You’re Still The One: An angsty second chances romance (NYC Singles Book 1)
You’re Still The One: Chapter 3

Andrew muttered curses at his ringing phone. It was the middle of the night, for chrissake. This was the first night all week he’d gone to sleep at eleven, which by his standards was pretty darn early, and he had been hoping to enjoy the lengthy make-up slumber.

Until someone had decided to call him at this ungodly hour.

Groggy, he lifted his eyelids just enough to press the green button on the phone screen. He rubbed his eyes. His vision was too blurry to read the number flashing on his screen.

“Hi, Andrew, it’s Dr. Liu.”

Hearing that injected him with a shot of adrenaline and he pushed himself out the couch.

Dr. Liu was in charge of IT systems and the person he had been in talks with about licensing their software to Johns Hopkins. Andrew’s pulse hummed in anticipation of the news that Dr. Liu had managed to get the approval from his higher-ups to make the purchase. Why else would Dr. Liu call him at—the second-hand digital clock on his desk said it was eight—it was morning already?

“Hi, it’s Andrew. Sorry, I’m a bit out of it.”

There was a pregnant pause. “Are you Carl Smith’s son?”

Andrew couldn’t fight off the drowning feeling in his stomach. Nothing good could follow the mention of his father’s name.

“Yes, but that shouldn’t be any problem for the deal. He is not affiliated with Dracosys in any way.” he assured, in the confident tone he’d managed to perfect.

The awkward cough at the other end punctuated the news Dr. Liu was about to deliver. “That’s not the problem. The thing is… your father is a very influential man. He’s donated a lot of money to the university and… he requested a personal favor from the provost. I’m sorry, but I don’t think that we’ll be able to work with Dracosys.”

Of course. The pieces came together like a completed jigsaw. The old boys’ club. Carl and the provost were pals. They’d known each other since high school. Andrew slapped his head. He shouldn’t have forgotten how deep Carl’s connections ran.

“He recommended us to take a look at Holland Technologies,” Dr. Liu continued, discomfort barely concealed.

Holland Technologies was a rival company, although as far as Andrew knew, they were in a different niche than Dracosys.

“Holland Technologies has no product similar to ours. I’m absolutely certain that Dracosys can offer you a better way to manage your data.”

“I’m sorry, Andrew. Your software is brilliant, but I can’t do anything at this point. I’m sure you’ll replace other buyers for it. I’m actually quite shocked by Mr. Smith’s request, too. I’d have thought he would want to help your company.”

Andrew spat out a laugh at that. Carl was no ordinary father. He was ruthless when it came to getting what he wanted. And right now Carl wanted him back at Finn Associates.

“Please don’t tell anyone I told you about this. I thought you should know. It’s not something I’d like to be made public. It could affect the school’s reputation.”

The noises of a workday—keyboard keys being struck, papers being filed, discussions—echoed behind Dr. Liu.

“Of course.” Andrew gnashed his teeth.

“I wish you and Dracosys all the best. I definitely see potential in your product and I am sure others will too, in time.” Mr. Liu’s dry voice was gone with that.

Andrew wanted to toss the phone on the floor and watch it shatter into a thousand fragments. His blood was boiling, bringing to the surface all his violent tendencies. He wanted to break something. Smash something.

“Ugh!” He punched the cushion in frustration, but it only doubled his annoyance at the whole thing.

Carl had never done anything so openly vicious before. The time he had tried to get Andrew out of college by interfering with his scholarship sponsor seemed like a silly prank compared to this.

The battle between Andrew’s angry side and rational side escalated. He couldn’t tolerate Carl’s attempts to get him back to the company anymore. But he couldn’t do anything to block them either. He could have a shouting match with Carl, but that would be as useless as the hundreds that had preceded it.

His powerlessness sneered at him.

Resting his face on his couch, Andrew tried to go back to sleep. But he couldn’t. He should let this go. It was a small setback. The deal had never been final anyway. There were other clients he could pursue—and be stealthy this time. He’d learnt a lesson. Maybe it was for the better.

All the excuses in the world, even the perfectly sensible ones, did nothing to make him feel calmer. This deal had meant the world to him. How could Carl have screwed this up for him?

The million times Carl had berated him rang in his ears.

“You’re not good enough, Andrew.”

