. His lips meet mine in a quick greeting .
“Yes and no. I grew up there so I miss some things. Fiona and my mom, mostly. I miss going to my local florist and grabbing my favorite pink peonies when they are in season. But also, Benny’s,” I say, sighing, really missing Benny’s.
“What’s Benny’s?” Tanner asks with a little crease between his eyebrows.
“It’s this old school diner in Soho. They make the best burgers,” I tell him with a mock frown.
“Maybe you can take me there sometime?” His thumb rubs my lower back, and my frown turns into a smile that he is already thinking of me in his future.
“I would like that. But only if we can go to Maison Pickle afterward.” I tap his chest.
“Maison Pickle?”
“They make a twenty-four-layer chocolate cake that is ah-mazing.” My mouth already salivates.
“Now you are just making me hungry.” He chuckles, kissing me on the lips again. This one is slow and sweet, like he is committing it to memory, and at his touch, my body goes liquid in his arms until my stomach grumbles so loudly it is mortifying.
“I think I am making myself hungry,” I murmur against his lips.
“Let me lock up these animals for you, and then we can go.” Pulling back, he starts to walk out the back to get the place locked up for the night.
“Go? Go where?” I ask him, never tiring of seeing his profile or his ass in his jeans.
“I’m taking you out for dinner. To the bar. Burgers might not be as good as Benny’s, but right now, we need to eat.”
Marmalade saunters into the shed, and he locks the door.
I look down at myself in my t-shirt and jeans. “I need to change.”
“You look fine,” he says, walking back to me.
“I look a mess!” I tell him, waving that off. He is being absurd if he can’t see it.
“Baby girl, you look beautiful. Besides, I want to undress you myself, and if I do that now, we won’t be leaving for dinner…” he says as he stands in front of me, his hand once again gliding around my waist.
“Fine. Let me grab my things,” I say in a mock grumble before I push off him and run inside, taking exactly two minutes to put my hair up in a top knot, spray on some perfume, and swipe some pink gloss on my lips before I grab my bag and run back out to him. He is standing waiting for me, with the passenger door open, and I swoon so hard I misstep on the porch steps and almost face-plant into the gravel.
“Need me to carry you?” he calls out with a wicked smile on his face, knowing exactly why I stumbled.
"No. I am a strong, independent woman. I can take care of myself,” I say, giving him a little sass as I walk around him and jump in.
“Don’t I know it,” I hear him mumble before he closes my door, and he takes me on our first dinner date.