Winning Appeal
Page 14

I moaned quietly into his mouth, and it seemed to drive him crazy. He backed me up against the desk and thrust his hips against me, but then he groaned and broke away, taking a step back, and staring up at the ceiling. I followed his gaze, half expecting to see God, but all I saw was florescent lighting.
“We have to stop,” he said, breathing hard.
“I know. I’m sorry,” I said, making an effort to compose myself.
“I haven’t been this desperate since I was a teenager. I can’t concentrate. You know those Viagra commercials where they say go to the hospital if you have an erection that lasts longer than four hours?” I nodded. “Well, how long is our work day?”
“I can’t concentrate either; I think about you all the time. And you’re not the only one with a thing for office furniture. I’ve thought about your desk, too and during that meeting, I fantasized about having sex with you on the conference table.”
“Oh my God.” He groaned again. “Don’t tell me that!”
“Mark, I can’t go on like this. I’m going through so many batteries.”
“I wanted to try to take it slowly, because I didn’t want to screw up, but Beth, I want you so much. There’s no blood left in my brain.”
“I was so jealous of Caitlin.”
“Of… what?! Beth! She thinks my name is Mike. I didn’t even remember her name. I’m not sure I ever knew it. The only thing I remember about her is how annoying she was.”
“Still, she’s had sex with you and I haven’t.”
“We can remedy that.”
“Can we?” I asked breathlessly.
“We have to. I’m running out of office furniture to fantasize about banging you on, and I’m Googling ‘injury’ and ‘excessive masturbation’.”
“Okay, well we have a date tomorrow,” I said, in a throaty voice and I saw his eyes darken and start to look hazy as he came closer again.
“And what are the female rules when it comes to physical contact on the second date?” he asked.
“There aren’t really any hard and fast rules.” I paused. “Is it just me, or did that sound kind of dirty?”
“Everything you say sounds dirty to me. In a good way.”
“Will you come out to the pub tonight with everybody? I mean, you’re not going to go out… somewhere else tonight?”
“No! What do you think; I’m going to make a farewell appearance at the clubs?” He was leaning down, about to kiss me again, when the sound of a quick knock and the door opening surprised us.
“Hey, you’d get lost?” Adam asked, and Mark spun around quickly. “Oh! Sorry, didn’t mean to interrupt.” He looked amused, as usual.
“And yet there you stand, interrupting,” Mark replied. Adam laughed and I got the feeling that it was an inside joke.
6:00 PM
Happy Hour at the pub was entertaining. We all had a good time joking around and talking about the week, but as it turned out, nobody wanted to stay all that late.
Cam and Jess left first. They wanted to enjoy the warm late May evening by grilling salmon on their deck, and before they left, they invited everyone else over to BBQ with them. Gab and Braden took them up on it, but said they had to go get Bruno first, and they left shortly afterward.
Adam and Lily had thanked them, but declined, citing “plans” for the evening. They had been flirting the whole time they were there, so it wasn’t hard to figure out what they had planned. They traded some suggestive looks, whispered something in each other’s ears, and wished us a good night. Then, Mark and I were alone at last, well, alone with a bar full of other people.
We stared at each other silently for a moment, and that energy was there between us again, pulling us together. I was starting to get much more confident now that our feelings were finally out in the open. I hadn’t even injured him lately.
“So, everything is on the table tomorrow physically? So to speak?” he asked, taking the last sip of his beer, and looking at me in a way that made my lady bits warm and tingly.
“Yes,” I smiled and took a deep breath. Then I laid my hand on his leg, and gently traced a path up his inseam with my fingertip. I was actually hoping that we wouldn’t have to wait until the next day.
“I love how you say that word, and I want you to touch me like that tomorrow night, and the next morning, and possibly into the afternoon, depending on how much stamina I have.”
“You don’t want me to touch you now, though?” I started to withdraw my hand but he stopped me and put it back.
“You can touch me. We’re in a crowded room; so there are limits on how far it can go. If we were alone right now, though, I would ask you to stop, because otherwise we wouldn’t make it until tomorrow night.”
“Why can’t we be together tonight too?” I wondered if that would be too much togetherness for him at once.
“There may not be any female rules on point, but there’s a code that guys live by, and it will make everything go a lot more smoothly down the road if I stick to it.”
“And part of the code is that you can’t be with a woman two nights in a row?” I asked, furrowing my brows in confusion.
“No, it’s not that. There needs to be date-like activity before you and I go there. Trust me on this; I’m setting you up for girlfriend status.”
“What kind of date-like activity?” I went back to tracing a path up his inner thigh with my fingertip. There was something about touching him under the table in the middle of a crowded bar that excited me.
“If a guy is interested in a relationship with you, he makes sure that the first time you have sex, the evening includes something special.”
“Like a fundraiser for a charitable foundation?” I asked dubiously.
“It’s a party. That’s close enough. Braden went the fundraiser route, and Adam even stretched it to a book signing.”
“But a bar doesn’t count?”
“That’s hooking up activity, and it confers one-night-stand status.”
“There are a lot of rules on the male side of dating.”
“Not rules, a code.”
“Does the code cover the actual sex part?” I asked curiously.
“Well, it does in some ways, but nothing you need to worry about. Trust me, it works in your favor.”
“So what’s the plan for after the fundraiser?” My fingers traveled higher still. Now I was within inches of what I had caught a glimpse of under those gym shorts, and his breathing picked up.