3. Let Me Buy You a Drink
Let Me Buy You a Drink
Derek suggested he head into the bar first, and Sheila would follow after a few minutes.
She touched up her makeup in the bathroom before she headed to the hotel bar.
When she arrived in the entryway, Derek was seated at the bar as planned.
However, she was dismayed to find both seats on either side of him were already taken.
“Okay, I can work with this. Somehow. Dick isn’t always going to drop in my lap,” she muttered to herself as she crossed the parquet floor towards the bar.
Sheila seated herself on a barstool and calmed her racing heartbeat. She wracked her brain for a plan. How was she supposed to flirt with Derek and pick him up as if he were a stranger if they didn’t even get to talk to each other?
“Glass of merlot, please,” she asked when the bartender paused in front of her.
The garrulous sounds of the other bar-goers relaxed her tense shoulders, but the first sip of the heady wine dropped them even further. She let out a sigh.
“Sounds like you needed that,” the guy seated between her and Derek said.
“Definitely. It’s been a long week. Not bad, just busy.”
A smile crossed his face at her seeming interest in his conversation.
“Name’s Nathan,” he said. “Here for a conference?”
She laughed with surprise.
“Is it that obvious?”
He shrugged nonchalantly.
“I travel a lot for work, and you don’t seem like the traveling salesperson type.”
“Definitely not. Yes, I’m here for a conference. I was supposed to meet up with some friends for dinner and drinks but decided I wasn’t up to it, yet I didn’t want to spend the night in my room, either.”
He turned his body towards her, and his eyes glittered with interest. With his action, Sheila decided this was the perfect opportunity to test her ability to play the coquette. If things went poorly, Derek could help her out, so she could practice safely.
Sheila crossed her legs, which raised the hem of her short black skirt.
Back in her hotel room, she waffled on whether to wear this dress with its spaghetti straps, sweetheart neckline, and mid-thigh flared skirt.
It wasn’t particularly racy, but it was daring for someone who usually dressed to be forgotten, especially around librarian friends who knew her usual sartorial style.
Flirtation was still new for her, and seduction was entirely outside her wheelhouse. Her recent sexual interludes were based more on happenstance and proximity than her allure.
She met Derek at the library, and he introduced her to Alexander. Brandon was sent to upgrade their computers, and Pete used to be the security guard at her library. Even her initial failed attempt at seducing Derek led to meeting Chuck.
“Really?” Nathan prompted at her silence. “What did you have in mind if dinner and drinks didn’t cut it?”
She gave an exaggerated shrug, causing the thin strap of her dress to slide down her shoulder. Nathan’s eyes followed its progress, and she wanted to cheer. She could do it!
“I didn’t really have a plan,” she said. “Maybe read on my phone or message some friends to see if they wanted to join me. Mostly, I didn’t want to be alone.”
“I’m happy to keep you company,” Nathan purred.
“Thanks. I appreciate that.”
“It’s nice to make new friends.”
Sheila almost smirked at his words since Advanced Friendship was Derek’s term for the coterie of men she slept with, including him.
“I can be a very good friend to you, beautiful Sheila,” Nathan said in a deep, compelling voice. “In fact, why don’t we get out of here? We could walk around the French Quarter, get some drinks, explore the city on foot. Or we could stay in and have some fun of our own.”
He stroked the back of his finger down Sheila’s bare arm. Whoa. That was a little fast considering they’d only been talking for five minutes. Her heart rate spiked, and she opened her mouth to defuse the situation.
“I could have sworn I heard this guy take a call from his wife a few minutes before you sat down,” Derek interjected from Nathan’s other side. “He complained when she hung up, but he was all lovey-dovey on the call.”
“Butt out, asshole. You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Nathan blustered.
“I distinctly heard him say, ‘Love you, babe,’ before he hung up,” Derek said innocently.
“Ignore him, baby. He’s lying. I don’t know what his game is, but he’s lying. I’m not married, I swear.”
“Let’s ask the bartender. He was there, too,” Derek said.
“Screw this.”
Sheila watched in amused fascination as Nathan jumped up from his stool, tossed a few bills onto the bar, and stormed off.
“Wow, dodged a bullet there,” she mused.
“Sounds like it,” Derek said. He sat down in Nathan’s old seat and moved his drink over.
“Mind if I sit here?” he asked.
“Please. You saved me from dumping my drink on a philanderer who seemed a little too eager to break his wedding vows.”
“You do look lovely in that dress, but that’s no excuse.”
Sheila blushed.
“Thanks.”
“I’m Derek.” He extended his hand to introduce himself, and Sheila shook it.
“Thanks, Derek. I’m Sheila. Are you also here to cheat on your wife?”
He laughed and shook his head.
“Nope, been there, got the divorce papers to show for it.”
Sheila laughed again.
“Then let me buy you a drink to thank you for rescuing me from a jerk.”
Derek’s smile grew, and they fell into an easy conversation. He pretended he was there for a sales conference to improve his B2B sales strategies. His stories cracked her up. In real life, he was an architect, but she wondered if he’d been in sales before his architecture career took off.
“I’m starving. Any interest in joining me for a bite?” she asked.
He agreed, and they took their glasses to a table in the corner. Sheila hoped the change of location would give her a clue how to move things along.
“You’re doing great,” Derek whispered. “And I really do like that dress. You look incredibly sexy.”
Sheila blushed, but before she could tell him she’d like it better on his floor, a server materialized at their table. They ordered and resumed their conversation over dinner. Their food made no impression on her, but the company was everything she could want.
If she legitimately met Derek for the first time tonight, she’d be smitten. As it was, she had to repeatedly remind herself they were friends and nothing more. Friends who shared regular, thrilling sex, but they weren’t dating, and she had no business feeling this way.
If he wanted more than a physical connection, it was doubtful he’d get such a thrill from hearing about her sexual liaisons with others. Whenever she had an adventure, he wanted all the details immediately. In fact, he even helped plan one of her adventures with another friend.
Sheila definitely needed to get over these inconvenient feelings, but she’d fortify herself with a few more orgasms first.
Under the tablet cloth, she set her hand on his thigh. It tensed beneath her fingers, and his breath caught for a second. Then he continued the story he was telling.
Sheila slid her hand further up his thigh closer to his crotch and left it there, her fingers stroking the smooth material of his slacks inches from his groin.
“I wish we’d met under different circumstances,” Derek said.
“What do you mean?”
Sheila’s heart thundered. Was this Derek the Businessman, or was this Derek her friend with benefits?
“I wish I’d met you a little closer to home is all. This is the most fun I’ve had at dinner in a while.”
Memories flooded her mind of their dinner last weekend where she wore the remote-control panty vibrator he bought and used on her. She raised her eyebrows at him.
He laughed and cleared his throat. “You’ve scrambled my brains. When I look at you, all I can think about is the things I want to do to you, the pleasures I could give you.”
Sheila didn’t care anymore if this was his persona or his real self. Their flirting got her blood up, and she needed him to fill her with his thick cock.
“Do you want to get out of here?” she asked.
“I thought you’d never ask.”