Page 8 of Electric Touch

“You’re not paying,” I warn him. I’m not as well off as him, but I can pay my way.

“I’m going halves. Plus, Conal is giving you my discount, so it’s not even that much to split. All you need to do is call him up and book a time. He’s prepared to do it out of hours.”

“Why do you have to hurry so much?”

I regret the words as soon as they leave my mouth.

My leg bounces. Apollo puts his hand over my knee and the warmth and strength of it ground me. We drive in silence for a while, each lost in our own thoughts.

“Sash told me about the audition the other week.” Apollo breaks the silence as we emerge from the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. “Why didn’t you tell me? Auditioning to be in a rock music video. That’s wild, Tia.”

I shrug. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

“Why’d you put that on the list? You’re never gonna go through with it.”

“It’s about getting out of my comfort zone. And I swore I’d do everything.”

“Kissing a stranger is hardcore for you. Sex with a stranger,” he grins. “That is so far out of your comfort zone. You can’t even see it as a speck on the horizon.”

“We can’t all be adept at one-night stands,” I glare at him.

“Five years ago. Maybe I was all about that, but I’m a business owner now. A professional.” He adjusts his shoulders, so he is sitting up straighter.

I burst out laughing. Not that I’m taking anything away from his achievements, he has done an amazing job growing his company. That he thinks I believe a word coming out of his mouth is hilarious.

“I’m serious. I can’t even remember the last time I had a one-night stand.”

“That girl the other week. What was her name? Cora?”

“That was a date.”

“Who you never called again after spending the night with her?”

“That is not a one-night stand,” he tells me with authority.

“How so? You met her once, slept with her, and never went out with her again.”

“I bought her dinner.”

“You cannot use that as a loophole.”

“Trust me, sex on a first date does not make a one-night stand.”

“Are you sure?” I ask, eyes narrowing. I’ve had two one-night stands in my life. Neither of them bought me dinner. I’ve never slept with anyone after a first date either.

“Take those guys of yours in college. The one after the frat party and the one during Sasha’s cheerleading competition.” He gives me a salacious wink.

My cheeks flush at the memories. The guy at the frat party isn’t that big of a deal. I was tipsy. We’d danced, spoke little. He’d wanted to take me upstairs. I’d wanted to see what it was like. When we ran into one another a few weeks later, we pretended it never happened.

The cheerleading competition was out of state, I’d gone along as moral support for Sash because her family couldn’t make it. God knows how I’d ended up having sex with a guy from a competing team. I only learnt his name because it flashed up on the big screen when our school beat theirs.

“The dude with the pom-poms was during the day, but it was anonymous sex. Two people who don’t know each other, enjoying a sexual encounter. You never spoke to him again.”

“You put it so eloquently,” I drawl.

“It’s the private school education,” he deadpans. “Cora, I’d spoken to for a few days leading up to the date. I knew things about her, and she knew things about me. If we want to hook up again, we can, I still have her number. We had a pleasant meal. We were attracted to one another, so we fucked. And so far, we’ve not made any plans.”

“Thank you so much for enlightening me.”

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