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OMG, we (and the rest of the planet) are so ablog over your war with the Ethan guy—too funny. You’ve so got to put him in his place. He sounds hot, tho—he’s a possible if it weren’t for the ego, right? So who cares about the ego? Just have some fun!
Um, yeah, she’d tried that. Succeeded too—until the doubts had needled in only seconds after her multiple-orgasmic warmth had started to fade. As for putting him in his place—yeah, right. She was going to. But the wish to do that had receded—there were other things she wanted now. Like to know more about him.
She curled her feet up beneath her in her big, comfy swivel chair and stared at the font he’d chosen for his GuysGetWise banner. It, like the rest of him, told her nothing. What more did she know of him after two dates? Even now she’d had sex with him did she really know him any better? Oh, sure, she knew he was quick-witted, that he had a wickedly infectious laugh, and that when he looked at her she felt like the most captivating woman on the planet—but beyond that?
Frowning, she leaned over her keyboard. She clicked into her own blog and started typing.
The Day Date
Okay, I admit it, as I did on the first date—I broke a couple of my own rules. Last time it worked against me. This time I hoped it would help me get one up on him. But it didn’t—if anything it backfired completely. So take heed of those tips, girls. They’re there for good reason.
In fairness—and I am trying to be fair here—Ethan is a nice guy. He makes an effort, he’s generous and, yes, he knows how to make a woman feel good. He’s courteous, he’s chivalrous, he’s protective. Oh, and he can talk flirt’n’dirt like no one else on earth.
Yet there’s so much that you just don’t get to know. He’ll get intimate physically, if that’s something you want. But emotionally?
That’s a total no-go. I know as little of anything meaningful about him as I did before date one.
In my last post I questioned whether there was anything beneath that charming, handsome surface of his. But now I ask why is he so determined to hide whatever there may be?
Is it his way of maintaining his “mystery”? Because, if so, then hats off to him—because curiosity is a thing that will hook a woman. Yeah, his tease and trap plan works. But then he still doesn’t share anything about himself, his family, what he cares about. And for most women sharing bodies isn’t enough.
So what is it he’s afraid to reveal? Maybe it’s just that there really is nothing there. He’s simply superficial. So he limits the length of the game because he knows his own limitations—and that if you go for anything more than three dates, you’re going to know it too.
Ethan stared at her blog, the churning lava of his temper boiling ever closer to eruption. A reaction that he knew was more extreme than her words warranted—for had she fabricated? Had she kissed and told?
No. That was honesty he was reading, and she’d been honest and open in a surprisingly discreet way. Some hints that really only he would pick up. There was no denial of what had happened, but no blow-by-blow account either. He guessed she’d neither confirm nor deny when her blog followers asked the inevitable “did you do him?” question. Which was exactly how he’d respond when his readers asked him.
She’d done okay with her write-up. But still he hated every word. Most especially that “Ethan is a nice guy” bit. Ugh—nice. What kind of a word was nice? It was ironic that he’d always tried to be nice and now he was it seemed as flavoursome as dishwater. He didn’t want to be so average, as if he was some loser she had to be kind to. He didn’t need her generous, not-particularly-moved judgement, thanks.
And, while she admitted a smidgeon of responsibility, she still laid too much at his door. What was the crap about not knowing anything more about him? She couldn’t blame that on him. Date one she’d been too busy talking about herself—which admittedly he’d engineered. Date two she hadn’t asked. She’d just got out of there as fast as she could. She hadn’t so much as glanced round his apartment, hadn’t asked about his work or life or anything. She’d screwed, then scarpered. So how was her not getting to know him more a result of him “hiding”? What was it she wanted to know, exactly? Should he draw up a list of his favourite things? His most happy memory? It was rubbish. If she’d wanted to get to know him then she should have stuck around and spent more time with him.
He knocked back his coffee in one gulp—and got the bitter bits at the bottom. Grimacing, he stabbed the keyboard.
Was Date Number 2 Nailed?
With that pathetic start, he stopped. He really didn’t want to answer it. Didn’t know how he could without admitting what had happened—which he really didn’t want to do. He didn’t kiss and tell. Right to his bones he now regretted the whole online blog thing. It was such a stupid idea, and it had dumped him into something he didn’t quite know how to climb out of. But he couldn’t just delete the thing because he refused to let it be over with her. And the three dates deal was the one way he could catch her again. Yes, he wanted to catch her one more time. Catch her and blow her mind. So he had to respond now.
Tease and trap—mission accomplished.
