A Summer To Remember (Seasons of Love & Lust Book 1) (6 page)

“It’s okay, Tal. I got this.”

“Um, excuse me, lover boy, but you don’t have shit. Your perfect Ashley and her entourage have decided to make an appearance. They are all Paris Hilton’d up with their little fucking rat dogs in tow. I think you should see to your
girlfriend
and leave this situation to me.”

Talia slid an arm around my waist and we walked along the beach, away from the nightmarish scene that had just taken place.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have attacked her. It wasn’t her fault and she doesn’t have a clue what a rat bastard Kevin is. He did his damage and left me…I need to move on but God knows I don’t know how, Talia.”

She held me closer as we stopped walking. “Have you finally considered therapy? You need to talk this shit out with an expert and someone who can help you transition to a normal life.”

I laughed mirthlessly. “A
normal
life? You know there is no such thing in my future, not for me. I can pretend his betrayal meant nothing and then I can concentrate on trying to get Paul but is that really going to make me happy? I thought I wanted to be here for the whole weekend but all I want to do is go home and crawl under my sheets. I can’t do this anymore, not now.”

Talia smiled and stared deep into my eyes. “Let’s go. I’ll take care of everything, okay?”

“What would I do without you?”

“Probably go mad but it’s all good. You know that.”

I took a deep breath and walked back to the Beach Bar with my best friend. The sooner I escaped the Hamptons and returned to my life and reality, the happier I would be.

Chapter Six

Manhattan welcomed me like a prodigal daughter and I accepted her warmth and everything else she offered, including the incessant noise, the endless stream of yellow cabs, and the general population of people who spanned every ethnic group and religion.

I returned to the gallery on Monday and decided my trips to the Hamptons would have to be spread throughout the summer. Perhaps I could even try Cape Cod or Martha’s Vineyard. Anything was better than a nightmare scenario of running into Kevin again. The event had damn near scarred me for the rest of my life and opened old wounds I didn’t want to think about.

My assistants were handling the floor in the gallery while I spoke to the accountant in his office. Alastor Baker was an absolute genius when it came to numbers. He was also to die for hot with café au lait skin, deep hazel-green eyes, and a body that was beyond perfect. He was also happily gay and engaged to a hot Norwegian he’d met on vacation while in Cypress, visiting family on his mother’s side of the family.

“So, in terms of profit, we’re doing okay?” I inquired, nursing a grande, skinny, sugar-free caramel latte.

“Yep. In fact we are doing better than okay. We have been extremely busy and I don’t see us slowing down either. This is going to be a phenomenal summer for us.”

“Okay, if summer is supposed to be so great, when are you taking your semi-annual pilgrimage to Nicosia to see your parents?”

Alastor studied his computer screen and typed something then looked at me again. “It depends. I can wait until September if that is a better time for you. It’s two weeks, but Lord knows I don’t want to get on your bad side. My parents are actually leaving Cyprus, at least full time. They are settling somewhere more stable and have already bought property in Nice.”

I walked over to the large window that overlooked the second floor of the gallery and showed all the activity below. “In France? Why?”

“You don’t keep up on world events, do you? The whole country is on the verge of collapse, along with dire situations in Ireland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece. The government is actually raiding private citizens’ bank accounts to prevent default and my parents moved their money out of the country back in January.

“It’s a scary situation for quite a few European countries and although we all love Cyprus, it has become untenable for them to stay there for the time being. They are moving in July. I told them I would try to get away and help them, but if it is inconvenient then I’ll just roll with the punches.”

“Don’t say that. You should go in July as planned. We’ll Skype and figure out something. Go and help your parents. You gave them your word.”

Alastor placed his right hand on his heart and breathed a sigh of relief. “What happened to you in the Hamptons? It’s like you came back a whole different person.”

I smiled at him, though I know it never reached my eyes. “Perhaps I did. And you don’t want to know what happened there, not really.”

I walked out of Alastor’s office and thought about my weekend in the Hamptons. I did come back a different person but I wasn’t sure if she was someone I wanted to be and that hurt the most.

