Chapter 5
M ark felt like a teenage boy in high school hoping the hot cheerleader would notice him. He wasn’t proud of it, but he hadn’t been able to pay attention to this meeting for over an hour now, and he was the one who had called it. That wasn’t a good look.
He watched Scott go over charts outlining the regulatory approval process and all the red tape they’d face at different hospitals, but Mark’s eyes kept flitting to his phone as his co-investor and best friend since med school went through his PowerPoint one monotonous slide after another.
It had been close to a week now since his first date with Jenna, and he was beginning to think one of two things was going on.
It was possible that she had gotten what she wanted from him and was ready to move on now that her rent was paid.
Or he had pushed her too far, weirded her out.
If he had to guess, it was probably the second one.
She had definitely given him several judgmental looks that night in his “exam room”.
But he still hoped he would hear from her. The moment he’d met Jenna, he’d known she wasn’t like the other girls he’d met through the high-end service he’d signed up for on a particularly lonely night working late at the office a while back.
His tastes were unusually specific, and he hadn’t had time in his schedule for a live-in girlfriend or anything that serious.
Most of the girls he’d met through the site had played along with whatever he wanted, many of them even going overboard with what he could definitely tell were fake reactions and orgasms just to earn a higher allowance.
He’d grown bored of those play dates pretty quickly, though.
He’d ignored the messages flooding his inbox for several months before Jenna’s had popped up at the ideal time.
The business was running smoothly on its own now, and he’d finally hired enough people to do the endless busy work that came with medical sales.
Opening their text exchange in his messaging app, Mark re-read the last few things he’d said to her, over-analyzing it for the hundredth time. He’d checked in on her the morning after their date, asking how she was. Maybe that was too soon? Did she feel he was too needy?
He was starting to think that about himself, honestly. If he’d seen himself obsessing over a girl like this when he was a teenager, he would have definitely kicked his own ass.
Suddenly, the three moving dots indicating a message was being written appeared just below his last text to her, and he froze, waiting.
It went on for about four seconds before stopping, and then started up again after a brief pause.
This happened three more times, and Mark was about to throw his phone against the wall in frustrated anticipation when a message finally came through.
What are you up to today?
Without really thinking it through, Mark shot up out of his chair.
Scott stopped mid-sentence and the conference room fell silent as everyone stared at him.
“I’m sorry, there’s something urgent I need to attend to.
We’ll finish this up tomorrow, or, uh, Friday…
I’ll send an email,” he said hurriedly before grabbing his briefcase and leaving the office.
Sliding into his car, he started it up, and Siri’s automated voice rang out from the speakers. “Message from Hot Girl Next Door. ‘Can we meet for coffee?’”
Fuck. He’d definitely need to change her name in his phone.
He’d gotten used to using descriptions instead of names in his phone so he could keep track of the various women he’d contacted from that site.
He was well aware that made him a playboy, but he was terrible with names.
It was one of Scott’s many jobs to whisper clients’ names into his ear right before he walked up to them at functions.
“Respond to Hot Girl Next Door,” he said, feeling ridiculous. “I’d love that. Meet me at Caffeinated Minds in the University District in an hour.”
“Message to Hot Girl Next Door sent,” Siri confirmed.
“Excellent,” he mumbled to himself.
Pulling into the bustling university district, the wide windows of Caffeinated Minds became visible, offering a view into a hub of activity. The shop, sandwiched between a bookstore and a stationery store, had always caught his eye with its vintage-style sign in a Victorian-looking font.
He found a spot to park and approached the entrance, noting the eclectic array of patrons inside: students with laptops open amid textbooks, professors immersed in newspapers, and local artists sketching in their pads.
The heavy wooden door adorned with stickers from local bands and breweries opened with a creak, and he was immediately enveloped in the aroma of freshly ground coffee beans and the subtle sweetness of pastries baking in the oven.
Looking around at the assorted seating—some plush armchairs, some communal tables, and even a few quiet booths for more privacy—he spotted Jenna standing in line to order at the counter.
He’d forgotten how beautiful she was. Wearing tight, dark jeans and a simple white T-shirt with a plunging neckline that outlined her cleavage perfectly, she fit in perfectly with the college vibe going on around her.
She was even giving him a nervous but slightly coy look, as though she were a naughty student catching a glimpse of her professor after skipping his class earlier that day.
Mark’s phone pinged as he approached her, and he glanced down to see an incoming text from Scott.
What the fuck, man? I practiced that presentation for hours.
He smirked as he envisioned his best pal pouting at being interrupted, but he knew Scott would understand as soon as he met Jenna.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he said as he reached her in line.
