acted like she’d asked him to hide a body, not go down on her. That list of sex tips? She would have been too embarrassed to leave it on Jason’s pillow, much less verbally ask for any of them.
And what was that? She was a professional woman who had total control over her life, and yet she’d never asked for what she wanted in bed. She’d never pushed for excellence there, even when she demanded it in all other areas of her life.
“Okay, you want the truth?” she asked.
“Depends.”
“On?”
His smile widened. “If I’ll like a lie better.”
“I don’t lie well. I’m honest. Painfully so. It’s part of the awkwardness, which, I am aware of, by the way. It works for me in some settings.”
“If you say so.”
“ Forbes says so, actually, but that’s beside the point.”
“ Forbes has never said anything about me,” he said.
“Don’t feel bad. You’re young yet. Make something of yourself and maybe someday you’ll be as important as I am. That point aside, though,” she said, taking a deep breath, “here’s the truth. I just got out of a really long-term relationship. Like, if socks were as old as that relationship, throwing them out would have been the obvious thing to do.”
“Socks?”
“Metaphorically, it actually holds up well. It stunk and it was full of holes. Again, much like old socks. And then I lost the asshole in the wash, so to speak.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, long-term relationship. So done with it. So done with him. And I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I know how to turn a few lines of code into a fortune, but I don’t know how to get a date. And I am…desperate for sex that’s more exciting than lukewarm oatmeal. Desperate. So…I’m sure I broke a cardinal rule by confessing my desperation, but—and this is a big but —I probably won’t be pursuing that non-bland sex with a stranger from a bar. Sorry.”
“Confessing desperation is probably a serious rule-breaker, you’re right.”
“No doubt.”
“I’m sure you’re supposed to be playing aloof. Hard to get. Like Jeff over there,” he said, gesturing to the man she’d made a pass at only a few minutes earlier.
That thought made her feel a little dizzy. She’d only been in the bar for an hour. She’d talked to four men. And she was going to go home with the fourth one if he was into it.
All in all, it was one of the more eventful hours in her life. And she’d had a few eventful hours in her lifetime.
“Well, I thought any more aloof and the bar would reach maximum aloofness capacity so I figured I’d tone it down.”
“I like honesty.”
“You just said you wanted the lie if it was better.”
He smiled. “Either I’m very honest or a good liar.”
“That shouldn’t be charming. How did you do that?”
“I’m good at flirting.”
“You have to show me. Because I think I need to understand the flirting since I’m making the app that’s supposed to help with the flirting. That is why I’m here, after all.”
“I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll help you with the flirting after you show me your sex tips.”
“Is that an offer?” she asked.
“I thought you were the one offering. I’m accepting.”
“I already told you it was more of an experimental offer. But for the sake of argument, is this a happy acceptance or a pity acceptance?”
He moved toward her, his eyes locked on hers. The glitter of humor in his eyes taking on a dark light that seemed to pull her in. He didn’t smell like sweat coated in cheap body spray. He smelled like soap, a hint of cologne and an undertone of musky man that she hadn’t realized she’d been missing from her life.
“Care to guess?” he asked, his voice soft, barely rising above the music and conversation in the bar.
She shot a quick look over to Jeff the Aloof. He was looking more interested now. Well, screw him. Or rather, not.
But maybe, just maybe, she would screw Caleb.
“Eyes on me,” he said, his tone suddenly
Gene Wentz, B. Abell Jurus