Page 44 of Doing It for Love

“I’m going to lose.”

I slam my head down on the table at The Cheesecake Factory. It’s been two weeks since the handsy zombie, and that’s the only action I’ve had since. Landon still squeezes my hand, but he won’t kiss me beyond a peck hello and goodbye and the occasional thank-you. My lady parts are parched.

Theresa leans across the booth and bats at my ponytail.

“Stop moping.”

“It’s been a month and a half.”

“Some people go years, you know.”

“Not you.”

“I saidsomepeople.”

“What do you recommend?”

“A long shower.”

“Theresa…”

“I’m ordering you a slice of orgasm cheesecake.”

The dessert menu sticks to my forehead as I sit up. Theresa snatches it from my face and sets it at the edge of the table.

“It’s awful. I can’t even kiss him without wanting to set him free from his jeans and ride him like a bull.”

Ugh, even the visual makes me want to scurry out of here and into Landon’s call center and have him drive me up against a wall. Shit…

“When was the last time youjustmade out? Like without any wandering hands?”

The waiter chooses that moment to walk to our table. “Hello, welcome to The Cheesecake Factory, I’m Greg. Can I start you out with anything to drink?”

I slam my hands on the table, making the silverware jump. “I need cheesecake!”

Greg the waiter does really well at holding back his laughter as he looks to Theresa, who orders the orgasmic slices for both of us…and then starts flirting—I’m pretty sure just to torture me. I clench my teeth and breathe in deeply through my nose. I don’t get it. I went eighteen years without sex, I went over a year with longtime-relationship quickies, and yet I’ve never been this pissy.

Greg leans a little on the table, completely shutting me out while Theresa tries to get free food and a weekend date. I let my head fall to the back of the booth and try to remember the last time Landon and Ijustmade out.

Second date, I think. He kissed me on our first, and it was pretty awful. I don’t know if he was nervous orwhat,but it was awkward and rushed, and after such a fun date it was a little surprising I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. But despite that, he took me out the following night and shocked me by kissing me hello. Likereallykissing me hello. It left sparks from my crown to my toes.

“Oh!” I said, surprised. I’d been contemplating how kiss number two would go—worrying about it all day, actually.

Landon pulled away with a shy smile and a slight blush. “Sorry. My lips wanted to make up for last night. They were pretty embarrassed after their performance.”

“They weren’t that bad…”

“They also missed you. They’ve been tingling since they said goodbye.”

No one had ever said something so sweet to me. I’m pretty sure I said an audible “Aww.” See, I remember first kisses. I think that’s something everyone remembers, but the second kisses with previous second kissers somehow fade into the background. I can’t say where I was or how it felt or where their hands were or what time of day it was. But Landon’s was different. I don’t just remember kiss one, I remember kiss two, almost more clearly.

I reached up and turned his cap around. It was his Beetlejuice one, and it wasn’t faded then. It was just past six, the sun was set, and most of the light was from the snow reflecting the streetlamps. Landon’s car was running, smoke spilling from the tailpipe, quiet music filtering out of the open car door. His hands found my coat pockets, my lips found his lips, our butts found the backseat.

“Ouch, hang on,” he said when I landed on top of him. He wiggled out of his coat and helped me out of mine. It was chilly at first, but heated back up again as we really explored the way we kiss for the first time. If his lips had an awkward opening act, they killed it for the encore. I remember thinking I’d never been kissed like this before, and nevereverhad I wanted lips to perform against every inch of my body so badly.

Landon’s hands gripped my hips, and mine tangled in his hair. He started asking me questions between kisses.

“What’s your favorite color?”

---