Page 23 of Interception

“Yeah, yeah. You don’t have to repeat your lack of attachment to me all the time. I get it. I’m your sex toy. Would it kill you to throw me a bone? One dinner. If you have an awful time, we’ll never go out again, and I’ll give you free rein of my cock until you’re fed up with me.”

“Fine. One date.”

I close my eyes, content that we’re taking a small step forward. She doesn’t move to jump me the way she normally does. Instead, she nestles into the crook of my chest, the soft scent of her shampoo intoxicating my senses.

“Zee. Why are you so against letting me in?”

“I don’t know.” Her voice is small and uncertain, something I’ve never heard in her before.

“This isn’t exactly easy for me either. It’s uncharted territory, but I enjoy spending time with you.”

“Me, too.” She drapes her leg over me and wraps her arm around my waist. I breathe her in, letting myself relax with the heat of her body pressed tightly to mine, and for the first time, I fall asleep beside her—no sex. That has never happened before. Not for me, and I’m almost one hundred percent certain that it’s a first for her too.

* * *

I thought the biggest hurdle would be getting Zee to agree to a date with me, but I didn’t think about the fact that I now have to come up with an amazing first date. Hunter has been giving me all kinds of shit about it, but he doesn’t have a leg to stand on. His relationship started on a wager, and he’s so fucking whipped already. Everything with him and Faith has been at warp speed while I’m going at a fricking snail’s pace with Zee.

“You’ve been seeing each other for a while now, so I don’t get why you’re wigging out about a date.”

“Because Zee likes to think of us as friends with benefits. I want to change that status.”

“Whatever label you want to put on it, or not as the case may be, it doesn’t change the fact that you’re already dating for all intents and purposes.”

“Hey, dickweed, if you’re not going to say anything useful, just shut the fuck up. I listened to you drone on for months about the will-you-won’t-you of your relationship with Faith. Even when the writing was on the wall, you still wanted to pretend that you had a choice, that you could walk away from your feelings for her. Can you give me a semblance of understanding? So I’m not dealing with a virginity wager or navigating a relationship with my mentor’s daughter, but I really fucking like this girl, and I want her to want me, too, and not just between the sheets.”

“Well, fuck me dead. Cooper Danford is looking for a girlfriend. Wonders will never cease.”

“It must be contagious or something. I blame you for this. You had to go and fall in love with Faith and bring Zee crashing into my life. She’s a tough nut to crack, and I’m in for a bumpy ride if I want to win her heart.”

“Heart? You said a date. You’re falling for her?”

“Fuck up, Vaughn. Just tell me this date idea isn’t the worst one I’ve ever had.”

“I think it’s the first you’ve had. Have you ever taken a girl out, like actually dated her consistently since high school?”

“I wasn’t even that guy in high school. I was the star of the football team. You know what that’s like. I was a god. I didn’t want to be frenching the same girl week after week, not when they were lining up around the bleachers to show me some affection.”

“Do I even want to know what age you were when you lost your virginity?”

“Your brain has been fried with all this virginity talk. I’m sure I wasn’t a kick in the balls off the same age as you were. My math tutor, junior year of high school. She was a senior, and she definitely knew what she was doing. Fuck me, she rocked that sexy geek-chic look. What about you?”

“I was a junior as well, but so was the girl. It was the cliché junior prom. The afterparty was at my friend’s house, and she and I snuck up to the master bedroom while everyone else was seeing how many solo cups they could drain. I lasted about three seconds flat, and I’m one hundred percent certain she didn’t get off.”

“What did you and Faith do for a first date?”

“We’ve already established that Faith and I didn’t have a conventional beginning. Technically, the first time I was on a date with her, I was crashing her date with someone else. She was out with that douche nozzle, James, and I snaked her right out from under him. It was such a dick move, but love makes us do crazy things, even when we don’t realize it’s love yet.”

“I want to have a night with Zee that doesn’t begin with sex and isn’t us being out somewhere as your and Faith’s fucking entourage. It’s great that we can all hang out, but Zee needs to see me as something more than an extension of her friendship with Faith, as more than a convenient appendage.”

“Then take sex off the table for a while.”

“Have you lost your goddamn mind? Do you not know me at all? Sex is not being tabled in any way, shape, or form.”

“Then don’t piss and moan that all she wants from you is sex.”

“I’m going to ignore that statement considering how many times I’ve listened to you telling me you had to stay away from Faith, only to fuck her and announce it to the entire country.”

“Fair point.”

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