Maybe he was the one who was lacking. Maybe he wasn’t good enough. Maybe the product wasn’t good enough. Maybe he wasn’t cut out to run a business.

He was rescued from a trip down the winding road of self-deprecation by the heavy metal ringtone that washed out the words.

Ashley. Good thing he hadn’t smashed his phone three seconds ago.

“Hey.” Andrew said. “Everything good?”

“Guess where I am? You have five seconds.” Ashley said.

Andrew peeped through his window and there she was, carrying a bouquet of flowers and something else in her hand. “Outside my office?”

“I know you cheated.” she met him with her cool blue gaze. “But I am in a good mood.”

“Why? Did you get a job?”

She dropped a lengthy sigh at that. “No, but I got a year older.”

“Happy birthday.” Andrew said, though he didn’t come across sounding as congratulatory as he should have.

He grabbed a pencil and circled the date on his table calendar. Eleventh of March.

“I want to have a picnic in the park. It’ll be short because I know you have to start work at nine.” she shook the cake box in her hand excitedly.

Andrew pushed back the thought of smearing cake all over her and licking it off her skin. She’d made herself clear on their first date—no sex for now. It was a good thing that he enjoyed talking to her so much that he could forget about sex.

Swiveling to catch the heaps of work on his table—none of which had a point now that he had no client—he made up his mind.

“No work today. I’m going to be with you all day. And you can make me do anything you want.”

He needed this break. With the mood he was in, Andrew doubted he would get much work done, anyway.

“Anything?” Mischief was mixed into her challenge. “What if I tell you to mow Cadman Plaza Park? In an hour.”

“I’d have thought you’d pick something more daring than that.” He nudged his shoulder up to hold the phone at the junction of his neck while typing out a quick email to the staff and his co-founders, informing them of his one-day vacation.

“Should I?” she enquired. “What about a really expensive meal for which you pay?”

“Anything for you,” he said in an exaggerated tone, though he knew there was no way he could afford to dine her someplace expensive.

“No, I’m not that cruel. I’ll settle for eating cake with you.”

Outside his room, Andrew saw Justin, one of his most dedicated programmers, clocking in and took the opportunity to dump the day’s duties on him. He rushed down the stairs, too impatient to wait for the elevator. Dracosys was on the thirteenth floor but it was good for his health to be active sometimes.

His first action was to hug Ashley. She smelt great—shampoo and soap—and her hair felt divine against his skin. In a simple flowery dress with navy petunias that set off the color of her eyes and hair, she could have been a real angel.

“We’ve been apart for a few days and you’re already missing me?” She circled his shoulders with her arms. “I missed you too. I know that’s a strange thing to say to someone you met two weeks ago.”

The instant connection between them made time seem like a mere number.

They waltzed down to Cadman Plaza Park, where the greenness of the grass was intensified by the sun. It was a clear day for March. Glass-blazoned buildings stuck out beyond the rows of trees. The relative lack of human population could only be attributed to the early hour, because the weather was on its best behavior. Not too many people hung around at a park on Monday morning.

The warble of blue jays highlighted their trail. Their footsteps were imperceptible, but they moved in unison.

Ashley was a head shorter than him, so the cardboard box dangling from her hand bumped into his knee. He swooped up the box and sniffed it. “What cake did you get?”

“Chocolate.”

“Safe choice. Why not something more unusual?”

“I like chocolate and it’s my birthday today, so I can do as I please.” She found a vacant bench, which was part of a string of other vacant ones, and chose it as her spot. “Let’s eat.”

“Just you and me?”

“Just you and me.” She looked up at the sky. “Is there something weird about that?”

“I was hoping we could distribute the calories amongst more people.”

“What’s the fun in sharing cake? As a kid, I hated sharing my cake with others. This is one case where the fewer, the merrier.”

She opened the box. A chocolate-smothered cake with the words ‘Happy birthday’ iced in white lay inside.

“So how old does my girlfriend turn today?” There it was. The first sign of possessiveness. My girlfriend.

“Twenty-three.” She beamed, producing a plastic knife from her coat pocket to cut the cake.

“I wonder what would be an appropriate present for a twenty-three-year-old.”

“Chocolate never goes out of fashion, you know. And neither does a good, old-fashioned hug and kiss.”

“You have a voracious appetite for hugs and kisses,” he chided but embraced her.

“I’m a touchy-feely girl. I told you. I like hugging.”

