Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 25616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25616 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 128(@200wpm)___ 102(@250wpm)___ 85(@300wpm)
This girl is unreal.
I raise my hand, flagging Vito or whatever cousin is working for Vito tonight. “All the firemen are on me,” I say.
Now, they’re all cheering and fist-bumping with me too. They slap my back and thank me in their thick New Yorker accents. I can’t help but smile, feeling like a real, legitimate New Yorker for the first time in my life.
Amber whispers something to the pizza guy and when I get my slice, there’s a single birthday candle sticking out of the crust.
I laugh as she starts singing Happy Birthday at the top of her lungs. The firemen join in and so does everyone in line. Even the pizza cooks are singing as I go bright red, the whole street serenading me. It’s the best birthday of my life.
“Don’t forget to make a wish,” she says, bright smile, wide eyes, so unbelievably perfect.
There’s only one wish I could dream up. Only one thing I want.
Her.
I wish for her.
I blow out the candles and everyone cheers. Amber wraps her arm around my neck and plants a kiss on my cheek. I feel lightheaded as her kiwi-scented shampoo fills my lungs and her perky boobs press against my shoulder. That can’t be the last time those luscious lips are on me. I need to feel them again or I’ll die.
The firemen ask us to sit with them, but we both want to be alone so we grab two milk crates and sit under a street light off to the side.
Goddamn, even under the bright city lights, this girl looks like a dream. I want to see her in every kind of lighting—candlelight, sunsets, early morning sun waking up in bed… Hell, I even want to see her under those harsh fluorescent lights in McDonald’s. I want to see it all. I want to experience her in every way.
“What do you think?” she asks when I take a bite of the pizza. It’s good. Really fucking good.
“Better than Pizza Hut,” I say before taking another bite.
“Told you,” she says with a big grin. “There’s more to life than just your condo, commute, and office. You gotta get out more, Mr. Cranky Pants.”
I kind of like that name now. I’d like anything she calls me.
After the pizza, we wander around and end up in some underground salsa club.
Normally, I’d hate a place like this, but I get to dance nice and close with my girl. This time, I can’t stop myself from getting rock hard as she grinds against me, the music blaring in our ears. She must feel it on her hips, but she doesn’t stop or hesitate. She keeps that sexy little body gliding up and down mine as she shakes her hips in the most mesmerizing way.
We’re surrounded by sweaty, half-naked people on the dance floor doing some of the dirtiest dancing I’ve ever seen, but I only have eyes for her. Her hair is sticking to her glistening temples and when she comes in close, I tuck her hair behind her ear.
She looks up at me with the most breathtaking shy smile and I know in my heart, soul, and every damn cell in my body that this is the girl for me.
She’s the one I want. The only one I want.
Now, tonight, forever. She’s it. She’s my soulmate.
I just hope it doesn’t take her too long to realize it.
A slow song comes on and the wild dancers come together in pairs all around us, tangling limps and getting in close.
I take Amber’s hand and pull her against my body where she belongs. She moans as she looks up at me, those beautiful eyes lingering on my mouth before rising to my heated gaze.
“What did you wish for?” she whispers as we start to sway to the nice song.
It’s hard to focus on words with her breasts pressed into my chest and her hips so close to mine.
“No, wait,” she says, shaking her head. “Then it won’t come true.”
I look down at this perfect girl in my arms and let out a low breath. “Don’t worry. It already has.”
She smiles shyly and then rests her head on my chest. I can’t believe I’m here right now, experiencing this. A few hours ago, I was at my desk saying goodnight to Cassandra, and my entire world has changed since then. It feels like a lifetime ago.
I believe there are rare moments that happen in life that completely change you. Moments so intense, they crack your lifeline in half, so there is only the time before the moment and the time after.
This here, tonight, with Amber, is one of those moments. I could be one hundred years old on my deathbed, thinking back over all the long years I’ve lived, and I know that my first thought will be this night. The unexpected encounter in the office, the birthday singing over pizza, the dance, the switch in my mind when I realized it can’t all be about work. A life has to have some fun in it too otherwise what’s the point?