A surprisingly honestOlderNWisereven says it herself: the technique works. But she also points out the major flaw—it’s only successful for a limited time.
Sure, I accept that. But it begs the question for how long do you want to trap? Catch and release is the aim of the game for many men. And, let’s face it, lots of women love the chase and to be caught too, and are happy to go onto another game with another guy after. Therein is the excitement, the thrill. It all depends on what you’re looking for, and so long as you’re looking for the same things then no problem, right? It’s pretty obvious with most guys.
Guess it’s up to the ladies to be honest about what they’re looking for. In my experience they’re often not, and then the guy gets the blame for the broken heart when in fact it was the girl who decided to play with the matches in the first place. Think on that, all you sweethearts out there.
MsOlderNWiserdebates my level of superficiality vs. depth. I’d challenge her definition of superficiality—’cos, honey, I’m not going to sit around pontificating about politics or religion on a date. Where’s the fun in that?
But we have one more date to go, so let’s see what that brings. Clearly it’s time to put her in touch with my “sensitive” side. But I’m not giving away any secrets pre-date. We’ll do it first and then I’ll report back. I can tell you it’s my choice for the date, and it is going to be nothing like what she expects.
Ethan watched the cursor flash, unhappy with what he’d written but unable to come up with anything better. He was still too steamed. She wanted to know more about him? He’d let her learn a few things, for sure, and he knew exactly how to throw her into it. He laughed at the evilness of his idea—but she’d asked for it, after all. The almighty great pain in the neck was that it couldn’t happen for a week. He pressed “publish” then shoved away from his desk, suddenly furious that it was so many damn days away. Still, maybe that gave him a chance to get his hot-for-her hormones back under control. Damn it, maybe he’d go out on another date himself on Friday night. She’d said this wasn’t exclusive. He could go and have some real fun with someone less trouble. He’d head to his favourite bar with the boys and see what action he could chase out.
His guts twisted painfully again, and the bitter coffee taste still burnt his tongue. Yeah, he was definitely suffering some sort of flu when the thought of hitting the scene made him feel sick.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were the longest days Nadia had ever lived through. Nothing had rattled her nerves, sleep and appetite like this. Not even discovering her perfect boyfriend actually made a hobby of conning the virginity out of as many young uni students as he could—as he had her. Nope, not even that had had her as distracted or on edge as this.
She was awake more than half each night, watching the comments coming in to the blogs. It was horrific. She was so, so glad of her anonymity, and hated the fact his name was out there—even though most of the comments on his blog were bigging him up as “the man”. The speculation was rife—and also right—and several comments were crass. Interestingly there hadn’t been a word from the women who’d posted on the original thread. It surprised her—she’d have thought they’d be interested and amused by the challenge.
She even surreptitiously checked at work—totally fixated. She struggled to stop herself refreshing both their blogs every other minute. Most of the time she managed, but one in ten she didn’t. Nothing more appeared online directly from Ethan. He didn’t comment on the comments. Nor did she any more. But she was waiting. Nothing, she now knew, was as bad as waiting. He’d said they were going to do date three, yet he hadn’t contacted her about it. So she was waiting, waiting, waiting. Jumping every time the phone went or her e-mail pinged, sitting on her hands to stop herself calling him. So much for never seeing him again, for getting over her fatal attraction to him. Instead she wanted to apologise for being such a cow when he’d dropped her home—wanted to suck back that bitter end to the afternoon. Only she really didn’t think he’d care all that much. He just wanted to win. It was still all a game to him.
And then it happened—her mobile rang, with his number on the display. Sweat bubbled from every pore and she gulped a breath which didn’t help. Her lungs and brain still shut down as excitement overrode everything. All she had in her head was the stupid hope that her voice wouldn’t hit squeak territory when she said hi. Of course it did.
Panic shot high as she waited to hear what he had to say—except she could only hear her pounding heart.
‘About our next date,’ he said slowly.
‘You still want to do another?’ she blurted.
There was a pause. Nadia closed her eyes and winced at her unintentional entendre. She really had to learn not to jump in on him.
‘Did you think I’d let you off that easily, Nadia? A deal is a deal. Or are you backing out?’
‘No. We can do the last date.’ She spelt it out, giving him no cause to think she meant something else.
‘I know you’re already seeing someone on Friday, but can you do Saturday?’
‘Yes.’ She didn’t correct her lie, but didn’t try to play any more games by putting him off again either. This was purely about survival now. Of course if she really wanted to survive she should just say no, but she couldn’t say no to him—the beating of her blood just wasn’t going to let her.
