Ethan
I put the phone down and headed into the bathroom. Was jerking off when she wasn’t on the end of the phone cheating? I was going to have to establish rules about that. I had the hard-on to end all hard-ons and it was ruining my concentration. I picked up my phone again to see what emails had come in overnight. That should help redistribute my blood flow better.
We’d managed two snatched conversations since I’d left. Was this what it was going to be like? I had really held myself back when we’d finally talked about our future together. What I wanted to do was throw her over my shoulder and bring her back to New York with me. But I had managed to control myself. She seemed to want to understand what I wanted and it had been difficult for me to establish what was going to make her happy. When I’d suggested trying a long distance relationship she’d seemed relieved.
I wasn’t sure which alternative had made her anxious—the thought of me taking her back with me, or ending it. But I hadn’t pushed her. Perhaps I feared her answer. We’d promised no bullshit, but as much as I felt she was holding something back, I was too. I hadn’t demanded that she come back to New York. The thought of her in London, without me, was fucking terrifying—she could change her mind about us, or meet someone else. The thought of me without her was fucking terrifying—she had become like oxygen. I couldn’t really remember myself before her and what I did remember, I didn’t like. I didn’t want to go back to sex without complications or ambiguity. Anna was everything I’d spent my life fighting against and now the only thing I wanted.
Three weeks. How would I survive three weeks? I was struggling to get through a few hours. I needed a plan. I’d hit the gym. That would work. I’d need to be putting plenty of hours in at the office. That would be a good distraction. And I could hang out with my old college friends, Andrew and Mandy, this weekend. That was a plan. Now I just needed to set about making sure Anna wasn’t distracted by something or someone other than me. I was going to make sure I was always front and center of her mind.
* * * * *
“So, are you officially pussy whipped?” Andrew asked. My smile spread across my face and I shrugged. “I knew it would happen at some point,” he said.
Andrew had suggested lunch and I’d had my assistant organize reservations at the place where we’d not-so-accidently “run into” Anna and Leah the morning after our first night together. I’d been crazy about her even back then.
“What can I say? She’s worth being whipped for.”
“So, she’s coming over for Christmas?”
“New Year’s,” I corrected. “I’m taking my folks to Aspen for Christmas. They’re disappointed not to be with Izzy, so I thought Aspen might make it up to them. And then Anna flies in on the twenty-seventh.”
“And then what?”
“And then what what?”
“Well, is she going to move over permanently? Are you going to London? Are you going to marry her?”
Yes, yes and yes? No, maybe and one day? I didn’t have an answer. I shrugged again.
“But you love her right?”
I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face. “Yeah, I love her.”
“So make it happen, dude.”
Andrew was a great friend. He could have been giving me miles of shit for going soft but instead he wanted me to get my girl.
“Thanks, man. I’m going to find a way for us to be together on the same continent.”
“Good. Girls like Anna and Mandy don’t come around very often. Don’t fuck it up.”
“Good advice. And so very eloquently put.”
“So, do you want to spend New Year’s with Mandy and me, or do you have other plans?”
“I know Anna would love to see you guys, but can we do it another night? Maybe the day before? For brunch or something? I have other plans for us on New Year’s.”
My idea was to make the evening special. I just hadn’t decided how yet.
“Is work busy?” he asked.
“Yeah, hopefully it will be better now that I’m back in the US. The clients are so fucking demanding. It was hard managing it from London, but it should settle down.” I wasn’t going to be late tonight. I wanted to make it home by 7pm. I had a promise to keep. I needed to make sure my beautiful girl came every day. Shit, my dick started to stir. “How’s Mandy?” I asked, knowing talking about her should settle me down.
“Good. She wants us to go out to dinner so she can give you a hard time about leaving Anna in London.”
“I didn’t leave her there. She lives there.”
“I know man, but you know what she’s like. She’s excited that you’ve found someone.”
I couldn’t help but grin. I was excited that I’d found Anna, too. We just had to find a way to be on the same continent.