I sent Gracie a dozen roses and a note.

Be ready at 8. Wear something hot. Tonight, you’re my date.

I haven’t seen her in weeks. After our night together, as we stood in the hallway between our apartments, she told me she was leaving town for three weeks. Going to be with her parents in Connecticut while she did a three-week long internship with the YWCA in her hometown. Apparently, her program requires a few of these gigs with a women’s non-profit over the course of the year.

“I did two weeks there back in October, and I have a third, two-week session in May.”

“So, when will you be home in February?” I asked, trying to get a lay of the land. There are six other items on the list and I knew that as soon as the second half of February came around I’d be off in Tampa for spring training until April.

“I’ll be home the twelfth.”

“I leave the fifteenth... so we should make a plan for when...” I didn’t want to come off as too eager. But hell, this girl had given me an unforgettable night... and she hadn’t even touched my cock.

“So, you’re okay with us going forward with the list?” she had asked, leaning in her doorway the morning after.

“Yeah. I’m not a quitter.” I shrugged, hoping it came off as confident. The truth was I had to see the list through. No way in hell could I imagine Gracie doing anything on that list with a man other than me. “On the 14^th then. You and me.”

“You’re asking me out for Valentine’s day?” Her voice screeched in confusion. Like going on a date with me wasn’t part of the deal.

Like, this list wasn’t about her and me... being anything. It was about exploring her untapped sexuality. Plain and simple. I needed to play it cool.

“What? You have plans?”

She laughed. “Not me. You. Coop, last year you literally took two different women out on Valentine’s.”

I blanched at the memory. Yes, I had gone out with two women the same night. But it wasn’t my fault my first date got sick and had to leave early. But it was Valentine’s Day, I didn’t want to be alone, so, of course, I called in my backup.

“No, I want to take you out. Not like, romantically. But we can eat before we check another item off the list.” I pull out my phone. “Valentine’s day is Tuesday this year. If you’d rather, we can do our thing on Monday?”

She pursed her lips thinking. “No, that won’t work.”

“Oh, so your social calendar is full on a random Monday?” I know this girl never goes out. Especially a weeknight.

“It’s The Bachelor,” she said, shrugging as if it was obvious.

I scoffed. “You’re skipping a date with me for a reality TV show?”

“I thought it wasn’t a date?”

I exhaled, trying to not let my ego get too bruised, but the truth was, she wasn’t giving me any indication that she wanted more than seven isolated hook-ups. I wasn’t about to force myself into her life further than the Kinky list required. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her away.

“Call it what you want. Valentine’s Day Gracie, you’re my arm candy, understood?”

She nodded and went to close her door.

But before she did, she ran back across the hall, stood on her tippy toes, and kissed my cheek. “Until next time.”

* * *

I knock on her door, wearing a charcoal grey suit, a tie. Looking like a fucking douchebag. Hoping Gracie likes it.

“Wow, Cooper, look at you,” she beams, pulling open the door and letting me inside.

“You’re the showstopper,” I say, taking in Gracie. She looks like head-to-toe trouble. And I fucking love it.

“Bridget helped me pick it out and it feels like it’s two sizes too small. I can’t really breathe.”

“Well, it looks amazing,” I tell her, kissing her cheek before walking past her into the apartment. Her skin is as soft as I remember, her hair smelling like roses and rain showers.

“Well, I needed help. Obviously. I only have one little black dress and everything else I own is Tori Birch color-blocked stuff my mom bought me. Nothing that screams, Cooper’s-arm-candy.”

I don’t understand any of Gracie’s words, but watching her talk is fucking cute as hell, so I nod and let her keep going.

“Anyways, I needed something more... chic. And so, I called in my backup. Bridget’s my girl... but she knows I’ve never gone out on Valentine’s Day... so now she knows about our not-really-a-date-date.”

“Does she know about the Kinky List?”

Gracie’s eyes go wide. “No way. I mean, I’d die if she knew about that, Coop. You haven’t told anyone, have you?”

I run my hand over my jaw, not wanting to lie... but also not wanting to freak her out. “I told Gabe that we were doing this resolutions thing, yeah.”

“Really?” Her perfectly done up face crumbles. I’m talking red lips, dark eyes, her brown hair swept up on her head, tendrils loose around her face. “I guess we didn’t exactly make ground rules.”

“Gabe’s a solid guy –– besides, I didn’t use your name explicitly.”

She seems heartened with that detail, and I swallow, wondering why she wouldn’t want to have her name connected with mine. Am I that sketchy that she doesn’t want someone to know her and I are doing this... thing?

“Well, from here on out, can we just keep this thing we are doing between us?” she asks, picking up her clutch from the dining room table. The red roses I sent her spill out of a vase beautifully.

“Of course.” I smile, continuing to look her over, she’s in a tiny pink, strapless dress, looking like a piece of candy, so fucking sweet. “You like the flowers?”

“You didn’t have to send them,” she says, not thanking me.

“Well, maybe I’m trying to sweeten you up so that you’ll be more open-minded tonight for what we are doing.”