‘Afternoon,’ he said calmly.
‘Another day date?’ Heat filled her face as she thought of the last one. The scent of the grass suddenly hit her, along with the remembered sensation of him pressing her into it.
‘Kind of. But there won’t be any exercise this time. You need to wear something a little more formal. That dress you wore to the movies would be good.’
She swallowed. No exercise, huh? His oh-so-casual attitude sharpened her antagonism. He so wasn’t dictating her wardrobe to her. ‘I can do a little more formal.’
‘Great. Then I’ll pick you up at one.’
‘Okay. See you then.’
He rang off without saying goodbye. It made concentrating on work the rest of the day impossible. Well, not impossible, but it was extremely annoying that she had to be there and not at home so she could obsess.
She went out for a walk and bought an ice-cream—to cool herself down on the inside. Gave herself a headache by eating it too quickly. She really had to pull herself together. She was not going to ruin her reputation at work because of some guy she was going to see only once more. She had to get a grip. Self-pep-talked up, she went back to the office and sat down and worked overtime, losing herself in the tasks and not once going back online.
In the evening at home she texted Megan for support. He wanted a little more formal? She was going to need some help with that. Formal for day-time wasn’t that easy to pull.
Def wear dress but hair down not up. Help yourself to anything in my wardrobe.
Saturday morning she followed Megan’s advice, plaiting just a narrow section of hair near the front and then clipping it back. She totally wished she could borrow some of Meg’s amazing shoes—except she’d have to stuff tissue into the toes to fit them, and that just wouldn’t be a good look. She put a little more make-up on than usual—mainly to hide the signs of sleeplessness under her eyes.
Right on one o’clock she opened the door, and with a brain-draining combination of nerves, excitement and foreign shyness looked at him. Neither spoke. The moment of silence went on so long she started to panic.
‘Is this not okay?’ Totally husky rather squeaky this time.
‘No, it’s okay.’ He cleared his throat at the same time she did. ‘You look great.’
He was smart-casual too, and she was glad she’d gone with the little gilt heels and the silver dress. But she was melting into a puddle—awkwardness was the only thing that saved her. She wanted to apologise, she wanted to beg, she wanted to start over. She wanted so many things that were impossible.
He had his car, held the door for her to get in. She didn’t look at him.
‘Change the music if you want,’ he said as he pulled out into the traffic.
Actually, she liked this band and their loudness. The car smelt nice—it smelt like him. ‘Where are we going?’
‘Oh, you know I like to preserve a little mystery,’ he answered too smoothly.
She glanced at him, but he was looking hard at the road ahead and she wasn’t inclined to try and start the conversation again. Nor was he—so somehow forty minutes rolled by in silent, screaming tension.
Eventually they cruised into one of those cute home counties villages—all quaint and expensive. And then he pulled into the driveway of one stunning country home. There were little pink balloons on the gate, and a line-up of flash European cars parked along the street.
Nadia’s tension couldn’t stay silent now. What the hell were they coming to? She slowly got out of the car and followed him to a beautiful doorway. Through the windows of the house she saw people in pretty party dress milling—and she knew.
‘This is some kind of family occasion, isn’t it?’ Appalled, she slowly climbed the steps up to the door. All the needing-to-apologise feeling fled.
‘My niece’s christening, yes.’
‘I can’t be here.’ She saw the amusement on his face and her temper flared. ‘This isn’t the place for you to play your manipulating games.’
‘Oh? That’s fine coming from you—the mistress of manipulation. Treat me mean, keep me keen—is that what you were doing?’
There was only one bit of that sentence she registered. Dumbfounded, she gazed up at him. ‘You’re still keen?’
‘Why?’ Roughly his hands snaked around her waist and he yanked her against him right there on the doorstep. ‘You still want me?’
One hand slid lower, firmly curving around her butt. Through the thin shiny dress his heat burned. Her instant tremor was obvious to them both. And suddenly she felt like crying. She was tired of feeling this desperate for him. ‘I wasn’t playing games with you.’ Oh, she sounded pathetic—and pleading.
‘The hell you weren’t.’ His intense gaze stripped her completely.
And she was pleading now. He was vibrating too—with annoyance, and something else. Something every ounce of her wanted to believe was desire. She gazed up at him, too thrilled by the close contact to realise what she was revealing to him—too hot to care. All she wanted was this contact to become closer still.
