Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64966 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 325(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 217(@300wpm)
He grinned and shrugged. “Something like that.”
“What happens when those two weeks are up?”
“After that, I’ll return to my life, and you’ll return to yours. Hopefully we’ll look back and remember each other fondly for many years to come, mostly while we’re jerking off.”
“A featured role in your spank bank. How could I pass that up?” I couldn’t help but grin, too.
He glanced at my profile and asked, “Does my two-week plan work for you?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, let’s see how the next couple of hours go.”
“That’s fair.”
“Do you do this a lot? Finding vaguely famous people online, stalking them, and offering to sleep with them?”
“You’re my first.”
I nodded at that. “I’m a good starter celebrity. It makes sense to warm up on someone nerdy and introverted before going after rock stars or Hollywood A-listers.”
“Is that how you see yourself? As nerdy and introverted?”
“It’s how everyone sees me.”
“What’s nerdy about composing music?”
I flashed him a smile. “Well, for one thing, I could go on and on about how mathematics and musical composition are related.”
“Oh god, please don’t.”
“It’s fascinating, actually. Take patterns and repetition, for example. We use the mathematical concepts of translation, inversion, retrogression—” He shrieked and wrapped his arms around his head to block out the sound of my voice, which made me chuckle.
The conversation continued to flow easily as we returned to San Francisco, and I was glad I’d decided to spend some time with Daniel. I knew there was a chance he was either playing a game or had some sort of agenda, but I wasn’t planning on getting attached to him, so did it really matter?
Okay, yes, crashing a party to meet me was unusual. But this didn’t feel much different than the countless times I’d met strangers in bars or on apps and invited them to my hotel room.
I was going into this with my eyes wide open, but I was also looking forward to the evening ahead. What happened after tonight was anyone’s guess.
4
Daniel
I was gobsmacked! Even though absolutely everything had gone wrong, from wrecking my suit to almost getting kicked out of that party, somehow I’d still achieved what I’d set out to do. I’d caught Malcolm Sterling’s attention, and we were on our way to his hotel.
It had meant abandoning my car in Sausalito, and it was going to be a real pain to retrieve it later. But no way was I going to pass up the opportunity to leave with him and continue our conversation.
He was completely different than I’d expected. I’d assumed he’d be arrogant or stand-offish, but instead he was surprisingly down-to-earth. He was nice, too. I loved the way he’d come to my rescue at the party and spared me a lot of embarrassment. I also loved how easy it was to talk to him. The conversation flowed so effortlessly that it felt like talking to an old friend.
When we were halfway across the Golden Gate Bridge, I murmured, “It never gets old.”
“What do you mean?”
I gestured at San Francisco’s skyline, glittering in the darkness. “The first time I saw the city, I was twelve years old. My brother Donny had just graduated from college, and he came up here for a job interview. He decided to make a weekend of it and was nice enough to bring me along.”
“Did he get the job?”
“No, and that worked out for the best in the long run. But I made a promise to my pre-teen self on that trip—that someday, this would be my home. It took me ten years, but after I finished college, I kept that promise to myself. I’ve been here ever since, and it still seems magical.”
“Where was home before this?”
“Bellflower, in LA County. There’s a lot to like about Southern California, but this felt like where I belonged.”
As the brake lights ahead of us turned red and we slowed to a crawl, Malcolm said, “I was born here, and I’d started to take it for granted. It feels good to be back though, after spending the last two years in New York.”
“Did you go there because of your job?”
“In a way. I’d been feeling burned out, and I thought a change of scenery might jump-start my creativity. I spent time with a friend who’s producing a Broadway musical and immersed myself in that world, which was very different than what I’m used to.”
“Did it inspire you?”
“Not in the way I’d hoped. I’m glad I went, though. It was a learning experience, and I’m always grateful for those.”
“And now, are you back in San Francisco for good?”
“That was the plan, but now I really don’t know. I’ve only been here two weeks, and I already feel exactly like I did before I left—desperately in need of inspiration.”
“The solution is obvious,” I said.
“Do tell.”
“You need loads of sex with a cute blond. For best results, make sure your age gap is truly scandalous. If you still feel uninspired after that, I don’t know what to tell you.”