‘Oh, baby,’ he whispered. We said nothing more, just took short, hard breaths as we worked ourselves up to a climax. We both came with a loud gasp.
I took my hand out of my panties and collapsed against the back of the chair.
‘Hello, my beautiful Nicole.’ Thorne’s voice was so deep it seemed to be coming from some dark secret place. ‘This is something new for me. You?’
I didn’t answer. Coming over the phone had never happened to me either, but I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing it.
‘I need to see you.’
‘No.’
‘All right. We won’t have sex. We’ll talk, like friends.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I want to know everything about you. Because I want to keep looking at your lovely face. Because I can wait to devour that breathtaking, come-inducing body of yours. Because we’ll drive each other crazy. Best of all because the payoff will be explosive.’
Thorne hung up before I could tell him he was full of it. Wanting to know everything about me? Not a chance. I’d sealed myself off from letting men into my emotional life. And it wasn’t because of my father walking out on Mom and me when I was thirteen. Sure Dad disappearing from one day to the next was a shock. It hurt for awhile, but he’d never been a hands-on father. He had let Mom do all the loving. She was the centre of my universe. I took a wad of tissues and cleaned myself up a little, pulled down my skirt, readjusted my top and took a long deep breath. I’d gone crazy. A crazy that gave me a lot of pleasure, but still. Leila could have walked in any minute and seen the spectacle of me writhing in the chair. Not a pretty sight. Well, thank God she hadn’t.
I heard the keys in the lock as I was coming out of my bathroom. ‘Hey, there. Where’d you go?’
Leila gave me a lopsided smile. ‘I went out for a cigarette.’
‘I didn’t know you smoked.’
‘I don’t. I figured you didn’t need an audience to process whatever you were processing.’ She studied my face. ‘You should tone down the blush,’ she said with a big grin. ‘It makes you look too happy.’
I pressed my hands against my cheeks. They were burning. Was I that transparent? ‘It’s very hot in here.’ I walked to the kitchen area and got some iced water from the fridge.
Leila plopped herself down on the couch and sipped her coffee. ‘The Bergdorf’s appointment is at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. The buyer’s office is somewhere on Madison but she wants to meet at the store. I think you should be the one to go. Getting an assistant isn’t going to impress her.’
‘You’re right. I’ll go. How did she find out about us?’
‘I didn’t ask. From one of her clients who bought one of our bags would be my guess. I’m still trying to get through to Barneys, which I think is a much better venue for your new bags. The store carries edgier, younger stuff than Bergdorf’s. Any word from Women’s Wear Daily?’
‘Not yet. Maybe Geoffrey put in a good word. He’s helped out with their Decorative Home Department on the seventh floor. I’ll have to ask him.’ I sat down next to her and drank my water in one gulp. I was all dried out from that phone call. ‘How did it go with Melissa?’
‘Melissa is incredibly wonderful.’ Leila’s face glowed, as if she’d just walked into sunlight. ‘I’m in love with her.’
‘Just like that? One evening together and you know?’
‘Yeah. I know. Like you know.’
‘Know what?’
‘You fell in love with Archer Thorne the minute he looked at you with those green, penetrating eyes of his.’
My stomach clenched. ‘That’s not funny.’ Falling in love with a man like Thorne was committing suicide. ‘You didn’t look so happy when you walked in this morning.’
‘Because I wanted to be with her and not here.’
‘Oh, it’s that bad?’ Leila loved work.
Leila beamed a smile. ‘It’s that good. Don’t worry, I’m not going to quit on you just because I’m in love, but I might get a little distracted from time to time. Just like you these past two days.’
‘Stop it.’
‘I know you think I fall in love too easily and always with the wrong women, but this time feels different. It’s right. I don’t know how to explain it. I feel her in the pit of my stomach.’
‘Are you sure that’s not just sex talking?’
‘Of course I want to make love to her, but I also want to listen to her, take care of her, make her happy. Sex isn’t everything.’
Maybe it wasn’t, but sex was all I wanted from a man. ‘Will Melissa make you happy?’
‘She does now. That’s enough.’
‘You’re not afraid of getting hurt again?’
‘No. I’ve opened up all of me. I’m ready for whatever comes.’ Leila leaned over and squeezed my hand. ‘Nicole, you don’t know what you’re missing. It’s like riding a rollercoaster. I know I’m going to land safely in the end, but the ride – it is scary, but it’s also exhilarating.’
I envied her optimism, her enthusiasm, her ability to give herself without a thought to the consequences. I also thought her foolish. ‘And how will you feel when it’s over?’
‘It doesn’t have to be over. I know it happened to your mother and to lots of other women, and, yes, to me a couple of times, but it doesn’t have to happen this time. You and I, we can get lucky.’
‘Melissa loves you back?’
Leila stood up, took the empty glass out of my hand and strode across the room to the sink. I followed her. ‘Does she?’
‘We made slow delicious love all night long.’ She whipped around. ‘Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t –’
I cut her off. ‘I’m glad at least you did.’ Sex over the phone was an hors d’oeuvre. I was still hungry for the full meal. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’
‘She loves me. She just doesn’t know it yet.’
‘Leila!’
She wrapped me in a bear hug. ‘Stop sounding like a den mother. It’s going to be great. You know what I wish for both of us?’
‘Whatever it is, leave Thorne out of it.’
She cupped my chin with her hand. ‘I wish us a sky full of love.’
‘Whoa.’ I pulled away. ‘I didn’t see anything about being a hopeless romantic in your résumé.’
‘I know. You wouldn’t have hired me, but you’re the one who called your company Desire, Inc.’
I laughed. ‘I think it’s time we forget about love and get back to work.’
I woke up in a filthy mood. I was nervous about the Bergdorf Goodman appointment. The store was the most elegant in the city and I had nothing to wear. The radio announced that the temperature had dropped to the low fifties and my winter clothes were still in storage at the cleaners. Leila was going to be up at the workshop in the Bronx all day. Just as orders were coming in for the new collection, two sewing machines broke down last night. Since our phone session yesterday morning, Thorne had not bothered to