Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 92070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92070 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 460(@200wpm)___ 368(@250wpm)___ 307(@300wpm)
"Right. Yes. That is where waists are."
"You practically had sex."
"No one came," I say.
He shoots me another are you serious look.
"He just played with my—" I motion to my chest. Blush from the memory of Dare's hands on my body, "a little."
"He played with you a little?" Archie's voice drops to a firm tone, one I've never heard on him. "For fuck's sake." He shakes his head. "You should go to him. Right now."
"It doesn't mean anything to him."
"Valeria!" Again, the perfect Spanish accent. "You're out of your mind."
"Probably, yeah." I press my lips to his neck, which feels weird and wrong, but, hey, it looks hot.
"Go to him right now and tell him you want him."
"You agreed to fake flirt."
He shakes his head you're ridiculous, but he releases me and returns to his seat.
"Really?" I pretend as if he told me a wild secret. "You did all that?"
"I know. I can't believe it either." He takes a sip. "And did you know? At first, I didn't think she was interested."
"No." I take a long sip and let out a soft sigh. These drinks really are good. And this is not going well. "Was she subtle?"
"No. Not at all," he says. "She kept looking at me like she was picturing me naked."
"Why didn't you see it?" I ask.
"She was off-limits. A friend's mom."
Did this really happen, or is he making it up?
He continues, "We ran into each other at the pub. She started asking about school. Somehow, we got to talking about women, relationships. And even when I told her I always wanted to sleep with an older woman, I didn't think she'd have an interest."
"What did she say?" I ask.
"Even when she told me she always wanted to sleep with a younger man, I still didn't get it. Talk about oblivious?"
Are Dare and I really that obvious? Or is Archie seeing what he wants to see? "Pretty bad, yeah."
"The next day, she sent me a text, and I still didn't get it."
"What made it happen for you?"
"She asked me to help her with something at home," he says. "A leaky faucet."
"Like in a porno?"
He laughs. "Basically. But I go over there thinking, well, I am handy, and she's recently divorced, and her son is at school."
"Did you fix her pipes?"
"Only in the euphemistic sense."
"Do people say that still?"
He shakes his head. "I got there with my tool kit and she opened the door in a sheer black robe. But I still didn't get it. Not until she kissed me."
"Did you go all The Graduate and say, 'Mrs. Best Friend's mom, are you trying to seduce me?'" I ask.
My phone buzzes in my lap.
Archie raises a brow. He makes a show of taking a sip and looking away.
I check my text.
Dare: Don't kill the mood with film references he won't get. He's the kind of guy who likes to feel smart.
Dare: And The Graduate is not sexy.
Dare: At least suggest something sexy in a basic way.
Val: What would that be?
Dare: Moulin Rouge.
I guess there is something obviously sexy about a famous topless show. And, really, the woman who plays Mrs. Robinson, the seductive older woman, was only ten or fifteen years older than the guy who played the recent college graduate. So it's not even a great example of an older woman. More an example of the American film industry keeping older women out of work.
Which is probably not a sexy area of conversation.
Not that it matters. This is all bullshit. It just feels important to say. I need to tell Dare later. He always listens to my thoughts on movies.
That's one of my favorite things about him. He wants to know what I think. So many guys only pretend to care.
But, hey, back to fake flirting. "Did you like it?" I ask. "Being with an older woman?"
He nods. "It was like something out of the movies. She taught me all sorts of things."
My chest flames as my phone buzzes in my lap. Dare is listening. Dare is responding. My cell phone is way too close to where it needs to be. "What sort of things?"
The phone buzzes again.
He nods to the cell and mouths check it.
"Can I admit something?" I ask.
"Of course."
"It's been a while." I glance at the message.
Dare: Ask what his favorite thing was.
Dare: Wait. Is this too much?
Dare: Are you okay here?
I need to reassure him. "I'm not the picture of experimentation, but I am okay. I am okay with trying new things. And talking about trying new things." Not the most natural but it works. "What was your favorite thing?"
"When I tied her up."
My phone buzzes in my lap.
"But to be honest, she was more into tying me up."
"You're a switch?"
"Open-minded. I wasn't when I was with Zelda," he says. "I should apologize to her for some of that. I shot her down. I hurt her. But we all come to things in our time. And we weren't right together, long term. She was in love with someone else."