A Whisper

9: Yankee Doodle Dandy

"This is the first time I've done this," I said as the horse started to pull the carriage Eric and I were sitting in. I'd walked through Central Park but I'd never done the carriage ride before.

"I haven't done it in years. I think the last time was when I moved here," he replied. He had his arm over the back of the seat behind my back.

I was glad I had a sweater on. There was a chill in the air that wasn't uncommon for almost mid-May. Being close to a human space heater helped quite a bit.

"I haven't been to Ellis Island either," I confessed. I hadn't been to the Statue of Liberty either but that was one of the bucket list things Hadley and I were supposed to do.

"I've only been because of clients. I haven't really paid much attention while I was there. It's shitty of me, but when I'm working that's where all my focus is," he told me.

"That's not shitty. I'm sure your clients appreciate that your focus is on them and not on any shiny thing that gets your attention," I said.

"True. I did blow someone off the other day to sext you," he snorted.

"That's quite the compliment."

"You should take it as such." He leaned over to kiss my cheek.

"Well riddle me this, Batman, if you weren't living in New York, where would you want to live?" I rested my hand on his thigh and teasingly rubbed the inside of it. I knew I was damn close to touching his cock.

"I probably would have stayed in Michigan and found a different profession. I didn't know what I wanted to do when I left college. I answered an ad when I was looking for a job, that's how I became a casting agent," he explained.

"I've never been to Michigan. It looks pretty in all those Pure Michigan commercials, though."

"It's a beautiful state. I've found I'm most comfortable here in New York. I'm close to the ocean here, and to the city. I can also be to my parents' place in a couple hours."

"That's nice. Maybe someday I'll get out there just to check it out." If it wouldn't have been too much for Gran, I might have embarked on my own world tour. Traveling the world and sampling everything it had to offer would have been nice, but I couldn't just take off after what happened to Hadley. I couldn't go to Eastern Europe and let Gran worry herself to death about me being kidnapped by sex traffickers.

"Maybe if you and I are still seeing each other when I head that way next you can come with me," he suggested.

"I'd like that," I smiled.

"You'd have to be okay with meeting my parents if that's okay..."

"I'd be okay with that. Would you be okay with that?" My hand might have moved up an inch.

"If we're still seeing each other then, I would be. There's something about you... this is different than with other women," he told me.

"I'm still going with the boobs," I joked.

"They are fabulous," he grinned. He leaned over to kiss me. He didn't remove my hand from his inner thigh.

I lost a few minutes of the tour because of those lips. They were good at cancelling out the rest of the world. It was funny how different things could turn out from the way I expected them to. In less than a week it had become obvious to me that whatever Eric and I had, it wasn't just casual. Maybe it wouldn't last forever and I wasn't having thoughts about him being The One, but there was something special about him too.

"I was planning on going home but with Dr. Brigant making a house call, I'm not sure I want to," I confessed.

"If Gran is anything like you, you're not going to want to see what's happening if you go home early," he chuckled. "Would you like to come home with me?"