“Just for future reference, giving a girl an hour’s notice to get ready and meet you somewhere shouldn’t become a habit. I didn’t even have time to dry my hair.”
He smiled as he noticed the damp curls hanging around her shoulders. He liked her this way, freshly showered and caught off guard.
“Well I wasn’t about to give you a chance to change your mind. It took you a week to get back to me the last time.” He leveled her with a look that he hoped said, ‘Not that I was counting, I’m way too cool for that, but seriously, don’t do that again, it hurt my delicate feelings.’
It must have worked because Jenna looked guilty right away. “Yeah… I’m sorry about that.”
They reached the counter and Mark waited as she ordered a chai latte before ordering himself a mocha. “And two of whatever pastries are in that oven right now that smell so amazing,” he told the cashier with a wink. The girl giggled before taking his credit card and ringing them up.
Jenna found it oddly fascinating to observe such shameless flirting from so many of her own gender in such a short span of time.
As soon as Mark had made his way inside the coffee shop, it was like a panty-dropping spell had been cast on the college girls inside.
Their tittering conversations had paused and all eyes were on him, as if he were walking in slow motion with a wind machine on him and they were in some sort of cheesy rom-com.
Jenna couldn’t even blame them. Sure, she felt an unwanted pang of jealousy, but he was quite the specimen to behold with his rich, chestnut brown hair, strong jawline, and piercing blue eyes, not to mention his thoughtful expression that suggested depth beneath his gorgeous exterior.
He was just plain dreamy. Why had she waited so long to see him again?
Because he spanked you and put a thermometer in your butt.
Ah, right. Yes, she would need to talk to him about that.
Mark picked up their order and they made their way over to one of the private booths. Jenna received a few mean-girl glares as she walked past the other tables, but she did her best to ignore them as she slid into the seat and placed her cold hands around the steaming mug of chai.
Mark slid into the seat across from her, looking at her and smiling warmly before taking a sip from his coffee.
“So… how have you been?” Jenna finally asked, having no idea how this conversation was supposed to go.
“Oh, pretty good. Busy, lots of work,” Mark said. “And how about you?”
“You know, same. I’ve been… well, not as busy as you probably, but applying to some jobs and stuff.”
“Very good. Any luck so far?”
“Not really… but I have a friend who knows a guy who might be looking to hire so, you know, things are looking up.”
That was all total bullshit.
She had gone back to holing up in her apartment the last couple of weeks now that the rent was paid, occasionally googling around for bartending jobs and touching her pussy to thoughts of Mark before falling asleep at night. It was pretty depressing when she thought about it.
Mark smiled again and then set his mug down, straightening up in a business-like manner. “So now we have the small talk out of the way. Tell me, Jenna. What made you finally reach out to me again?”
He knew how to get right to the point. “I guess I was just curious,” Jenna said slowly.
“Curious?” he probed.
“About… everything that happened last time.” She paused and glanced at Mark, who smirked, before continuing. “I guess I just wanted to know if that’s how it would always be when we’re together.”
Mark seemed to ponder for a moment before responding. He did that a lot, Jenna noticed. It was an attractive trait, how thoughtful he was. That was probably why he was so successful.
“Are you asking if I’ll always give you an exam when you come to my place?”
Jenna’s cheeks reddened. She hadn’t really thought through how to say what she had been thinking, and now that she was sitting here in front of him, all of her worries seemed a bit silly.
“Yeah. Like, will there always be weird stuff? Or are you… do you also… just have normal sex sometimes too?”
“Well you’ll always have a thermometer in your bottom.”
Jenna stared at him.
Mark chuckled. “I’m just kidding, Jenna. You want to know if I ever have normal sex. That’s an understandable question.”
Jenna let out a breath. “Jerk,” she mumbled.
Mark grinned. “Are you saying you didn’t enjoy our time together?”
“No, I did! I just… it was all pretty different for me.”
“Yes, I’m sure it was a new experience for you,” he conceded.
Jenna found herself growing flustered. She wasn’t communicating this the way she had hoped. She didn’t want him to think she didn’t like what he did to her last time. She had replayed it in her mind far too many times with her hand down her pants since then for that to be the truth.
“I did enjoy it, though. I was just wondering if maybe sometimes?—”
Mark took her hand, cutting her off.
“This is an awful lot of questions for a young lady who simply wants to know what a ‘normal’ fucking from me would be like.”
Fuck. It was pretty simple when he put it like that.
Before she could say anything else, Mark stood, pulling her to stand with him.
“Did you drive here?” he asked her.
“No, I Uber’d,” she said.
“Perfect,” Mark said, “We’re going back to my place.”