Life For Rent
Page 3

She could hear the neighborhood kids playing in the playground down the street. Little girls squealing and someone was crying, the swings were squeaking. Otherwise, it was quiet on the street and she could concentrate on the report in front of her. The heat was back for another week, and she was in a tee shirt and shorts, trying to stay cool. At least there was a cooling breeze coming in from the window.

She started to pay attention to the number on the cell phone screen again, and when it rang she smiled. “Hello.”

“Good afternoon.”

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Just hangin’ around the house. What about you?”

“I’ve got a report due tomorrow and I’m trying to procrastinate. You’ve got good timing. I can procrastinate a little more.”

“Glad I could help out. What kind of report?”

“Numbers,” she answered with an easy laugh. “Something with a lot of numbers. It’s beautiful outside and I feel like I’m being punished.”

“Why aren’t you at Ray’s gig?”

“Because it’s a school night,” she answered. “And I have a report due and at some point, Daddy trumps boyfriend.”

“Oh, really? Daddy?”

“Yes, I work for daddy. I admit it.”

“Doing what?”

“Let’s not talk about what I do. It’s not all that interesting and the only reason I do it is because I’m his daughter. Let’s change the subject.”

“I’ll be in New York next week,” he said. “Three days.”

“Three days, really? Gonna have any time to meet up with some friends, or is it all work?”

“Oh, I’ll have time for friends. Think you can swing a trip to New York – alone?”

“Alone, huh? Why?” she asked playfully. “Is there a particular reason?”

“What are you doing right now?” he asked, his voice deepening slightly.

“Right now I’m talking to you on the phone.”

“And you’re alone?”

“I’m alone.”

“Take your hand and reach between your legs for me.” She shifted in her chair, already feeling her arousal start to grow. “And I don’t mean over your clothes, either. I want you to really reach between your legs…to that spot I want to be sucking on right now. Can you feel it?”

She felt slightly stupid. Looking around the room as if someone was going to walk in on her. But she reached her hand down beneath her shorts and felt her own slick wetness. “I can,” she answered timidly.

“What do you feel?”

“Hot,” she said, gasping as she touched her clit. “Wet.”

“Rub yourself, Anna. Let me hear how it feels,” he continued. “Lean back, get comfortable, and think of me touching you.” Her breath was already ragged as she slid her finger along her wetness. The sunlight slid from the room, making it grow darker in the twilight. Outside the ice cream truck came down the street playing ‘Yankee Doodle’ but all she could hear was Kevin’s breath on the other side of the world growing heavier. “Can you feel it coming?” he asked breathlessly.

“I can,” she answered quietly, bringing herself to the edge of orgasm. “And I want you deep inside me right now.”

For a moment, all she heard was their breathing and slowly, she could hear him chuckle. “That’s why I want you to come alone to New York. So I can.”

“And it wouldn’t hurt that I do to you what you just did, either, would it?”

“Not at all, baby, not at all.”

She wanted to ask ‘do you miss me?’ because she knew how much she missed him. It was insane that she did. She didn’t know him, not really, not long enough to miss him this way. She could still hear his laugh and see the teasing twinkle in his eye in her minds eye when she was lonely. Now that he started calling her, it only seemed to grow. This is the first time they’d done anything like this though, and although no one was home, she found herself blushing.

“So, you’ll come to New York?” he asked and she could just about hear his smile.

“I’ll be there. Give me the dates.”

‘Know what, Kev? This is an affair,’ he told himself quietly unpacking his suitcase. He looked out the window at Broadway, dark and wet from rain, wondering if one of those cabs downstairs held Anna. He was in New York to work, and tonight, she’d go with him to the bar to see his latest prospect. Technically, he’d be working. But afterwards, he knew what would happen and technically, that was an affair. Even if it had been three months since he’d last seen her, he knew it was on-going. He was looking forward to it too much for it to be casual anymore. He didn’t know what it was going to be though. He wasn’t leaving his wife, and she wasn’t leaving Ray.

By the time he finished unpacking there was a knock on the door. Looking through the peephole, he thought something was different about Anna. When he opened the door, he knew it. She’d lost weight. He felt it when he hugged her.

