“So far.”
“And you’re funny. You make me laugh.”
“I try to find humor in the everyday bullshit.”
“You’re not uptight. You can laugh at yourself. You’re intelligent. You seem like someone I could tolerate.”
“Gee, thanks,” he scoffed.
“That’s a good thing,” I offered, trying to reassure him I wasn’t putting him down. “And, it’d be a win-win for both of us.”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but you mean win-win in that we’d both benefit from your proposal.”
“That’s why they call it friends with benefits.”
“What are the parameters?” His dark blue eyes were like laser beams burning a path straight past any pretense or bullshit. “Besides the just friends. Just sex. No strings.”
“No relationship. No commitment. No emotions.”
“Just sex,” he said, testing the words.
“Just sex,” I reassured him with a nod and a smile.
“Anything else I should be aware of?”
“Hmm,” I considered aloud. “Timewise, what would work for you?”
He gave me a sexy smirk. “I can make anything work.”
“Typical guy,” I laughed.
He shrugged his shoulders and said, “A gorgeous lady like you? I’d be an idiot to say no.”
I mentally analyzed my schedule. “I think Wednesdays might be best for me.”
“Hump Day? Are you serious?” Tyler’s bark of laughter rang out, and I lost it. We were hysterically laughing at the coincidence of the day I chose.
“I didn’t choose that day on purpose,” I said through my fit of giggles. “I swear.” I couldn’t stop laughing. A few heads turned our way to see what was so funny. We ignored them.
He pounded the table with his fist a few times before he regained his composure. “Okay, so let me get this straight,” he said and took a deep breath. He ran through the major points of my proposal, then asked, “What about food?”
When I slanted my head in confusion, he added, “I’m gonna need food and drinks. You know, to keep me sustained. You will too. Trust me.” He gave a self-confident wink.
“Well, I will need you at your top performance.” I agreed, then grinned. “I also don’t want to have to deal with you being hangry.”
“That goes without saying.”
After a few moments of silence, before I lost my nerve, I pushed for an answer. “So, what do you think?”
“I think it’s a wonderful idea. I think I’m a lucky guy for you to consider me.”
“But?” I felt the but coming.
“There’s something I need to tell you first. Then you can decide if you’d like to proceed or not.”
Oh crap!This was it. The ship was about to sink. I was onboard. And there were no life rafts left. I was going down with the ship. And I wasn’t even its freaking captain. I resolved myself to not be a pussy, and just bite the bullet. “Okay, Tyler. What is it you’d like to tell me?”
“Well, it’s not something I need to tell you, but show you.”