Third Date (26 page)

“Good for you,” Kayla says. “I hope it works out.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“No. You seem really into this guy. Are you gonna do it with him and end this whole virgin thing once and for all?”

I consider it. “Yeah. I think I am.”
 

“Well, there you go. It all worked out for you, Morgan. I’m happy for you.”

“Okay, now you’re definitely being sarcastic.”

Paige keeps her eyes on Kayla. “I don’t know, Morgan. I think she might be serious. She actually seems like she might be in a good mood today.”

“Hey, I’m always in a good mood,” Kayla insists.
 

“Is it because of some guy?” Paige asks her. “Is it some guy you met last weekend?” Kayla doesn’t answer so Paige continues. “You really need to stop meeting guys in bars, Kayla.”

“I didn’t meet him in a bar.” She hesitates, then says, “I have to tell you guys something and you can’t laugh at me or say ‘I told you so,’ okay?”

“What is it?” Paige asks.

“I’m dating Chase. We’ve been dating for a few months.” She says it really fast, then writes something in her lab notes.
 

Paige stares at her in total shock.
 

I try to act surprised. “That’s great, Kayla. But why didn’t you tell us sooner?”

She looks up and points to Paige, who’s still staring. “Because of that. I knew she’d make a huge deal out of this. At least you’re being cool about it.”

“I’m confused.” Paige wakes from her shock. “So all those guys you told us about were just made-up guys? You’ve been making up stories all these months?”

“Pretty much. I would’ve kept it a secret even longer but Chase was getting pissed at me for hiding it. He’s sick of keeping it a secret. He wants to tell everyone. He’s such a girl sometimes.”

“He wants to tell everyone because he’s in love.” Paige’s dreamy tone emerges. “He loves you, Kayla. And you love him! I knew you were falling in love and I knew it was Chase! You kept denying you liked him, but I knew you really did. You know why? Because my love sense is always right. I was right about Morgan and Brad and now you and Chase.” She sighs. “This is so romantic.”

Kayla rolls her eyes. “I knew I shouldn’t have told you.”

Paige bugs her the rest of the afternoon, but I don’t think Kayla minds. She seems happy for once. I think she really
is
in love.

***

Brad shows up at my door at 6 wearing a suit and tie. I’m wearing a dress. He texted me earlier saying the place we’re going to is an upscale restaurant and that people dress up to go there.
 

I’ve been so anxious to be alone with him that I pull him into my apartment, slam the door, and kiss him, inhaling that great cologne he wears. We walk to the couch, still kissing. Our pent up attraction to each other can’t release itself fast enough.
 

After a few minutes, Brad stops and smiles at me. “If we keep going, we’ll never get out of here.”

He helps me up and gets my coat, holding it for me as I put it on. Then he opens the door, motioning me to go first. I love how he does all these little things like opening doors and helping me with my coat. It’s old fashioned, but sweet.
 

“Where are we going?” I ask once we’re in the car.

“To a steakhouse on the south side of town. It’s the place my parents used to go to celebrate big events.” He glances over at me. “You saying yes to my invitation is a big event. Plus my parents had their first date there and things worked out pretty well for them. I’m considering this our first date by the way. Boston doesn’t count.”

My mind races to find the hidden meaning in his words. Does the parents’ first date comment mean he hopes we’ll get married some day, just like his parents? Is he counting dates because of the third-date sex rule? But he said he didn’t follow that rule.

“Are you awake over there, Morgan?” He reaches over to hold my hand.

“Yeah. First date. Got it. I don’t know why you thought I’d say no to going out with you. I’ve been flirting with you for weeks.”

He looks at me, confused. “No, you haven’t. You haven’t flirted with me at all. I thought you weren’t interested. But then I decided I just had to go for it. If you said no, you said no. At least I asked.”

“You couldn’t tell I was flirting? I thought it was so obvious.”

He laughs. “You might want to make it a little
more
obvious because it definitely does not come off as flirting.”

I guess that’s why I never get asked out. Guys must think I’m not interested.

We get to the restaurant and after we order I decide to ask him about Jessica. “I hate to bring this up, but I stopped by your place last night and a girl was there.”

