The Reluctant Mate
2 Meaningless

Amanda

I should have convinced Carrie to come out sooner, because her new boyfriend and his friends were absolutely hot. She obviously should have ditched Greg a long time ago, since he clearly had been dead weight dragging her down. She’d been moody and reclusive back in the Greg days. I hadn’t met her before she’d been with him, but I had my suspicions about him, especially now that I saw what she was like now that they had broken up. Obviously happier, willing to socialize. He probably had been a controlling jerk, all the signs of a bad relationship were there. If I had known sooner, I would have tried harder to intervene.

Well, at least she had broken free, because she seemed genuinely happy with this Jason, who was of course off limits no matter how ridiculously hot he was. Moreover, even if I didn’t have a code about not hitting on other people’s partners, he would have been a lost cause anyway. He could barely take his eyes off of her. He also seemed teasing and easygoing at first glance, and I liked that for her. I also liked his friends. Max was dark-haired, with oddly light eyes for his complexion and had a sort of deep melancholy thing going on, but he wore it well. Lots of women would be lining up hoping to be the one to heal his wounds.

Not me, though. I wasn’t looking for anything long term, at least nothing longer than this night, and for that, the blond one fit my purposes nicely. He was so good looking that normally I might assume he was out of my league and probably would not even bother trying—while I wasn’t hideous by any means I was pretty sure he was in his own category, high above everyone else on the planet—but he had been hardcore checking me out since I’d walked over to greet Carrie. And, in my opinion, he was definitely the best looking of the three, maybe even the best looking man I’d ever seen. Definitely the best looking man I could bring to mind, at least.

My friends and I had been pre-drinking before we arrived so that cautious voice in my head was already numb and I wasn’t in the mood to question my good fortune. I’d sat down across from him, because even though he’d been staring at me, he wasn’t willing to admit it, so I had to strike up conversation, which flowed easily between us. While we talked, Carrie and her man got up to dance, and Helen got us all shots.

We tossed them back, I smiled at Porter. “Want to dance, too?”

“Yes,” he said as if shocked it was even a question. His enthusiasm was flattering. I took his big calloused hand again—my dirty mind instantly giving me previews of what he might do with those hands later on—and pulled him along to the dance floor where the music pounded so hard I could feel it reverberating inside my chest.

Gloria, Lisa, and Helen pulled Max along with us, and we ended up in a rough group, although Porter was right next to me. It had been silent, but I had clearly called dibs on him, so my friends would leave him to me tonight. Good thing, because the idea of them hitting on him kind of irritated me. Max hadn’t shown any of them much interest in particular, so I could already see Gloria’s attention start to wander while they danced. She wasn’t big on wasting time on lost causes.

I didn’t really have much time to think about that, though. Porter was dancing with me, and he was close enough that I was starting to feel hot, and not just in temperature. He was keeping his hands to himself like a gentleman, which was kind of sweet, but it wasn’t what I was here for tonight. I moved even closer teasingly, my pace rhythmic, and turned myself around so he’d get a good look at my ass moving.

I met his eyes mischievously over my shoulder, and I was rewarded when his hands landed on my hips and he pulled me against him. This was finally moving in the direction where I wanted it to be going, I thought with satisfaction, and he seemed just as happy to be flush against me as I was to have him there.

We kept going for several songs, and I was starting to feel a bit overheated. I turned in his arms and couldn’t help but appreciate how muscular they were. I leaned close to his ear, and said, “Do you want to get another drink?”

“Sure,” he said, his deep voice reverberating through me. Seriously, was there anything about him that was not worth drooling over? I could imagine how that voice would sound while we did any number of things.

The more I thought about it, the more I didn’t want to wait until the end of the night, I wanted to take him home, now, but it seemed a little too early. “Yes, I’m thirsty.” Thirsty for him, but he’d figure that out soon enough.

“What do you want?” he asked, leading me towards the bar. It was busy enough now that trying to get a waitress’s attention was pointless.

“Vodka and coke.”

He reached the bar, and got our drinks. I didn’t argue, free drinks were free drinks. He handed mine to me, and his hand was on my back as we went back to the table. This time we sat on the same side. I wanted to sit on his lap, but I used restraint and took the chair next to him instead and sipped my drink while meeting his eyes flirtatiously.

