Page 14 of Reckless Kiss
Chapter 5
“We’re having dinner tomorrow night.” Jeffry sat in my office, his hair askew. “I still can’t believe she said yes.”
Jeffry was a decent guy. A PhD with a genius level of comprehension when it came to genetics. He was polite, clean, and reasonable. He didn’t seem to understand, despite all that brilliance in science, that women were simpler than deoxyribonucleic acid synthesizing. Eating dinner with a smart guy with basic levels of self-care was in and of itself a reason to say yes.
Or perhaps that was what I was telling myself so I didn’t feel like shit that Esme preferred dinner with Jeffry over me.
“Where will you take her?”
“Offenheimers? It’s fun there and they have everything so if she’s a vegetarian or whatever there will still be something to eat.”
It was considerate but stupid. “She’s not a vegetarian.”
“How would you know? You’ve spent one hour near her.”
I’ve spent a lot more than one hour with her. I’ve been inside her. I’ve made her come more in one night than I thought was possible.
But I didn’t say any of that. “She eats pork tacos on Tuesdays, numbnuts.”
“Oh yeah...”
And again the slightest glimmer of hope hit me in the chest. If Jeffry couldn’t see past his own nerves to what Esme enjoyed eating, but I knew without a second thought, then perhaps this crush of his wouldn’t last very long.
Maybe.
“Offenheimers is an excellent idea regardless. What will you wear?”
Jeffry looked down at his usual uniform of jeans and an ironic t-shirt. “Uh...a clean shirt?”
Hopeless.“Have you noticed that Esme is quite stylish? She has that retro, red lips, high heels vibe.”
“She’s hot. Yes.”
I rolled my eyes. “You don’t think perhaps you should try a little harder?”
He frowned. “No. I’m me, not you.”
Thank goodness for that. “Perhaps you’re right.” Normally I advised against dressing or behaving differently on a first date since it set up false expectations and started a shaky relationship on an even more delicate foot. It made it seem as if one was lying about who they were.
But in Jeffry’s case I think I was simply trying to make Esme happy. Or perhaps I wanted Jeffry to be me. Either way, it was wrong of me.
“I’m thinking I’ll try for a goodnight kiss but not more. I feel like anything more would be way too soon and anything less would give her the idea I don’t want this, ya know?”
“A dinner and a kiss will tell you a lot about each other. I think this is wise data collection.” Perhaps a bit careful, but definitely wise.
“If our kiss is half as crazy as I feel just sitting near her...”
Every muscle in my body locked up tight and I had the distinct urge to crack my neck. I liked Jeffry but when he said things like that I wanted to knock him into the next office and storm off with Esme over my shoulder like some sort of caveman claiming a woman.
That was the most important reason to help Jeffry. I might want to storm back to my cave to do wicked things to Esme, but I most certainly didn’t want to keep her there.
And that wasn’t right. She deserved Jeffry. Jeffry would keep her there and treat her right while I would...what? I didn’t know the answer to that. All I knew was that my attraction to Esme had everything to do with her moans and her soft little pants for more. Her supple skin and the way she looked at me like I was the one and only person who could take her pain away.
“Are you all right?” Jeffry asked.
I snapped from my thoughts to my friend, realizing all too late that I’d let my brain wander down Sex Alley again and my cock was as hard as a rod.
“Fine. Just remembered something from work and got a little lost in my head.”