Their coats crunched together as the distance between them shrank even more. There was something intimate about being so close, yet not touching. When she tilted up her face, her breath fanned his lips. Her lips were barely an inch from his and the urge to take them was strong. When her breath stopped, he did. Or maybe her breath stopped after he did.

The icy coldness on his lips melted away as the heat between them filtered in. Her eyelids dropped like curtains over her pristine aquamarine irises, but his didn’t. He watched every crease on her face, taking as much pleasure in watching her expression as in kissing her. Specks of sunlight formed kaleidoscopic patterns on her skin. She looked like a goddess, with that pure face and deep passion.

Her mouth parted, little by little. His tongue wasted no time shooting into her. But just as it did, she jerked away, breaking the spell.

A dog’s bark had startled her. He saw an overweight bulldog with its owner in the distance. Right now, that dog was firmly enshrined at the top of his most hated list.

Just when things had been starting to heat up…

“I hope we go beyond hugging sometime.” he said. He could still taste her—her fun, flirty flavor—and he wanted more. Kisses should be long and full, not teaser trailers.

“Me too.” her mascara-coated eyelashes fluttered rapidly, tickling his jaw.

“Good. I’m relieved to know you’re not one of those women who have a five-date rule, because I was worried.”

Patience had never been one of his virtues. And the way she looked right now—radiant and vibrant—all he could say was that every minute in her presence was subtracting a minute from the countdown to the moment his willpower shattered.

“I thought I was a five-date-rule woman, but you make me want to break rules.” She tilted her jaw to push back the hair lounging on her shoulder.

“You too, Ashley. You’ve been appearing in my dreams since I met you. Relentlessly.”

“I never thought I’d become somebody’s dream girl by my twenty-third birthday. Looks like all my childhood dreams are finally coming true.”

“You wanted to be somebody’s dream girl?”

“I wanted to be a magician too. So I could give myself anything I wanted. Actually, still think it would be a pretty solid career.”

He loved how their conversations ventured into wacky territory so quickly… which reminded him. “I have to give you a birthday present. How about anytime-you-want sex? You can redeem it whenever you like. Don’t worry. I’ll give you something more tangible once I get back.”

“That’s the most interesting birthday present somebody has ever given me.” She threw her head back, exposing her neck.

Blood froze in his veins. Neck was another part high on his fetish list, after fingers. He wanted to tug at the nape and run kisses down the curve. How could one girl be so perfect?

“I’m quite innovative when it comes to stuff like that. Now let’s cut the cake before the ants on the bench decide that they want to join us in celebrating.”

She giggled and dusted off an ant from the cake box. “Yeah, I hate sharing.”

He sang her a very bad version of ‘Happy Birthday’. Andrew had never been musical. His father had decided to pull him out of voice lessons at eight after realizing that his son was wasting time doing something he could never excel at.

“The first piece goes to… me.” Gobbling a chunk of gooey cake, she smiled, every chocolate-coated tooth showing.

“And the second goes to the guy who sang you the worst Happy Birthday song.” Andrew grabbed a geometrically cut slice of chocolate cake. The chocolate adhered to his fingers like goo. “I hope you brought tissues.”

“Your birthday song wasn’t so bad. You got all the words right.” With her clean hand, she handed him a paper napkin from her handbag.

He wiped away the stains on his lips before plucking another slice from the box. “Thanks. This cake is addictive.”

Ashley seized his arm before he could bite into the slice and smeared the chocolate icing from his fingers onto her lips. Her pupils dilated.

“Lick it off me.” Her breathy voice sent an instant shock of heat through his system. “I’ve fantasized about this since I woke up.”

“Me, too. I’ve been thinking of doing this since the moment I saw you with the cake box at my office. But I don’t just want to lick it off your face. I want to lick it off your breasts, your stomach and anywhere else you’d let me.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

***

An hour later, she was naked under him with the scent of cocoa emanating from her, along with the most satisfied, smug little smile. Facing his ceiling, she was almost in a trance. He pushed back the swirl of hair that had fallen on her face.

Green sheets were pooled under her legs, leaving her body naked to his stare. Her creamy, chocolate-coated body. He propped up his head on his arm and raced over her with his gaze.

She didn’t have a supermodel body with a flat stomach and toned legs, but her body balanced out her face perfectly. She was real and her body was a pleasure to explore. Flaws that were part of her looked perfect, too.

