Dirty Playboy - Alex Wolf Page 0,20
the surface, his hand is out. It’s my choice, whether I want to go or not, and he knows that.
I stare at his fingers, then up to his eyes, and man, he really is hot. So hot. I wasn’t the only one who got a little dressed up for this. His hair is slicked back, and he has a dress shirt on. It stirs things inside me that shouldn’t be stirred, but I’m still a woman with the same biological urges as everyone else.
Our eyes lock for an eternity. Finally, with every ounce of sincerity I can muster, I say, “One condition.”
He sees the way I look at him, and his whole demeanor changes. “I’ll do anything, tell me what to do.”
I take a deep breath. I don’t want to say this, but it’s the only way. It’s the only way this thing can be real and not some stupid game or some ridiculous fantasy between the two of us. “I want you to be yourself.”
His eyes dart away the second I say it, and he starts to respond, but I take a step toward him and cut him off. I don’t even know who I am right now, because this is so not me to be this upfront and forceful about something. My body and mind just take over, like someone else is steering the ship.
“I want the Rick from the other night, who beat up the homeless guy, who followed me home and made sure I made it back to my apartment.”
His eyes widen.
“Yeah, I saw you. You’re not the super sleuth you think you are.”
He starts to say something, but I take another step closer to him, so that we’re inches apart, and his hand hits my stomach.
“I want the Rick everyone else gets to see. Not fake, choirboy Rick who memorizes Bible verses just to impress me. I want the real you, or there is no deal.”
His eyes burn a hole in my retinas. I don’t know what I just did or how he’s going to react, but he’s definitely showing me the real Rick right now. He looks nothing like the happy-go-lucky, carefree man who waltzes around the office. The silence is so long, I think I may have broken him. He might be catatonic.
Finally, he shakes his head just slightly. “I can’t.”
My chest squeezes tight, because it wasn’t what I expected. I thought he just said he’d do anything for a date with me. My voice might crack if I try to speak, but I go ahead anyway and barely get the words out. “Why not?”
He glances away, then his eyes fall back on mine. “I don’t want to be that guy when I’m with you. You deserve so much better than that guy.”
Under normal circumstances, I would think he was feeding me a line. But I can see the sincerity in his face, the conviction. He means every last word of it. My heart comes alive once more.
I reach down and take his hand, nodding. “Okay.”
The second our fingers touch, something in my life changes. I can’t pinpoint exactly what it is, but life just morphs into something else. Something divine just happened. A new stage, a new era of life that now includes someone else.
All I know is, it makes me happy.
Rick pulls me down the hall, and just like that, I’m setting off on a new adventure.
Rick Lawrence
Well, fuck me. How about this right here? Mary’s riding in my car with me on our real first date. I mean sure, she’s been to weddings and company stuff with me, but it was always made abundantly clear we were attending as work colleagues.
No, the universe just bore witness to the fact that this is a date, and a consensual one at that. I have to force myself to watch the road because I just want to keep staring at her.
She’s so beautiful. I mean sure, there are tan women with fake tits and plastic surgery all over Chicago, but Mary is naturally beautiful. She tries to hide it most of the time, but it’s still there. Not tonight, though. Fuck, I want to kiss her so damn bad already.
“Where are you taking me?”
Shit, I forgot to have conversation along the way. I gotta play this off like it was on purpose. “It’s a surprise.”
“Come on, tell me.”
“To Jesus of Nazareth.”
“Yeah, I know that. But where are we going before? Why’s it a big secret?”
“You’ll see.” Fuck, I hope this pays off. “Think