Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Athena
I can’t believe Liam Wolf tossed out the fact that he uses extra large condoms like it’s no big deal.
That’s intimate information. It’s private.
I don’t go around telling people that my bra size is 32B.
I’m small enough that I can get away without wearing a bra but big enough that I have curves that I like.
My breasts are my business unless I invite you to get better acquainted with them.
Men are different. I think that their cocks are directly attached to their egos.
The first time I realized it was in high school during gym class. Some guys wore shorts that were tight enough that I could have guessed the size of condoms they’d need.
None of those were extra large.
The size of Liam’s package doesn’t intimidate me. The undeniable attraction I feel for him does.
Last night was fun. I felt comfortable and at ease.
I liked it.
I like him.
The sound of the bell ringing over Wild Lilac’s door shatters my daydream about Liam. I move to stand, but as soon as I notice Leanna’s hand waving in the air, I sit back down.
I’m tired. I didn’t get into bed until after midnight. I snuck in three hours of restless sleep before I got up, showered, dressed, and walked over to the shop.
The delivery wasn’t scheduled until five, but I felt my creative juices flowing, so I sat at the table with my sketchpad and crafted a rough drawing of an arrangement that I’ll offer on the website as a special for this month.
If I give my customers what they want, they’ll keep coming back for more.
It’s a proven business principle that hasn’t failed me yet.
“Guess what I brought you?” Leanna waves a pizza box in the air. “Breakfast.”
I stifle a laugh. “You brought me pizza for breakfast?”
“You know you want to eat it.” Flapping the lid open and shut, she shows me a fleeting glimpse of what looks like a fully loaded medium pizza.
“You didn’t eat any of that?”
Setting the box on the table in front of me, she narrows her eyes. “I was too excited to eat.”
If she’s pregnant, I’ll cry both happy and sad tears. I desperately need her as much as she desperately wants to have another baby.
My gaze drops to the front of the faded jeans she’s wearing. We’re twinning today in our jeans and black T-shirts.
Her hand falls to her stomach. “I am not with child.”
I laugh at the formality in her tone. “You’re not?”
“I’m with a woman who is keeping a big secret.” Her pointer finger lands on the tip of my nose.
I inch back until her hand drops. “I have a big secret?”
Sliding a piece of pizza from the box, she takes a huge bite. “Does this pizza smell familiar to you?”
I’d say that pizza is pizza, but I suspect that would offend her. Leanna is a foodie. She loves to eat and she knows where to get the best of everything in this city.
Eyeing the box, I shrug my shoulders. “It smells like good pizza?”
“It’s the best pizza in Manhattan,” she corrects me.
I’ll take her word for it. Inching forward, I steal another peek inside the box. I only ate a banana this morning before I left my apartment. My stomach has been growling with hunger ever since.
“Al picked this up on his way home last night.” She goes for another slice. “He ordered a large pepperoni and mushroom for the kids to share with him. I’m a fan of this all veggie pie.”
I don’t care what’s on it; my mouth is now officially watering.
“You ordered a large margarita.”
My hand drops right before I grab a slice. “I what?”
How does she know what kind of pizza I had last night? When Liam asked what I wanted, I went with my favorite.
“Or rather, your date ordered the large margarita.”
I swallow past the unexpected lump in my throat.
“Al didn’t want to interrupt.” She slides the box closer to me. “He said you two looked cozy.”
“We just met,” I explain. “I haven’t known him long enough to get cozy with him.”
“Longish hair, a beard, muscles in all the right places, and tattoos.” She fans herself. “Even Al said he was hot. You need to get cozy with that now.”
Laughing, I take a bite of the cold but delicious pizza. “His girlfriend dumped him not long ago.”
“His ex-girlfriend, you mean,” she corrects me. “If that mattered to him, he would have been eating pizza in bed with her last night.”
“We didn’t eat it in bed.” I chew on the crust.
“You ate it and then went to bed?” she asks hopefully. “Tell me you saw that unclothed, Athena.”
I shake my head. “No. His break up is still fresh. It’s too soon.”
Wiping the back of her hand across her mouth, she winks. “It’s never too soon for really good sex.”
“Who said anything about it being really good?”
“Al snapped a picture of you and the pizza man.” She bats her eyelashes. “A man that looks that good can’t be bad in bed. There’s a universal law against it.”
I almost choke on the pizza. “There’s not.”
Wagging a finger at me, she laughs. “Prove me wrong. Sleep with him.”
We both turn when the bell rings over the shop’s door.
Leanna rubs her palms together shaking off a few crumbs. “I’ll take care of whoever that is. You finish your breakfast and think about what I said.”
I’ll think about it. The truth is that I haven’t stopped thinking about Liam and his extra-large condoms since I left his apartment last night.