“I am a city boy—New York City to be exact. And I prefer the barflies take me to their place.”
“Why’s that?” She reaches over and thumps her hot pink candy-coated nails over the tabletop in a soothing rhythm, and my balls ache, just begging her to find a home for that hand somewhere on my body.
“I can dictate when I leave.” A part of me hates that I delved right in with the confessional. I’ve never once wanted to stay the night, and now, I’ve put my secret out there, laid it bare for the universe to slice and dice and invite her evil twin karma to the party to serve me my balls on a skewer. Never lead with a horrible confession.
“I get it.” She averts her eyes as if she’s been there. “I’m not really a morning person myself. Now, your sis—” Her eyes widen as she catches herself. “Your insistence to slow it down—what’s that about?”
“I’m ready to find the ‘one.’” There, the second nugget of truth she’s managed to excavate from me. “All of my friends are in serious relationships. Heck, my baby sister has landed in one herself. I’m ready to hunt the world to find my own unicorn, much like yourself.” I offer a peaceable smile as I toss the mythological euphemism right back in her court.
“But?” She bats her thick, dark lashes, and my dick whimpers for affection.
“But, I don’t want to sleep with everything that moves. That wasn’t quite working for me as far as the unicorn discovery goes. In fact, it might be hampering it.”
“I’m guessing it made the big three mighty happy, though.” She toasts me with her next sip.
The big three. A dirty grin begs to bloom, but I resist the urge. “That it did.” I lean back and examine her like this—so young, sweet as candy, with the face of a supermodel even if she doesn’t believe it herself. Cassidy deserves so much better than some silicone prosthetic making her smile. She deserves a real person, a bona fide body warming her bed. “So, when do we begin?”
Her brows peak with a mild interest. “Begin?”
“Our unified search for that mythological beast, the unicorn. Now that we’ve found our respective bed warmers, we’re free to take our time shopping for soul mates.” My features harden as I gear up for a proposal of my own. “I’m all for warming your bed. And I’ve changed my mind. I’m ready to start tonight.”
Her eyes widen in response. Her bowtie mouth opens and closes as if those were the last words she expected to hear.
“What happened to your genuine concern for my sobriety?”
“I bought you coffee.” I lean in, my eyes never wavering from hers. “You’ve sobered up nicely.”
She clears her throat, doing a quick visual sweep of the vicinity. “That’s all fine and dandy, but there’s no way in hell I’m taking you up to my dorm—not tonight, not ever, city boy. Let’s just say my roommate has a bit of a rotten temper.” The idea of a smile dances on her lips, and there’s not a whole lot holding me back from leaping at her from across the table. “I’m betting she wouldn’t care too much for finding you anywhere near my bed.” That sassy as hell grin of hers finally breaks loose, smooth and easy as if she’s holding back an inside joke I haven’t caught onto yet.
“My place it is.”
Her mouth falls open with a silent laugh. “You just said you don’t take girls home. Which is it, city slicker? Or did the big three manage to persuade you into breaking a rule or two for the night?”
“For you?” I take up her hand and lead us back out into the frosty night air. “I’d break them all.”
Something tells me that’s exactly what I’m about to do.
“Buddy,” I call as we head inside. He’s pretty docile for a German Shepard but likes to size up new blood with a bark and an inappropriately placed sniff or two.
Cassidy and I walked the three blocks over in mostly silence. But, if that grin her pearly whites have been biting down on signifies anything, tonight will be anything but silent.
“Who’s Buddy?” She looks up at me with those doe eyes just as the lumbering oaf slides into the entry, and Cassidy lets out an ear-curdling scream, loud enough to blow the roof off every house in a ten-block vicinity.
“Holy shee-it!” She jumps up onto the coffee table and does a spastic little dance while I wrangle Buddy and his snarling, snapping snout into the spare bedroom.
“Shit,” I pant as I head back to find her reasonably composed, back on solid ground, holding her palpitating chest as if she just stuffed her heart right back in it. “I take it you’re not a fan of four-legged humans.”