Wow.
Was I wrong about Johnny all along?
I’m starting to question everything until he breaks our gaze to stare down at his phone again.
Yeah, I was definitely right about him.
But I’ll get his attention eventually. “I saw your TED Talk on YouTube. It was interesting.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“You referred to me in it.”
He looks over at me, grinning. “I did. I’m glad you caught that.”
“Well, it was pretty obvious to me. Has my brother seen it?”
“He has. He also got the reference.”
“Interesting that he didn’t mention anything about it to me.”
“He’s a busy guy.”
“Sure. I’m curious. What, specifically, would you say is your weakness at this point in your life?”
Without hesitation, he says, “Youare, Olivia.” There’s no sarcasm. Is there? It’s not a cheesy line. He’s not being flirtatious. He wasn’t even caught off guard. He’s just being honest. He looks vulnerable for a split second before he turns his attention back to his phone.
I have no idea how to take that. Especially because he’s so engrossed in the email that he’s typing out on his phone that it’s almost as if the exchange didn’t occur at all. I don’t know… Maybe my expectations are too high. Maybe if I ask a question, I should be satisfied with the fact that he gave me an immediate, honest answer, instead of being insulted because he’d rather look at his phone than stare at me…
Oh, but I can’t… He needs to learn how to treat a lady on a date. He thinks he knows everything, but he doesn’t know how to behave socially, and this is my chance to finally teach him. “Really? Because it seems to me that your phone addiction is your weakness.”
“I’m not addicted to my phone; I’m finishing up an email to a colleague in Boston who needs an answer tonight. You know what your weakness is?”
Steeling myself, I reply, “I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”
He blinks slowly, staring at my mouth. “You have no idea how important you are.”
I make a face and laugh because I haven’t processed what he’s said yet. When I have processed it, I am still not sure if I should feel offended or not.“Is that another way of telling me I’m living a life of mediocrity?”
“No. I’m telling you that you’re important. To me. Even while I’m typing an email on my phone.”
Sheesh. When you put it that way.
My heart is racing. I lean toward him and lower my voice. “Well, if not knowing I’m important is my weakness, then how do you recommend I leverage it?”
“Just keep doing what you’re doing. It’s working for you.”
My mouth feels dry all of a sudden. My hands are trembling. What the fuck is happening? This doesn’t happen to me. Johnny B. Nerdballs definitelydoes notdo this to me.
I struggle with the cap on the water bottle. It won’t budge. John holds out his hand, offering to open it for me. I jerk it away from him just as the cap opens, and water spills out onto my dress and my bare legs.
“Shit.”
“I got it, I got it.” John immediately slips his phone into the pocket of his blazer and reaches for a box of tissues. He dabs at the wet spot on the lower part of my dress and then lifts the hem and uses a few more tissues to wipe my bare legs, from below my knees up to my thighs. I am so glad I found the time to shave and lotion up after work.
I hold my breath as I stare down at him. He isn’t at all uncomfortable wiping my damp bare skin. Until he is. His eyes flick up to meet mine. He lets the wet ball of tissues drop to the floor. The tips of his fingers and his knuckles deliberately graze the smooth skin of my lower limbs as he slowly reaches up between my legs for the hem of my dress and pulls it back down to cover my knees. His hand hovers there. He seems to be deciding if he should travel farther. My body would welcome it, and he would soon find that there is another part of me that is also getting soaked.
I dare him, with my eyes, to take it further. I am now, after all, a woman who knows how important she is. And I know how important it is to me that he relieves me of the dull, throbbing pain at my center. I am, in short, an important woman who is really, extremely horny.
