He rested a hand on the small of my back and leaned in close. “No, I set up everything beforehand and delegated all of tonight’s responsibilities to my team, so that I could enjoy the night with you.” He kissed me on the cheek, smiled, and took my hand. “Let’s get some crab cakes before they all disappear,” he said and pulled me in the direction of the cocktail tables.
After devouring piles of amuse-bouches, fine delicacies, and several glasses of expensive champagne, we took our seats at our assigned table and Gabe pulled a few note cards from his jacket pocket. “Sorry, just give me a few minutes. I think I should review my speech one more time before I get up to speak. I’m just going to excuse myself to run through it. Will you be okay by yourself?”
“Of course I will. Go, go. I’ll be fine,” I assured him and shooed him away playfully. After Gabe took his exit, an older gentleman seated next to me asked if I would be so kind as to pass him the butter plate. I reached over the bread basket and handed the dish to him.
“Thank you, my dear,” he said. “Are you a friend of Gabe’s?”
“I am.” I rested my hand on my chest. “Avery Lawrence, nice to meet you.”
“I’m Javier Ibarra. I work with Gabe at the League. Great guy you have there. In the office, it’s a bit of a running joke, actually.”
“Um, what is?”
“The fact we’ll all be able to say we knew him when. He’s destined for great things, that one. We all talk about how he should run for office someday.”
I smiled warmly. “He’s always been really passionate about social justice.”
“Passionate. Committed. With his level of drive and his charisma, he could have a big career in politics. Plus, he’s not a bad-looking kid, which doesn’t hurt.”
I laughed. “No, it doesn’t.”
An echo of someone tapping on the microphone interrupted our banter, and we, along with the room, quieted and turned our attention to see Gabe front and center ready to address the crowd.
He looked so great up there. So self-assured and relaxed. No question he was in his element speaking on the issues he cared most deeply about—poverty, child welfare, homelessness, and urban development. He was a natural, and it was easy to see why Javier and the other staff members at the League believed he’d have a future in politics one day.
When Gabe finished and exited the stage, he was greeted by some of the donor bigwigs like a celebrity, and I proudly watched him revel in the attention he brought to his organization’s mission. The band leader cued up the orchestra as soon as he finished his speech, and I watched the other party guests make their way to the dance floor.
I remained at the table, tapping my foot along to the beat, until to my surprise, Gabe came up behind me, and without a word offered me his hand. My eyes lifted to his, and a smile broke out across my face. I accepted his gesture, and he led me to the middle of the room and wrapped one arm around my waist, his other hand not letting go of my own.
After a bit of dancing, the tempo of the music slowed to another ballad, and he pulled me in close to whisper, his breath warm on my neck, “What do you think? Wanna get outta here?”
I lifted my head off his shoulder. “Don’t you have to stay ’til the end of the party?”
He shook his head, and with a devilish grin said, “Not tonight.”
We barely made it over the threshold of his apartment door when he backed me up against the wall, pressing against me, the soft fabric of his satin tuxedo lapels smooth like warm butter sliding over my skin. I sucked in a quick breath, caught off guard by the way my legs buckled under my weight as he dragged his fingertips down my arm to clasp my hand in his.
He drew my arm up over my head, pinning me between his body and the exposed brick wall behind me, and I was grateful for the force of him keeping me upright, since my limbs had almost completely given way. His other arm wrapped around my waist, simultaneously pulling me close with his hand but continuing to press against me with his hips.
Breathless, I gripped a fistful of his jacket, wrestled it from his thick arms, and tossed it to the floor. Before it even hit the ground, he kissed me hard, his lips inciting an avalanche of emotions, the earth crumbling away under my feet, causing me to fall faster and farther than I ever thought possible. Rooted in place by his body crushed against mine, I was dangling somewhere between our passionate past and the intense present, between solidity and free floating, and all I knew was that I never wanted to come down again.
Gabe wasn’t my first, but he was the first that mattered. He taught me everything about my own sensuality and sexuality. Those nights we’d lie in the living room bathtub together were some of the most romantic of my life. It had been a real relationship, and it was Gabe who showed me how important it was to voice my wants as much as my boundaries. We’d taken the time to get to know each other in the most intimate of ways, and it seemed he hadn’t forgotten a thing.
Gabe licked at my bottom lip, and I moaned for more as I met his tongue with my own. He grazed the top of my exposed shoulder, his hand cool against my warm skin and forcing the swarm of butterflies who’d taken flight to rush south. I writhed against him, trying to get closer until we were sharing more than just our breaths.
He spun me around to unzip my dress, and the momentum of urgency slowed when he was met instead with two tiny buttons securing the halter top behind my neck.
“Oof, these are tough. I’m not sure I can . . .” He fumbled with the small clasps, his large hands doing him no favors. “I’m afraid I’m going to break it.”
I coyly glanced at him over my shoulder and ordered, “Do it. Just rip it.”
A naughty glint twinkled in his eye and he said, “Your wish is my command,” tearing the collar’s seams apart like an animal unleashed. The top of the dress fell to my waist and his eager hands met it there, sliding the fabric the rest of the way down my hips. In one surprisingly graceful movement, he scooped me up in his arms as I wrapped my legs around his body, and he carried me the rest of the way to the bedroom, where we didn’t leave until the sun came up over Tribeca.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Two weeks later I was back at the Greenwich House Theater, nervously pacing up and down the long hallway waiting for my name to be called into the studio room for my second audition for Marley Is Dead. I’d spent every spare moment over these last fourteen days rehearsing the songs and scenes, Lyla generously offering to read in for every character and Charlie selflessly staying after every shift to work with me on the material.
Since the night Gabe and I spent together, I was struggling to balance everything on my plate. Gabe wanted to spend more and more time with me, which at present I seemed to have less and less of between work shifts and audition prep. I compromised by promising Gabe we could take a weekend trip to enjoy some much-needed time alone away from the city when the audition was over.
“Avery Lawrence, we’re ready for you,” Joanna, the casting assistant, called out from inside the room.
I nodded, took a few deep breaths remembering Miss Tilly’s advice about how to breathe in a way that opened my chakras and third eye, and stepped into the studio only to be greeted by many more people than I’d expected. A table full of faces that I recognized from the first audition plus about ten brand-new ones looked me up and down as I entered the room.