She heard his breath catch, watched immobile as his head angled and slowly lowered, his sensual lips coming towards hers. Her own breath caught then, while her heart thundered. She tilted her chin, wanting the kiss so badly. His hands tightened, sending more pleasure shocks along her nerves. She liked feeling the strength of him.
But suddenly he looked up. Too late she registered that the door beside them had opened.
Not releasing her from his tight embrace, Ethan suddenly flashed a totally different sort of smile. ‘Hello, Mother.’
CHAPTER NINE (#ulink_11ca5f8b-9a44-54b0-8172-0e64889c04c6)
‘ETHAN! It’s you.’ The woman sounded stunned. ‘You and …’
Nadia flinched, felt his muscles spasm too. Suddenly it registered that she was resting all her weight against him. But she couldn’t pull away. The steel band across her back—i.e. his arm—wouldn’t let her. Desperately she licked her lips, so she could manage a smile, and turned her head to face the one woman she’d never, ever expected to meet.
‘Ethan?’ Another voice, and then two other, younger women materialised to flank his mother’s sides.
‘Mother, meet Nadia. Nadia, this is my mother, Victoria, and my two sisters Jessica and Polly.’ The mocking amusement in his voice was apparent, but it didn’t chase the surprise off all their faces.
Nadia wished he’d let her go so she could run away to a small dank cave. But he still held her far, far too closely. She shook her head slightly to dispel her fuzzed vision—only the situation dived drastically when she saw his family clearly. Ethan the Gorgeous just would have two glamorous, swan-like sisters and a model-of-class-and-refinement kind of mother.
‘How lovely to meet you.’ Polly swapped a look with her sister. ‘See—this is why I had to pick up Mother, instead of Ethan.’
‘Well, it wasn’t like you were going to bring a date.’ Ethan said, still not releasing Nadia from the inappropriate clinch.
‘We didn’t expect you to either,’ Polly snapped back. It took five crucifying silent seconds for her to realise the her gaffe before she blustered with a sheepish smile, ‘Of course it’s wonderful you could be here, Nadia. You have no idea how thrilled were are to meet you.’
Nadia kept digging her fingers into his shirt, trying to push him away, but the man-mountain wasn’t moving. She could feel the slow, deep rise and fall of his chest against her cheek—completely tantalising and scattering her focus. ‘Oh, thank you so much,’ she babbled to cover her confusion and embarrassment. ‘I’m so sorry to be here unexpectedly. I hope it’s no trouble. I really don’t want to intrude …’ She stumbled over the words and felt her flush deepening. ‘I can—’
‘Come right in.’ Ethan suddenly moved, turning and pushing her slightly ahead of him with firm hands on her upper arms.
The three women stepped back into the house. Nadia walked past them and kept walking to the nearest corner—quite a distance in the stunning large atrium she found herself in. Ethan kept pace.
‘I’m not staying here,’ she hissed, facing him.
‘You have to now.’ He grinned down at her, looking too relaxed all of a sudden. ‘This way you can get to know more about me—my family and my history and all those fascinating, irrelevant things women want to know. I’m sure my sisters would love to fill you in on a few facts.’
Oh, so this was his way of showing her more about himself? She shook her head—he was unbelievable, and now she was stuck here, with no wheels to get away. Of course her curiosity was ravenous … and he knew it.
From the stunned look on his mother’s and his sisters’ faces she figured him bringing a date wasn’t an everyday occurrence. But she knew not to read any significance into it—this was all about their little war.
‘This is so impolite,’ she told him, hoping for a last minute escape.
‘There was me thinking you were an expert at being impolite.’
She swallowed that, then fired right back. ‘You were the one keeping us in that shocking clinch on the step.’
His grin broadened back to wicked. ‘It would have been much more of a shock if I’d let you go and they’d seen how hard I was.’
Nadia flushed, both mortified and melting again. ‘You really think it’s okay for me to be here?’ She gazed up at his laughing façade and saw the shadows lurking in the back of them.
‘As long as you don’t get too close to me again while there are people around,’ he murmured.
‘There’s a little service at the church down the road in a few minutes, and then it’s back here for afternoon tea on the lawn.’ Polly crossed the atrium and interrupted them.
‘Oh.’ Nadia smiled through her breathlessness. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
Ethan laughed. ‘Jess and Polly have this thing planned with military precision. You can just be decorative, like me. Is he here?’ That last to his sister.
Polly nodded with a helpless sort of shrug. ‘But alone.’
Nadia didn’t miss the look that flashed between the two of them. Who were they talking about?
