LOVEHATE

33

Mild smut warning!

The next day we arrived in New York mid-morning. I had the window seat and squealed as the NYC skyline came into view. Shawn grabbed our two carry-on bags and led us to the exit. He was obviously very familiar with the airport. I noticed that he kept his hood on and his head down as he walked quickly through the crowds. I had to jog to keep up. When we got outside he explained that he didn't really want to get stopped by fans.

A driver was waiting for us outside LaGuardia. He took us to our posh hotel where they allowed us to check in early. One perk of being a celebrity.

We went up to our room and I ran straight to the sliding door to check out the view from our balcony. Shawn joined me as I looked over the railing. Below us there were hundreds of people setting up for tonight's festivities.

"I ordered several bottles of pink champagne for us to have tonight," he told me. "We can drink out here, though it might be too cold."

I wondered if he'd remembered I liked pink champagne from that night at Cube when I'd been drinking it. That night had been the first time we hooked up.

"We can bundle up! This is insane! I love it!" I told him, turning so that I was facing him.

He leaned down and kissed me. We hadn't been completely alone like this for weeks. I quickly forgot my excitement about tonight and felt only excitement for my gorgeous boyfriend.

"Let's go back in," I said, taking him by the hand.

"Are you hungry? Do you want to grab some food?" he asked.

"No. That's not what I want," I said as I started taking my clothes off. Soon I was standing in front of him naked.

"Maybe we should close these curtains," he said with a chuckle as he walked over to pull them shut. He had a point. Our balcony connected to others, and anyone on either side could see right inside.

Once we had some privacy, I proceeded to undress Shawn. His body never ceased to thrill me. From the look of things, he was pretty thrilled, too.

"I've missed this," I said as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

I loved the feeling of his fully naked body against my own. It was very primal and sensual. His skin felt so warm against mine and every nerve ending in my skin was tingling.

Shawn leaned in and kissed me. His bottom lip was so full and soft. I couldn't help but run my tongue over it as soon as our mouths made contact.

"I love your mouth," I said when we pulled apart to breathe.

He bit his lip and stared at me, his eyes dark. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Sit down, Sadie," he ordered me.

"Where?" I asked.

He pointed to a leather armchair by the window.

I sat, suddenly feeling oddly exposed and vulnerable. I put my arms over my chest and crossed my legs.

Shawn stood in front of me. "Don't do that, baby. You're so beautiful. Just relax."

I put my arms on the armrests. My legs were still crossed, though. He knelt in front of me and forced my legs apart. He then lifted them and put them over his shoulders.

I watched as he lowered my head and gasped when he found his destination. My fingers went to his thick wavy hair and I held on for dear life as he drove me to an almost hysteric level of pleasure.

We stayed naked for the entire afternoon splurging on the overpriced snacks in the minibar to keep our energy levels up.

That night we stayed in and ordered room service. Maybe it was a waste of a day in one of the greatest cities in the world, but we were happy to be together with nothing to distract us. I wasn't thinking about school, and he put aside everything that was coming up with his career.

The room was lovely, which made it more enticing to remain there. The floors were carpeted in a modern yellow striped pattern and the king sized bed was outfitted in white bedding with metallic throw pillows. The blue headboard was illuminated and was the most colorful thing in the room. The balcony was the best feature, though.

We finally got fully dressed when we knew we couldn't have sex again without a chance to recover. At 10 o'clock we bundled up and brought drinks out on the patio. Again, this was courtesy of the minibar. We were saving the pink champagne for midnight.

All of the terrace patios were filled with people celebrating the New Year. Standing at the rail with Shawn's strong arms around me, I looked out with amazement at the crowd in Times Square. The lights were incredible and the sound of the crowd and all the noisemakers was deafening.

I took a sip of my bourbon and coke. "This night is perfect."

"I'm glad you're happy, honey. I wanted this to be special for you."

Around 11 we went back inside to warm up. The most logical way to do this was to get naked and sweaty in the comfy king sized bed. Just before midnight we got dressed yet again. Shawn opened both bottles of champagne which we brought on the terrace. Chanting the countdown with the rest of New York, we kissed as the ball dropped and the new year began.

We took huge swigs of pink bubbly from our bottles and cheered with our neighbors on the terraces near us.

Once the raucous crowing died down
and we'd each drank half a bottle of champagne, Shawn kissed me again.

"I chose to celebrate this night with you here in New York for a reason, baby," he told me.

"And what's that?" I asked, tipsy from all the alcohol.

"It's the start of a new year. This night is symbolic of starting over, and it's traditional to look ahead to the future. I see you in my future."

I was a little scared to look too far ahead in my future because I had so many changes coming up. I knew, however, that I wanted Shawn to be a part of it.

"I want us to have a future together, too," I said.

Later that night, we snuggled in bed.

"Remember when we hated each other?" I said before yawning.

"It wasn't hate."

"What do you think it was?" I asked, propping myself up in my elbow so I could look at him.

"I think we both knew there was the potential for this and it scared us," he said.

"I really didn't like you, though."

"You say that, but look at the crazy attraction we had for each other. I think you didn't like how you felt about me deep down."

"Do you think if we'd met and you'd asked me out and we'd gone the traditional route, we'd be here now?" I asked.

"Nope. We had to go through everything else to get here. Our journey was important."

"And really it's just started," I said before I started falling asleep in his strong arms.

Suddenly I woke back up because I thought of something I'd always wanted to ask him.

"Shawn?"

"What, honey," he responded drowsily.

"Why did you wash my panties and deliver them to me after our first hook-up?"

He started to chuckle. Soon he was full blown laughing, causing the bed to shake. After a minute he got control of himself.

"I was washing the sheets, and when I pulled them out of the dryer to remake the bed, your panties fell on the floor. I guess they'd been tangled in the bedding. I delivered them to you just to let you know I was pissed you'd snuck out."

Now it was my turn to laugh.

The end.