We walk towards the door to go, but before opening it, she turns to face me. “I’m scared,” she says. “We didn’t technically have sex yet … and being Valentine’s day and all, it feels like a lot of pressure.”

“You still trust me?” I ask.

She presses her lips together, then smiles up at me. “I do.”

“Then we got this, Gracie.” Knowing the night is going to get hot damn fast, and that if we are going to get where we need to go, I need to start ramping things up.

I pull her to me, my hand on her chin, pressing my lips to her. Her mouth parts and I pull her closer. My tongue finds hers and then my hands are on her tits, pressing her against the door, drawing her closer to me.

Her body responds, her hand is on my ass, drawing me near, and she softly moans, and I’m remembering her naked little body, primed and ready, getting off so hard, so much.

We kiss until there are only two choices. Fucking here and now, or stepping away.

“Gracie,” I say, looking at her bruised lips, her breasts heaving as she remembers to breathe. “You make me insane.”

She smiles at me, biting her bottom lip, her eyes hooded and full of desire.

“What are we doing tonight, Cooper?”

I grin, pulling open the door and dragging her with me. “Public sex, which is why we need to get the hell out of your apartment if we want to check it off the list.”

* * *

Out of all the things on the list, this one felt most do-able.

But that was before Gracie sat down for dinner and she told me she made a mistake letting Bridget help her shop for this dress.

“Too tight?”

“Yeah. I mean, I can hardly sit down, Cooper.” She does look uncomfortable, and I just thought it was that I’d picked a bad restaurant.

“Can I help?”

She laughs sharply, dismissing the idea, and the people around us turn to look at her. She picks up her water goblet and takes a sip avoiding their gaze. The waiter comes over and tells me he’s a huge fan and recites the specials for the evening. We order, and when he walks away I try to think of something to say to calm Gracie. I’ve never seen her flustered before, though, mostly because we’ve never actually hung out anywhere besides our apartments.

Before I can say something, a couple stops at our table and asks for my autograph. I oblige, wish them well, then turn back to her.

“Does that happen a lot?” she asks.

I shrug. “I don’t know. I guess. I mean, New York fans are pretty loyal.”

“Are you loyal too? To the team, I mean.”

I shake my head, this is not a conversation to be having at a restaurant in public. In NYC. On Valentine’s Day when the house is packed.

“Sorry.” She covers her mouth. “I didn’t think. Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I tell her, reaching over the table for her hand. She looks so uncomfortable. “We can go if you need to change.”

“No.” She frowns. “You’re leaving tomorrow and we need to get the item checked off.”

“Okay,” I say, picking up my salad fork as the waiter descends with our wedges.

“So...” she starts, before losing her words. “Have you had a good month?”

“It was boring. You were gone.”

“Ha. As if you had no one to play with all month.” She smirks and I realize I’ve never seen such a sassy side of Gracie.

“You okay?”

She shrugs, spearing a tomato with her fork.

Another diner asks for my autograph and as I sign it, I see her sink into her seat. Then she adjusts the strapless top and releases a deep breath.

“What’s your deal, Gracie?” I ask her after the fan leaves our table.

“It’s the dress.”

“Well then let’s go. Don’t be crazy.”

“You think I’m crazy?”

“I think you are getting worked up here for nothing. We can eat our pasta or we can go. What do you wanna do? Because there’s nothing to be stressed about. You seemed chill at your apartment ... but now... I don’t know.”

She sighs loudly, flustered. “It’s been a long few weeks okay? My parents drove me nuts, my internship is a disaster, my research paper is an even bigger one. I just...” She exhales again, and then her eyes get huge. Welling with tears instantly.

“Gracie, what’s wrong?”

“My dress zipper just busted,” she squeaks out, closing her eyes. “Fuck, Cooper. I’m such a mess next to you. Look at you. You are a fucking superstar. And now my clothes are falling off.”

I stand, pull off my suit coat, and drape it around Gracie’s shoulders, not before looking at the gaping rip in her backside. “You are not a disaster.”

She sits up straighter with the jacket on, pulling it tighter around her.

“You have no idea, Cooper. Somehow my life went to shit in three weeks.”

“You should have called and told me.”

She furrows her brows, confused. “Why would I call you, Cooper? You are....” She waves her hand at me as if that’s self-explanatory.

“Because we’re friends,” I say, calling the waiter over and asking for a check.

“Friends? Cooper, we don’t even know one another’s birthdays. You’ve never met my parents. We aren’t friends. We’re ...”

My jaw tenses as I pay the bill.

“Okay, I get it, Gracie. You want this thing between us to just be about what’s on the list. Nothing more.”

“That’s not what I was saying,” she says.

I offer her my arm as we walk toward the exit.

She takes it, but then her heel catches on a rug. I reach for her, but she’s already pitched forward, my suit coat sliding off her shoulders, her broken zipper exposed... and then the zipper isn’t just broken, it’s completely useless, and she flings her hands forward to catch herself.

The dress is ripped from top to bottom and suddenly it’s just a piece of pretty fabric on the floor. Her strapless dress is off, her bra-less breasts in plain view... and her bare ass is in the air.

I pull her to stand, and she is naked from head to toe except for those fuck me now heels.