“She didn’t mention anyone coming by. You should’ve stayed. She was only there for a few minutes. That was Jessica, my ex, as in the girl I almost married. She lives in Kansas City now but she was up here visiting her mom. She came by to give me the ring back. When we broke up, she kept it, which kind of pissed me off at the time since buying it drained my bank account. Anyway, she called me last week and said she’s getting married and wanted to give the ring back. Her future husband wasn’t loving the fact that she still had it. I’ll take it to a pawn shop. See what I can get.”

Wow, I totally overreacted last night. Jessica was only at his place a few minutes and in my head I had the two of them already planning their wedding.

“Morgan, you didn’t think she and I were—”

“No.” I glance down at the table and line up my forks, which are already aligned. “Of course not.”
 

“Morgan.” He puts his hand on my arm and I look up. “Is that why you took off last night instead of sticking around?”

“Okay. Yeah. I thought you were getting back together with her.”

He slips his hand around mine. “If something like that ever happens again, you need to talk to me. Don’t go running off making up some story.”

“Happens again? Do you have any other ex-fiancés I should know about?”

He laughs. “Yeah. Tons of them. And I’ve got a couple ex-wives, too.”

The dinner is perfect. The restaurant is quiet with dim lighting. We both have steaks and split a bottle of wine.

When we get back to my apartment, I’m completely relaxed. It’s such a different experience than going out with Grant, coming home stressed from all the noise and chaos of the restaurants he picked.

“Should we watch a movie?” Brad takes off his suit jacket and tie and undoes the top button of his shirt. He puts his arm up behind me on the couch and I move closer to him.
 

“A movie? Don’t you want to do something else?” I unbutton more of his shirt and kiss him.
 

He kisses me back, sparking a wave of sensation to ripple through my core. I’ve never had a simple kiss get me so turned on. Does he have some magic spell he puts on women? Is that why he was so popular with the girls at my high school?

I know it’s only been one official date but I think I might be ready to go all the way with him. Technically, if you count Boston, we’ve been on several dates. I don’t see the need to wait anymore.

I lie back on the couch and he follows, not breaking our kiss. His body presses into mine and I can feel him. He’s more than ready to take this farther.
 

“Let’s go to the bedroom,” I whisper over his lips.

“Not tonight.”

“Why?” He can’t possibly be turning me down again. It’s not like he’s got a mechanical problem. He’s ready to go.
 

His kisses stop and he sits back on the couch.

“What’s wrong?”

“I can’t do this with you. Not yet.”

Not yet? Is he another born-again virgin? Is this some new trend I don’t know about? How many of them
are
there? And why do I keep dating them?
 

“Why? I don’t understand.”

“Morgan, I know you’re a virgin.”

I sit up straight, adjusting my dress. “Virgin? Who told you that?”

“Nobody told me. I can tell.”

He can tell? How is that possible? Do I give off some virgin vibe? Or is he such a sex expert from his high school days that he can sniff virgins out of a crowd?

“How you could possibly tell?”

“Only virgins are that nervous and embarrassed about buying condoms.”

“You looked in the sack?” I feel my face getting hot. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t want to embarrass you.”
 

“Well, I’m embarrassed now.”

“Don’t be. It’s no big deal.” He smiles and reaches over to hold my hand. “By the way, who were those condoms for?”

“You.” I look down. I’m sure my face is beet red. “You were going to be my first.”

He lifts my chin up. “You really thought I was worthy of that? Can I ask why?”

“I felt comfortable with you. And you were nice to me. You took me out to buy underwear and clothes late at night even though you had plans to go out with your friends. And you invited me to that Irish bar with all your coworkers and didn’t ignore me all night. I was drunk and you made sure I got back safely to my room and you didn’t try to take advantage of me. Then you took me to dinner at the Italian place when you could’ve asked someone else to go.”
 

“I wanted to spend time with you. Get to know you better. I wasn’t expecting sex. I hope I didn’t give you that impression.”

“No, but you do have kind of a reputation.”

