Someone Else's Ocean(42)

“I completely understand. You’ll have it.”

I hung up the phone and let out a breath of frustration. “Do not book the Kemp house anymore until we know how long he’s staying. I have to somehow get him to a hotel.”

“Is he still pissing and moaning?” Jasmine asked, looking up at me from her computer.

“Nope, I mean yes and no. He’s come a long way in only a month. He’s gotten some sun. He’s lost some weight. He loves Disco and he takes long walks with her. He’s no longer catatonic and doesn’t live in darkness, I would say that’s progress.”

Jasmine pulled her ridiculously thick hair through the tie on her wrist. “How observant of you.”

“It’s my job,” I defended. “And he’s a really nice man.”

“Handsome, right?” She snickered.

“Beautiful,” I whispered.

“Beautiful, huh? Ask him to sleep with you.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I mean at your house. You have three spare bedrooms. Let him crash there for a few days so we can keep the commission. It’s not like he’s a total stranger. You knew him when you were kids, right?”

“Yeah, we spent a summer together.” I chewed on the idea for a moment. “I think he’s repaired the kitchen. He’s been sawing nonstop for a week.”

A week he had barely acknowledged me. But I promised him space and in turn, he stopped the sawing when the sun set and even offered me a friendly wave when I got home from work.

“Okay, so ask him.”

“Nah, he can stay at a hotel.”

“Do you have the money for a hotel? Because I sure as hell don’t. We need the commission and you have the space.”

I stood and went to grab some coffee. “He’s the one imposing, he should pay.”

“Koti.”

I sighed. “Fine I’ll ask him, but I doubt he’ll go for it.”

“You need sex.”

“How many times do I have to explain this to you. Sex is mostly painful for me. My body doesn’t like it.” I pulled some Chapstick from my pint-sized purse and coated my lips before I lathered on a small layer of sunblock.

“Every time?”

“Almost. I suffer for days and hardly ever orgasm.”

“God, that’s horrible,” Jasmine said, terrified at the thought.

“It’s my life. I’ve been dealing with it since I lost my virginity at a Cheap Trick reunion concert.”

“That’s even more horrible.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” I said before I gripped her around the neck and gave her a hug from behind her chair. “You are loved, my little filifuckingpino.”

“You too,” she said staring up at me. “I want so much more for you, Koti.”

“And I’m happy where I’m at,” I promised. Ian’s comment last night by the bonfire made me smile.

“What?” she asked, trying to read my expression.

“He said I was happy.”

“Who?”

“Ian.”

“Well, if Ian says so,” she smirked. “Bow chica wow wow.”

“Shut up.”

“You like him, it’s okay to tell me.”

“There’s nothing to tell. Look, he’s newly divorced and already had a revenge screw outside of my house. He’s emotionally incapable and we are on two different planets. There’s no potential.”

Jasmine shrugged. “Okay, so he’s not a commitment candidate.”

“Not in the slightest. But, God, Jasmine, he’s so hard not to look at. I’m seriously having a terrible time not staring. I forgot how pretty men can be.”

“Yes, yes they are, and then they open their mouths and it’s like playing the lottery.”

“He’s still got a bit of a South African accent, it’s so sexy.”

“I’ll come over tonight and check him out,” she said, inviting herself before she tested the waters by glancing my way.

I was already shaking my head. “No, you won’t because I’m going to be nervous enough asking him to sleep with me… I mean to sleep there. At my house.”

She shrugged. “So, I’ll be a buffer.”

“Not tonight, okay? I don’t need you coming over and making him feel weird.”

She stood in her hot pink sundress and thin scarf and puckered her full lips before she crossed her eyes. “I would do no such thing.”

“Sorry.”

“Fine, I have a potential date anyway.”

“With who?”

“I’ll let you know if it happens. But all I have to say is that when it comes to this one, my body is ready.”

“All you do is talk about sex. I’m over it. Unless you can grace this office with something educational or a topic that doesn’t consist of it, I’m closing my ears to you. No more penis talk.” I reached in my desk and pulled out my earbuds.

Jasmine stood with her mouth gaping as I began typing. Twenty seconds later, I got a company email from my pest of a boss that was marked urgent. It was a YouTube video of talking cats.





THE CRANBERRIES’ “ZOMBIE” BLASTED THROUGH my speakers down the narrow road home. Ian’s rental, a large cab Ford, sat in the driveway. I ignored the small thrill that raced through me at the thought of having him at my house for a week. We’d barely spoken that morning, but I could feel his eyes on me while he stretched before he took off for his run. I turned off my Jeep and made my way straight to his back door.