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much. There s no blood left in my brain.
 I was so jealous of Caitlin.
 Of& what?! Beth! She thinks my name is Mike. I didn t even remember her name. I m not sure I
ever knew it. The only thing I remember about her is how annoying she was.
 Still, she s had sex with you and I haven t.
 We can remedy that.
 Can we? I asked breathlessly.
 We have to. I m running out of office furniture to fantasize about banging you on, and I m
Googling  injury and  excessive masturbation .
 Okay, well we have a date tomorrow, I said, in a throaty voice and I saw his eyes darken and
start to look hazy as he came closer again.
 And what are the female rules when it comes to physical contact on the second date? he asked.
 There aren t really any hard and fast rules. I paused.  Is it just me, or did that sound kind of
dirty?
 Everything you say sounds dirty to me. In a good way.
 Will you come out to the pub tonight with everybody? I mean, you re not going to go out&
somewhere else tonight?
 No! What do you think; I m going to make a farewell appearance at the clubs? He was leaning
down, about to kiss me again, when the sound of a quick knock and the door opening surprised us.
 Hey, you d get lost? Adam asked, and Mark spun around quickly.  Oh! Sorry, didn t mean to
interrupt. He looked amused, as usual.
 And yet there you stand, interrupting, Mark replied. Adam laughed and I got the feeling that it
was an inside joke.
6:00 PM
Happy Hour at the pub was entertaining. We all had a good time joking around and talking about
the week, but as it turned out, nobody wanted to stay all that late.
Cam and Jess left first. They wanted to enjoy the warm late May evening by grilling salmon on
their deck, and before they left, they invited everyone else over to BBQ with them. Gab and Braden
took them up on it, but said they had to go get Bruno first, and they left shortly afterward.
Adam and Lily had thanked them, but declined, citing  plans for the evening. They had been
flirting the whole time they were there, so it wasn t hard to figure out what they had planned. They
traded some suggestive looks, whispered something in each other s ears, and wished us a good night.
Then, Mark and I were alone at last, well, alone with a bar full of other people.
We stared at each other silently for a moment, and that energy was there between us again,
pulling us together. I was starting to get much more confident now that our feelings were finally out in
the open. I hadn t even injured him lately.
 So, everything is on the table tomorrow physically? So to speak? he asked, taking the last sip
of his beer, and looking at me in a way that made my lady bits warm and tingly.
 Yes, I smiled and took a deep breath. Then I laid my hand on his leg, and gently traced a path
up his inseam with my fingertip. I was actually hoping that we wouldn t have to wait until the next
day.
 I love how you say that word, and I want you to touch me like that tomorrow night, and the next
morning, and possibly into the afternoon, depending on how much stamina I have.
 You don t want me to touch you now, though? I started to withdraw my hand but he stopped me
and put it back.
 You can touch me. We re in a crowded room; so there are limits on how far it can go. If we
were alone right now, though, I would ask you to stop, because otherwise we wouldn t make it until
tomorrow night.
 Why can t we be together tonight too? I wondered if that would be too much togetherness for
him at once.
 There may not be any female rules on point, but there s a code that guys live by, and it will
make everything go a lot more smoothly down the road if I stick to it.
 And part of the code is that you can t be with a woman two nights in a row? I asked, furrowing
my brows in confusion.
 No, it s not that. There needs to be date-like activity before you and I go there. Trust me on this;
I m setting you up for girlfriend status.
 What kind of date-like activity? I went back to tracing a path up his inner thigh with my
fingertip. There was something about touching him under the table in the middle of a crowded bar that
excited me.
 If a guy is interested in a relationship with you, he makes sure that the first time you have sex,
the evening includes something special.
 Like a fundraiser for a charitable foundation? I asked dubiously.
 It s a party. That s close enough. Braden went the fundraiser route, and Adam even stretched it
to a book signing.
 But a bar doesn t count?
 That s hooking up activity, and it confers one-night-stand status.
 There are a lot of rules on the male side of dating.
 Not rules, a code.
 Does the code cover the actual sex part? I asked curiously.
 Well, it does in some ways, but nothing you need to worry about. Trust me, it works in your
favor.
 So what s the plan for after the fundraiser? My fingers traveled higher still. Now I was within
inches of what I had caught a glimpse of under those gym shorts, and his breathing picked up.
 Then I want you to come back to my place. I would really love to spend the night with you. He
paused looking pleased, and then went on.  I want to have a lot of time, and a lot of space and a lot of
condoms. By the way, I m healthy. You re not on the& 
 No, but I m healthy too, and I have a prescription for it. It s actually in my desk at work. He
looked at me curiously and I shrugged.  I had my annual exam recently. Call me an optimist. So, what
do you think?
 What do I think? I think I love your optimism, and I think that we should go back to the office,
and I think that I m so happy right now I might cry.
 I guess that means you would like me to fill the prescription, I said and smiled.  It still takes a
week, though.
 I ve been waiting since puberty. I can wait a week, but no sense wasting time. He tossed down
some cash on the table, grabbed my hand and led me toward the door.  We can stop off at a drug store
after we leave the office, he said over his shoulder.
 What s the rush? I asked when we got to the sidewalk.  There are tons of places open on
Saturdays.
 But if you start tonight, we ll be good to go by next Friday. And as I stated, there is no code
provision against two nights in a row, so we can start a really great tradition even earlier.
 Thank you counselor, and good thinking. I was onboard with that plan. No more Friday night
dates with a Chihuahua.
Chapter Eight
Mark
We were back at our building in minutes. We smiled and waved casually at the security guy at
the desk, signing in and showing our identification cards, and then, we headed for the elevator and
rode to our floor, listening to piped in mood music.
When we arrived, I punched in the alarm code to our suite and we entered, heading straight to
Beth s office. She sat down in her desk chair and dug through her drawer. When she found the
prescription, she stuck it in her purse. Then she looked up at me. And kept looking.
I was sitting in her armchair, with my tie loosened and my shirtsleeves rolled up. I had a five [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]