“That was high school, Morgan. I’m not that same horny teenage boy anymore.” He pauses. “Okay, maybe I’m still horny, but I’m not a teenage boy. I can control it now.”

“Truthfully, I just wanted to lose my virginity. I wanted to get it over with and I was going to use you to do it.”

He laughs. “So you were
using
me? You were tricking me that whole time? I can’t believe this. You only went out with me for sex!” He pretends to be offended.

It makes me laugh. “Yes. I admit it. I was hoping to use you for sex. But you turned me down.”

He gets serious again. “You don’t really want to have sex with someone just to get it over with, do you?”

“No. Well, not now. I just got caught up in thinking I had to keep up with everyone else. And then Kayla swears that every guy expects sex on the third date. I was afraid to date anyone being so inexperienced. I thought they’d be able to tell. But apparently they can tell just by looking at me because you knew right away. Is it written on my forehead or something?”

“The condom thing was a dead giveaway.”

“So now what? You’re afraid to do it with me? You don’t want to be my first?”

“I’d be happy to be your first, but I don’t want you to rush into it. And I don’t want to do it on our first date.” He cups my cheek, his eyes on mine. “Listen, Morgan. You’re incredibly beautiful and incredibly sexy and it’s taking every ounce of self control I have to keep this from happening. I definitely want this. It’s just not the right time.”
 

“But I’m ready, Brad. I don’t need more time.”

“This is something you’ll remember for the rest of your life. After the first, the other times just kind of blur together. And do you really want your first time to be on a Tuesday night after work?”

I consider it. “No, but there’s never going to be some magical time.”

“There will be. And when it is, you’ll know.” He leans in and softly kisses me, then smiles. “I just hope it’s not a year from now because I don’t think I can wait that long.”

“I can’t believe you’re willing to wait. You’re not at all who I thought you were. I’m really glad you chased me down that night in Boston.”

“I’ve been chasing you since high school. I just didn’t think I’d ever catch you.”

He gives me another kiss, then wraps his strong arms around me and pulls me into his chest and we lie on the couch and watch TV.

It’s the best first date I’ve ever had, even with the embarrassing virgin discussion. Brad couldn’t have been nicer about it. I feel closer to him than I’ve ever felt with a guy. I’m starting to think Paige’s love meter is right. I might actually be falling in love with Brad.

***

The next day I can’t stop smiling. I think my skin even has a rosy glow. I’m sure it will wear off in a week or so, but for now, I’m enjoying this early relationship euphoria.

Wednesday night Brad and I have dinner together and then he goes to his cousin’s house to put a new faucet on her bathroom sink. I love that he helps her out like that. And I think it’s kind of hot that he knows how to fix stuff. Most guys his age don’t know how to fix anything.

On Thursday we have dinner with my dad and Sophie who are back in town for the wedding. My dad seems to really like Brad, although he admits to me later that he had some concerns about his daughter dating “that Fletcher boy.” But he can see Brad’s grown up a lot since his high school days.
 

On Friday, Brad and I go to the rehearsal dinner, which is at a fancy restaurant downtown St. Paul. Afterward we go back to his place and enjoy some intimate activities on his bed—as intimate as you can get without having sex.

We’ve been making out like this all week and it’s getting harder to stop before going all the way. The chemistry between is intense. I finally got a look at what was under all those clothes and Brad is pure muscle with six-pack abs. He totally turns me on and I seem to have the same affect on him. When things get too hot, he always backs away a little. And he keeps his boxers on because he says if he didn’t, it’d be too tempting to keep going and he doesn’t want to rush me.

But I don’t feel rushed. I actually feel like I’m ready. I know Brad and I haven’t dated that long, but I feel like I’ve known him forever. And in a way I have, because he grew up in my neighborhood. But it’s more than that. We have something between us, a familiarity and a closeness, that makes me feel like we’ve been friends for years.

Maybe that’s why I don’t get nervous when I’m making out with him. I was always nervous with other guys, even Grant. But with Brad, I’m not nervous at all. In fact, our make-out sessions have been amazing. Brad knows his way around a woman’s body. He knows exactly what to do and tonight is no different. By the time he’s done with me, I’m so relaxed I almost fall asleep.