Page 24 of Stuck with You

“I know. We did everything wrong before. No. I did everything wrong. I fell in love with you, but I convinced myself that it wasbetter if I kept you at a distance,” I explained. “Until that last night at Club Surrender where I let myself go. Let myself get close to you. And I freaked out. Big time. I pushed you away instead of pulling you closer like I wanted to. I was an asshole. I know I hurt you, and I’m so so sorry for that.”

When she just stared at me I kept talking. “I know I made a lot of mistakes and I know that you were clear about not wanting to talk to me, but it can’t just be a coincidence that we ran into each other again, Aubrey. The universe is telling us something. Giving us another chance. But will you?”

“I know nothing about you,” she said stubbornly. “We were just play partners, right? Not even friends.”

“What do you want to know?” I said, leaning back in the chair. “I’ll tell you anything you want to know.”

The bell rang and another woman came to take my place. I waved her off. “Go to the next table.”

She looked at Aubrey who nodded and said, “Sorry about that, please skip me.”

“What do you want to know?” I asked again. “Ask me anything. We’ll do things right this time. Actually get to know each other. Have a conversation.”

“Where do you work?” she asked.

“Phoenix Software,” I answered immediately. “I’m a sales rep. What about you?”

“I’m a plumber’s apprentice,” she said.

“Really? Wow, that’s so cool.”

I should have known that about Aubrey I thought, berating myself for my past mistakes. They’d cost me three months with the woman I loved.

“What’s your favorite color?” she asked, drawing my attention back.

“Purple. You?”

Aubrey peppered me with a wide range of questions which I answered before turning them back to her. We’d turned away three more dating hopefuls before one of the organizers came to our table.

“You’re supposed to rotate through table partners,” the woman said sternly. “If you’re not going to participate, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

I met Aubrey’s eyes. “Have dinner with me.”

Aubrey raised an eyebrow. “You’re giving me orders now?”

“Please, can we have dinner and keep talking?” I pleaded. “Give me a chance to show you that I’ve changed.”

I held my breath as she gave me a long, considering look. “Okay. One dinner.”

I felt like a weight had been lifted. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her towards the coat check, making a quick detour to let April know I was leaving.

“There’s a bar up the street that has really good food,” Aubrey said as we stepped outside into the rainy darkness of downtown Seattle. “Let’s go there.”

“I don’t know if I trust you in a bar, especially in that dress. You’re not going to get me arrested again, are you?” I teased.

“Well, we’ll see how the night goes.”

Aubrey

Maybe I was crazy giving Taylor another chance, but I couldn’t deny how happy I’d been to see her rush up to my table like she’d found a long-lost treasure. And the way she’d run the other women off, staking her claim… well, that had been hot as fuck.

And the truth was, I’d missed her. Even though I’d only had a small part of her, our Saturdays at Club Surrender, I’d still felt the loss acutely. I’d gone out with a few women since then, and they were all perfectly nice. I’d even found a couple of them attractive. But none of them was Taylor, so I hadn’t been able to bring myself to do more than share a kiss.

We walked up the rainy street, our fingers interlaced, and headed into the bar I’d suggested. Tucking ourselves away intoa dark corner, we ordered some drinks, binged on some burgers and fries, and talked. Really talked for the first time ever.

It was like once we broke the seal, the words just flowed out of us. We talked for hours about anything and everything, trading stories, sharing histories, until the bar finally closed and we had to leave.

“Would you like to come home with me?” Taylor asked softly. “No pressure. Just to talk.”

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