NICHOLAS

Holy fuck, the way she was licking her fingers, leaning over the plate in that tight dress, soft breasts spilling over the top and promising to fall out any second, the tiny line between her eyebrows as she moaned at how good the cock tasted.

I mean cock.

Cake.

Cake tasted!

Paying the tab I adjust my weight on the seat because I’m painfully hard. As the server slowly hands me the slip I swear under my breath at the ache in my crotch.

“You okay?” Madison asks.

Scribbling my name I mumble, “Perfect.”

“You look…”

I slap the paper upside down, glance around and stand up, motioning to my bulging zipper. “I’m about to walk bow-legged. You ready?”

“For that?”

“To go. And yes, for this, too.” I take her hand. Leaning down, I whisper, “I am going to fuck you so hard, you have no idea.”

Madison tenses, so I glance to her face to check if that was a good muscle-flex or a bad one. Holding the door for her I watch her walk outside, jaw ticking.

“Maddie?”

In the cool night air, parking lot still and silent, she turns around, waving her hands a little, eyes distant. “Umm…”

“Hey,” I smile, “I know you haven’t been with that many guys. I’ll take things slow.”

She frowns at me. “It’s not that!”

I watch her walk to my car, her arms crossed. Dragging my hand through my hair I offer, “Look, why don’t we just watch a movie at my place? Hang out. I live just a few blocks away from you.”

She chuckles, “Oh come on, Nicholas. The old movie-at-my-place is the oldest trick.”

“Well, I’ve tried my newer ones but they’re not working so…”

My joke misses her funny bone.

Madison’s eyes steel. But she says nothing. This is a test, and I’m wondering how to pass. Clicking my tongue I stare back at her. “Is it a crime that I want you? Because I’m pretty sure you were telling me you wanted to, in there, just now.”

Her eyes slide toward the heavens. “I was.”

“So, what’s the problem?”

“I told you.”

“Madison!”

“This is so hard. Stop pushing me. Please. It’s not good. Not like this. I don’t sleep with people on the first date, okay? Let’s just go with that old line. It’s the truth anyway.” She kicks the asphalt with the toe of her heel. “I just want to go home, Nicholas.”

I open the door for her to climb in. She glances to me, mumbles a thank you and I’ve got nothing. Never been in this predicament before.

I walk around to the driver’s side and climb in, chewing the inside of my cheek. With no other vehicles in the spot ahead I drive forward. We ram into a cement brick, and bounce in our seats. My arm flies out to stop her from going through the window even though we’re nowhere near that speed. We meet eyes and something happens in my chest. My heart knocks my ribs a couple times and I frown. “You okay?”

She nods, blinking away. “Yes, I’m fine. Is your car?”

“I don’t care about that. I’ll look at it later.” Backing up I mutter, “I’ll get you home.”

She nods, staring out the windshield.

We drive back to her apartment in silence. I huff through my nose a couple times without meaning to. Once, I glance over and see her watching me at a stoplight, but she looks away and I don’t say anything.

What does she want from me? “Hey, Madison.”

She’s fiddling with her fingernails, eyes cast down as she numbly repeats, “I don’t sleep with guys on the first date.”

“Then let’s go on another one.” Her eyelashes fly up, incredulous. “I was kidding.”

“Were you?”

“Look, you’re making me out to be a bad guy. I’m not one.”

She turns in her seat, “No, I’m not saying you are. But you’re trying pretty hard to get me to sleep with you. You went from getting to know me, to inviting me to watch a movie at your place, and it’s nearly midnight, and I have a friend watching my dog.”

Thinking about it, I admit, “Okay, I forgot about the dog.”

“Actually, you forgot about the promise. And I did, too, for a second there. But now I can’t because it feels really obvious that I needed it to be true.”

My eyebrows pierce together. “What promise?”

She covers her face, taking a few deep breaths, and drops it again, meeting my eyes to say with a saint’s patience, her voice gentle, “You made a point of promising you weren’t going to try anything tonight, that you wanted to earn my trust.”

Like I’ve been hit, I sit back. “Oh shit.”

She opens the door and is climbing out of the car before I have a chance to realize what’s going on. I fly out, beat her to the building, open the door. “Jeezus, can’t you even let me be a gentleman?”

Madison adjusts her hemline. “You’re very confusing. I just wish you’d choose which to be, a gentleman or a pick-up artist.”

She walks in, leaving me staring as she hits the elevator button, crossing her arms and not looking over. The doors whoosh open and she disappears.

“Fuck this,” I mutter, racing in and slamming my hand in the slit before they get a chance to close all the way. The sensor beeps and they open up, leaving me and my date in a stand-off. “Hey, you were saying…you were…It wasn’t just me ready to go home with you, Madison.”

“Yes, for a moment there I forgot myself, and I wanted to go home with you. And it’s not your fault that things switched so quickly with me. I’m sure that was confusing, and that’s on me. But it is your fault for not holding to what you said. If you’d have stuck to that, and dropped me home, even with me wanting you, I probably would have been in your arms tomorrow, because I would have believed your claim that you wanted my trust, that I was…different.” The alarm goes off on the elevator doors as they object to being held open. She frowns, emotions flitting over her pretty face. “I have a feeling you’ve never wanted the things I want. If I’d have turned my cheek at what I knew about you tonight, and let things go further, you probably wouldn’t have called me again. But I’m not saying goodnight because by withholding sex, I’m hoping you will call. I’m saying it because I hope you won’t. I want a lot more than you do. And I can’t take the disappointment. Please let the door go so I can see Bucky. I kind of need to right now.”

Frowning I take my hand back and step away. As the doors hesitate, I do, too.

Madison is asking me to let her go, but it’s her who has me hostage, unable to move.

Now she’s gone.

Just like that.