Page 7 of Crazy Stupid Sex

“Tell me something, Evie.”

“Okay.”

“Why is it you’re out to pick up a man tonight?”

“The app.” He didn’t need her life story. He’d made it pretty clear he didn’t want it, in fact.

He shrugged. “Okay, you win the prize. You’ve picked me up. Now you don’t have to follow through. Your methods worked. The app is a stunning success.”

She frowned. This was supposed to be sweet victory, and yet, in the moment it rang hollow. “You seem so into it, far be it for me to doubt whether or not I’ve scored,” she said dryly, “but I sort of doubt it.”

“But say you had scored. And that it all worked. Do you want to follow through?”

She blinked. She looked around the bar, at the guys she’d struck out with. If they’d asked her to go back to their place she’d be back at her place alone drinking a hot cocoa. She fordamnsure would not have saidyes.

She just…wasn’t into it. But this guy? He was hot on a level she couldn’t quantify. It wasn’t just the arrangement of his features – pleasing though that was. It was the way she felt standing near him. There was something there. A spark. A spark that promised toe-curling.

The idea of following through with him was tempting in a way she hadn’t anticipated.

“I…the data is skewed because you know about the app,” she said. “I can’t ever be sure if it worked.”

“Sure you can. I would like to take you back to my place and have sex with you, Evie. What’s your answer?”

She opened her mouth and nothing came out. And that’s when she realized, she was seriously considering naked touching with a stranger. And she’d been warned about strangers. No matter how much candy a guy claimed to have in his van, she knew better than to go with him. She knew that.

Cut. Into. Pieces.

Yeah, she was nervous as hell. And if any of the other guys were standing where he was? She would be saying game over. Flirt level: Awesome, achieved. No sex required. Just as planned.

But now? Now she was looking at this guy, the hottest guy she’d ever seen, and thinkingwhy not?

Because this wasn’t about an app, or a flirting experiment. This was about demanding something other than mediocrity. Something better than a guy she got naked for just because he was there and it was expected.

She wanted a guy who would tear her clothes off like she was a present on Christmas morning. Better still, she wanted to be desperate to tearhisclothes off.

She’d never been able to ask for what she really wanted. And any time she’d tried, Jason had just acted like she’d asked him to hide a body, not go down on her. That list of sex tips? She would have been too embarrassed to leave it on Jason’s pillow, much less verbally ask for any of them.

And what was that? She was a professional woman who had total control over her life, and yet she’d never asked for what she wanted in bed. She’d never pushed for excellence there, even when she demanded it in all other areas of her life.

“Do you want to murder me?” she asked.

He stared at her. “I don’t.”

“That’s a relief. Have you ever wanted to murder anyone? If you were driving it doesn’t count.”

“Oh well with the driving exception, no. The 405 doesn’t bring out my best qualities.”

“So say we all.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, now that we’ve established you aren’t a murderer, do you want the truth?” she asked.

“Depends.”

“On?”

His smile widened. “If I’ll like a lie better.”

“I don’t lie well. I’m honest. Painfully so. It’s part of the awkwardness, which, I am aware of, by the way. It works for me in some settings.”

“If you say so.”

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