Alex

LACEY TOOK ME TO a suit hire place the next day. She’d made an appointment and as soon as we walked in the door I knew I’d be paying this weekend off on my credit card for months. There was no way she was paying for me. The guy was super-efficient and as soon as he saw me, knew what size I should try, and what style would suit me. We were in there an hour and I came out with a dark blue Versace suit that made me look like James Bond and brown leather shoes to match.

The night before Lacey had offered for us to sightsee and get dinner at some fancy restaurant but all I wanted was her... naked. Instead, we ordered Korean takeout and sat in next to nothing in front of the TV catching up. There were so many things about Lacey that I loved, but her effervescent personality had to be my favorite; her passion for everything and the way she told a story that made me feel like I was there was enchanting.  She was way out of my league and I hated to see the hurt in her eyes when I told her how things would work out, but she had to know that. She had to know there was no place for someone like her in my crazy fucked up life.

I checked in with Sara a fair bit via text and called mid-afternoon to speak to Logan. They were fine, and Mom was fine. I knew I needed to trust her, but I was still struggling with that. We ate a late lunch at some bistro that Lacey loved, and she waxed lyrical about the menu and told me what I had to order. She made me happy and proud and her strength continued to draw me in. She was the indulgence I would look back on when I was an old man and be glad I got the chance to partake in.

Seeing her in her surroundings just confirmed every suspicion I had that there was no future for us. She loved the city. She loved the hustle and bustle and it suited her larger-than-life personality. I took the time to enjoy every part of the weekend and tried everything she told me to. I held her hand as often as I could and kissed her whenever I had chance. I wanted everyone to think she was mine, to leave my mark on her somehow as I knew we were living on borrowed time.

We walked lazily from the bistro back to her apartment. Once inside we drank wine, and she drew a bath that we both relaxed in prior to going to the fundraiser. I pulled her onto my lap, facing me in the bath and made love to her slowly as she threw her head back and I kissed her neck. I loved the noises she made when my cock was inside her and I loved watching her face, knowing that I was causing her to go wild with lust.

She took her time getting ready, and I waited in the lounge with a bottle of beer. “I’ll call a cab!” she yelled from the bedroom.

“Okay,” I smoothed out my pants and looked up to see the most beautiful sight I’d ever seen. Lacey wore a long, tight, red dress. It was high to her neck but exposed at the back, tucked in at her tiny waist and flowed to the floor. Her hair was pinned to one side so the loose curls fell over her shoulder and not down her back. Her makeup was staggering, the eye makeup made her blue eyes sparkle and her lips were painted ruby red.

“Wow,” I said, standing and walking to where she stood. “You look...” I struggled for the words, “I’ve never seen anyone look so...”

“Thanks,” she grinned, placing manicured hands on my crisp, white shirt, “you look beautiful too.” She kissed me chastely on the lips and I pulled her into me to deepen it.

We walked down to wait for the cab and I held her close to me as we waited. She didn’t fidget, she just leaned into my warmth. On the cab ride I held her hand, and she explained a little about the night and who would be there and what the charity was. It was for kids who didn’t have much and I liked the idea of that. I’d been lucky that my grandparents had always saved us from our mom’s addiction but ultimately if they hadn’t been around we could have wound up much worse off than we were now. 

We pulled up outside some swanky hotel and I climbed out first, holding the door for Lacey and taking care of the cab driver even though she wanted to. Paying was an ongoing battle between me and my millionaire boss/girlfriend.

We walked red carpet into the venue and I didn’t miss how people turned to appreciate my date. I was glad she invited me because if I ever saw some other guy with her on his arm dressed like this I’d lose my shit. She linked her arm though mine, and I held my head high proudly as we walked inside. I led her to the bar and before we even got there she was stopped by a couple.

“Lacey,” the woman said, dropping to kiss each of her cheeks, “how are you?”

“Oh. Hi, Gail. Great thanks.” Lacey said, her voice in that sing-song tone that covered any possible cracks and took no bullshit.

“You look wonderful,” the woman said. She must have been mid-forties with blonde hair piled up on her head and what looked to be an overly botoxed face. “You must have lost ten pounds!” she added astounded.

“Um, no,” Lacey laughed, but I knew she meant, bitch. “I’m just the same, it must be the dress.” Lacey smoothed down her tiny waist and I smirked. She couldn’t afford to lose ten pounds; this woman was tripping.