“So, what do you do besides customer service?” he asked, his eyes intent on me. I didn’t really want to get to know him better, we’d already talked enough in my opinion. That was why the club had such loud thumping music, so that people didn’t have to carry on small talk. While he was clearly perfect for tonight, I didn’t need a bunch of useless sentimental conversation to remember him by.

Even if he made me drool more than I thought possible, I still didn’t want permanency. I’d been there, done that, and I didn’t trust myself enough to take that risk again. “Well, soon, I’m hoping, you,” I told him with a wink.

He grinned, effectively distracted from any attempts at trying to get to know me better, “Oh? Tell me more.”

I leaned closer and whispered, “Well, I’m picturing you, in my bed, and more importantly, inside me.” Moving back, I saw that he looked surprised. Maybe I was being too aggressive. A lot of guys seemed to like to feel it was a chase and they were in charge, and it didn’t hurt me to let them believe it. “I’m just kidding, unless you don’t want me to be.” I hoped he didn’t want me to be. I didn’t think I’d ever wanted anyone as much as I’d wanted this man and I would be disappointed to miss out on such a treat. I sipped my drink.

“I don’t want you to be kidding.”

“Good. Because I’d be very disappointed if you did.” I shot him a smile and met his eyes through my lashes. He was so hot, I couldn’t resist leaning forward, hoping that he would kiss me.

As if he read my mind, he closed the distance, catching my mouth surprisingly gently, before deepening the kiss in a way that made me want to grab him and drag him off to any bit of privacy I could replace. Too bad the bathrooms were swarming at this time and also way too disgusting all the time.

But what was I waiting for, anyway? I already knew everything I needed to know about him. “Do you want to get out of here, Porter?” His name tasted wicked on my lips, exactly like the plans that I had for him.

“Yes,” he said, his agreement instantaneous. “Just let me let my friends know.” He stared into space for a moment like he was trying to remember something, then he grabbed his phone from his pocket. I fished mine out as well and let my friends know where I was going, just in case I ended up murdered on the side of the road.

I was pretty confident he wasn’t planning to harm me. I just got that feeling from him. Although, of course, my intuition had been completely wrong before. I shook off the dark thoughts. I should have drank more if I were thinking this clearly. Too late now.

We left Angie’s with Porter’s hand on my back, respectfully staying away from the good bits, which was fine while we were in public, but he’d better stop the thoughtful gentleman act when we got back to my place. We took a cab, since neither of us were in any shape to drive. I wasn’t as drunk as I usually was when I hooked up with someone, but I guessed that Porter was just so attractive I didn’t need beer goggles to enjoy meaningless sex with him.

He kept his hands mostly to himself during the ride, but I didn’t do the same, letting my fingers appreciate the muscles of his arms, and then the feel of his hard stomach through his shirt. He was even more toned than I had guessed, apparently construction work was kind, and I let my fingers wander just far enough to give him a hint of where they wanted to go. His breath hitched at my action and I shot him another sultry look. He returned it with his own, full of promise, and my heart skipped a beat in return.

A prickling sensation suddenly hit me, like the creeping feeling of being watched, but I feared it was something worse, a premonition of things to come. Maybe I had miscalculated. He was so intense, so freaking hot, that it was probably going to be a bit harder for me to shake him out of my mind tomorrow than my usual hookups. Hopefully he would be selfish and terrible enough in bed that I wouldn’t fall into that trap. Because risk or no risk, there was no way I could let him get away without a taste, especially not when I had the house to myself with Daria off visiting her parents and Lisa still at the club.

We arrived at my place, and I fished my keys out and let him in.

Author’s Note:

For anyone who thought Jason and Carrie jumped into bed too fast... uh... 😅

We know it’s going to be fine, because we know Porter’s a decent guy, but Amanda doesn’t know that and she’s just fortunate her risky behaviour hasn’t gotten her into any real trouble yet. Lucky for her, Porter’s here to make her life harder/better going forward.

UPDATE SCHEDULE:

I'm not doing any special extra editing on this story (so if you have a comma section of your brain please turn it off now haha), but it still takes a bit of time and effort to move it to a new platform. I haven't settled on a schedule yet, but I'm aiming for three posts per week minimum going forward.

Thanks for reading!!! ❤️