Her eyes are shell shocked, wide, and surprised. Her body is fucking hot as hell, but she doesn’t want to hear that. There are gasps all around us, guests horrified at seeing this bare-naked woman in the middle of their romantic dinner.

I grab my jacket, pull it around her shoulders, the hem of it more than long enough to cover her ass. I grab her shredded dress from the floor, and pull my arm around her, tucking her close to me. “It’s okay, Gracie,” I tell her. “Just keep walking.”

We walk past the valet, the line of taxis, and I drag her further down the busy city street. The night is alive–couples everywhere, vendors peddling single roses and the smell of greasy carts of food on the corners.

Gracie is in my arms, and I am holding her tight, not wanting to stop because I’m scared this girl will have a complete meltdown. She was near one before her dress fell off, and I have no idea what really has her so wound up.

Is being out with me really that scary of a proposition?

Finally, we make our way down a secluded side street, and I drag her down a narrow alley, not even big enough for a car. Brick buildings are on either side of us, the sky above black with only a few pinpricks of stars.

The noisy street is in the distance as I drag her further down the alley, past a dumpster, beyond a stack of wooden crates.

We stop at the dead end, no one is here. The noise of the city around us, sure, but in this space, all I hear is her tender heartbeat. With her back against the brick wall, I step closer to her.

I look down at Gracie, her face streaked with tears, but damn she looks like a glittery girl, spun up just for me. The suit coat exposes the rise of her breasts, her flat tummy, and her bare pussy. Her legs look as long as sin in those heels, and I want every piece of her body.

“I can’t believe that happened,” she starts, her words scratchy, as if her throat is dry.

“Shhh,” I tell her. “It just makes the next part easier.”

Her eyes are wide, written in confusion. “What do you mean, Cooper? I was just at the hippest restaurant in town, naked. With a man who is basically a sex God in not only my mind but also the mind of every woman in that place. I saw the way women were looking at you, Coop. Bet you’ve screwed half of them. I just feel so...”

I nod, trying to understand and to also not be offended. “You didn’t like going out with me?”

She shakes her head. “I felt like a fraud. Like I wasn’t enough. I mean you take out women who are so much more than me. I haven’t had a proper date in two years and here I am, with you. Cooper Bentley, the hottest catcher NYC has ever seen.”

“You saw the article then?” I sigh, not thinking she’d care that I was voted NYC’s most desired bachelor.

“Of course, I saw it. Every woman saw it.”

“But when I came to your apartment you seemed so relaxed.”

“When it’s just us, I do feel relaxed, Cooper. I feel safe in my apartment. But out here?” She shakes her head, looking around, and I use my thumb to wipe away her tears.

“No one is here but us.”

“I ruined tonight by being so insecure.”

“Stop it, seriously, Gracie. You didn't ruin anything. And you have nothing to be insecure about.”

She bites her bottom lip, still shaking her head.

“What? Why are you shaking your head?” I ask.

“You didn’t have sex with me last time. I thought maybe ....”

“What did you think?”

“That you didn’t like what you saw or tasted or whatever.” Her hands flutter to her face, but I push them way, wanting her to see my eyes.

“Are you kidding me? I liked everything. I loved everything. And tonight, I’m having it all. I’m having you.”

Her eyes go wide in shock.

“Sex in a public place, Gracie. And look, you’re already undressed,” I smirk.

Her eyes flutter in realization, and a smile spreads across her lips. I unbuckle my belt, drop my pants and boxers, and roll on a condom.

I press my mouth to Gracie’s neck, planting kisses until I reach her ear. Then I breathe hot against her, causing her to squirm in anticipation. I run my hands under the jacket, over her little ass, and lift her off the ground.

With her back against the wall, I kiss her hard, her lips parting again, my cock rock hard. “I’m fucking you, Gracie, do you understand?”

“Yes, Cooper. I’m ready. Do it. Do it now.”

I don’t wait. I run my hand over her slick pussy, dipping a finger in her folds, getting her ready to sit on my ten-inch cock.

“This is going to make you forget about the strip tease at the pasta joint.”

“Promise?” she asks, her arms wrapped around my neck.

“Promise.”

I let my cock sink into her warm pussy, and damn this girl is tight. I told her she’d never forget her first time, and I fucking meant it.

My cock fills her until she’s moaning above me. Her tits against my chest and I pull back so I can see them bounce up and down as I fuck her.

“Oh, Cooper,” she pants, grinding against me. “You feel so... so... oh, god.”

She loves it, being filled by me, and I thrust deep into her cunt, wanting her to know exactly what my cock can do.

Her pussy tightens around me, she’s close to coming, and I’m glad because holy fuck I know I’m not gonna last long.

“Cooper, that, oh, yeah,” she purrs, her pussy tightening around me as she comes. She stops grinding, and pulls her arms tighter around me, her pussy walls pulsing as I come too. “This is everything…”

“Fuck,” I groan, hating that I’m wearing a condom, wishing I could feel all of her, fill all of her.

“Cooper,” she whispers as our bodies collide. “Shit. Shit.”

“What is it?”

“The cops are here.”