La Vie en Rose {Life in Pink} by Lydia Michaels Read Free Book Online Page A

anything sexy about them.
    “Ready?” Riley asked, holding his lemon oyster while offering her the one dressed in the ginger sauce.
    Timidly, she reached for the shell.
    Their eyes met and he counted off. “One... two...three.” His head tipped back and her mouth filled with—
    Oh my God. What the fuck is in my mouth?
    “Not bad.” Riley grinned then started laughing. “Are you okay?”
    She shook her head, booger mollusk sliding around her tongue, and desperately searched the table for a napkin. You gag and it’s all over.
    “Swallow it!” he shouted, laughing at her.
    The vender passed her a napkin.
    “No, don’t spit. Swallow!”
    Oh my God, she was going to kick him if he didn’t shut up. People stared as they walked by and she spit the disgusting thing into the napkin and balled it up.
    Riley shook his head. “Oh, Emma, I’m disappointed. Good girls swallow.”
    “Shut up,” she snapped, her face burning.
    He laughed and nudged her, tossing a few dollars on the table and directing her into the crowd.
    “That was disgusting. Now I can’t get the taste out of my mouth.”
    He stopped and ordered a cup of cranberry Brooklyn soda. “Here, you big tissue.”
    “I’m not a tissue. I tried it.”
    “Let’s sit for a while.” He led her to a stout cement barricade along the jetties and they sat facing the East River.
    They’d walked miles in a matter of hours so she was grateful for the respite. The short wall was warm from the afternoon sun. “Today was really fun, Riley. Thanks for bringing me here.”
    “I had fun too. It’s nice to waste a day taking advantage of everything the city has to offer. We can get immune from living here.”
    She smiled, her cheeks tingling under the moist wind off the river. “There’s so much I’ve never experienced. I’ve never even been to the Empire State Building.”
    “What?”
    She laughed at his shock. “I know. I’m the worst New Yorker in the world.”
    “You gotta get out more, Em.”
    “I want to.” Letting out a deep breath, she relaxed. “I’m so sick of being me. It’s so tedious, always doing what everyone else thinks I should do.”
    He frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “I think you were right. I don’t think I loved Becket.”
    “Conceivable.”
    “Was it that obvious? Because if I’m being honest, I’m still getting over the shock.”
    “Don’t hate me, but Becket was a prick. He didn’t bring anything to the table. You guys were always running off to meet his friends or attend functions at his father’s law firm.”
    “Well, I do work there.”
    “Exactly. You work for his family. When was it about Emma Sanders?”
    There wasn’t an excuse at the ready. “I guess it never was.”
    “Yeah, that’s not love. So when you say you don’t think you were in love with him, I can believe it.”
    “You’re a pretty deep guy, Riley. Not a lot of men are like that.”
    He shrugged. “I’m comfortable with you. I can just say what I feel.”
    “Yeah,” she agreed, her mind drifting back to Riley as a tousled child in grass stained corduroys and wild curls. Although they knew each other since braces and bike rides, this was the first time they actually hung out alone. It was strange they never talked about personal things before, because she really was extremely comfortable around him.
    “What do you say we head back and go get that mani-pedi?” he asked.
    Her feet were killing her and the idea of a pedicure sounded divine. “Okay.”
    He glanced down at her flip-flops and tsked. “I’m not sure they can help those stank walkers.”
    She gaped at him. “There is nothing wrong with my feet!”
    “Whatever. Where’s your baby toe?”
    “It’s right here!” She lifted up her foot.
    He leaned forward and squinted. “You can’t call that Darwin freak show a toe.”
    “If it’s not then what the hell is it?” Her toes were perfectly normal!
    “That’s a nubbin.”
    “Whatever.” She stood.
    He rose as well.