be my own professional by then, and whoever I decide to be with isn't going to have to worry about…"
"About being your first?" London asked, eyebrows raised.
"Exactly. It takes the pressure off."
"Oh yeah," London mocked. "Because following up Hendrix Malone will be a piece of cake."
I didn't argue with her, because I couldn't. Because just from what I'd already experienced? There would be no following him up. But either way, I would have this one solid memory of when I burned brighter than the star I always wanted to be. Because I knew that was exactly how Hendrix would light me up. I just needed him to do it. Once.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I fished it out. My eyes flew wide as I turned the screen toward London. "Speak of the silver-tongued devil," I said with a shaky breath.
"OMG, is that his address? Gate code?" London asked, her lips parting as she gazed up at me shockingly.
I flipped the phone back toward me, rereading his text to make sure I hadn’t fallen into one of my nightly fantasies.
Hendrix: Meet me here at eight. We're discussing rules only, so wear your sweats.
I actually snort-laughed at his demand I wear sweats. I shook my head at the text, internally chiding him for his incredible cockiness.
"Fine," I said out loud and typed out a fast text back to him. I pushed off my bed and hurried over to my dresser. "If the boy wants sweats, then I’m going to wear sweats."
I fished out a couple articles of clothing and stepped into my bathroom.
I hurried into the clothes, then swung open the door, giving London a dramatic catwalk show.
She eyed my incredibly short cotton pajama bottoms and the off-the-shoulder sweater that revealed my red lace bra strap beneath. "You're going with the Raptors sweater?" she asked.
I gave her a firm nod, flipping my long red hair over my head and shaking it up a bit before righting myself.
"The one with Hendrix’s number on it?" London asked, her eyebrows arching higher the longer she studied my outfit.
I spun to face my full-length mirror, admiring my long legs that were now toned and sculpted from my multiple Krav Maga classes every week.
"What?" I asked, situating my hair to just the right amount of tousled. "He said wear my sweats. And I know that tonight is not going to be the night. I know he just wants to lay down ground rules. But it won't hurt him to be just a little bit tortured, right?"
London parted her lips and closed them a few times before she shook her head with a sweet smile that was her signature look. "Do you know what you're doing, Savannah?" she asked in her most innocent voice. The voice of a concerned best friend who was worried I might be getting in over my head.
And maybe I didn't know exactly what I was doing, but that's kind of how I lived my life. I liked testing boundaries and walking along the edge of danger. And if that wasn't Hendrix Malone, I didn’t know what was. All could probably be traced back to the fact that my father had been one of the most overprotective fathers in the history of the planet, but he was still a good dad.
"Sure I do," I said with a shrug I didn't exactly feel. "I'm going to have a business meeting with Mr. Malone," I said as if I were saying, Mr. Grey. "We're going to negotiate the terms of the execution of my virginity."
London burst out laughing, and I couldn't help but join in. I mean good God, it sounded like I'd fallen into an erotica novel, minus all the hot sex that would have happened by now if I'd been in one.
But hopefully, since Hendrix reached out, maybe we were one step closer to getting to those steamy pages from the novels I delighted reading when I wasn’t limp from schoolwork.
"Okay," I said, facing London as we reeled in our laughter. "How do I look?"
London's eyes looked me up and down, and she shook her head. "Dessert," she said. "You look exactly like dessert."
I fashioned a smile that was much more confident than I felt and nodded. Dessert was exactly what I was going for, despite the nerves threatening to make my knees shake.
At exactly seven-fifty-nine, I walked up Hendrix’s long gravel path to his front door. I totally ignored the trembling in my fingers and channeled every ounce of confidence my