I was in love with my brother’s best friend and I didn’t have a clue what to do about it because he had a perfect girlfriend and he certainly couldn’t handle me, and all my various complications. I was a walking disaster. Beautiful and vibrant on the outside, but broken and conflicted on the inside. If I was smart, I would try to stay away as far from Paul as possible.

Unfortunately, circumstances conspired against me. As I walked down the metal staircase, the man himself was standing there speaking to the receptionist. She busily paged through the appointment registrar and told him he didn’t have an appointment and I was booked all afternoon.

“Paul, what are you doing here?” I said, trying to keep the bite out of my voice. “I’m busy all day today and I don’t have any time for small talk I’m afraid.”

He looked up at me and smiled, his bright crystal blue eyes shining with happiness. “Can I at least take you out to a quick lunch? I really need to talk to you.”

I would have said no but there was something in his eyes that implied whatever he needed to tell me was serious. I looked toward Claudia, my diligent receptionist, and grinned at her conspiratorially.

“Sure, but it has to be a quick one. I have another client coming in an hour.”

“Don’t worry, I promise not to keep you for too long.”

“If you stay a little bit past the hour, is it okay for me to hand over Doctor Winters to Ms. Adams?” Claudia asked.

Andrea Adams, my assistant, was competent, however, her cold demeanor and her knowledge of art sometimes put certain clients off. Unfortunately for me, Dr. Winters was one such client. He was a neurosurgeon and liked to believe he knew everything about everything. He was a client I definitely handled with kid gloves, because not only was he an arrogant bastard, but he was cheap too.

“No, I will be back in time for our appointment,” I replied.

I glared at Paul and he finally met my gaze, albeit reluctantly. “Look…I just wanted to apologize about this past weekend and—”

“I do believe this a conversation best had on the go because you’re on the clock and I don’t have a lot of time,” I interrupted brusquely.

“Of course.”

Men, they could be so completely and utterly clueless sometimes. Did he really think I wanted Claudia to know about what was going on in my personal life? I was her employer and no way did I want her to have that kind of gossip in her arsenal that I had made a complete and utter fool of myself in the Hamptons the previous weekend. I might as well have taken out an ad in
The New York Post
and saved myself, and my family, the embarrassment.

We walked out together side by side, though I was more than satisfied when he didn’t attempt to grab my hand.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be such a bitch back there but Claudia is a walking gossip columnist in the making and I don’t want her to know anything about my personal life.”

Paul looked at me briefly as we continued to walk at a New Yorker’s pace. “No, it’s my fault. I was in such a hurry to apologize I forgot how much art galleries can be gossip mills.”

“No problem. You didn’t do any damage. Besides, she spends half her time on the phone with her friends when she isn’t greeting customers or making appointments. I only put up with her because she is competent, shows up to work on time, and doesn’t take an exorbitant amount of sick days.”

“Well, we don’t have a lot of time so I was thinking we could go to Athanasios. It’s a Greek café and restaurant up the street and they make the best lamb gyros. How about it?”

“As long as they are quick.”

“We can sit at the bar. The service is faster that way.”

Paul and I walked to the small hole-in-the-wall Greek place that had obviously acquired their little piece of property before the West Side’s prime real estate blew up. He ordered us both a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and two gyros with yogurt sauce.

Swigging from my wine for courage, I turned toward him on the narrow barstool. “Thanks for taking me out to lunch. I needed this, if only to get out of the office for a while.”

His blue eyes were so pale, the green striations around the pupils stood out. “You’re welcome. Although lunch isn’t over yet.”

I laughed when the wine began to take effect. My breakfast that morning had been a skinny caramel latte and nothing else. “Seriously, you didn’t do anything wrong in the Hamptons, so I don’t know why you would be taking me out for an ‘apology lunch’ as you put it. It wasn’t even Ashley who pissed me off, and she had nothing to do with what went down between Kevin and I. That whole situation…it’s a different kind of messed up I couldn’t possibly explain in a half an hour, Paul.”