“What are you looking at?” she wanted to know. “My nipples?”

“Caught me.”

She flipped over and rested on her stomach, communicating a silent yearning to him.

Take the next step.

He had run his tongue over every square inch of her ‘sweet’ figure and savored the taste, and now it was time to go deeper into what was truly her.

“I think we’ve had enough dessert for now. We should move onto the mains,” she suggested, picking up the last smidgen of chocolate from her lips.

His chest contracted, arresting his heartbeat.

The next step.

He was eager and anxious at the same time. He really wanted to do this. He was aroused and he didn’t believe in leaving things halfway. But a part of him was intimidated. What if he didn’t please her? It was her birthday today. He couldn’t disappoint her on her birthday.

“You’ve done this before right?” he asked, looking into her. Better make sure.

“No. This is my first time.” She avoided his stare. “I’m a virgin.”

He gulped. That put a ton of pressure on him. A ton. He had to do it right. He had to make it perfect. He had to make it unforgettable. And he wasn’t sure how.

“Don’t worry.” He stroked her hair, feeling no confidence in what he was saying.

The last girl he’d made out with had not been a virgin and he was in a brand-new pool of water here. He didn’t even know the depth of this pool. Jumping into the deep end was scary.

“So?” She looked up, clearly anxious. Her anxiety compounded his anxiety.

“You need a shower and I need to run down to the pharmacy. I don’t have any condoms on me.”

“Oh, right. I didn’t think about that.” Her vigorous nod, followed by the faintest blush told him that she was embarrassed about her inexperience.

“You’re positive you want to do this, right?”

“Definitely.”

Her conviction put him at ease.

“First time’s not so comfortable,” he warned.

“I know. I’m not stupid. I’m not expecting three orgasms in a row, so relax. I just want to be close to you. To experience this with you.”

She hugged him and it made his heartbeat return to its equilibrium.

“Sorry, I’m nervous.” he said.

“Virgins make everybody nervous.” Diffidence crept into Ashley’s voice.

“That’s not true. It should be less pressurizing to satisfy someone who’s never done it before, since their expectations are lower.”

“You don’t think it’s strange that I’m a twenty-three-year-old virgin in this generation?”

“No. And you shouldn’t think it’s strange, either.”

She kissed his nose, the relief evident on her features. “Hurry up now. I want to lose my virginity before midday.”

“I’ll be back before you know I’m gone.” He pulled a T-shirt over his chest and stalked out of the apartment.

***

After he was gone, Ashley soaked in his studio apartment. A single large room, where he had positioned his bed, couches and television, attached to a tiny kitchen and bathroom, was all it consisted of. It was modern, with clean lines and functional spaces. Not even a square inch of space was wasted.

She ambled to the bathroom, climbed into the shower and turned it on. The rain of hot water flowed down her sticky breasts. She foamed up the pink bergamot and lavender shower gel between her palms, noting that it was a surprisingly feminine choice of scent for a man, and massaged the thick froth over her breasts.

Her nipples, sticking out like board pins, were evidence of how much the delicious foreplay had aroused her. She couldn’t wait for the rest. Her hormones were begging her to press her skin against Andrew’s hot body and let him into her deepest core—to feel him throb inside her. She wanted him.

When he touched her, her senses sprang to life magically. Writhing under the slow strokes of his tongue, she’d felt like a goddess.

It was like there was a certain chemical in her which reacted explosively to some chemical in him.

The suds of the soap accumulated on the patch of her pubic hair. She gathered water in her palms and flushed it down.

Under the pitter-patter of the shower water, her mind drifted to the alarming nature of her unemployment situation. She’d have to start claiming social security if she didn’t replace something by May. That thought didn’t sit well with her.

And then what? Would she continue living off the state for the rest of her life? That wasn’t why—

The thrust of wood against the doorframe reached her ears. Andrew must be back.

Bundling herself in a towel and burying her thoughts, she stuck her head out and saw him put away his blue laced-up sneakers. His chestnut hair was windblown. He had a plastic bag with the CVS logo on it.

“Are you superhuman? How can you run so fast?”

It had been barely five minutes since he’d left.

“A horny man has superpowers of his own,” he said with so much urgency, she dropped the towel covering her. His eyes raked over her and the expression on his face said it all. “I don’t think I can even make it to the bed.”

