Page 66 of Craving Paradise
I turn and look at her. Has my sister lost her mind?
“Don’t look at me like that. I noticed how distracted Jasper was tonight. I thought it was the mountain of models walking around, but I think it might have been you.”
“Please, Jasper is in his element being surrounded by models. I can assure you he is not interested in me, and I’m not interested in him. Like I said before, look at all the hot men around us.” I wave my hand around the room filled with the world’s top models.
“Don’t you get sick of one-night stands?” Ines asks.
“I date.”
“Yes, and you fall quickly, and the relationship burns out just as fast as you’re onto the next one.” She gives me her older sister look that says, ‘tell me I’m wrong.’
“I’m young. I have all the time in the world to settle down. Look at Reed. He’s thirty-five and is nowhere near settling down. I’m ten years younger than him. I have all the time,” I argue back.
“He’s a man, though.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“He has all the time in the world. We don’t have the same luxury,” Ines states.
“Hey, I’m a year younger than you, don’t forget. Don’t tell me you’re ready for kids?” I scrunch up my face at her.
“Oh, hell no. I also got out of a long-term relationship, so I’m no way ready to jump back into another one.”
“Then why are you pushing me into one?”
“Because I don’t know if you’ve ever really been in love, Lauren. You live this bohemian, free-love kind of life, which is great, but are you forming solid relationships with people?”
When the hell did this turn into a therapy session? How do I explain to my sister I can’t have solid relationships with men because I work in a sex club and most don’t like the fact that their woman is fucking other people for a living?
“Haven’t found the right person I want to commit long-term with.” I shrug my shoulders.
“Think about it, that’s all,” she says, giving me her sisterly advice.
Ines knows I’ve hosted sex parties in the past because she used to attend with her friends. Now she’s moved on from that, she’s assuming I have too. I wish I could tell her my secret, but I can’t.
“Ines, Lauren, you girls are up next,” a lady with a headpiece tells us.
“I love you, Lauren, know that, and I want the best for you.” We stand up and hug each other.
“I know you do, but please don’t worry about me. I’m going to be okay.”
19
JASPER
The chilliness Lauren shot me as I joined in her conversation with her sister surprised me.
Was she jealous?
She didn’t seem too pleased at Ines and me chatting. I wanted to explain to her I’m not interested in her sister but was helping her out of an awkward situation. Running into your ex at an event, even worse when it’s your own family’s event, and they have their new partner with them, isn’t fun. The number of times over the years I have run into my ex’s is staggering, and each time I have been with a different woman. I see the way the two of them look at me in their stupid little love bubble, pitying me because I still haven’t settled down.
I got what Ines was feeling in that moment, being confronted by the past. Seeing she’s my sister’s best friend, I did the honorable thing and pretended I was her date. The look on the guy’s face said it all. He was not happy Ines had moved on, even though his arms were around another woman. He was jealous. So he should be. Ines is stunning and way too good for him, which I told her when he left. She was very thankful for me helping her out in that awkward situation.
As we sat at the table, I saw Lauren looking over at us. I could feel her daggers in my back as I spoke to her sister. Her annoyance over my flirtation made me happy.
But then she went ahead and reminded me tonight that it’s her job to say yes to fuck me. Stupidly, I thought there was something there, even though I know anything more than sex isn’t a reality for either of us. I thought this one-month-apart thing of us fucking other people and not each other would make me want her less.
Wrong.