Page 13 (1/2)

"Fucking gross" I pointed my chopsticks at his face, barely able to understand hiain how you ended up with this office?"

"You were late to the walk-through I put ht It had been the first tied a woot trapped Normally I preferred sex at my place, where I could alwaysby or I had somewhere to be At her place, a woman would want to offer tea, ask me to sleep over

I wasn’t a complete prick I had always been as open to a relationship as anyone I just hadn’t yet ht in my own bed The women I’d met all introduced theht they wanted For such a big city, New York often felt minuscule

I looked out the , at the fantastic view--fuck Will--and thought about Sara She was my default distraction lately She was a mystery, that one If a woman wanted a man to think of her constantly, she should tell him he can only have her once a week and ba, if she asked ht, ould I say?

You know the answer to that, you twat You’d say yes

I’d had sex with a few dozen wo to the States, but lately I’d had a hard ti details Everywith Sara She eet and wild She hid soI had never met a woman I found so paradoxically secretive and open

"I met a woman, mate"

Will shoved his chopsticks back into the takeout container and slid it across the desk "So you’re going to talk about it now?"

"Oi Maybe"

"You’ve been seeing her for a while now, haven’t you?"

"Feeeks, yeah"

"Just her?"

I nodded "She’s a fking stellar lay, and it’s good because she told ave nored it

"But she’s different There’s so about her" I rubbedwith et her out of ht back, trying to remember if Will had actually ht after I left her to straighten her dress and freshen up, and I don’t think I ever saw thehed, leaning back in his chair "Has she captured your soul, young lover?"

"Fuck off" I grabbed the plastic bag and shoved the mostly empty containers inside "I just like her But it’s just sex right now By ood," he said, carefully "She’s not a digger then"

"A that’s weird? She doesn’t want more Even if I did, I think that would justseen in public with me Do you think I like her sobut ht of Sara, I began to ame

Will whistled quietly "She sounds fantastic But I can’t iine why she’d be interested in your dick With that tiny thing you’ll never be half the id? You’re an arsehole"

He shrugged, cracked open a fortune cookie

"You put the seat down to piss, don’t you?" I asked, grinning

"Nah Don’t like getting ive a wo over your credit card, mate"

And somehow, in the flurry of insults that followed, Will et to act like a pathetic arse about the whole thing and I stopped worrying about whether Sara was fking witha cab almost immediately for a quick jaunt to see a new art installation being set up in Chelsea I’d helped an old client find and open a gallery, and he was showing a set of rare E J Bellocq photos for only a feeeks All it took was a one-line email from him--They’re here--and the rest of my day was shot I was mad to see the never-before-shown reconstructed pieces froatives of Bellocq’s "Storyville" collection Although I had come to his work rather late in ered les, its sih, until Sara, I’d never taken a picture of myself with a lover

And there was the real rub My shots of Sara and ether in no way mimicked Bellocq’s art, but still it reentle curve of her hips

Glancing down at le picture of her eyes eresex

It ar the photos, I wanted to walk off my excitement for a bit Chelsea to midtoasn’t awful, but around Ti me

I always assu as they suspected, but that hadn’t yet happened They stalked my weekend activities, my fund-raisers, every work function It had been al of interest had happened to me--other than a date with the occasional semifamous woman--but at least half of the time that I dared to walk Manhattan alone, sohtof Python and a few pints It was fking Tuesday and I wanted Sara

"Piss off," I called over my shoulder

"Just one shot, Max A shot and a coain? I’d o at a concert "Yes I’htley You really think I’m the person you should ask for confir the ever-loving shit out of me as the back door flew open A s"Get in already!"

It took several seconds for s "Shit Yeah Brilliant"

Ducking in the cab, I shoved my briefcase on the floor and looked over at her

"Hey, Max You looked a littlestalked"

"You spotted that pretty well," I said, eyeing her

She shrugged, giving ru "Poor baby Need a cuddle?"