Also, not entirely unfamiliar. It took her a few seconds to figure out where she’d seen him. Ah, the bar just last night when Gina was wriggling around with his friend. They hadn’t passed more than a few words to each other, and only those for social nicety. And this was the guy they’d picked out for her?
Huh.
He looked just as surprised to see her, and the blatant way he looked her up and down made Melissa’s cheeks heat. She lifted her chin and crossed her arms. Okay, so maybe she wasn’t cover model material, either.
“Hi, I’m Matt.” He held out his hand and she took it to shake way too firmly.
“Melissa,” she said.
They stared at each other in silence for a second. So much for her request for “a great conversationalist,” she thought. He was taller than she was, but not by the five or six inches she’d listed as an attribute that melted her butter. Matt stood maybe five foot ten or so, just an inch or two over her. So far, nothing about him seemed at all what she’d said she liked best.
“We met last night,” she offered.
Mat snapped his fingers. “Right, right. Wow. Did your friend make it home okay?”
“I don’t know,” Melissa said with a laugh. “Did yours?”
“Good point. I don’t know. So…” Matt said and let the word hang.
“So,” Melissa repeated, then figured she ought to take charge, or else this wasn’t going to go anywhere. “You got the instructions, right?”
He nodded and the way his gaze shifted toward the bed told her a lot. So did the way he was surreptitiously checking out her chest. Melissa forced herself to stand up straight and uncross her arms. Let him get a good, long look. She wasn’t ashamed of being an A cup. She could go without a bra any time she liked. Some men liked that.
“Yeah. So, umm…I guess we’re here until ten, right? And we have to hold hands.”
“Tonight, yeah, we just have to hold hands.”
“Awkward,” Matt said.
To Melissa’s surprise, she laughed. Some of the tension between them broke, or maybe it just started to melt. “No kidding. But hey. A thousand bucks, right?”
He grinned. He had a nice smile. A little too crooked, and his two front teeth overlapped too much to be really cute, but overall, not too bad. He was nowhere near what she’d put down that she liked, but it could’ve been worse. He could’ve been a troglodyte.
“Yeah. Can’t beat that, huh?”
“No. I guess not. Do you want to sit?” Melissa gestured, and Matt sat.
She joined him a half a minute later, figuring there was no time to start but now. They faced each other, knees turned in, but not touching. She had to scoot a little toward him in order to reach his hands, but he was already holding his out for her.
They both laughed again when they took each other’s hands. Nervous, awkward laughter. There was no way she could’ve subtly wiped her palms before she took his hands, and Melissa winced as they slip-slid against each other. Well, at least he was sweating, too. Which might be gross but meant she wasn’t alone in her anxiety. Somehow, this made it a little better.
“Wow,” Matt said after a second, and let out a shaky breath. “Phew. Who knew it would be so hard, huh?”
“It’s just holding hands. Kids do it all the time. No reason grownups should feel strange about it,” Melissa said, though she agreed.
“Sometimes in church they do this prayer circle thing where everyone’s supposed to join hands and send around a squeeze of peace,” Matt said.
Oh, lord. Was he religious? Melissa wasn’t sure this was going to work out at all if she had to listen to a lecture about church. She gave him a faint smile. “Sounds like something we used to do in Girl Scouts. One person starts it while you’re all closing your eyes –”
“And it goes around the circle until it gets back to the leader!” Matt said. “Yeah!”
“Yeah.” Melissa’s smile was a little less excited than his.
Matt nodded. His fingers relaxed in hers. “Tell you the truth, I hate it.”
Melissa’s laugh came more easily and sounded more natural this time. “Do you? How come?”
He shrugged. “Holding hands with strangers? Yuck.”
“I’m a stranger,” she pointed out.
“This is different. And technically, you’re not, because we met last night.”
“It’s not, really.” They both looked down at their hands, linked loosely. “How long are we supposed to do this, anyway?”
Matt shrugged, the motion moving their linked hands. “For the whole session?”
“Four hours?” Melissa made a face. “No offense, but four hours is a long time to hold hands with someone without a break.”
“I guess it depends on who the someone is.”
He smiled and dropped a wink at her that should’ve been totally cheesy. Actually was. But Melissa discovered she didn’t really mind it.
“I guess that’s what this experiment is about, sort of.”
Matt nodded and shifted a little on the couch, which forced her to do the same. Now they both were snuggled into the overstuffed cushions. Holding both hands this way wasn’t going to work for very long.
“This feels awkward. And strained. Maybe just one hand,” she suggested. “Then we can at least get comfortable.”
“Sure, okay.” Matt nodded and looked around the room gaze lingering again on the bed. “Do you think they have hidden cameras or something?”
It had occurred to her, except for one thing – there’d been no release form stating that she understood the session may or may not be recorded. “I don’t think so. We didn’t have to sign a waiver or anything, and usually you do even if they don’t tell you for sure if there are cameras.”
Matt’s fingers squeezed hers, gently, though he didn’t seem to have done it on purpose. “Oh, so you do a lot of these experiments?”
“Some. They’re usually pretty interesting and easy enough to do, you know? And they pay well.” She tilted her head, studying him, trying to get a feeling for this guy. “But what about you? This is your first time, I guess?”
“Yep. I’m a psych experiment virgin. Not the other kind,” Matt added hastily, then winced.
Melissa bit back a chuckle. It would’ve been stupid to think they wouldn’t talk about sex at all, given the nature of the experiment, but it was nice to see they hadn’t paired her with a guy who though blowjob jokes were a good way to pass the time. “What made you decide to pop your cherry, so to speak?”
“I saw the notice and really just couldn’t pass up the chance to maybe make enough money to go to Cancun for Spring Break. Some buddies of mine have this great deal on a condo at an all-inclusive place.”
Envy pricked her, though she didn’t know why; she didn’t have time for a vacation. There’d be time for trips after she got her full-time position and all the benefits. It would be worth waiting for. “Well, you picked a doozy for your first one.”
Matt ducked his head for second, but then looked at her with those decidedly non-blue eyes. Greenish brown. Hazel, really. “Yeah, really. I mean…it’s crazy, huh? That this is supposed to lead to…”