Mismatch - By Nana Malone Page 0,18
“I met a guy last night.”
Izzy’s eyes went round with surprise, and she leaned forward. “Do tell.”
“Uhm, yeah, he was, you know—” Jessica hemmed and hawed, hoping Izzy would let it go. If the headache wasn’t bad enough, she kept having flashbacks to the hottest orgasm she'd had in over a year. Which normally she wouldn’t mind. But along with memories of the orgasm came memories of the intimacy. The way he'd held her. The way he'd made her look at him, insisted on knowing her name, insisted on not being just some faceless, nameless one night stand. Another flash of his jade green eyes in her memory, and she could feel the dampening of her panties. Shit. She needed to get a grip.
“Don’t beat around the bush with me, young lady. I want my well-deserved deets.”
“I took him home, Izzy.”
“Wait, to your house? Jess!”
Jessica winced. “Well technically to your house.” When Izzy didn’t crack a smile, she said, “Look, I know okay. I already changed the alarm code and the gate code in case he saw me enter them. And I needed a locksmith anyway; my key is sticking, so in case he took a spare off my keychain or made a copy, I’ll be covered. And I’m going to sweep for bugs later with this kit I got from the spy store.”
Izzy shook her head, laughing. “I’m cutting off all your romantic suspense novels.”
“Yeah, you probably should. And the serial killer television shows, too.”
“It’s just so unlike you, Jess. You’re normally so careful. What made you decide to take him home?”
“What? You want to hear that he was hot enough to make my skin burn?”
Izzy sighed. “Okay, lecture over. I’m taking my mom hat off and putting my friend hat back on. So how was he?”
Jessica squeezed her eyes shut. “Do you want to hear that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him? Or do you want to hear that he scares the shit out of me?”
Izzy sat up, her brows drawing down over flint dark eyes, ready to do battle. “Did he hurt you?
Jessica blinked. “No. God, no. Nothing like that. It's just. I—” Unable to find the right words, she tried again. “Let's be real. I've had more than my fair share of one night stands, and I date. A lot. Okay, again, more than my fair share. But this guy, he made me feel like he could see into me. And it scares me shitless. It's no surprise that I'm pretty good at arm's lengthening guys. But no matter how I tried, it didn't work with him. He insisted I give him my name.”
Izzy chewed her bottom lip. “Did you get his?”
Jessica’s head ached and her body throbbed. She tried to listen to what Izzy was saying, but her mind kept wandering to last night. She'd actually given him her real name. Stupid. Note to self, next time you are feeling vulnerable and want anonymous sex, don’t give your real name. But it wasn't the sharing of personal details that worried her most. It was the way he'd made her feel. The way he'd exposed everything she felt that she usually hid from the world. She didn’t have that kind of intimacy with her shrink, let alone some guy she'd barely met. “No. I was being mysterious.”
“Ok. So where’s the rest of it? You haven’t given me a rundown of any of his cool tattoos or piercings.”
Staring into the eyes of her best friend, Jessica knew her chin wobbled and her eyes had to be red and watery. She gave Izzy the tamer play-by-play of what had transpired. Izzy just nodded, peeled wrappers off the chocolates, and handed them to Jessica.
When Jessica was done, she sat back. “God, I'm so tired. I only got about an hour of sleep. He literally kept me up all night.”
“Can I ask you a question, Jess?”
Jessica spoke around the piece of truffle in her mouth. “Shoot, Yoda.”
“What is it about this guy?”
Jessica frowned. She’d been asking herself the same question. “Fuck if I know. He's literally not my type at all. He’s so straight-laced. He looks like some kind of stock broker or something, except way less douchey.”
“And he has your first name but you don't have his.”
Jessica sagged against the plush pillows. “You think it was a bad idea to give my name?”
Izzy cocked her head from side to side. “Neither here nor there. I mean was the sex good?”
Good, didn’t even begin to cover it.