“You look great,” he said, still holding her.

“You too,” she answered. “You’re letting your hair grow. Damn that’s sexy.”

“Just sexy? Not sex on a stick?” he teased. “That Depeche Mode guy is sex on a stick.”

“You’ve always been sex on a stick, Baby.” She pulled the ends of his hair lightly. “I didn’t think I had to tell you that.”

He held her at arms length and scanned her body. “Did you lose weight or something?”

“I could kiss you!” She jumped into his arms. “I’ve lost ten pounds,” she announced proudly. “And I’ve been going to the gym every friggin’ morning before work. No one’s noticed yet.”

“Probably because they see you every day.” He ran his hand down her arm and pushed her hair off her shoulder. “But I’m not so lucky and you look great.” She kissed him quickly, pulling back just to look at him. “What?”

“After that last time I didn’t think I’d ever actually hear from you, much less see you in New York. And here you are.”

“And here I am.” He nodded slowly with a smile and leaned in to kiss her gently. “Three thousand miles for that.”

She looked down and lifted her head up with a smile. “Somehow, I don’t think it was just for that.”

“Not just for that either.” He kissed her again, letting himself fall into it and forget all the reasons why they shouldn’t be doing any of this. “Although, that’s kinda nice.”

“Yeah, it is, isn’t it.” She rested her head down onto his shoulder and exhaled comfortably. “My room is nicer than yours,” she teased. “You stop being a pop star and they downgrade your rooms.”

“Rude, isn’t it?” He chuckled. “But it doesn’t matter much, does it? We don’t plan on being here to notice the room all that much, do we?”

“Probably not. I just like teasing you about it.”

“I figured. Why is your room so much nicer?”

“I have a suite.” She sat up. “So, where are we heading first?”

“Dinner, then the club. It’s down in the Village, so I figured we’d find somewhere to eat down there and save some travel time.”

“Lead the way.”

“So, do you miss living here?” she asked over dinner. “How long did you live here anyway?”

“Just a few months,” he answered, sitting back in his seat and crossing his hands over his stomach. “I miss the energy of it sometimes, you know? Being able to go out at any time and find a thousand people awake just on the street. When we were touring, being anonymous for awhile was nice.” He nodded in emphasis. “That was real nice. But I think more than what I had would have started to get on my nerves. I need sky and trees and quiet.”

“I need ocean,” she said wistfully. “My idea of paradise is to be able to live on a beach and work in a grass hut or something and not worry about bottom lines and fluctuating inventories. Just to wake up to the sound of the ocean I think would be pure heaven.”

“Until your first hurricane.”

“Thanks, wet towel,” she said, tossing the parsley from her plate at him. “And if I can afford to live on a beach and not care about finances, when a hurricane hit, I could afford to be long gone and re-build. It’s just a grass hut after all.”

He nodded in appreciation. “Well, if it’s just a grass hut…”

“Don’t mock me. One day, I’m going to do it.”

He leaned forward and picked up his wine glass, taking a sip. “I’m not even going to doubt it. I said I was going to be famous when I was 14. I’m all about making dreams come true.”

“Or is that leftover Disney….what were you?”

“A bunch of things, and it’s all leftovers, isn’t it? What we do today is built on all those things we did all those years ago.”

She chuckled. “How much wine have you had? Getting awfully philosophical.”

“Nah, I mean it. And besides, I’m wishy-washy and sappy. I cry at movies and weddings. It’s kind of pathetic.”

“It kind of is,” she agreed with a playful smile. “But kind of endearing, I guess too. You’re so metro.”

“So I’ve been told.” He smiled. “But for some reason I’m not all that metro when I wear man skirts.”

“That’s because there’s no such thing as man skirts. Boys in girls clothing are transvestites.”

“Not when you wear man skirts, that do so exist, and I looked mighty fine, thank you.”

“Have another glass of wine and let’s forget this conversation,” she giggled. “You’re very cute when you’re indignant about your skirts.”

“I’d rather be indignant getting you out of yours,” he teased, leaning over the table slightly and lowering his voice.

She wagged a finger at him and recoiled slightly. “You’re such a flirt.”

