Everything's Better with Kimberly (Everything’s Better #2)

by Lucy Eden

We would also be working together and that’s a minefield I needed to avoid. A year ago, I almost fucked my way out of a job and a promotion, literally.

I needed to keep Kimberly Simmons at arm’s length.

I told him that my dad was a judge, my mom was a psychiatrist and they owned investment properties all over the city. I talked about my brothers, Cole and RJ.

“Don’t you dare tell me to calm down.” She didn’t raise her voice but she was seething. “Is this how quickly it usually happens?” There it was, the thing she didn’t say on the plane.

My anxiety loved to be proven right and was always ready for a fight. At least he got to see this side of me early before things got any more complicated.

My thoughts drifted to Chloe, Renee and Nicole. I wondered how our trysts affected their careers. Chloe transferred to the London office, Renee moved to another firm and I heard Nicole resigned when she got married.

wanted to explain to Nate what Kimberly meant to me. I think he’d be the only one to understand after all the shit we went through as kids, but I couldn’t even explain it to myself.

“Good. Leave that girl alone.” Thank you, Dad, I thought to myself, smart enough not to say it out loud. “Hush, old man.” “You didn’t think I was an old man last night.” Oh, no.

Haha

“I’m a twenty-four year old woman. I’ve been hearing that shit since I was twelve years old, and believe me, whatever they were saying, I’ve heard worse.” Twelve years old? Was she serious?

“If being together is such a bad idea then why the fuck can’t we stay away from each other?” I spat.

“The Sterling found me a room. It will be ready at three, so…” Her voice trailed off, her unsaid words spoke volumes. Kimberly wasn’t just leaving the apartment, she was leaving me.

“We started talking and she told me there were still families displaced by the storm and…” She paused and looked at me before continuing, “I offered my room. It’s only two more nights and I didn’t think you would mind.”

She could have spoke to him first about it.

I was definitely the oldest virgin I knew.

“I’ve never done this before.” I searched his face for a reaction. He looked confused for a moment then the realization hit him. “You’re a virgin.” It wasn’t a question and he didn’t seem entirely surprised.

squeezed my eyes shut and my hands shot into Adam’s hair again, grabbing fistfuls as I twitched and jerked. “Oh fuck, Kimberly,” he groaned into my thighs, planting little kisses between my legs and my outer labia.

I told her all about Nate, Abby and little Aviva. I also told her a bunch of things I wish I had the balls to tell her when she was awake.

The model wasn’t delivered. It was delayed. That’s what the message said, but I was too busy throwing a pity party for myself to do my fucking job. Kimberly was so excited about tomorrow’s meeting, and now I was going to have to tell her that I fucked up again.

“Shhh. Hold on.” She didn’t look at me but waved me away. Oddly, she didn’t seem upset. She slowly paced back and forth, leaning her head from side to side, nodding and occasionally muttering the word okay in varying tones and lengths. Her last okay had the tone of finality and when she turned to face me she was all business.

“Basically, my anxiety gets worse when it comes to things I can’t control like airplanes, crowded elevators, heights, natural disasters… but things that I have some degree of control over are fine.

“I’ve never said this to anyone before, which is probably why I’m saying it while you’re asleep, but this week with you has changed me in ways I didn’t think were possible. For the first time in my life I’ve been thinking about my future, maybe one with wedding rings and babies

“Thank you for yesterday.” “Which part of yesterday?” “All of it. It might have been the best day of my life.” “Stop.” She laughed. She thought I was kidding but I was serious.

The last time I heard her voice, the police were leading her out of my apartment in handcuffs.

Her smiled widened. “ Did it ever occur to you that Renee was trying to get under your skin to throw you off your game right before the meeting?”

WP was the only firm to take a chance on me after my father had me blacklisted.

Her eyes lit up and she addressed Kimberly in a language I couldn’t understand, but I could definitely make out the word Italiano. Then Kimberly smiled and responded. In Italian. She could fucking speak Italian.

I felt moisture on my shoulder and wondered if it was sweat or tears.

“Because this is supposed to end. That’s what we agreed on.” “What if I’m not ready for this to end?” What the hell was he doing?

“But it did happen. I’ve never had a real relationship before and I’ve never thought about wanting one until I met you.”

“Are you talking about Renee?” “Look, Adam, I never want to look at you the way she looked at you today. I never want to feel that way about you.”

“Don’t leave.” His tone was authoritative. He’d just given me an order.

“Kimberly,” he said to the ocean. “This isn’t over. No matter what happens today or when we get back to New York. This isn’t over for us.”

“Crossword puzzles! We have to stop meeting like this.” I turned around to see Red, whom I met after my run on Wednesday.

Oh noo

An eternity passed when I was greeted with a rush of cool air and felt her step in behind me. I closed my eyes giving myself a few seconds to absorb what was happening so I could be sure I wasn’t imagining it.

Aw

His father sounded terrifying. I rested my cheek against his chest and wrapped my arms around him, hoping if I squeezed hard enough that eight-year-old Adam would feel it.

The last straw came when he was convinced that he could cure my anxiety by making me face my fears.”

She was talking about that night in Barbados, but I also knew she had taken another swipe at my mother. I could feel myself shaking with anger. “Fuck you.”

“I’m responding to that bat shit crazy email you sent me. What the actual fuck, dude?” “It wasn’t crazy.” “Adam,” she laughed. “That email sounded like it was written by Ebenezer Scrooge after he was visited by the Ghost of Pussy Past.”

Haha

“When you got promoted, you hired your team. How many women are on your team, Adam?” I didn’t answer her. She knew there were no women on my team and it felt like I was walking into a trap. “That’s what I thought. You’re not fucking women at work but you’re also not hiring them. Is that any better?”

“When I was eight, I asked my dad for a Barbie dream house. Instead, he gave me a tool box, plywood, and told me to build one. I’ve been a structural engineer ever since.

I love Chloe.

His tone was sarcastic, harsh and accusatory. “Apparently I do have trust issues. Crazy, right? I can’t allow myself to trust someone. I can’t open myself up and be vulnerable because I think that deep down inside they’re just going to leave me.”

“Do you know why I didn’t work on the revisions?” I didn’t answer him. “I couldn’t stand the thought of working on this project without you. You made it happen and maybe it meant we couldn’t be together but at least you would be happy. You deserved to be there. I was considering turning it down.”

My parents adopted Cole when he was twelve but I couldn’t remember a time when he wasn’t my brother.

“You ignored his messages, falsely accused him of ruining your career with no evidentiary support, talked shit about his mom, threw him out of your house in the middle of winter, and then ghosted him.”

“I’m so sorry I said those things about her. I shouldn’t have…” I trailed off, unsure of what else I should say. “No, you shouldn’t have.” He kissed my shoulder. “But you were right, so thank you. Just don’t do it again.” He tickled me. “And you are gonna feel so bad when you see her because she is so excited to meet you.” I knew he was teasing me but I did feel a little guiltier.

A month ago, I was a twenty-four year old virgin who’d given up on love.

All this happened in a month?????

He’d always known we would get back together.

He burst out laughing. “I wanna be your wife, Mr. Price.” “That’s good, because I really wanna be your husband, Mrs. Price.” He cradled the back of my head and crawled on top of me, waggling his eyebrows.