The arch of her hips pushed against the wall to replace stability as he gathered her into him. Looping one arm around the curve of her back, he captured her nipple with his teeth.

The flattened bud protruded again in response to his tongue whipping it. She fought to keep her toes flat on the floor. Her body twisted involuntarily, edging closer to the source of its delight.

When the unending silk of his tongue was replaced by the sharp prick of his teeth, biting her bud into submission, she whimpered with unadulterated pleasure. It felt so good. She could almost understand how pain could be pleasurable.

The plastic cover rustled and Andrew tossed her a bottle of lube.

“Open it,” he said, moving on to cup her other breast with his canines.

She fiddled with the packaging, managing to figure it out at last. Her intelligence must be severely impaired if she couldn’t even open a simple lube bottle. The fog in her brain was growing denser with every nibble on her nipple.

“Pour it onto my fingers,” he demanded, a sensual haze smoking his voice. His chin was still on her breast, making his words vibrate inside the cavity of her chest and all the way down to her toes.

She squeezed the clear liquid onto his outstretched fingers until it dripped.

Her breath caught when his fingers traced over the inner lips of her labia, tickling them open. Scorching currents telegraphed ecstasy to her system. His thumb stimulated her clitoris with light, lazy circles. The stroking turned into an urgent push as he played with her clitoris more aggressively. Waves and waves of white-hot desire crashed into her belly.

She had never been on the verge of instability before. Her body tried to accommodate the tremors of delight. When he thrust a single finger into her, a scream emerged from her vocal cords.

Stiffening around him, she tried to fight the uncomfortable intrusion into her vagina. She was at the tip of the iceberg, the point between release and pain. Leaning more towards pain, through. Her clitoris had soaked up his touch like quicksand, and it had been easy, sensual pleasure all the way, but her opening was trying to resist him.

“Mmmmm.” Her eyebrows furrowed.

“Relax. Feel me in you. Feel me move in you.”

She held on, and when she was almost getting used to one finger, he inserted another one. The flesh surrounding him attempted to clamp shut. She scrunched her face. Despite the lube, she was raw and it hurt. Closing her eyes, she sucked in her lips. She needed a breather.

“Andrew,” she cried.

“Don’t panic. Ashley, look at me,” he said, catching the distress in her cry. “Does it hurt?”

“Yes. It’s too much. I can’t keep so much inside me.” Her voice tore, cut by her uneven breaths.

He removed both his fingers.

Her opening locked into its initial position. The traces of pain left her gradually.

“Thank you,” she said. “I think we should take it slow. I am still new to this.”

“Sorry. I couldn’t help my impatience. Are you okay?” The impassioned tone of his voice gave away the fervency of his desire. “I want you, Ashley. Bad. So bad I can’t wait,” Andrew said.

She wanted him with the same intensity. But sex was going to take more work than she’d imagined. The easy, effortless satisfaction she had believed it would be had been idealized.

“You need anything to drink to make you feel comfortable?” he asked.

She doubted water, coke or juice could quench her thirst. Her thirst was of a different kind—and it could only be quenched by a certain someone. As soon as the aches left her, the urge to have him touch her returned stronger.

“No,” she lay her hands on his shoulder blades and clasped them behind his neck. “I just needed to catch my breath.”

If she let too much time lapse, the fear would cool down her ardor.

He got out of his jeans, which were showing signs of moisture—the moisture from her that had clung onto them. She was too tense to spend much time staring at his chest, but she saw the outlines of his bones when he stretched his hands up. He was thin, spindly almost.

“Hurry up.”

For someone about to take such a step, she had no apprehension when she said it. He wouldn’t let her down.

It defied common sense. She had barely known him for any length of time, but she trusted him as if they had known each other all their lives.

The pain earlier had been a prelude to the even greater hurt that would follow the tearing of her hymen. She had to calm herself down so that she was ready for it. She eyed him nervously as he dropped his boxers and bared his penis.

It was fully erect. Erotically he rolled a condom over it and she tried not to succumb to the fear she was feeling inside. How was something that huge going to get into her?

Her throat turned into ice. The physics of this situation were starting to baffle her. She had never been particularly good at that subject.

“Touch me, Ashley.” His voice was a rough whisper.