He winked at her with a grin and laughed. “That I admit.” He leaned close again. “And I’d like to flirt us right out of here and back to the hotel.”

“You have to work, remember? The whole reason why you’re here?”

“Oh, right, the responsible part of this trip.” He nodded and crinkled his nose, pulling back. “Can’t be helped, I suppose. But they’re really pretty good. I promise.”

“Is that what you said about Ray? He’s pretty good, I promise?”

“I said, check out that hot chick he’s with,” he answered before finishing his wine and holding her gaze.

“That might have worked had I actually been there.”

He smirked at her. “Whatever. Ready to get this thing over with?” She laughed as he pulled her chair out, dropping his napkin on his plate. “What? I don’t always have to want to work. Do you? Especially when there’s something else I’d rather do.”

“It’s just funny to consider going out and seeing a concert as work. I’m going with you and I don’t feel like it’s a chore.”

He draped his arm around her shoulder easily when they stepped onto the sidewalk and Kevin raised his arm for a cab. “It’s not the concert part that’s work. It’s the meeting and schmoozing part. Luckily, I don’t mind meeting and schmoozing people if they’re any good, but sometimes, yeah, it can be hard work. And if you have to fight someone that already thinks they know what they’re doing and are going to hold out for a major label, it’s just a waste of time. The artist usually wants to talk to ya, but it’s their pretend manager or agent that can suck.”

“So, you were just schmoozing us when you met us. You weren’t really interested?”

“No. If I wasn’t interested, I wouldn’t have bothered. That’s the best part about this job. I actually get to set my own schedule and pick the artists I’m interested in, and think I can work with. It ain’t like being forced into a room with a group of people that the label thinks would sell records, or that the manager wants to get some PR out of it. It’s cool, really. Just, like I said, there are a few other things I’d rather be doing right now.”

“Can I just say…I’m loving the accent. You sound a lot more Southern after a few drinks.”

“Oh, you ain’t seen a few drinks in me,” he laughed. A cab pulled up and he opened the door, watching Anna’s legs disappear inside as she slid across the seat. “I become real hick.”

“Good to know. When you start yee-hawing, do I have permission to cut you off?”

“If you love me just a little, you’ll get me the heck out of there long before I start yee-hawing. I save that for when I’m drinkin’ moonshine in a pick-up. Sullivan and Thompson,” he told the driver and settled back. As they pulled away into traffic, Kevin leaned over and kissed her gently.

“Aren’t we supposed to be friends in public?”

“The back of a cab in traffic isn’t necessarily public.”

“Oh, in that case.” She leaned over and kissed him deeply, letting her fingers run through his hair. She pulled back with a satisfied smile and sighed contentedly.

Kevin rubbed his chin with a finger and released a quiet, low chuckle. “Alright, then.”

“Yeah.” She smoothed her skirt and smoothed her hair back.

Anna rested her head against Kevin’s bare shoulder and slid closer against him, finally feeling contented. She could hear his heart still beating heavily against his chest before the low rumble of his chuckle drowned it out. He ran his fingers over her lower back, pulling the sheet up a little more around their waists and pushed the hair off his face. She didn’t want to talk. She didn’t want to move. She just wanted to lie together and feel his body touching hers. Whatever they were doing was worth it just for this one moment of being with him.

“Should I get a wake-up call?” he asked, still caressing her back easily.

She snuggled closer and groaned. “I don’t want to think about that.”

“Just don’t want to forget.”

If she was lying with Ray and overslept it would suck, but it wouldn’t be a big deal. If she overslept with Kevin, it would suck and then, it would really suck as she would try to come up with some excuse as to why she wasn’t in the room when they called and why she left her cell phone behind. “Make it for 6:30,” she sighed and pulled back as he rolled over to make the call. ‘Too beautiful,’ she thought as she watched one long sleek muscle form from his arm down to his torso reaching for the phone.

When he hung up, he dropped his arm back across the mattress for her to slide back against him. He fluffed the pillow slightly and kissed the top of her head once she settled back in. “That’s gonna suck.”

