No brain freeze for Miss Perfect, obviously.God, I’m so out of my fucking league, clearly.
“What changed your mind?”Theo asked, without thinking.His voice sounded darker to his own ears than he knew it should.He returned to his drink, this time slowly sucking some liquid through his straw, careful not to overdo it again.
Though if overdoing it means she gets to touch my face and make my skin all tingly again, I’ll take it...
Miss Perfect batted her eyelashes at him, giving Theo a sweet, yet seductive grin.
“Sometimes, you just get a craving for something and you can’t stop thinking about it.”Her gaze drifted to the rim of his drink, hovering for a moment over his untouched fruit before her attention was back on her own drink.
“I feeling the know,” Theo said stupidly, because apparently his damn brain freeze had made him forget how to speak properly.“I mean, I know the feeling,” he said, letting out a chuckle as he tried to recover from his momentary blunder.“But I can’t say I don’t like it.The...feeling.Craving something sweet, I mean.”Theo felt as if he was grasping at his sanity, and it wasn’t because of the alcohol.
No, not entirely, anyway.For as he fought his blush, as he gazed upon Miss Perfect and her amber eyes, the reality dawned on him she had taken him up on his offer.She wasinterested.Otherwise, why would Miss Perfect have come to the bar to share a drink with him if she was not intrigued by him and his sudden burst of confidence?
And that reality—that understanding that perhaps she felt the same attraction—was equally as terrifying as it was exciting.
The night, as it seemed, was going rather smoothly for him.It was turning out to be the best night ever for one Theodore Lange.
But certainly he’d screw it up somehow, right?
He let out a heavy breath, trying to push his vicious anxieties aside.
No, think positive thoughts, Theo!Don’t fuck this up!
At some point, the polite conversation and fantastical flirtations would cease, and the question would need to be asked if perhaps they should take their newfound attractions elsewhere.Theo had never done such a thing before.Taken a womanhomefrom a bar.
He didn’t make it a habit of visiting bars and hitting on beautiful women like Trick or his friends.Aside from the two times he’d met up with people off of the dating apps he’d tried, which were not the best experiences, and his one serious relationship that ended abruptly and left him blindsided—Theo wasn’t sure how one approached such a topic.Was it presumptuous to ask now?Should he wait?What if she said no?
Oh God, what if she says yes?
The panic started to fester in his brain, and he nearly choked on his drink at the thought.
If he was lucky enough to get that far with Miss Perfect, he rationalized he would think about it then.Perhaps that was a problem for future Theodore.Present Theodore needed to focus so he would not end up with a brain freeze or start choking on his drink again like an imbecile if he did indeed wish to make it out of the cafe with Miss Perfect.
He watched as she plucked a cherry from atop her glass.Its bright red maraschino skin caught the neon red light, making it almost glow like hard candy.
He licked his lips, and she smiled at him.
“See something you like, Zorro?”
He shrugged affably as he smirked, letting out a chuckle of his own.“I don’t know who the fuck this Zorro is that you keep speaking of, but the answer is yes.”He bit his lip.“I think I do.See something I like.Very much.”Perhaps he was too emboldened as he mused over how forward he was being, but when Miss Perfect’s cheeks pinked at his words and she shook her head, smiling back at him so carefree, he felt more than validated.Her coy smile was cuter than it should have been, the faint pink tones beneath her mask contrasting her pale skin and turning shades of magenta from the lights.The sight made Theo feel strangely warm all over.His skin was practically buzzing.
Theo watched as she gracefully extended the little ball of fruit, holding it out gingerly in the space between them.Her amber gaze beckoned him like a siren to the sea.Tempting him, luring him.His gaze narrowed on the bright red cherry and he got the feeling that what Miss Perfect was offering him was so much more than fruit.But that’d be crazy, right?
I mean, this is a speed dating party.It’s not like I’m actually going to find my soulmate here or anything.It’s just...practice.A test.
A chance to prove that I’m not a lost cause.
“Not a fan of cherries?”he asked, his voice tinged with gravel from his drink and the charged tension as the cherry dangled between them like a lifeline.
“I’m not sure this actually qualifies as fruit,” she said with a giggle.“I prefer the real thing.But you did say you likedsweet things.”
Theo smirked before leaning forward to bite the cherry out of her hand, stem and all, pulling it into his mouth in one fell swoop.
Miss Perfect let out a soft gasp, clearly not expecting the brush of his lips on her knuckles as he stole his fake fruit prize.
His teeth worked the pliable bulb off the stem, relishing the sweet candy taste in his mouth, swallowing the fruit while keeping the stem in his mouth, if only to tie it into a knot for no other reason than he thought it would look cool.Trick and the boys didn’t care for his cherry knot tying skills, and therefore, he’d never been able to illustrate the bar trick for a woman before.
Miss Perfect didn’t seem to mind, though, as Theo noticed her gaze drift to his mouth, pulling her own lower lip between her teeth, and he felt strangely warm and aroused by her barely inaudible gasp.
