LITMIR.BIZ

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her ear. “Yeah. That’s what I said. You. Me. Sex. Tips.”

      “Tell me something, Evie.”

      “Okay.”

      “Why is it you’re out to pick up a man tonight?”

      “The app.”

      He shrugged. “Okay, you win the prize. You’ve picked me up. Now you don’t have to follow through. Your methods worked. The app is a stunning success.”

      She frowned. This was supposed to be sweet victory, and yet, in the moment it rang hollow. “You seem so into it, far be it for me to doubt whether or not I’ve scored,” she said dryly, “but I sort of doubt it.”

      “But say you had. And that it all worked. Do you want to follow through?”

      She blinked. She looked around the bar, at the guys she’d struck out with. If they’d asked her to go back to their place she’d be back at her place alone drinking a Moscato. She for damn sure would not have said yes.

      But Caleb asking if she wanted to follow through?

      The idea was tempting in a way she hadn’t anticipated.

      “I…the data is skewed because you know about the app,” she said. “I can’t ever be sure.”

      “Sure you can. I would like to take you back to my place and have sex with you, Evie. What’s your answer?”

      She opened her mouth and nothing came out. And that’s when she realized, she was seriously considering naked touching with a stranger. And she’d been warned about strangers. No matter how much candy a guy claimed to have in his van, she knew better than to go with him. She knew that.

      Yeah, she was nervous as hell. And if any of the other guys were standing where he was? She would be saying game over. Flirt level: Awesome, achieved. No sex required. Just as planned.

      But now? Now she was looking at this guy, the hottest guy she’d ever seen, and thinking why not?

      Because this wasn’t about an app, or a flirting experiment. This was about demanding something other than mediocrity. Something better than a guy she got naked for just because he was there and it was expected.

      She wanted a guy who would tear her clothes off like she was a present on Christmas morning. And she’d never had it. She’d never been able to ask for what she really wanted. And any time she’d tried, Jason had just acted like she’d asked him to hide a body, not go down on her. That list of sex tips? She would have been too embarrassed to leave it on Jason’s pillow, much less verbally ask for any of them.

      And what was that? She was a professional woman who had total control over her life, and yet she’d never asked for what she wanted in bed. She’d never pushed for excellence there, even when she demanded it in all other areas of her life.

      “Okay, you want the truth?” she asked.

      “Depends.”

      “On?”

      His smile widened. “If I’ll like a lie better.”

      “I don’t lie well. I’m honest. Painfully so. It’s part of the awkwardness, which, I am aware of, by the way. It works for me in some settings.”

      “If you say so.”

      “Forbes says so, actually, but that’s beside the point.”

      “Forbes has never said anything about me,” he said.

      “Don’t feel bad. You’re young yet. Make something of yourself and maybe someday you’ll be as important as I am. That point aside, though,” she said, taking a deep breath, “here’s the truth. I just got out of a really long-term relationship. Like, if socks were as old as that relationship, throwing them out would have been the obvious thing to do.”

      “Socks?”

      “Metaphorically, it actually holds up well. It stunk and it was full of holes. Again, much like old socks. And then I lost the asshole in the wash, so to speak.”

      “Okay.”

      “Anyway, long-term relationship. So done with it. So done with him. And I don’t know what the hell I’m doing. I know how to turn a few lines of code into a fortune, but I don’t know how to get a date. And I am…desperate for sex that’s more exciting than lukewarm oatmeal. Desperate. So…I’m sure I broke a cardinal rule by confessing my desperation, but—and this is a big but—I probably won’t be pursuing that non-bland sex with a stranger from a bar. Sorry.”

      “Confessing desperation is probably a serious rule-breaker, you’re right.”

      “No doubt.”

      “I’m sure you’re supposed to be playing aloof. Hard to get. Like Jeff over there,” he said, gesturing to the man she’d made a pass at only a few minutes earlier.

      That thought made her feel a little dizzy. She’d only been in the bar for an hour. She’d talked to four men. And she was going to go home with the fourth one if he was into it.

      All in all, it was one of the more eventful hours in her life. And she’d had a few eventful hours in her lifetime.

      “Well, I thought any more aloof and the bar would reach maximum aloofness capacity so I figured I’d tone it down.”

      “I like honesty.”

      “You just said you wanted the lie if it was better.”

      He smiled. “Either I’m very honest or a good liar.”

      “That shouldn’t be charming. How did you do that?”

      “I’m good at flirting.”

      “You have to show me. Because I think I need to understand the flirting since I’m making the app that’s supposed to help with the flirting. That is why I’m here, after all.”

      “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll help you with the flirting after you show me your sex tips.”

      “Is that an offer?” she asked.

      “I thought you were the one offering. I’m accepting.”

      “I already told you it was more of an experimental offer. But for the sake of argument, is this a happy acceptance or a pity acceptance?”

      He moved toward her, his eyes locked on hers. The glitter of humor in his eyes taking on a dark light that seemed to pull her in. He didn’t smell like sweat coated in cheap body spray. He smelled like soap, a hint of cologne and an undertone of musky man that she hadn’t realized she’d been missing from her life.

      “Care to guess?” he asked, his voice soft, barely rising above the music and conversation in the bar.

      She shot a quick look over to Jeff the Aloof. He was looking more interested now. Well, screw him. Or rather, not.

      But maybe, just maybe, she would screw Caleb.

      “Eyes on me,” he said, his tone suddenly not so teasing at all. And she obeyed.

      Heat shot through her, the commanding tone of his voice pushing off the edge of aroused and straight into a pool of lust. She wanted him. Research had nothing to do with it.

      And if she wanted him…well, why shouldn’t she have him? She didn’t have a deadweight boyfriend keeping her from pursuing him.

      Yes. Oh yes, she was going to have him. Decision made. There and now. But she wasn’t going to tell him that yet. The app suggested she not make herself a “sure thing.” She had to make him seduce her.

      Though, she felt pretty well seduced.

      “Do I what?” she asked, suddenly unable to remember anything except the color of his eyes. Warm and golden like whiskey held up against the light.

      “Do you think I feel sorry for you? Or do you genuinely think I

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