“First?” she asks, wrinkling her nose. “What’s second?”
We stare at each other. I let her figure it out on her own. It’s rare to meet a woman like me, someone who truly has no interest in finding a partner. I’ve heard that claim from enough girls to know when they’re bullshitting me, and unless Amelia is a Grade-A con artist, she definitely isn’t looking to get serious.
When she understands, the wrinkles on her forehead ease, and she parts her lips. I answer with a knowing smile. Suggesting sex within half an hour of meeting someone might normally get me slapped, but I get the feeling Amelia appreciates a more direct approach.
“I don’t date,” I say, “but I’m still a man with eyes.”
She makes no secret of looking me up and down. “You’re not my type either,” she warns. “I like men who carry a briefcase and see a barber regularly.”
I run my hand through my black hair, which I know is too long. “How’s that working out for you?”
She narrows her eyes. “Fine. Perfect.”
“I have some tattoos too,” I say. “And own a motorcycle. Since that’s normally how I get most girls, I suppose those are turn-offs for you.”
“They are,” she says immediately, straightening her shoulders. “I’ve never understood the appeal of a bad boy.”
“Then tonight, we’re a match made in heaven, aren’t we? It shouldn’t be hard for either of us to say goodbye afterward.”
She bats her eyelashes a few times, not because she’s flirting but because she’s thinking. Considering. Which means it’s basically a done deal. I’ve never gotten this far with a girl only to have her walk away. “Why even bother with dinner?” she asks.
I take a moment to study her, her shoulder-length, perfectly coifed blonde hair. Her defined red lips that look like a heart when pursed, which is often. Yeah, based on the fact that I’m noticing details—something I try not to do anymore—I know I’m feeling her tonight. Most guys would jump at the opportunity to skip the small talk, but that doesn’t really appeal to me. I like women, always have. Just because Shana fucked me in the head doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate them. Doesn’t mean I don’t want to spend time around them—just so long’s it’s surface stuff.
I don’t want to scare her off by suggesting I might want to have a conversation with her, so I just shrug. “Because I’m starving.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Indulge me then. I need my energy.”
“For what?” she asks.
I arch an eyebrow at her. I’ll definitely need sustenance to handle her for a night.
She reads my expression, and her cheeks redden. “Oh.”
I mentally high-five myself for making this obviously composed woman both laugh and blush in such a short timespan.
She squints over my shoulder and after a few seconds, shakes her head. “No. It’s a bad idea. I’m sorry.”
Huh. I expected some pushback, but not a hard no. “What’s bad about it?”
“I just haven’t been with anybody since—” She focuses behind me, as if there’s something holding her attention. I know there isn’t. She doesn’t want to refuse me, but it’s easier if she pretends not to see me. “So, I wouldn’t be . . . it’s been a while since I did it.”
“Did what?” I ask. I know what she’s getting at, but she seems to value her façade, and that only makes me curious about what’s beneath it.
She looks back at me. “Sex.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” I grin. With a breeze, a few pieces of her hair break away from the mold and stick to her lipstick. There’s not much she can do about it since her hands are full, so I reach up and clear the strands away, letting my fingertips graze her cheek. For such a hard exterior, her skin is surprisingly smooth. She flinches, but I push my luck and tuck the hair behind her ear. “It’ll come back to you,” I say. “I’ll make sure of it.”
“But—”
“Look at me.”
She does, and whatever’s holding her back dims. “Just so we’re on the same page, you want to have a one-night stand. Sex only.”
My stomach tightens at the image her bluntness conjures—her, naked beneath me, tits high, perfect blonde hair tangled from my hands, red lipstick smeared from my mouth. In no time at all, I could have this beauty’s long, toned legs wrapped around my waist. She’s everything I normally avoid—uptight, snobby, self-possessed—and I can’t seem to walk away. Maybe dinner was a bad idea after all. I’m tempted to skip ahead to the good part.
“Yeah,” I say. “Just sex.”
“Completely casual. No strings. Just tonight.”
I nod. “That’s all I have to give.”
“Same here.”
“So let’s start with dinner. See how we get on.” Since I’m confident in my ability to seduce her, I add, “If you change your mind, we’ll go our separate ways.”
“Okay.” She steps back. “I know of a great dinner spot around here.”
“Is there pizza?”
“No. I told you, I don’t eat carbs.”
“I don’t understand that sentence.” I nod for her to follow me. “Come on.”
“I’m not getting pizza.”
I keep walking, listening for the click of her heels behind me. “You don’t like it?”
“Nope.”
“Well, I don’t like the city, but here I am, spending the evening here. We’re changing things up tonight.”
She huffs but doesn’t protest any more. After a second, she catches up with me. “If you want to win me over, you should know, I don’t take orders well.”
I glance sidelong at her, containing my smile. “You will once I’m through with you.”
She gapes. “What does that mean?”
“Means I never met a challenge I didn’t accept, and you just gave me a very enticing one. We’ll see later on how long you last resisting my orders.”
She looks skeptical. “Have it your way, then. I was just trying to help you seduce me, but if you’d rather make more work for yourself . . .”
“So you’re saying you aren’t a sure thing tonight?” A young guy with music blasting from his phone dances jerkily toward us. I put an arm around Amelia and steer her out of the way. “Because I don’t mind,” I continue. “Like I said, I’m up for the challenge.”
“Good,” she says, tossing her hair over one shoulder. “So am I.”
“Then I hate to disappoint you, but I am a sure thing.”
She raises an eyebrow up at me. “Well, you are a man.”
“It’s not that.” It’s more refreshing than I realized to be able to be straight with a woman. “I just find you attractive, and there’s almost nothing you can say to change my mind at this point.”
The guy has passed us, but Amelia doesn’t pull away at first. When she does, I’m tempted to keep her close. I can see I’ll have to give her a little longer to loosen up, though.
“Nothing at all?” she asks.
I groan. “Why do I think you’re going to take that as a challenge to drive me away?”
“I wouldn’t do that,” she says, but I hear the teasing in her voice. She might. But I’m horny, and she’s hot, so I’m up for a little game of cat and mouse. Besides, it’s not as if I have anywhere to be tonight.
THREE
The pizza place has a line out the door, and as Amelia and I walk up, it becomes obvious it’s more of a kiosk than a restaurant. Standing room only, people loiter outside with their slices.
“I didn’t realize we couldn’t sit down,” I tell Amelia before I even notice her scowl. “Should we go somewhere else?”
“Somewhere without pizza?”
I chuckle. “No. There will be pizza.”
“Then no.” She smiles thinly and adjusts the things in her arms. “This is fine. Not much of a first date, but—”
“Whoa—hang on. If this is a date, I’ll take you somewhere entirely different. I’ll romance the shit out of you.”
&nb
sp; She looks amused. “It was a joke. Obviously, I prefer we leave romance out of it.”
“Oh.” I rub the back of my neck, surprised my mind went immediately to romance. There’s a girl back in Jersey, Denise, a friend from high school. She gets my situation—I’m not emotionally available. Still, when Denise and I hook up, she always tries to squeeze some romance out of me, either with dinner or by asking about Bell. That hasn’t been my thing since Shana left. “So what was his name?”
Amelia blinks and looks up at me. We take a step forward in line together. “Who?”
“The ex.”
“Does it matter?”