Seeing him so full and primed in front of her was birthing new urges in her. Her fingers skated over his shaft in a careful, conscious waltz. Was she touching him right? Was she being too awkward? Was she using too much pressure?

“Tell me what I should do,” she said, shyly.

“Keep touching me like that.”

So she was on the right track. That was a relief. She familiarized herself with the texture of him. He held her hand and guided her further up his shaft. She tried to recall what she had read in Cosmo about giving a hand job and summoned up the bravery to try it out.

She gripped the base of his length and played her fingers back and forth, keeping slow, steady rhythm. Her movements synchronized with her deep breathing. One, two, three, four… the countdown looped in her head, bringing back memories of her piano training.

At least it was serving some function now.

“Planning to kill me slowly, are you?” He smiled. For once, she felt like she actually knew what she was doing… and that she was doing it pretty well. She was lucky that Andrew was so supportive of everything she wanted to try on him.

“You prefer a quick death?”

“Hell, yes.”

She hastened her motions, increasing pressure until his expression shifted to one of bliss. His eyes shut and she knew he was throbbing with the same acute need. Semen flowed from the tip of him.

“You are so full of surprises,” he said, kissing her nose tenderly.

He rid himself of the used condom and slipped on another one.

“We could go all day. How does twelve-hour sex sound?”

“I’m already nervous.”

“Don’t be. You can’t help feeling that way, because it’s your first time, but you’re doing really well. Extraordinarily well. This might be one of your other natural talents apart from kissing.”

She sure had a strange set of talents.

His alarm wailed like a police siren. His hand darted out and shut it off. He cursed the alarm while at it.

“Why is it ringing at this hour?” she asked, curious.

“It rings whenever it wants to. It has a will of its own.”

“It’s not the only thing that has a will of its own.”

She yanked his large, hard body to close the space between them until he lined up neatly on top of her on the bed. The rays of light filtering in from the windows exposed the veins on his pale chest.

She spread her legs under him, pushing him into her.

He gathered her buttocks with his palm and angled her body closer to him. Dumping a generous dose of lube on her sensitive spot, he massaged her opening to ensure that she was ready for him.

“Close your eyes. It’ll make it easier for you.”

“I can live through it with my eyes open. I don’t want to miss a moment.”

He entered her with patience, in measured movements, waiting for her to grow accustomed before he pushed further. The friction of his penis pushing through her tissues caused her to cry out.

“I’m in, baby. Relax,” he assured her.

Her clenched muscles obeyed, unraveling from the tight spasms they had knotted themselves into.

He moved inside her. It was a thrilling feeling. Trying to grow accustomed to having a male sex organ inside her for the first time, she rocked her hips to steady herself.

As his penis stroked her in a maddeningly teasing manner, she gained awareness of parts of her she had never known existed.

Every cell in her body was on fire. She became one with the heat, allowing him, their blazing passion to become a fiber of her. With every thrust, he made her shudder more until the tremors erupted into something too intense to describe in words.

There was nothing for her to hold onto except the constant rushing of her blood. The mass of sensors went over their limit one by one.

“Andrew…” she moaned, reaching her breaking point.

Then, before she knew what to expect, she was flooded with something so intense, so explosive, that for five whole minutes she tried to make sense of what had happened. Every tissue, bathed in satiation, felt alive. Felt like it had been reborn today.

Dopamine was having a field day, circulating through her veins like oxygen. The surge of chemicals lifted her higher and higher up.

“Am I in paradise?” she questioned the curtains.

“No, you’re still in my hole-in-the-wall apartment.” The sarcastic humor grounded her.

But this was a shifted reality. A reality where Andrew was holding her tightly against him. If reality was this good every day, she could stop dreaming altogether. Looking at his serene side profile, it finally sank into her.

She had finally lost her virginity… to Andrew. And boy, it felt so good. She felt transformed—like something had changed, and not just physiologically.

So sex wasn’t so overrated after all.

They lay on the bed, wordlessly, hazy with the wonder of what they had done. The world stood still. She basked in the afterglow of fulfillment. Andrew’s fingers coiled around hers. A murmur of residual heat pricked her finger pads.

“I love you,” he admitted, resting his head against a giant fluffy pillow. His eyes did not stray from her. “You’ve turned the worst day of my life into the best.”

She cozied up to him, inhaling him. “Today is the worst day of your life? Why?”

