I took a good look at him as I sipped my wine. He was truly the most attractive man I have ever seen: dark brown hair cut short on the sides and long enough on the top to run my hands through, green eyes the color of jade, a well-kept beard, strong, sharp features and a perfect smile.
“Your girlfriend doesn’t mind you having a drink before you come home? I’m sure she misses you,” slyly hinting about his current relationship status.
A sexy smirk is what I saw when I meet his eyes, trying to gauge his interest in me. He knows the exact reason for my question.
“No wife and no girlfriend.” He reveals, eyes twinkling at me, somehow knowing their effect on me.
I felt my phone vibrate in my lap and I glanced down to see a text from Caroline.
Meet me in the bathroom. ;)
“Excuse me. I’ll be right back.” I slid off my barstool and headed toward the back hallway.
I gripped the sink and looked at myself deeply in the mirror, giving myself a pep talk.
“You can do this. Yes, he looks like a GQ cover model, but you aren’t looking for anything more than tonight. Get it together.” I say to the image in the mirror, not realizing that Caroline had entered the room.
“One night, huh? That would be a first.” She leaned against the door with a knowing smile on her face.
“How’s the date going” I asked her, trying to deflect back to her and off the ridiculously sexy man waiting for me at the bar.
“Oh no! Don’t you dare ask me about my date when I saw the hunk of man-meat you were visiting with at the bar. And stop with this ‘no relationship’ crap, Maddie. You deserve so much love and affection and all you do is keep guys at arms’ length. You date but won’t allow yourself to really be open and vulnerable”
“Like I am going to find my forever love at a bar. Get real, Caroline. He and I just met and, while there are sparks, I’ll never allow it to get to a flame. Someone like him is only looking for one night and I won’t let feelings get in the way of good sex”
“There is more to life than good sex. You have never slept with a man you weren’t in some kind of relationship with. Even if it was friends with benefits. What you are missing is love, commitment, marriage, babies. You know, life! You need to get past the crap you have rattling around your head and open yourself up to love, or just the possibility of love. I mean, look at Josh…”
I held my hand up to stop her before she says any more, “I will not lose Josh as a friend just to see if the chemistry we have in the sheets correlates to the rest of our lives. He means too much as a friend for to me to take that chance. Besides, he knows how much I care for him and hopefully, one day, he will find his one. It is just not me. It was never me”
“Time for a subject change. Now how is your date going? Is Mr. Harmless being a gentleman?” I giggle to her, knowing his name is Spencer and he is a really nice guy.
“He is so nice and we have decided to grab dinner. That’s what I was going to tell you when I saw you with Mr. Hottie.” Sticking her tongue out at me like when we were ten.
“I’m so glad the date is going well. Have fun at dinner. I’ll just head back to the apartment and start that new book I just downloaded.
“What about your night with Mr. Hottie? You know I’ll be out for a few hours and I don’t plan to invite Spencer back tonight.” She looked at me with sad eyes now.
I knew she was feeling bad about ditching me, but I wanted her to have fun on her date.
“Me being here was about you being safe, not about me meeting someone. Besides, Mr. Hottie has probably moved on to another girl at the bar while we’ve been in here. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got a bottle of wine, my Kindle is charged, and I going to rereadFalling Downby Anne Mercier. I’ll have my night in bed withJesse Kingstonand I’ll be waiting up to hear all the juicy details of your night when you get home. Now, go! Have fun!” I hugged her as I was opening the door to ger her moving.
When I got back to the bar to grab my coat, I saw that Lucas was still waiting for me and looked almost relieved when I rejoined him.
“I took the liberty of having the bartender move your wine behind the counter when you got up so that it was safe to drink when you got back,” motioning to the bartender.
“I saw you leave and your drink has not been touched at all.” The bartender explained as he sat my drink back down.
Nice service and safe too. I will definitely be back for a drink.
“Thanks, but I’m going to head home now. I would like to settle my tab, please” I replied as I set my credit card down. I needed to leave before Lucas gave my raging libido any more reason to stay.
“You can’t stay for a little while? I saw that your friend and her date just left and I was hoping you would have time for another drink or maybe dinner,” he asked me casually as I signed the receipt and put on my coat to begin the lonely walk back home.
“Not tonight, but I really appreciate the offer. Maybe I’ll see you around. Atlanta can’t be that big of a city, right?” I tried to use my most seductive voice but I’m afraid he heard the nervousness in my words.
I wished I could extend my new care-free feelings to my sex life. It’s not often that a man like this walk into your life and a night with him would definitely be memorable. I’m just not capable of having sex with a stranger. No matter how dirty my thoughts are, the person in them is always someone I know.Someone safe.
Maybe Caroline’s right. These short intense relationships and friends with benefits situations I had going aren’t getting me anywhere.
