“Mmmm, that was a lot of fun. Thanks for playing,” he leaned in and gently touch my cheek. “Are you sure you have to go back to work today?”
His breath made my body tingle as I closed my eyes and felt him near me. I didn’t want to go back to work. I didn’t want to deal with the stress of the hacker in our system or the jerk of a boss I had. I wanted to go someplace with Brandon and let all the stresses of my life just melt away.
But I knew that I couldn’t do that; as much as I wanted to be irresponsible, that just wasn’t me.
“I’m going to have to finish work, sorry.”
“I understand. I used to work, you know,” he said proudly. “I’m unemployed now, though. I promise I’ll make something of myself someday.”
“My mother always warned me about dating a man who didn’t have a job.”
“She said to stay away from guys like me, didn’t she?”
“Yep. She’d be so disappointed in me,” I said.
We both laughed, and I found myself again feeling totally comfortable with Brandon.
After our first date, I wasn’t exactly sure if I had imagined how nice it had been to be with Brandon. It had been such a long time since I’d had a decent guy around, I had started to believe I just made up the chemistry in my head to justify why I liked him so much. But as I sat there with him, it was clear I hadn’t made anything up, at all. We did match up very well. There was chemistry between us, and I was more myself around him than I was with most people.
“So, your ex-wife seemed nice,” I said to break us out of our erotic mood.
It certainly did the job, and all of a sudden we were in a totally serious conversation. I really did think his ex-wife seemed nice, though. She had smiled at me and made eye contact; she didn’t look like a bitchy ex-wife, like I had built her up to be in my head.
“Yes, she’s a decent person. We just couldn’t stay married.”
“Do you mind that she’s getting remarried? I know you said you weren’t so sure about the guy, but do you still love her?”
“I will always care about her. We had a beautiful son and a great marriage while it was good, but I’m not in love with her.’
“My friend Mattie seemed to like you.”
“Yeah, she did. You better be careful; I think she might try to steal me away from you,” he said.
“Are you mine?” I leaned my head onto my hand and looked over at him.
I felt like he was mine and I was his. It was weird, and I didn’t want to feel that way. I was the girl who pushed people away. I was the girl who didn’t like commitment and wasn’t going to date a guy because I knew there weren’t men out there who could understand my loss. I was the woman who didn’t know if she would ever fall for another man as long as I lived; yet I sat there hoping that he would say he was mine.
“Do you mind if I say yes?”
“Just for now,” I said in an attempt to lighten the mood. “Who knows? I might decide to let Mattie have you,” I winked.
“Mmm, this blouse is so soft,” he said as his hands moved to the bottom of my blouse and pulled it out from my skirt. “Do you have the white bra on I gave you?”
“I think you need to keep your hands to yourself, mister,” I teased. “We are going to get ourselves arrested for indecent exposure.”
I was joking, but there was a part of me that was a little worried that we were going to cause a scene. I wasn’t the kind of girl who had sex in public or let a guy play with me like Brandon had just done. This wasn’t me, yet it felt like me. I was a little out of my comfort zone and needed to pull things back in a bit.
“I’m not exposing anything, yet,” he laughed. “Please, tell me this is the one I gave you?” His fingers moved under my blouse, and I felt my nipples perk up to attention.
“Yes, now get your hands back on your side of the table.”
“Are you really sure you need to work?”
“Yes. Hands back to your side,” I said firmly as I pulled his hand away and placed it on the table with his other one, while trying not to smile at him. “You are being very naughty.”
“Okay, I give up. I can’t handle it. I need to have my hands on you,”
he laughed and leaned in toward me.