I would never leave you hanging too long after a cliffhanger! (If you didn't see Sunday's post, scroll down and read that one first.) Enjoy :)
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“Jenna, this is—“
“Ryan,” I interrupted, taken
completely by surprise.
Ryan grinned, and Rachael
frowned. “You guys know each other?” she
asked, looking between us in confusion.
“Not exactly, but we’ve met,” Ryan
said, extending his hand towards me. I
took it and we shook. He held onto my
hand a beat longer than necessary. “Nice
to see you again, and now I know your name, too.”
Rachael still looked really confused. I colored slightly as I said, “Ryan was my
server when I was out on a terrible date.
He swapped my disgusting gin and tonic for a vodka soda and made it
slightly less terrible.” I left out the
part about him chasing me out to my car to give me his number, and I flushed a
little more thinking about it. So
awkward.
“You know that terrible date was
the talk of the kitchen, right?” Ryan asked, his easy grin widening. “We were all talking about the poor pretty
girl that was out on either a blind date or an online dating date with the
not-so-pretty guy that was completely full of himself. It was the least I could do.”
My face was hot now, and Rachael
only looked slightly less confused.
Seeing her confusion, Ryan said, “My uncle owns a restaurant and I fill
in sometimes when I’m home.” Turning to
me, he said, “My day job is international project management. You caught me on a rare night I was helping
my uncle out.”
Erica had wandered over and she
introduced herself to Ryan. I had no
idea what “international project management” actually was, so I just smiled and
nodded. “You must travel a lot then,”
Erica said, saving me from having to come up with something.
Ryan nodded. “I do.
I’m hardly ever home for more than a week or two at a time, except for
every once in awhile when I get a month or so off from traveling. That only happens once or twice a year
though.”
Rachael had recovered, and the four
of us chatted for awhile. Eventually, I
somehow found myself alone with Ryan as the sun went down. “So, was it my approach?”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“You didn’t call. You're not into strange men chasing you
down in a dark parking lot?”
I snorted. “Well, that certainly wasn’t how I was
expecting that night to end. But it
wasn’t that. I’m not really dating right
now.”
“Why not?” he asked boldly.
I pursed my lips and considered how
to answer. Finally, I decided honestly
was for the best here. “I’m fairly
recently divorced,” I admitted.
“How recently is ‘fairly
recently’?” he asked.
My eyebrows flew up. This guy was ballsy. “You have terrible social skills,” I told
him. “Do you normally go around prying
into people’s lives?”
“Only people I’m interested in,” he
replied, returning my surprised look with a level gaze.
I found myself melting (figuratively,
of course), and I answered his question.
“Not quite 6 months ago.” I
immediately scolded myself internally for buckling so easily for an attractive
man.
“I don’t date,” he said,
shrugging. “I can’t, really. I’m gone too much. But I’d like to take you out sometime
anyway.”
“Why? If you don’t date, what’s the point?”
He smirked. “Why do you think?” he asked, his eyes
sparkling. My god, he was sexy.
“You want to have sex with me,” I
replied bluntly.
He laughed. “Well, I prefer to get to know people at
least a little before I make that decision.”
“This is easily the weirdest
conversation I’ve ever had,” I said, shaking my head.
“Weirder than your conversation
with Mr. ‘I Work in Finance’?”
I shuddered, remembering it. “That doesn’t even count as a
conversation. I think I said a dozen
words the entire time I was there, and 10 of them were to you!”
“That’s probably true,” he
agreed. “Look, I’m a big fan of
honesty. I don’t date, but I would like
to get to know you better to see what might happen.”
“So you want to take me out, but
not on a date. More like an interview to
be your fuck buddy.” I raised an eyebrow
at him skeptically.
“You can call it whatever you
want,” he replied with easy confidence. “But
you could also consider it an interview for me
to be your fuck buddy.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You’re a cocky motherfucker,” I told him.
“Confident,” he corrected me.
I narrowed my eyes at him. I hated that I was attracted to him. His
dark blue eyes regarded me calmly, waiting for me to respond. When I said nothing, he shrugged, rubbed his
hand over the two days’ worth of stubble along his jaw, and leaned back in his
chair. Erica reappeared at that moment
and plopped down in the chair next to me.
“Where did you go?” I asked her, happy to turn my attention away from
Ryan.
“I went inside to go to the
bathroom, but then I started talking to one of Rachael’s friends and got
distracted.” She stopped and looked
between Ryan and I, realized that she had interrupted something. “You know, I can go—“ she started.
“What were you talking about?” I
asked, interrupting her and preventing her from leaving.
She gave me a weird look and kept
talking. Ryan stayed long enough to be
polite and then excused himself, perfectly politely. He caught my eye just before he left, and he
flashed me a quick, dazzling, ridiculously sexy smile. Then he was gone. “That’s the guy that Rachael is trying to
hook you up with?” Erica asked unnecessarily, watching him walk away. “He is beautiful.”
“He is,” I groaned. “He’s also one cocky son of a bitch.”
Erica cocked an eyebrow at me. “That’s never bothered you before,” she
pointed out. I just glared at her. She shrugged.
“I mean, if you’re not interested, you’re not interested…but he’s
exactly your type and he is hot.”
“He is,” I repeated, sighing. “He wants to take me out. But not on a date.” Erica looked puzzled. “It’s a sex interview, Erica.”
Erica burst into laughter at
that. “A sex interview?” she repeated,
still laughing. “You’re
ridiculous.”
She was still laughing when Rachael
came and pulled a chair up next to me on the other side. “Well?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows at
me.
“He’s a dick,” I said.
Rachael looked surprised. “No he’s not,” she said. “He comes off like a cocky asshole but he’s
actually a really nice guy. Don’t tell
him I told you that though.”
“That’s something that someone who
was trying to get their friend laid would say,” I said.
“I know, I told him the same thing
about you,” she shot back, smirking.
I laughed, shaking my head. “You would.”
“I would, but I didn’t,” she
replied. “Look, don’t feel pressured to
go out with him. I meant it when I said
if you weren’t into it you wouldn’t hear about it from me again. But don’t let his attitude fool you.” Someone called out for Rachael and she tossed
one more grin at me before she jumped up and walked towards the girl who called
her name.
“Are you ready?” I asked
Erica. She nodded and we stood.
As we were walking through the
backyard, I caught sight of Ryan again.
He was standing with a small group of people near the edge of the
yard. As I watched him, he turned his
head and our eyes met. “Just a second,”
I said to Erica. Feeling impulsive, I
walked towards him. He broke away from
his friends as I approached. Before he
could say anything, I handed him my phone.
“Put your number in, in the event I decide to take you up on going out
sometime,” I said coolly.
“Sure,” he said, flashing that
smile at me again. He put his number in
then handed it back to me.
“Thanks,” I said, returning his
smile. Then I took my phone, turned, and
walked back towards Erica without looking back to see if he was watching me.