Free Mr. Right by J. S. Cooper

I turned around both in surprise and excitement.
    “What do you think is going on?” I asked snarkily, as I glanced at Evan, who was standing there with a smug look on his face as he glanced down at me as if I were some peasant girl on his farm and he were deigning to talk to me.
    “It looks like you’re playing with a sex toy, all by yourself,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “And it’s not going well. There are schools that can teach you things, you know. And YouTube videos.”
    “Teach me things?” I looked up at him with a frown. “What things?” I groaned as I realized how stupid my question was. What sort of things did I think he was going to talk about?
    “Things that would ensure that you were a woman who knows what she is doing.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “And from the look of things, you’re not currently that woman.”
    “Whatever.” I rolled my eyes at him and stood up. “What are you doing here?”
    “What am I doing here?” He gave me a look that indicated that he thought I was stupid, and I wanted to jump up and smack the smirk off his face.
    “That’s what I asked you,” I said, trying to give him my most indignant look. “Do you have trouble understanding English?”
    “Do you have trouble being polite?”
    “That’s rich coming from you.”
    “Excuse me?” he said with a smirk on his face.
    “You’re one of the most impolite men I’ve ever met.” I glared at him.
    “And you’ve known many men, then?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “Surprising.”
    “Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?” I frowned at him.
    “I mean, you don’t seem to be that experienced, so I’m surprised that you’ve been around town.”
    “Been around town?”
    “Been around the block.” He paused and gave me another one of his “are you dumb?” looks.
    “What the hell are you trying to say?”
    “I’m not saying anything. I’m just trying to clarify what you just told me.”
    “I didn’t just tell you anything.” I glared at him. “You’re deliberately trying to be confusing.”
    “I don’t deliberately try to be anything. If you find me confusing that’s because you can’t keep up.”
    “I don’t know that I want to keep up with you,” I said, suddenly feeling like I had made a huge mistake coming here tonight. Staring at him made me feel weird inside. It struck me unawares, but something about him made me believe that he had the power to hurt me. This was all fun and games, until someone crossed the line and things got awkward. And it was starting to feel like it could get awkward really quickly.
    “You sure about that?” he asked me softly, his tone changing and becoming more serious. He watched me as I watched him, carefully, our eyes taking in every detail of each other's appearance. His lips were cracked. Mine were pinkish-red from both my lip-gloss and the strawberry lollipop I'd been sucking before I’d arrived. He probably wanted to know why my lips were bright pink and red at the same time just as badly as I wanted to know why his were cracked. More than likely, both of us were wondering how far we could push it and if this flirtation was as innocent as it seemed, if we were both just playing games with each other, or if perhaps there was someone else in either of our lives. Not Pierce, obviously. Pierce, we both knew about. He was not important in this equation. But another party, another party on either of our sides, was more dangerous. Could be a cause for jealousy. Craziness, right? How could you be jealous of someone you had nothing with?
    I don’t know how to explain my attraction to Evan. It’s just one of those things. Every time I saw him my stomach flipped and my heart beat erratically. His hair was cropped, low to the base of his head, sexy in a Marine-style way. He looked like he’d had a haircut from the last time I’d seen him. I wondered what he would do if I stroked his hair, ran my fingers along his head. His tresses looked