“Uh!” she said out loud. Even away from that man, she was being unfaithful to Gary. Although not physically, did that really matter? She had to get her mind off of Mitch! She had to stay out of his way.
“We’re going to have to do something about this,” Mitch said.
Claire swung around on the bench, her mouth falling open as she stared at the man who was constantly on her mind. “What are you doing out here! You have a meeting! Those men outside your office were waiting to meet with you.”
Mitch raised one eyebrow and moved closer. “That was over twenty minutes ago. I didn’t realize I was paying you to sit out here and mope about our lack of a sex life.”
She gaped at him. “I am not moping about our lack of a sex life. Since it’s never going to happen, there’s no use moping about it.” She realized she’d let in the possibility that she would mope about it and quickly contradicted her statement. “Not that there ever would be a sex life with you.”
“And why not? You want me. I want you, what more is needed in a sexual relationship?”
“Are you serious?”
“Absolutely.”
She stood up and started pacing the small courtyard area. “That’s exactly the reason why we’re not going to have a sex life. You want only sex.”
“And?” he prompted when she stopped speaking, looking at him as if that explained everything.
“And…I don’t do casual relationships.”
“And I don’t do formal ones.”
She was more hurt by that comment than she wanted to be, but shrugged anyway. “So we’re at an impasse, even if I weren’t dating someone already.”
He shook his head. “You aren’t dating anyone.”
“Gary…” she started to say, but he put a long, lean finger over her mouth which stopped her comment immediately.
“Shhh….you can’t have a relationship with a man who isn’t here. And even if he were here, you can’t care about him as much as you profess and still react to me the way you do.”
She glared back up at him angrily. Pushing his hand away, she stepped back and shook her head. “You don’t know what I feel for Gary.”
“How about explaining it, then.”
She watched him, wondering if he were serious or if he just wanted more ammunition to tease her or tell her that her feelings weren’t genuine. When she saw none of that reflected in his eyes, she relented. “Gary makes me feel like I’m more than just a pair of walking boobs,” she finally said. She was going to leave it at that, assuming he understood what she’d just said, but the confusion on his face contradicted her assumption so she continued. “He sees me as something more than just a toy. He’s a friend who talks to me. He keeps his hands to himself when we go out to dinner. And afterwards,” she said when he was about to say something. “He doesn’t push himself on me and make me constantly say no throughout the evening.”
His grin made her furious. “I don’t know what’s so funny about a man being a gentleman around me. It’s rare, but it’s also very nice!”
He took a step closer, careful not to appear as if there was too much going on between them since they were standing in the courtyard of the company. “Gary is gay,” Mitch said with a satisfied look about him.
Claire didn’t like that at all. “How dare you say that just because he’s kind and considerate.”
Mitch was already shaking his head. “Honey, I have news for you. A man who doesn’t make a pass at a woman, especially when he’s been on several dates with her, is gay.”
“You’re just being obnoxious.”
He rolled his eyes. “Claire, have you taken a look in the mirror lately?”
“Of course. What’s your point?”
He chuckled at her stubborn, but completely honest and immune features that were lovely when taken apart, but together, along with her knockout figure, were amazing. “Put succinctly, you’re every teenage boy’s walking wet dream.”
The grimace on her face told him exactly what she thought of that assessment. “That’s crude and disgusting.”
He laughed softly and shook his head. “That’s reality. You’ve gotten to my head as well so that I can barely think in meetings, I dream about having sex with you almost every night, and I get hard just watching you walk down the hallway.”
With any other man, she would have walked away at the previous comment. But hearing him say those things about her made her tummy flutter and her heart beat race madly.
“You’re being ridiculous. I don’t have that big of an impact on anyone,” she said breathily.
To prove his point, he grabbed her arm and pulled her deeper into the tree coverage. When he felt they were deep enough, he pulled her hand towards him, showing her exactly what impact she had on his being.
Claire was in complete shock. She’d felt men before, usually on her leg or stomach when she was trying to push them off of her. But there were two things about this experience that shocked her. First, she couldn’t believe how large he was. Although she was just feeling him through his slacks, he still felt very, very large to her untutored hand. And secondly, she wasn’t sure if this was more or less important, she didn’t want to take her hand away. She wanted to feel more of him, to explore, touch. Even taste him.
“I can see that you’re in the same situation I am,” he said and Claire suddenly realized that she hadn’t taken her hand away. In fact, his erection had even grown while her hand hesitated.
Pulling back abruptly, she turned away, hoping he wouldn’t see her blush.
“So here’s what we’re going to do.”
Claire shook her head. “We’re not going to do anything. I’m going to go back to work and you’re going to…go for one of your long runs and we’re going to forget about this so I won’t hurt Gary’s feelings by betraying him in such a manner.” She knew she sounded prim and prudish, but Mitch’s earthy acceptance of his sexuality was throwing her off.
“Don’t interrupt.”
Of course, Claire immediately started to do just that, but the look in his eyes, daring her to interrupt him once again, stopped her cold.
“We’re going to find Gary. The two of us. No matter where the trail leads us, we’re going to find this amazing example of gentlemanliness. Once we do, you’re going to ask him if he’s gay. When he confirms it, we’re then going to proceed to my bedroom and I’m going to make love to you until we work this out of our system. Understood?”