Page 14 of Stoker's Serenity

“Nope, not at all. You sound tired.”

“I am tired,” I said.

“Come see me,” he said.

“What? Now?”

“No, not now,” he said laughing. “This weekend.”

“I wish I could, but retail… My schedule isn’t always set. I don’t have this weekend off. I get them every now and then but my next one off isn’t until next weekend.”

“Aw, that’s balls.”

I hesitated and finally suggested, “You could always come see me… you know, for dinner. I mean, I could cook.”

“When’s your next day off?” he asked gently.

“Um, I have split days this week, so Thursday, and then Monday, but then I have the weekend after that off, both Saturday and Sunday.”

“How about I come by after work on Thursday, we can grab a bite to eat somewhere?”

“I’m actually a really good cook. I mean, I like to cook, I just never have anyone to cook for.”

“Okay,” he agreed. “Dinner, Thursday night.”

“It won’t be too far out of your way?” I asked meekly. Like I said, I was a world-class worrier.

“Nah, I’m actually working out that way for now.”

“Oh,” I said, a bit taken aback. “God that must be awfully far for you.”

“It’s no picnic but I’ve done worse.” He sounded dismissive of the commute, which baffled me.

“I couldn’t do it,” I said.

He chuckled. “You do what you gotta do if you want to keep a place of your own and food in your face,” he said and I sighed.

“I’ll concede your point, there.”

“Oh, goodie! I like to win,” he said and I could hear the smile in his voice. I laughed, probably harder than I should have.

“Well, it won’t be hard with me. I very rarely, if ever, come out on top.”

“Mm, maybe we’ll have to change that luck of yours.”

I lost my breath at the low, sultry tone of his voice, and it took me a couple of tries to find my own.

“I-I think I’d like that, someday.”

“I like that you’re open to the idea,” he said, and his voice glowed with a pleasure to match.

I smiled, blushing furiously, and suddenly couldn’t wait for Thursday. We chatted a little more, cooling it with the double entendres, and just talked about our respective days. It was nice, and I was sad when we had to hang up, him to go to bed and me to fix myself something to eat.

* * *

I didn’t getto talk with Stoker at all on Tuesday, but I woke up to a good morning text telling me that I was on his mind and to have a good day. On Wednesday, we exchanged texts and managed a short evening talk about how excited we were for the next night and getting to know one another some more.

I spent my day off getting my apartment into shape. I mean, it was always clean, neat and orderly. I couldn’t stand clutter or mess. It made me feel all kinds of anxious, so really it was cleaning what was already clean, going down the usual checklist of day-off chores like getting laundry started, with a few extras like making sure fresh towels were on the towel rack in the bathroom and that my makeup was put away.

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