Private Relations Read Online Free Page B

air crisp but not quite frosty. Flakes from last night’s snowfall rose into the air and fell like powdered sugar to the ground. A few kissed my cheeks, all but melting on contact.
    “Eric’s never asked you for children, has he?”
    Vanessa shook her head. “No, that’s a hard line I won’t cross. I may be stuck in this marriage, with nothing of my own, but I’m not bringing a child into a loveless home.”
    “So, what then? You’ll just stay with him for good? Bringing in male escorts to have sex with you along the way?”
    “You know, for someone who has sex for a living, you’re awfully judgmental.” She slid out of my grasp, putting a good six inches between us. “Look, I’m sorry my gay husband made a pass at you in the shower, okay?”
    And then we both burst out laughing.
    I leaned forward, kissed her forehead. Pulled her close whether she liked it or not. Her situation was far from perfect, and being stuck in a loveless marriage out of financial necessity was a particularly demoralizing fate. But the fact remained, after nearly ten years, Vanessa and I were together again.
    I didn’t take that lightly. She was the one who’d stolen my heart in high school and then shattered it into a million pieces when she’d told me it was time for us to go our separate ways.
    “Can I ask you something?” she asked. “If you’re comfortable sharing it?”
    “Sure.”
    “Whatever happened between you and Bobby?”
    My eyes fell to the ground. I shook my head, felt my hands ball into fists in my lap. Bobby was the last person I wanted to think about at the moment -- but part of me felt that Vanessa had a right to know what she’d stumbled onto so many years ago. But how could I summarize such a complicated experience in my life?
    “Do you think we can save that for next time?” I asked.
    “Next time? So you want to see me again?”
    “I’m not a religious person by any means, but I feel that things happen for a reason. There was a reason you decided to book an appointment with me, wasn’t there? I mean, of all the escorts you could have chosen…”
    “Honestly? I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
    “ You were checking up on me?”
    “When you go online and see the first boy you ever loved is having sex for a living, it’s a little disconcerting. But you seem to have a handle on things.”
    Indeed I did have a handle on things. So much that I had another appointment scheduled for later that night. Bianca, a longtime client of mine, would be waiting for me at the Parker Meridien on Fifty-Sixth Street, not far from Central Park South. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Bianca. In fact, she was one of my favorite clients to be with, particularly after her husband passed away and essentially left her a free woman.
    At the same time, I didn’t want to part ways with Vanessa just yet.
    “What are you thinking about?” she asked. “There’s something going on behind those green eyes of yours.”
    “I have to work tonight.”
    “And by work, you mean…?”
    “I’m seeing a client. Her name is Bianca; she’s from New Orleans. She’s here in New York alone -- her husband died last year.”
    “New Orleans? She’s come a long way for a quick booty call.”
    “Not sure how I feel about you calling my work a ‘booty call,’ but I suppose I’ll let it slide. At the very least, I’m a classy booty call. Remember that.”
    A comfortable silence grew between us. I kissed Vanessa’s cheek, buried my nose in her hair. I didn’t want to leave, didn’t want to ruin what was the closest thing we’d had to a perfect moment in a decade. So much had changed since high school -- and not all of it for the better. But in this moment, we both had our happily ever after.
    Vanessa was the first to pull away. “I need to go.”
    “Me too.”
    We stood up, a sharp wind blowing off the Hudson. I moved in, took her face into my hands. I kissed her cheeks, her lips. Her hands circled my back before snaking