Adam and Lily had thanked them, but declined, citing “plans” for the evening. They had been flirting the whole time they were there, so it wasn’t hard to figure out what they had planned. They traded some suggestive looks, whispered something in each other’s ears, and wished us a good night. Then, Mark and I were alone at last, well, alone with a bar full of other people.

We stared at each other silently for a moment, and that energy was there between us again, pulling us together. I was starting to get much more confident now that our feelings were finally out in the open. I hadn’t even injured him lately.

“So, everything is on the table tomorrow physically? So to speak?” he asked, taking the last sip of his beer, and looking at me in a way that made my lady bits warm and tingly.

“Yes,” I smiled and took a deep breath. Then I laid my hand on his leg, and gently traced a path up his inseam with my fingertip. I was actually hoping that we wouldn’t have to wait until the next day.

“I love how you say that word, and I want you to touch me like that tomorrow night, and the next morning, and possibly into the afternoon, depending on how much stamina I have.”

“You don’t want me to touch you now, though?” I started to withdraw my hand but he stopped me and put it back.

“You can touch me. We’re in a crowded room; so there are limits on how far it can go. If we were alone right now, though, I would ask you to stop, because otherwise we wouldn’t make it until tomorrow night.”

“Why can’t we be together tonight too?” I wondered if that would be too much togetherness for him at once.

“There may not be any female rules on point, but there’s a code that guys live by, and it will make everything go a lot more smoothly down the road if I stick to it.”

“And part of the code is that you can’t be with a woman two nights in a row?” I asked, furrowing my brows in confusion.

“No, it’s not that. There needs to be date-like activity before you and I go there. Trust me on this; I’m setting you up for girlfriend status.”

“What kind of date-like activity?” I went back to tracing a path up his inner thigh with my fingertip. There was something about touching him under the table in the middle of a crowded bar that excited me.

“If a guy is interested in a relationship with you, he makes sure that the first time you have sex, the evening includes something special.”

“Like a fundraiser for a charitable foundation?” I asked dubiously.

“It’s a party. That’s close enough. Braden went the fundraiser route, and Adam even stretched it to a book signing.”

“But a bar doesn’t count?”

“That’s hooking up activity, and it confers one-night-stand status.”

“There are a lot of rules on the male side of dating.”

“Not rules, a code.”

“Does the code cover the actual sex part?” I asked curiously.

“Well, it does in some ways, but nothing you need to worry about. Trust me, it works in your favor.”

“So what’s the plan for after the fundraiser?” My fingers traveled higher still. Now I was within inches of what I had caught a glimpse of under those gym shorts, and his breathing picked up.

“Then I want you to come back to my place. I would really love to spend the night with you.” He paused looking pleased, and then went on. “I want to have a lot of time, and a lot of space and a lot of condoms. By the way, I’m healthy. You’re not on the…”

“No, but I’m healthy too, and I have a prescription for it. It’s actually in my desk at work.” He looked at me curiously and I shrugged. “I had my annual exam recently. Call me an optimist. So, what do you think?”

“What do I think? I think I love your optimism, and I think that we should go back to the office, and I think that I’m so happy right now I might cry.”

“I guess that means you would like me to fill the prescription,” I said and smiled. “It still takes a week, though.”

“I’ve been waiting since puberty. I can wait a week, but no sense wasting time.” He tossed down some cash on the table, grabbed my hand and led me toward the door. “We can stop off at a drug store after we leave the office,” he said over his shoulder.

“What’s the rush?” I asked when we got to the sidewalk. “There are tons of places open on Saturdays.

“But if you start tonight, we’ll be good to go by next Friday. And as I stated, there is no code provision against two nights in a row, so we can start a really great tradition even earlier.”

“Thank you counselor, and good thinking.” I was onboard with that plan. No more Friday night dates with a Chihuahua.

Chapter Eight

Mark

We were back at our building in minutes. We smiled and waved casually at the security guy at the desk, signing in and showing our identification cards, and then, we headed for the elevator and rode to our floor, listening to piped in mood music.

When we arrived, I punched in the alarm code to our suite and we entered, heading straight to Beth’s office. She sat down in her desk chair and dug through her drawer. When she found the prescription, she stuck it in her purse. Then she looked up at me. And kept looking.

I was sitting in her armchair, with my tie loosened and my shirtsleeves rolled up. I had a five o’clock shadow and my hair was probably half wild. No wonder she was staring. I must have looked like shit.