Page 65 of Rough

And dangerous.

He leaned forward, resting his elbows against his knees. He lifted his chin slightly and met my gaze.

Naturally, I, too, leaned forward. My hardened nipples ripped at the thin material of my shirt. A tingling ran through me, causing me to shiver.

“This is weird,” he said.

Mood killer alert.

With the card clenched in my fingertips, and my eyes locked on his, I gawked at him. His full lips – which was something I had never really noticed when he had his beard – came together, and then parted slightly.

Don’t talk. Just sit there.

“I uhhm…I was wondering if you…if you’d want to…” he stammered.

He sat up straight, stood, and then folded his arms in front of his chest. “Will you go out on a date with me?”

Date? What?

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. My dry mouth returned. My heart raced. The blood rushed to my lower regions.

Somehow, despite his handsome new look – and my desire to jump his bones – the sensible side of me prevailed. At least for the moment.

“I uhhm. I’m flattered.” I uncrossed my legs, and then crossed them again. It wasn’t going to be easy to tell him no. “But, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

“Why not?”

I set the card on the end table and tried not to look at him. It didn’t work. Not completely, anyway. “If I agreed, we’d go on a date. We’d have sex. And, at some point, I’d fall in love with you. And then, you’d leave. In that order. That’s what happens.”

“I won’t leave.”

“You will, after the sex. And, it hurts,” I said. “Each time a man leaves a woman, he takes a piece of her heart with him when he goes. The next man comes along, and takes another piece, this time a big one. And then, she meets another. And he takes a piece. One day we look up and we’ve got this shriveled little sliver of a heart left, and that’s all we’ve got to offer. After that, the men we meet call us bitches and cunts, and man haters. They think we’re hardened, but we’re not. It’s just that we’re heartless. And we’re heartless because of you. Because of men.”

With his face covered in disbelief, he stared back at me.

“And.” I shrugged. “You’re a man.”

“I won’t hurt you.”

“You can’t say that.”

“I just did.”

“But you can’t.”

“It’s just a date. You might not even--”

“To you? To you, it’s just a date. To me it’s another chance. You’ll pull on your jeans, lace up your boots, and put on a clean tee shirt. Five minutes, tops. Me? I’ll spend three hours getting ready, and I’ll try on every article of clothing I own until I find one that I’m convinced is the one. And while we’re on the date, you’ll be wanting it to end, so we can come back here and have sex. Me? I’ll be wishing it could somehow last forever, because being on that date with you convinces me that I’m special.”

He flopped onto the couch and looked at me with convincing eyes. Convincing brown eyes with irresistible specks of green woven throughout.

“Don’t let yourself fall in love until you’re sure,” he said, his tone as convincing as his eyes. “Until then, no sex.”

He was persistent, which I liked. I melted some more, but just a little. It was nothing to worry about. Yet.

“No sex.” A laugh burst from my lips. “I love sex. Love it. So, it’s not that simple. And, guys like you are way too easy to fall in love with. Girls like me do it all the time.”

A crease formed on his brow. “What’s a guy like me?”