Free Dating and Other Dangers by Natalie Anderson Page B

she shouldn’t do with him if she were going to remain a sane, sensible woman. But she wanted to, and in just a few short days it had become a complete obsession.
    Yeah, she knew she was obsessive—she got these great ideas and ran after them with all her energy. Some ideas were great—some were rubbish. Ethan Rush wasn’t a great idea. Did she really want to risk herself with him? She leaned back in her big comfy chair and stared at his taunting words on the screen while the ones he’d whispered to her replayed round and round in her head—that she should live
moment by moment
and not be a
coward
.And on top of that temptation he planned to “tease and trap” her? Oh, he already had. She was so interested already. He had all the benefit of his beautiful body and the charm that he’d honed with years of experience. And he was clearly smart. Very smart. She liked that in a guy too. But she snorted at the last line—she didn’t want to figure him out. She just wanted to jump his bones.
    Only she
was
being a coward. For what was the risk here? What was it she was so afraid of? A broken heart? She laughed at the ridiculousness—there was no way her heart was at risk with Ethan Rush.
    Suddenly she saw she’d been thinking about this all the wrong way. Full of fear about being used, hating herself for coming so close to being just another of his easy conquests. She didn’t want to be the passive victim.
    So then she shouldn’t be passive, right? She should be the one in charge. She should do what she wanted to do—control the situation and her response to it. Sure—live in the “moment”, be brave, be the boss.
    This wasn’t just about the notches on his bedpost—what about her own bedpost? Why shouldn’t she carve in a beautiful mark to remind her of an incredible sensual experience?Why shouldn’t she enjoy the rush that was Ethan?
    She wanted, and there was nothing wrong with wanting.
    And he wasn’t completely indifferent. Yes, his response had been instinctive—she knew that. The guy had a high sex-drive. That was okay—because for sure they weren’t talking relationship. They were talking hook-up. She just had to be sure she understood what it was she wanted.
    Rafe’s intentions had not been honourable. She’d been expecting something different from that relationship. She’d wanted more. She didn’t want more from Ethan. She just wanted his body, his expertise, to feel some more of the way he’d made her feel.
    Wasn’t she worth it? Didn’t she deserve to experience that kind of sizzling animal passion? Why couldn’t
she
use instead of being the one who was used? It wasn’t as if it was ever going to bother him. He wasn’t sensitive enough to get hurt. If she let go of her old ‘happy ever after” expectation and just went with “what feels right now” she’d be fine.
    She giggled at her thoughts, mocking the way her brain could work, twisting and turning to justify something simply because she wanted it so badly. But she deserved some funand he’d be good. And then it would be over—this bubble of obsession would be burst.
    But what of her original aim? Could she still teach him a lesson? She was under no illusions that he’d fall for her if she slept with him, but surely she could still execute a flick-off somehow? She’d figure something out …
    The immediate problem was that he was resisting the heat between them. Even though she knew he’d been turned on the other night, he’d stopped. She was going to have to subvert his mission to prove himself a nice date. She was going to have to make his physical instincts overrule his intellectual intentions.
    She was going to have to provoke him into action.
    Saturday morning Ethan snatched up his phone when he read the caller display. ‘Hello, darling. Ready to do date two?’
    ‘I might be ready by tomorrow. Can you wait that long?’
    Ethan’s brows shot up. So did another part of him. He hadn’t expected her to purr quite like