“Space? Uh-uh. I think what you need is a new boyfriend.”
God, that was the last thing she wanted. Toss her line in the dating pool and start fishing again? No, thank you. After three failed relationships in five years, Hayden had decided to quit falling for bad boys and focus on the good ones. And Doug Lloyd was definitely a good one. He taught a Renaissance course at Berkeley, he was intelligent and witty, and he valued love and commitment as much as she did. Having grown up with a single father, all Hayden had ever wanted was a partner she could build a home and grow old with.
After her mom died in a car accident when Hayden was a baby, her dad had given up on finding love again, opting instead to spend more than twenty years focusing on his hockey-coaching career. He’d finally remarried three years ago, but she suspected loneliness, rather than love, had driven him to do so. Why else would he have proposed to a woman after four months of dating? A woman who was twenty-nine years his junior. A woman he was in the process of divorcing, no less.
Well, she had no intention of following her dad’s example. She wasn’t going to spend decades alone and then jump into marriage with someone totally unsuitable.
Doug held the same mindset. He was a traditionalist through and through, a believer that marriage should be valued and not rushed into. Besides, he had a rock-hard body that made her mouth water. He’d even let her touch it...once. They’d been kissing on the couch in the living room of her San Francisco town house and she’d slid her hands underneath his button-down shirt. Running her fingers over his rippled chest, she’d murmured, “Let’s move this into the bedroom.”
That was when he dropped the no-intimacy bomb on her. He assured her he was unbelievably attracted to her, but that, like marriage, he didn’t believe sex should be rushed. He wanted the first time to be special.
And no amount of chest rubbing could persuade him to let go of his chivalrous intentions.
And therein lay the problem. Doug was simply too nice. At first, she’d thought his views on making love were really very sweet. But two months, coupled with eight months of celibacy prior to meeting Doug, added up to extreme sexual frustration.
She loved that Doug was a gentleman but...fuck. Sometimes a girl just needed a man, gentle be damned.
“Seriously, this Damian guy seems like a wimp,” Darcy said, jerking her from her thoughts.
“Doug.”
“Whatever.” Darcy waved a dismissive hand and tossed her long red hair over her shoulder. “Screw intimacy. If Dustin won’t have sex with you, find someone who will.”
“Believe me, I’m tempted.”
More than tempted, actually. The next couple months were bound to be pure hell. She’d come home after the semester ended to support her father through his messy divorce, to be the good daughter, but that didn’t mean she had to like the situation.
“Have you become a nymphomaniac since you left town?” Darcy asked.
“No, I’m just stressed-out and need to unwind. Do you blame me?”
“Not really. The evil stepmother is throwing poison apples all over the place, huh?”
“You saw the morning paper, too?”
“Oh, yeah. Pretty crappy.”
Hayden raked her fingers through her hair. “Crappy? It’s a disaster.”
“Any truth to it?” Darcy asked carefully.
“Of course not! Dad would never do the things she’s accusing him of.” Hayden tried to control the frustration in her tone. “Let’s not talk about this. Tonight I just want to forget about my dad and Sheila and the whole messy business.”
“All right. Wanna talk about sex again?”
She grinned. “No. I’d rather have sex instead.”
“Then do it. There are tons of men in this place. Pick one and go home with him.”
“You mean a one-night stand?” she asked warily.
“Hell yeah.”
“I don’t know. It seems kind of sleazy, hopping into bed with someone and never seeing them again.”
“How is that sleazy? I do it all the time.”
“Of course you do. You’re a commitment-phobe.”
Darcy went through men like socks, and some of the details she shared made Hayden gape. She certainly couldn’t remember ever experiencing seven orgasms in one night or indulging in a ménage à trois with two firefighters she’d met—figure this one out—at an illegal bonfire in Chicago’s Lincoln Park.
Darcy raised her eyebrows, blue eyes flashing with challenge. “Okay, let me ask you this—what sounds more fun, having a few screaming orgasms with a man you may or may not see again, or hiking across the intimacy bridge with Don?”
“Doug.”
Darcy shrugged. “I think we both know my way is better than the highway. Or should I say the bridge?” She fluttered her hand as if waving a white flag. “Sorry, I promise to refrain from any further bridge comments for the rest of the evening.”
Hayden didn’t answer. Instead, she mulled over Darcy’s suggestion. She’d never had a one-night stand in her life. For her, sex came with other things. Relationship things, like going to dinner, spending a cozy night in, saying I love you for the first time.
But why did sex always have to be about love? Couldn’t it just be purely for pleasure? No dinner, no I-love-yous, no expectations?
“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “Falling into bed with someone when last week I was still with Doug? It feels wrong.”
“You asked for space for a reason,” Darcy pointed out. “Might as well take advantage of it.”
“By going to bed with someone else.” She sipped her wine, thoughtful and hesitant at the same time.
“Why not? Look, you’ve spent years searching for a guy to build a life with—maybe you should try looking for one who jump-starts your libido instead. The way I see it, it’s time for you to have some fun, babe. I think you need fun.”