“Yeah, and you get to roll over and go back to sleep. I have to get up, do the walk of shame back to my room and try to look as if I didn’t spend the entire night having sex.”

“You’re a girl, you know how to apply make-up for that, don’t you?”

“No amount of make-up gets rid of bags under your eyes.”

“Yeah.” He agreed. “But on the plus side…you spent the entire night having sex.”

“And that’ll be the other thing,” she giggled, kissing his chest. “The perma-grin. Do you know how unprofessional it is thinking about where your tongue was and what it made me do in the middle of a meeting? It throws my concentration completely out of whack.”

“Just my tongue?” he asked, turning onto his side, smiling at her.

She reached up and smoothed in his beard with her fingers. “That was just the first thing that came to mind.”

“Oh, I thought I had more work to do.”

“If you feel as if there’s more to do…by all means, don’t let me get any sleep at all.” She laughed, putting her hands on either side of his face and lifting her head up to kiss him.

He lowered his head, running his tongue along her neck. “So, you prefer to sleep?” he whispered in her ear. She turned her head finding his mouth and rolled onto her back, “or can I keep you up?” He slid his hands up her arms, holding her wrists over her head.

“Do your best.”

“ Since when do you go out on the town?” Ray asked.

Anna rolled her eyes at the skyscrapers, doing her best not to exhale too loudly. “Since last night,” she answered, scanning the street for some kind of coffee shop. She was going to be jittery for the rest of the afternoon, but it was the only think keeping her going. All she wanted to do was nap for half an hour. “What’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is that my producer is in New York checking out another band and I wanted you to meet up with him so keep me on his mind. I don’t want him getting involved with some other group. Not when he’s supposed to be paying attention to the album.”

She stopped, moving the phone away from her mouth, doing her best not to snicker. “So, call him.”

“If you answered your damn phone last night, you could have met up with him and gone to see the group he was checking out so I knew what he’s looking for,” he explained sounding exasperated. “Your timing really sucks. Every other time you’ve gone to New York you do nothing but sit in the hotel room.” If she said anything, he’d hear the laughter in her voice. She wanted nothing more than to bust out into a loud laugh. “Look, if I get a hold of him, can you manage to clear your schedule to at least have dinner with him or something?”

“I can do that, sure. Have him call me and I’ll keep my phone on.”

“Yeah. Do that.” Ray hung up and she didn’t even care about his rudeness. Her fiancé was just ordering her to have dinner with her lover. Ray’s head would explode if he knew she not only saw what he considered his competition, but had a few drinks with them and liked them – musically and personally. They were nice guys and seemed pretty excited to meet with Kevin afterwards.

By the time she ordered her coffee from the shop around the corner from her building, her cell phone rang. Kevin was on the other end, chuckling without even saying hello. “I take it Ray called you.”

“He wanted to let me know that you were in New York and free for dinner if I didn’t have any plans.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“That I had plans,” he answered deadpan. “I was going to be wining and dining his fiancé and with any luck, get her back into my bed all night.”

“Only if that includes at least an hours nap.”

“Sleepy?”

“Exhausted. The room is swaying and no amounts of caffeine is keeping my eyes open when they start going off on inventory inconsistencies.” She blew into the cup and took a breath.

“So, do you want to have dinner in? Have a quiet night?”

“Can you do that? Didn’t you have to meet with someone?”

“No. That’s what I’m telling everyone else, but no.”

“How are we going to keep all this straight?”

“Well, Ray’s made it pretty easy. He’s asked me to have dinner with you. All you have to say is that we were together and had dinner. That’s not a lie.”

“He’s livid that I didn’t answer his calls last night. Get this, he wanted me to go out with you last night and check up on his competition.” Kevin laughed on the other end of the phone. “He hung up on me and told me to keep my phone on so you could call me and make plans for tonight.”

Kevin laughed louder. “So, let’s make plans. We’ll have a nice quiet get together, stay in and uh, catch up. Coming back to the hotel soon?”

“I am going to try to have this meeting wrapped up in an hour. Stan can go on and on for hours so hopefully, I’ll be able to interrupt him and get to the point before rush hour.”

“Want me to call you? Give you an excuse?”

