Page 19 of Craving Paradise
“One is supposed to be happily engaged, but he doesn’t seem happy. His fiancée is always nagging him for not being there for her because she’s some fancy doctor. He owns nightclubs and is building his empire, but she doesn’t think it’s as important as her work. Yes, she’s saving lives, but he has a heap of employees to look after. She can’t be his sole focus,” I tell her about Alistair’s relationship. “Then there’s my other best friend. He was madly in love with one of his employees. We told him it was a bad idea, but he fell hard and fast, and the next thing he knows, she’s been selling information on deals his company was in negotiations with to his competition because she was the mistress of his arch-nemesis.”
“What?” she gasps. “Your lives are worse than a soap opera.”
“See, now you understand my reluctance.”
“Not really. It’s like stubbing your big toe. You did it a couple of times on the same corner, but next time you’re ready for it and avoid it at all costs. Sometimes when you’re not thinking, you might stub it again, but guess what? That just reminds you to reset your boundaries,” she explains, shrugging her shoulders as if what she said was no big deal.
Her logic kind of weirdly makes sense.
“It’s okay. I know you know I’m right.” She grins before taking the last bite of her burger then finishing the rest of her beer. “That was fantastic. I’m so full. Can you give me thirty to digest this if you want me to ride your dick again?” she asks, making me choke on my beer.
“If I’m honest, I think the little man down there is exhausted.”
“He should be. Vixen sucks the souls of men with her blow jobs.” Ren chuckles.
“I’d believe that. She’s great.”
“I don’t have a dick so I couldn’t say, but she eats pussy like a champ.”
There I go again, choking on my beer. She always seems to catch me off guard with her words.
“It is so fucking refreshing being able to talk like this with a woman.”
“To be fair, and I shouldn’t say this, but it’s been fun hanging out with you as well. Thanks for letting me chill afterward.”
“My pleasure. I don’t think I’m ready to let the night finish, though,” I confess.
“Me either.”
“It’s not weird to want to just hang out?” I ask awkwardly.
“Not at all. It’s more common than you’d think.”
Phew, that’s good.
I know as soon as I step back on the sidewalk, all my troubles I have been able to stuff far, far away will come crashing down, and I’m not ready for that yet.
“We can move back into the bed and watch Netflix or something. We don’t even have to talk,” she says in a mock whisper.
“Thank fuck, I’m done talking. I keep spilling my problems when I do.”
“Your secrets are safe with me.” She places a finger against her lips before jumping out of the Jacuzzi. She heads over to the towels, wraps one around her body, and then hands one to me. We stay in the bathroom drying ourselves off before dumping the towels on the side and walking back into the room naked. It doesn’t seem like she wants to put any clothes on, and I’m fine with that. I’m happy to admire her gorgeous body for as long as I can.
We walk back out into the bedroom where our mess from earlier has been cleaned up. She presses the buttons, and the cuffs roll back into the four-poster bed. That’s pretty cool. She then pushes another button, and the platform falls back inside the end of the bed. Everything is back to normal again. She jumps onto the bed beside me and doesn’t head under the covers. She pulls out the remote from the bedside table then clicks the television on the wall. The screen lights up the darkened room before she throws the remote over to me, and we settle in.
6
LAUREN
“These are delicious,” I say to my roommate, Eloise, as I bite into one of her cupcakes. She’s woken up early this morning to bake. Her dream is to open a gorgeous bakery here in London. The girl can bake, and I love being her taste-tester. She’s never failed yet. She would say otherwise, but she’s always hard on herself.
“This one is an Italian cream cupcake with cream cheese frosting.”
I don’t care what it is, more needs to get in my belly.
“And these are chocolate chip Frappuccino …” she says, pointing to the chocolate-looking cupcakes, “… and these are blackberry coconut ones.”
“You know I have to try them all,” I tell her, making her smile.