Page 48 of More Than Chemical
“Which I’m going to fix.”
“And you’re a guy. I didn’t think single guys wanted relationships?”
He swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Valid observation.”
“So what’s the problem?”
“Okay.” He laid down his pencil. “Let’s just say, as a hypothetical, we did what you want. No strings. No emotional commitment. What happens if one of us gets attached?”
“Then it's over.”
“Just like that?”
I should probably tell him the real reason for all of this—I needed sleep—but I couldn’t. I didn’t want to scare him off.
“This isn’t rocket science, it’s called chemical attraction.” I rested my chin on my hand. “If the forces between us become uneven, there’s nothing we can do to prevent the bond from breaking.”
He grew quiet—really quiet. I couldn’t read him. He seemed to be processing, but even my solid-state laptop was louder than him.
Finally, he spoke. “Do you want to go ice-skating tomorrow?”
I glared at him. “Don’t do that. Don’t change the subject on me.”
“Did I?” He smirked.
“Yes. Now stay on track. You’re supposed to be considering my proposal.”
“How about I think about it, and in the meantime, we go ice-skating?”
“Going ice-skating sounds relationship-y.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
I was fuming now. This should be easy. A girl asks a guy to have sex, and he accepts. I mean, if it was him putting forward the same thing to me, then it would be a totally different situation. But we both knew he had sex—probably plenty of sex—with girls. And I knew he was attracted to me. So why wasn’t he just saying yes?
I scanned the lounge. All males, of course. This was the main engineering classroom building. “I bet if I went up to any guy in here and asked him to have sex with me with no strings attached, he’d jump at it.”
Dallas folded his arms and looked around. “Go ask that guy in the Jedi Knight T-shirt. I know that you likeStar Wars. You’d have something in common.”
I glanced over. The student he’d referred to was holding a pen in the shape of a lightsaber. His fingernails were bitten down so far they were raw, and his neck hair needed shaving. He might be a perfectly nice person, but I’d never be able to get over my other hang-ups.
“Seriously?” I looked back at Dallas.
“Yeah.” He shrugged.
My neck steamed with scorching heat. “I’m not going to prove it to you when you know I’m right.”
He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I’m trying to make my own point. If all you wanted was sex, you could ask any Tom, Dick, or Harry.”
The muscles in my face turned to stone. “That’s not true. Picking the right person is a very important part of the process, even when there are no strings.”
“So you have a method for this—a scientific method. Because if you do, we should also discuss STDs.”
I froze.
“Are you clear?” he asked.
“Clear?”
