Page 23 of Bad at Love
“So, I guess if we’re strangers, then we shouldn’t see each other as friends during that time.”
“Correct.” She writes that down too. “Date number one, you pick me up. We treat it like we met online or through Tinder, so we don’t know much about the other. We go somewhere nice. Remember, you’re trying to impress me.”
“And you’re trying to impress me.”
She grins at me, sticking the end of the pen in her mouth. “I haven’t impressed you already?” she asks saucily.
I don’t know if it’s her faux-seductive expression, the way her shiny wild hair is flowing over her shoulders, or the full swell of her breasts pressing through her low-cut top as she leans forward, but I’m suddenly feeling very hot under my skin.
I clear my throat and try to ignore it. This isn’t going to help our situation.
“And date number two?” I ask.
“Same thing. Maybe we can do something with the bees.”
I cock a brow. “Do we have to?”
She laughs. “No, but I saw this beekeeper in Arizona online and she has like these date nights where couples come and learn about beekeeping and how it’s done, stuff like that. It makes her some extra income, it educates people, and it’s a fun experience for the couple.”
“Providing neither of them have a fear of bees…”
“Oh, you do not have a fear of bees,” she says with a dismissive wave of her pen. “After all I’ve told you about them. Anyway, it would be a fun thing to add to Palm Trees and Honey Bees and we could kind of test it out.”
“Okay, fine. And then the third date?”
“I don’t know, we’ll figure it out. Same goes for the fourth.”
“Then what happens beyond the fourth?”
“I guess we just take stock of it. See how we did. Give report cards.”
“You’re pulling my leg.”
“No one is pulling your leg,” she says. “Speaking of, we now need to lay down the other rules.”
I laugh. “Speaking of things the size of your leg?”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” she says. “And I mean it. No sex, no kissing, no touching.”
“Well, I simply won’t agree to that.”
She frowns, a flush appearing on her cheeks. “Why not?”
“Because touching, kissing, and sex are all very integral parts of dating,” I tell her.
“No they aren’t,” she says quietly, looking away.
“What? Yeah they are, Marina. To me, anyway.”
“It’s not needed.” She pauses. “And we shouldn’t even be discussing it. If anything is going to screw up our relationship, it’s that.”
I watch her carefully. She seems flustered and embarrassed on a whole other level. It’s like she’s ashamed.
“Okay,” I say slowly. “We don’t have to have sex. I agree that would definitely make things complicated. But…I’m sorry, but I am going to kiss you.”
Her eyes widen as she looks up at me.
Bloody hell. She looks so absolutely shocked, it’s adorable. I could kiss her right now.