“So, who’s this?” Gail turned her attention to me and dropped her eyes up and down my Versace suit and I gave her a warm smile.

“This is Alex,” Lacey linked my arm and squeezed me to her, “my partner.”

“Oh,” Gail looked shocked, “my, my, well...” She wasn’t rude enough to surmise that Lacey had moved on pretty quickly, but it was written all over her face.

“Well, nice to see you,” Lacey trilled, and they kissed again and we moved on.

“These people are exhausting,” I whispered into her ear as we walked.

“These people are jealous as all hell that I have some hot, young boyfriend and they are stuck with their middle-aged bankers who are screwing their secretaries,” she said, looking back at me as we walked. I dropped to kiss her, and she stopped to enjoy it.

“You are the most beautiful woman here,” I said, my lips barely moving from hers. “I think these women wish they were you.”

She laughed, “These women have more money than God. If they wished they were me, they could have surgery to make it so.”

We kept walking and before we hit the bar a waiter passed by and offered us a glass of champagne each. We took it and went to find where we were sitting. I held my glass and Lacey leaned over the table to check out the other names when I heard, “Lacey?” She turned, and I glanced back to see a man approach with a heavily pregnant woman close behind. I felt Lacey bristle next to me but when I looked at her, she already had her friendly mask firmly in place.

“Hi Bryan,” she grinned, and he stopped in front of us, “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Well,” his eyes moved to me and I nodded at him. So this was the ex. The guy looked very well put together: expensive suit, Rolex, hair slicked to the side in a boy band style. He was good looking but the frown he was wearing didn’t look too good. The guy was shorter than me and not as built, but then muscles weren’t made in the office. “Peterson asked me to come because he couldn’t, and he wanted to make a good impression, so...”

“Right,” she nodded and sipped her drink. The woman he was with settled next to him, but Lacey didn’t even look at her. “This is Alex,” Lacey indicated to me with her champagne and placed her arm on mine, “my date.”

“Bryan,” her ex stuck his hand out and I gave it a forceful shake. “What business you in, Alex?” he asked narrowing his eyes.

“Look,” Lacey cut in, “you should go find your table.” She moved to stand a little in front of me and Bryan gritted his teeth.

“Yes,” Bryan nodded but his eyes remained on me.

“Um, Lacey,” his pregnant companion piped up, but Lacey didn’t turn around, “Thank you for, um moving the paperwork along so quickly.” She rubbed her stomach just as Lacey turned a hard glare on her, “just means we can make baby Templeton legitimate.”The woman smiled sweetly, but I saw Bryan close his eyes as she spoke.

“Oh,” Lacey cocked her head to the side, “I’m so glad I could help legitimize the child that you conceived on purpose to trap my ex-husband into marrying you,” she spat out, “and by the way nothing I do is to make your life easier. It’s so I can screw my new boyfriend guilt free now that I’m not married to your less than adequate lover of a boyfriend anymore.”

The woman took a deep breath and looked at Bryan with tears in her eyes, “Bryan!” she yelled, turning and walking away.

“That woman is delusional,” Lacey shook her head at Bryan, “keep idiots like that away from me.”

She turned away from Bryan and he dropped his head looking defeated. I kept my eyes trained on him as he turned and walked away. Lacey sat at the table and took a gulp of her champagne, finishing it in one fell swoop and signaling the waiter for another. I sunk to the seat and just watched her until she was ready to speak. She was petrifying.

She sighed and turned toward me, “She deserved that.” She said through gritted teeth.

“You are fucking venomous,” I shook my head, “I’m so glad we’re now on the same side.”

She leaned into me and wore a wicked grin. She kissed me and I held the kiss, placing my hand on her bare back, “always,” she whispered, pulling back just as the next glass of champagne arrived.

I didn’t miss the fact that she didn’t let me tell Bryan what I did for a living or that the presence of his new woman clearly bothered her. If Amber was actively fucking someone on a nearby barstool, it wouldn’t bother me in the slightest if I was with Lacey. I buried it. This weekend wasn’t about old wounds or opening new insecurities, it was about having fun and making the moments we could be together count.

We ate, we drank, we danced, we laughed a ton and the table of people we were seated with were pretty cool. Lacey told them how we met, and the women swooned at parts of her story, especially how she told them we were enemies at first. I liked it when she looked at me with her sheepish grin that showed me how much she liked me, and I held her hand whenever I could. Bumping into her ex sure wasn’t going to ruin the night, but it added to the little voice inside that told me I had to step back, not just for me but for her too.