“The Johns Hopkins deal fell through.”

A sharp pang contracted her chest. She could feel his disappointment as her own. “How?”

“My dad interfered.” Anger simmered under the pale surface of his skin.

“Your dad? I don’t understand. Why would he be the reason for the failure of the deal?” Gathering the sheets over her breasts, she sat.

“It’s complicated.” Andrew motioned with his hands, trying to skirt around the issue, but her probing gaze did him in. “He asked the provost to choose a competitor for the same service.”

“Why would the provost take his advice? It makes no sense.”

“He’s one of the richest men in America. Everybody takes his advice.”

“Wait… what?” This was confusing. One of the richest men in America? “I don’t get what you’re trying to say. Is this an early April’s Fool’s? I thought you were from a normal family.”

“That’s the best accolade I’ve received from anyone. Being normal was once my ambition in life.” Andrew passed his smartphone to her. “Carl Smith. Google him.”

She typed the name C-A-R-L S-M-I-T-H with shaky fingers, trying to grapple with what she’d heard.

Pictures upon pictures of a man with steely eyes identical to Andrew’s popped up. The Wikipedia entry on him took some time to digest.

Carl Smith. Founder and CEO of Finn Associates. Net worth three point two billion. One of New York’s richest men. There was a picture of him with a much younger Andrew at the Time 100 gala.

“I used to work for him as the vice-president of emerging markets at Finn before I went to college,” Andrew volunteered, when she zoomed in on the picture with his father. “We’re estranged now.”

“You were vice-president of a Fortune 500 company at seventeen?” Her jaw hung open.

Talk about an overachiever.

“That kind of thing only sounds glamorous in magazines,” Hard creases appeared on the corners of his eyes. “I had no friends in high school. Most of the time, I didn’t even go to school. My world revolved around meetings, deadlines, shareholders and quarterly reports.”

That sounded stressful for a seventeen-year-old… and lonely.

“I quit at eighteen when I was accepted into Columbia. Carl told me I was wasting my time going to college, but I wanted to get away from the company and get a life.”

“How did you pay for college? I assume he refused to pay.” A dad who was ready to wreck his son’s business couldn’t have agreed to pay his college tuition.

“I had money saved up from my time as the vice-president. And I did a few jobs here and there. I sailed through somehow.”

“Is he the reason you decided not to get a job after graduation?” Now, she was beginning to figure him out.

“Yes.”

“But I still don’t understand. Why is he trying to tear down what you are trying to build? Shouldn’t he be proud?”

“He’s never been proud of me.”

The vacancy in his cloudy eyes stabbed her heart. The only parent he had was a monster. She wanted to comfort him, but his scars ran too deep for her to reach.

“You have me now.” She wound his fingers through hers. “I’m really proud of what you’re doing. I think it’s a great company that you’re trying to build.”

Andrew rested his head against her naked shoulder. The closeness between them amplified. Ashley laid her head on his.

“Thanks,” he said, his voice sincere.

“I know you will succeed, no matter what he does. You are special. I’ve felt that since we met. And you’ve come so far with your determination. You can definitely go all the way.” She closed her fingers around his.

“Mmmmm.” He was spacing out.

“What’re you thinking?”

“I’m thinking, what’s the minimum amount of time a guy has to date a girl before proposing to her? Is two weeks too short?”

“Andrew, you can’t seriously be considering…”

“I love you, Ashley.” The deepness in the timbre of his voice couldn’t be a prank.

Ashley found herself being drawn in by his intensity. He made her feel that what was between them wasn’t a fling but a deep connection. A connection deeper than anything she’d experienced with anyone before.

Her head spun with spiraling joy. “This is too fast.”

She wrestled with the voices inside her head that screamed at her to say yes. She knew she loved him too, as silly as that sounded after having known him for only two weeks. She knew so little about him, but she’d done things with him she couldn’t imagine doing with anyone else.

“I can’t believe it myself. But you’ve sucked me into you like a vortex. I can’t think of anyone but you. I want to be with you for a long time.”

Goosebumps rose on her skin when he ran his mouth over her throat, all the way down to her breasts. Then, when he spoke the next sentence, the playfulness was back. “Now I hope you’re ready for the second round.”

“Oh, yes.” She smirked.

Then she closed her eyes and sank back into her slice of Eden.