“Yeah, but something went down between you two. Hell, even Stevie Wonder would have been able to see it. The hatred in your eyes and the way you talked to him…if I didn’t know any better, I would think he raped you or violated you in some way.”

The tears threatened to spill over but I kept them at bay. “It was nothing like that, believe me.” I cleared my throat and drank some wine. “Sorry, I don’t have any date rape or gang bang stories to share with you. College at Vassar was terribly ordinary and mostly drama-free. My father never touched me indecently and my brother never tried to feel me up. Our family is perfectly normal and not all that fascinating.

“Kevin and I…we went through a patch I can barely describe as tough because it was something else, and I am not willing to share it with anyone yet. It’s just how I am. I was hurt in the process and it’s something I have to live with. I can do it…I swear to God I can, but not if you keep looking at me like that.”

Paul leaned against the bar. “That’s a lie, because Talia knows. I don’t understand how I know she knows…call it intuition. If you could tell her, is it any different from telling me?”

I looked away. Our gyros had arrived and they smelled delicious, but suddenly I didn’t have an appetite. What was I supposed to tell him?

Talia was the one who found me and called the ambulance, waited around for countless hours until the doctor told her I would be okay but I was damaged goods and would never be able to perform some of the most basic functions in life. I was an empty vessel and no man—not one who was self-respecting and wealthy—would ever touch me with a ten foot pole. I had zero chance of marrying into my class unless I was willing to settle for less than model material looks, washboard abs, and a smile of pure heaven the way Paul stared at me now.

He’d never look at me like that again, and if I told him the truth our friendship would remain intact but any special feelings he had for me would disappear overnight.

Funny…if I was a man, none of this would be an issue. But I wasn’t, and now I had to deal with the cards life had dealt me.

“You’re right about Talia knowing. She’s the only one I can trust with my secret. Not even my family knows about what happened at Vassar and I would like to keep it that way.” I sliced off a part of my gyro and stuffed it into my mouth.

It was mouthwatering good and I was quite pleased to be sharing such a great meal with Paul.

He sliced into his gyro then set the utensils on his plate and placed his hands flat on the bar. “I need to know how you feel about Kevin because…I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I don’t even want Ashley, and I am this close to telling Jude how I feel about you because I don’t think we should be apart. Stop pushing me away, Jerrica.”

“Paul, if we were together I would tell you, but we aren’t. You have this great woman who cares about you and is perfect and beautiful. Why don’t you keep her for now?” I sliced off another part of my gyro and shoved it in my mouth. “If you’re asking me about Kevin, the answer is simple.” I pushed the food to the side of my mouth so I could speak clearly. “He’s a fucking douchebag and I never want to talk to him or see him ever again. I hate him. There aren’t many people I can say that about but my utter disgust with him knows no bounds. If I had the chance, I meant what I said…I would cut his balls off and make it so that he couldn’t stick his pencil dick in any other woman ever again. Does that answer all your questions about my feelings for Kevin?”

Paul looked quite satisfied as he finally ate a piece of his gyro. “You mean he didn’t have a big cock? That
is
shocking.”

“Cut the shit, Paul. You shared swim class with him at the Academy. You or Jude could have told me what he was packin’ because it wasn’t much and his looks weren’t enough to make up for an average-sized dick.”

“Men’s cocks aren’t really high on my agenda, Jerri. I didn’t tell you because some men can look small but be adequate when the time comes to ‘close escrow’, you get my drift? I wasn’t there when you two were intimate and really, how would it look, me telling you the guy you’re dating has a small dick? Does that seriously make any sense to you?”

I laughed out loud again and took another sip from my wine. “Fine. I’m asking too much from you. Why do you keep bringing Kevin up anyway? He is a person I would never talk about ever again if I had my way.”

Paul set his knife and fork down. “He’s on the hook for insider trading. Jude and I can prove it but we were reluctant to report it because we didn’t know how you felt about him.”