“You don’t think that really works, do you?”

“Does that mean I can’t try? I can call, you can pretend it’s a very important call and I can talk dirty to you for the rest of the meeting. Get ya all hot ‘n bothered. Ask you what you’re wearing an’ all that. Love to see you try to answer that in a hushed conference room.”

“Easier than you think when it’s a conference room that holds 50 people and I’m standing towards the back pretending to listen.”

“Does that mean I can try?”

“No. I work by example and turn my cell phone off like a good VP.”

“VP?”

“Yes. VP. Don’t sound so surprised.”

“You told me you were a waitress when I first met you. Then you say you work for dad. Now you’re a VP having a conference with 50 people? How big is this company you work for?”

“I still work for my dad, and the company is traded on NYSE. And I only told you I was a waitress because usually when I tell people I have a decent position in my father’s company they think I have some cushy job and never really had to work a day in my life when in reality, I’ve been working there almost ten years and have worked my ass off.”

“Yeah, you’re right, because I don’t know anyone who would have some kind of relative experience,” he said sarcastically. “I can’t imagine having to justify your profession to people over and over and over again when they think you what you do isn’t really work in the first place.”

“And like I said, I just knew you when we had that conversation and I didn’t know I’d end up having an affair with you. Can we not continue this conversation?”

“It’s all good, Baby.” His voice seemed to just coo in her ear, immediately calming. “Come back as soon as you can and we’ll just take it easy, okay? And drink some water. After a while, the caffeine is pointless. The water will help more.”

“Trade secret?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

She finished the coffee but during the rest of the meeting she started drinking water. She felt as if with each sip she checked her cell phone – having kept it on vibrate instead of being a good example and turning it off. Between checking the phone, she kept checking the clock, waiting for time to pass. She couldn’t leave. She couldn’t make up some excuse and leave just to go back to the hotel. She couldn’t bring about any suspicion. But knowing he was just hanging around the hotel, probably in a pair of jeans and tee shirt, watching TV—

“Is everything okay, Anna?” She looked over and found Ellen smiling at her curiously. “You’re awfully distracted today. Look a little tired.”

“I’m fine. Just a long night,” she whispered quietly.

Ellen nodded and chuckled under her breath. “Ray in town, too?”

Anna looked ahead for a moment and then sideways quickly. “No.” She looked back at Ellen’s shocked expression. “Shut up.”

“I knew something was going on.” She grabbed Anna’s arm and pulled her out of the conference room. “And you so didn’t have to be here for this, so tell me. Why are you holding out on me? We talk every day and you don’t tell me you broke up with Ray?”

“I didn’t break up with Ray.”

Ellen howled quietly and covered her mouth. “Girl! Now you really have some talking to do. How long has this been going on?”

“What been going on? I couldn’t sleep last night.”

“Yeah, I bet. You couldn’t sleep last night, and you keep checking your cell phone why? You waiting for a call from your lost sleep? Who is he? Where’d you meet him?” Anna just opened her mouth and shook her head. “If I didn’t talk to you every day, I wouldn’t know. But we’ve stayed at each others houses and talk all the time. Why did you decide to stay in a hotel this visit? Was I supposed to not know you came in last night?”

“I met him over the summer,” Anna said quietly. “And he’s married.”

“Aren’t they always? The ones that make you glow and look well fucked always are.”

“I do not look well –“

“You do. And it suits you. I haven’t seen you look like this…ever.”

She sat on one of the padded benches in the hallway across from the elevator and leaned her head back against the wall as Ellen sat next to her. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” she admitted. “I’m exhausted. I’m lying to everyone I know being here. And last night was one of the most exciting nights I’ve ever had in this city. And I don’t regret a single thing I did to have it. What’s wrong with me?”

“Did he say he was leaving his wife?” She shook his head. “Are you leaving Ray?”

“No. We just keep saying we’re doing what feels right. And when it feels wrong—we stop, I guess. We don’t talk about it.”

A worried look crossed Ellen’s face and she rested her hand on Anna’s arm. “Enjoy it while you can, but try not to get too attached.”

“You sound like you’ve had experience.”

“Don’t get too attached.”