When we stumbled back to her apartment, she undressed me slowly and gave me a little striptease in the living room which concluded with her in nothing but her red high heels. No girl had ever made me so rock hard and cleared my mind of all the incessant worry in one instant like Lacey. I sat naked on her sofa as she straddled me, and I grabbed her ass, licking my lips as hers crashed down on me. My cock was jutting upwards, and she ground down onto me, making me even more hard. I growled as I took her mouth and she reached my dick, giving him a gentle tug. I was about ready to burst, and I needed inside my girl like yesterday. Eventually she stopped teasing and finally eased herself down onto me and began to bounce gently, increasing her rhythm until I was holding my breath so I didn’t come.

Her hair had become unpinned, and it was frantically slicing through the air as she kept her movements deep and quick. I held onto her butt and she held my shoulders as she threw her head back and claimed her orgasm. I followed closely behind and kissed her with need as I lost my mind in her body. She was every fantasy I had ever had, and I needed to bottle the feeling right now so I could carry it with me always. We made love off and on through the night, my cock finding her in the night and both of us waking to make sure we made the most of the time we had.

The next morning when I woke, Lacey wasn’t there. I pulled on some underpants and walked into the living room, finding her curled up on her sofa by the window looking out with a coffee. She turned and smiled as I walked in. “Morning,” I said with a small smile, “coffee on?”

“Yeah,” she smiled, but she looked a little weird. I thought she must be hungover and so I walked to the kitchen, grabbed a cup and went back to join her.

“You alright?” I sat by her and reached out to touch her bare leg.

“Last night was a goodbye, wasn’t it Alex?” she asked quietly.

I closed my eyes and sighed, “What makes you say that?” I uttered, still holding her leg.

“Because... I know you,” she swallowed hard, “that thing with Bryan spooked you and you see me here and you...”

I placed my coffee down and moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She dropped her head to mine, and I took a deep breath. “Lacey, my life is... fucked up. I’m not the main star in any of it and I have so much that I can’t control and...” I shook my head, “you deserve to be the star of some guy's life and I can’t move here with you.”

“I never asked you to move,” she whispered.

“I know but I would never ask you to move either and when I see you here... I get it. This is so you.” I grinned at the thought. “You fit in here, these are your people, you were goddamned made for this city.”

“I don’t think I can give you up,” she added glumly, and wrapped an arm around my waist.

“The kindest thing we can do is just move on,” I said and she didn’t say anything else for a while.

“You...” she began, “you think I’m not over Bryan?”

“Are you?” I whispered.

She tightened her grip on me, “I ended things with him.” She stated firmly.

“I know,” I kissed her head.

“I guess he moved on so quick...” Her voice wavered slightly, “seeing her pregnant.”

I squeezed her shoulder. “You don’t need to explain. I think you’re amazing Lacey and believe me if we lived in the same state that wouldn’t even stop me. Hell, if I lived in Montana and had a normal life nothing would stop me, but things are different for us.”

“Yes,” she hissed, “I’m lost and you’re trapped.”

I laughed a little, “we’re pretty hopeless, huh?”

She nodded and took in a deep breath, “Can we still call each other?” she turned to face me, and I bent to kiss her lips.

“I think we need some distance. Maybe after a few months but at first it needs to go back to being professional.” I gave her a somber look.

She nodded and snuggled into my chest. “I’ll still manage your stocks and you’ll be able to buy me out in a year.”

“You don’t need to...” I tried to say.

She snapped her head up, “I want to.” Her eyes were brimming with tears, “you deserve a fuckin’ break, Alex. I’m gonna be that break.”

I kissed her again, and the tears began to fall down her face. She moved to straddle me and I wrapped my arms around her, holding her tightly to my front as she sobbed lightly on my shoulder. “I never cry,” she whispered.

“I never leave Montana,” I muttered back, and she began to laugh.

“I do love you, Alex Miller. You’re the best guy I’ve ever met.” She pulled back and placed her hands on my shoulders, “in another life.” She sniffed, and I watched her perfect face smile through tears and I wondered if it was the most remarkable sight I had ever seen.

“In another life,” I uttered back as she bent to kiss me again.