I take Cora to my apartment in the super trendy part of Los Feliz. The neighborhood is hipster-ish, but it’s surrounded by hole-in-the-wall restaurants and craft shops that I’ve grown to enjoy.

I help her out of her jacket and admire the sight of her in a beautiful red dress, leaning against my kitchen counter. It’s something out of a dirty dream.

Cora Dwyer in my apartment.

Leaning against my counter.

Wanting to be here with me.

I reach into the fridge for two beers, uncap them, and pass one to her, trying to remain confident-rock-star Ian as opposed to dork-tastic, bumbling-idiot Ian.

“Cheers,” she says and we clink bottles. I nearly spill my drink watching her lips wrap around the neck.

She downs hers rather quickly.

“Thirsty?” I ask.

She laughs. “I’m a little nervous.”

“Hmm… I tend to have that effect on women.”

She narrows her eyes, “That’s pretty cocky.”

Yeah, it is. I can’t tell if she’s put-off by that or not. But, in my experience, women seem to like it when guys get a little cocky, so I lean into it.

“So what’s it like?” she asks, “Being a rock star, I mean.”

I run a hand through my hair the way I’ve seen Jack do a million times when he wants to get a girl panting. I lean against the wall, one booted foot bent, propping me up. I cross my arms over my chest.

I have no idea what I’m doing. I feel like I’m posing.

“Are you okay?” she asks, “You seem fidgety.”

I ignore that.

“Being a rock star is great,” I start, “Traveling around the world doing what I love, raking in money, screaming fans.”

“Different girl every night?” she asks, cutting right to the chase.

I take the bait. “Yeah. That definitely doesn’t suck. Last year we did a European festival tour and we played a show in Paris and after we wrapped, I went backstage and there were these three French girls waiting to get their hands on me.”

“Were they hot?” she asks. She sounds like she’s not sure if she really wants to know.

“They were ridiculous,” I answer, still trying to figure out Cora’s expression. I carry on anyway. “I took all three back to my hotel room. Two started fooling around with each other, putting on a goddamn lesbian porno for me while the third one just got down on her knees and—…”

“I think I’m going to go,” Cora says, slamming her empty bottle on the counter and snatching up her jacket.

“Wait. What happened?” I ask, “I thought we were hitting it off.”

“We were,” she admits, “But… look, I… I have no delusions here. I know this would probably be just a one-time thing. And that’s totally fine with me. But I can’t stand the idea of hooking up with you if it means absolutely nothing to you and you’re just going to forget about me tomorrow. Or if I’m going to be another crude story you tell the next girl you’re trying to fuck.”

“Cora, please…”

She gives me a long once-over. The kind that makes me think that she can see me through to the core. “You’re not the Ian I remember. I don’t know exactly what I expected you to be, but…”

She sighs, her breath heavy with disappointment, and heads for the door.

“The Ian you remember was a big dork,” I mutter under my breath.

She stops, but doesn’t turn around.

Please, please don’t leave.

I’ll never be smooth like Jack or command a room like Dylan.

But I don’t want to pretend around her. I take a deep breath. Time to come clean.

“Do you remember Susie Li’s party? Freshman year? The one in her basement?” I ask.

She turns around, nodding slowly.

I continue, “I was still kind of going through an awkward phase. Everyone knew me as kind of a dork, but my mom and Susie’s mom were friends, so she made Susie invite me.”

“What about it?” she asks.

“That’s when I remember first seeing you.”

She looks touched. “I remember that party,” she says, thoughtfully, “It was the first party I’d ever been invited to where I knew boys would be there. I was so careful not to let my mom find out.”

I nod. That sounds about right. “You wore a yellow sundress. Your hair was longer then. And I remember thinking that you were so pretty. You didn’t dumb yourself down in front of the guys like the other girls,” I tell her, “And you were the only one who actually talked to me. Everyone else pretty much ignored me.”

“I remember that,” she says, thinking back to that night. “You really were into anime, right?”

“Yeah,” I admit. “Still am.”

That gets a smile out of her.

“Anyway,” I continue, “Somebody suggested Spin the Bottle and it was your turn to spin and, holy fuck, I was so desperate to kiss you. I don’t think I’d ever wanted anything that much in my life.

“You spun and it went around and around and I thought it was going to land on me,” I tell her, “My heart was in my fucking throat.”

I run my hand through my hair and down the back of my neck, the way I normally do when I’m nervous. My eyes are on the floor.

“But the bottle went right past me and over to…” my voice trails off.

“Evan,” she chimes in. “I kissed Evan for the first time that night.”

“Yeah. You kissed Evan. By the end of the party, you were boyfriend-girlfriend.”

“Yeah,” Cora echoes, lost in thought.

“And I went home and had a date with my right hand,” I say.

Cora lets out a snort-laugh and covers her mouth. It’s the cutest noise I’ve ever heard.

“And from that night on, I always kind of wondered what would’ve happened if that bottle had stopped three seconds earlier.”

Her voice is barely a whisper. “I’m wondering that too.”

Silence takes over for a moment.

There, I think, my cards are on the table. I haven’t felt this vulnerable in a long time.

“We’re here now,” she says at last.

Cora picks up her abandoned beer bottle and spins it on the kitchen island. Only, she puts way too much muscle into it and the bottle flies off the counter and shatters on the floor.

“Oops,” she says, embarrassed. “That’s not what I meant to do.” She tries to bend down and pick up the pieces, but I stop her.

“I know.” I’m turning red and I don’t care that she sees it.

Fuck, I want to kiss her.

She lets out a shaky breath.

She wants it too.

“You know the rules.”

I do.

I close the distance between us. I pin her to the counter with my hips, my hard cock pressing into her. I look into her eyes, my head swimming with lust. I lean in.

And crush my lips to hers.

My heart hammers. My breath catches. I feel like I’ve been knocked over by a tidal wave, pulled under and I’ll never even want to come up for air. I swallow her gasps and the soft mewling noise she makes as she surrenders to my kiss. Her hands travel up my sides, over my shoulders and around my neck, pulling me in closer. My fingers sift through her hair. I tug lightly, making her moan.

More.

Faster.

Harder.

“Ian,” she whispers as I break the kiss. My name on her lips is fucking music. My mouth trails over her neck and collarbone, kissing and sucking on her skin.

God, she smells good.

She tastes better.

I slip the strap of her dress down and press my lips to her bare shoulder. She tugs at my tee shirt in response.

“I want it off,” she says, kiss-drunk and delirious, “I want all your clothes off.”

“Demanding, aren’t we?” I tease.

She suddenly looks embarrassed, like she’s not sure what came over her. Oh, no. I’m having none of that.

“I fucking love it, Cora,” I whisper low into her ear, “Tell me what you want, baby. You want me to get naked, just ask.”

Before my hands know what they’re doing, I pull the shirt over my head, throw it to the floor like it did me wrong, and scoop Cora up into my arms, sitting her on the countertop. My hands run up her thighs towards the hem of her dress. Her breathing is ragged as she runs her hands over my abs, looking at me with hungry eyes, making every grueling workout I’ve ever done completely worth it.

She runs her tongue over her lips.

I kiss her again, hard and deep.

“But I get to make demands too,” I growl.

“Like what?” she asks feigning innocence.

“Spread your legs.”

Suddenly, her eyes spring open.

I press my lips to her ear and whisper, “I want to work your little pussy with my tongue till you come so hard you can’t see straight.”

She moans like the dirty talk is affecting her. But, still, she stops me.

“Oh, it’s okay,” she stammers, “You don’t have to do that part.”