“I wasn’t joking,” I replied. “If I don’t propose, you’ll know the reason why. But don’t worry. You’ll get over me and learn to live again. I promise.”
“You’ll be in love with me by morning,” he said, snaking his arm around my waist and pulling me toward him as if I’d known him a decade rather than a couple of hours. The heat of him warmed me like fire. I just hoped I wouldn’t get burned.
Five
Nathan
I might hate weddings, but Truly and Noah’s had taken a turn for the better. Having Madison try to mandate what was going to happen between us and when was at least amusing.
She wanted me to wear a condom. This was no concession. It was a necessity as far as I was concerned.
She wanted to have sex in my room, then hers, then mine. She’d decided hers last I heard. This meant I could leave whenever I wanted, which worked for me.
She wanted me to leave before falling asleep. Another given.
She didn’t mind kissing. It was a good thing, too. No kissing would have been a deal-breaker for me.
Madison was a planner. And she liked to hear my opinion about everything. Which was difficult because I was happy to go along with most things she wanted. We were aligned on the end result and that was all that mattered.
“Okay,” she said, turning away from the dance floor and toward me. “Let’s go.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “No more questions? Requirements? No more boundaries? Do I need to sign something?”
“Whoever told you that you were funny was lying,” she said, then turned on a heel and headed toward the exit.
I chuckled, following her.
As we reached the lifts, she reached out to press the button and I captured her hand, pulling it into mine. Then I reached across her and called the lift.
“Hey,” she said. “I was going to do that.”
“Listen, Madison, you’ve been very . . . vocal about how you expect things to go this evening.” The lift doors opened and when she hesitated, I gestured for her to go first. “But,” I said as I followed her, “you need to relax. You’re not leading the Girl Guides on a camping expedition or studying for an exam. This isn’t a business transaction. Not everything can be planned and led from the front.”
“I’m a planner,” she said on a sigh. “A researcher. I like to understand all the details, you know?”
I laughed. “Yeah. I might have only known you a few hours, but I picked up on that already.”
“It’s probably why I’ve never had a one-night stand before,” she said, staring straight ahead at the panel of buttons.
I stalked toward her, backing her into the corner of the lift. “This isn’t going to be just a one-night stand.” I stroked my fingers over her cheekbone and pressed my hips into her soft, pliant flesh. She gasped. “It’s going to be an experience, a night to surrender, a night to forget everything else. Stop planning.” I dipped and placed a kiss on her neck, just below her ear. “Start feeling.”
Her shoulders began to drop and she brought her hands up, smoothing them over my chest.
Yes.
That’s what I liked. The touch of a woman. It was better than exercise, better than alcohol, better than any extreme sports to block out the bits of life that I didn’t want to think about.
“Your chest,” she said, almost in awe and then she giggled. The sound was intoxicating. She made her hand into a fist and knocked on my pecs as if I were a front door. “Anyone home?”
I grabbed her hand and placed it on my hardening dick. “You’re so cheeky,” I said, moving her hand over the bulge in my trousers.
“Nathan,” she whispered, chastising.
“What? You didn’t think that you touching my dick was part of this evening? Well, I’m here to break it to you that there’s going to be a lot of you touching a lot of me. And vice versa. There’s going to be a lot of nakedness, a lot of touching. A lot of coming.”
She looked at me, swallowed, and then nodded. “Okay.”
This girl was funny. It wasn’t something she was meant to steel herself for. It was supposed to be enticing.
“You might even enjoy it.”
The lift pinged open. I released Madison and we stepped out. She rummaged in her bag, pulled out her key, and before she could fiddle with it, I took it from her and slid it into the lock. “This is my room,” she said as we entered.
“Well, that’s a relief,” I said, toeing off my shoes and pulling off my tie. “At least we won’t be arrested for breaking and entering.”
I glanced around. Her room was neat, almost as if she’d just arrived. I opened the cabinet under the TV to find clothes, all neatly folded and put away. “Were you planning to stay for a while?”