He looked from the magnificent view of the sun setting over the ocean to the steaming food on his plate. And knew an intimate thrill even from that. He was about to taste her cooking.
To have a meal she’d prepared specifically for him.
What kind of a sap was he turning into?
And why?
“You entertain here often?” he asked after he’d consumed half the food on his plate in total silence. The food was that good. He really was starving.
And he couldn’t say the things that were on his mind. Like how perfect her plan had turned out to be. How beautiful she looked sitting across from him. And how much he wished he had that view every meal, every day.
It wasn’t fair to her. Or to himself.
“This is a first,” she said, in answer to his question. “Sharing a meal with someone here. In this room. I eat lunch here most days that I don’t have an appointment, but there’s a room down the hall where we generally have working meals with clients. It’s a conference room, but it is always stocked with napkins, silverware, condiments, glasses and an assortment of drinks.”
One point stuck. He was a first for her. He liked that.
“So...” She spoke the one word, fork suspended, in a voice that made him look at her. And then she just sat there.
“What?”
“I’ve come up with some potential plans for dealing with our sexual attraction to each other.”
The bite going down got stuck. Wood swallowed a second time. Coughed. Took a sip of water. And then said, “I’m listening.” Like a guy watching a train wreck as it happened. Fascinated and filled with dread.
“One. We continue to talk about it, take the mystery out of it, treat it like the rain. It’s natural, serves a purpose, and yet, we don’t want to get caught in it...recognizing the signs when they come for what they are, knowing they’ll pass and continuing on in spite of them.”
Initially, he liked the theory. But... “Sometimes rain comes without warning, and people get caught in it.”
Sucking in her lower lip—creating a downpour for him—she nodded. “Right,” she said. “So, number two. We find other lovers pronto.”
He shook his head. “You’re six months pregnant. Probably not a lot of guys, at least not any that you’d want to be with, are going to be open to casual sex with you right now.” At least he hoped to God not. “And I’m not into being with one woman while imagining she’s someone else.”
He was fairly certain that any sex he tried to have right then would feature Cassie whether she was present or not.
“Number three. We do it once. Just get it out of our systems. No foreplay. No extraneous touching or exploring. No looking into each other’s eyes...”
His penis favored that one in big measure. Huge measure. “I thought you said this wasn’t a seduction.” He was desperate to maintain control.
“It’s not.”
“Yet you look like you’re on a date.”
She didn?
?t even blink as she met his gaze. “I’m twenty-six and a half weeks pregnant,” she said. “I feel like a tub. Kind of hard to discuss sexual attraction in any legitimate way feeling that way.”
He had no basis with which to argue that one.
But... “I can’t speak for you, Cassie, but there’s no way once would be enough for me. No matter how much you try to strip it down.”
He wanted to strip her down. Right then. Right there. In front of a sunset that would grace the entire world within a day.
“So, four. We each take accountability and responsibility for our own needs, tending to them privately, alone.”
He came a little as she said the words. And then his body started to relax. He wasn’t going to get any. “I’ll be thinking about you,” he told her, looking her straight in the eye.
“I’ll be thinking about you, too.”