Taking my seat across from him, I smiled. “I’m sorry I’m late, Bennett.”
“No worries. I wanted to make sure I was here early to ensure a good impression,” he said. “You look beyond amazing in person. Even better than your photos.”
I waited to feel my body react to his compliment. Nothing.
“Thank you very much,” I said.
“Let’s start this off simple to break the ice,” he said. “How was your day today?”
“It was pretty good, but hectic. Even though my boss gave me a huge compliment about my performance, I spent most of today—”
“I bet it wasn’t as hectic as my day.” He cut me off. “I work an insane schedule that you wouldn’t believe, one that most people can’t even dream of handling.”
Okay, so you’re one of those annoying, boastful guys… Welp! This date is getting cut super short.
“No one in this city works as hard as me,” he said. “I can guarantee you that. You’ll be amazed at how I’m even awake right now once I walk you through everything that I do.”
A waitress set two glasses of water on the table, briefly pausing his spiel.
“What can I get for you two today?” she asked. “All treats are half off for happy hour.”
“We’ll have an order of cookies for the first course,” Bennett said. “Then we’ll have the double brownie and beignet tray with extra baked peanut stuffing.”
“I’m allergic to peanuts,” I said. “It’s not deadly, but it’s two levels right below that. I could’ve sworn that I told you this yesterday morning via our chat thread.”
“This place serves amazing peanuts, though.” He smiled. “A few bites won’t kill you.”
“They literally will.”
“Nah, trust me.” He looked at the waitress. “We’ll also have two coffees and a truffle. Light with the peanuts on that one since she’s a little sensitive to them.”
I rolled my eyes and opened my purse, making sure I had my epi-pen.
“Like I was saying,” he said, leaning back in the booth. “My day has been really crazy, so I’m looking forward to bringing you back to my place tonight for some much-needed Netflix and chill time. Speaking of which, on your profile, you answered a few questions about certain fantasies and although I left mine blank, I wanted to discuss them with you.” He lowered his voice. “One of my favorite things to do in the bedroom is…”
Tuning him out, I tried my best to keep a straight face as he continued to have a one-sided conversation.
Annoyed, I stared past him and looked out the window as snow fell over the streets. Just when Bennett took a breath, when I thought I could turn around and make an excuse to leave, he opened his mouth even wider and vomited more words.
I discreetly held my phone under the table. Opening my inbox, I sent Gillian a quick email.
* * *
Subject: PLEASE SAVE ME NOW.
HELP! Date from hell!
Call me the second you see this email, Gil. I’m on my umpteenth nightmare Tinder date and I can’t see this one through to the end.
Try to scream loud as hell into the phone, so I can act shocked and pretend like it’s a real emergency.
Thanks a million,
Meredith
* * *
“You know, I’m enjoying our conversation so much that I feel like we may need to order a round of wine,” Bennett said, winking. “Although, I don’t think I’ll need to be too buzzed to lay down this pipe in the bedroom later.”
Right…
The waitress set down two cups of coffee and the first tray of treats. The non-death sentence ones. I immediately picked up a cookie and stuffed it into my mouth.
“How do you feel about performing a few anal tricks on me?” Bennett asked, mid-bite.
“Excuse me?”
“Like, with a dildo and a few other fun toys I have at home,” he said. “This is going to sound intense, but bear with me.”
I looked down at my phone. Please save me, Gillian.
I’d like for you to push each toy inside of me as deep as you can, and after you’re done, I want you to lick everything off and let me do the same to you.”
I picked up the mug and chugged the coffee, pushing down the vomit that nearly left my throat. I was getting the hell out of here within the next few minutes, emergency call from Gillian or not.
“Do you think you can handle doing that, Meredith?”
His question hung in the air, but he didn’t wait for a response. He launched into yet another one-sided conversation. I didn’t even pretend like I was listening anymore.
I turned my head to the window and watched more cars pass by. I started counting the number of red cars that rolled by and vowed to get up and leave once I reached the number eight.
As I was getting to lucky number seven, a sleek, midnight-colored sports car pulled next to the curb, and the driver’s side door swung open.
A man dressed in a black trench coat stepped out, holding his phone up to his ear. His eyes met mine and his full lips parted, the recognition immediate.
The Devil…
The butterflies in my stomach took flight, and my nipples hardened under my blouse. My mind raced a mile a minute, stunned that this man was actually real. That he’d actually shown up.
Keeping his eyes locked on mine, he said a few more words into his phone and ended the call, tucking it into his pocket. He stared at me for several seconds, looking as if he wanted to fuck me on the spot. Like he was tempted enough to crash through this café’s glass window and bend me over the booth right now.
His lips curved into a smirk, and he looked me over one last time before walking to the entry doors.
I watched him as he slowly strolled over to the counter, as every waitress froze and blushed at the sight of him.
His lips were moving and he was pointing up at the menu board, but they remained standing still, staring at him.
As if he could tell that he had them under his spell, he smiled and revealed a set of pearly whites—pulling them in a bit deeper.
“So, I’ll bend you over the desk and spank you a few times.” Bennett’s annoying words interrupted my thoughts, but I kept my eyes on The Devil as he started walking toward us. “After that, we can probably trade places and I’ll want you to do it even harder to me.”
“Excuse me,” The Devil said, his deep voice cutting off Bennett’s ongoing ramble once and for all. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but—” He paused, looking between us. “Actually, I’m not sorry. I’m not over the woman you’re currently talking to, and she just messaged me to say that she’s still not over me. You’re sitting here wasting your damn time.”
“What?” His face reddened and he glared at me. “You said via the chat that you were ‘beyond single’ and down to fuck after one night! You said you wanted me to fuck you so hard, that you passed out!”
My cheeks reddened. The rest of the café became a lot quieter, and the other patrons softly whispered and stared.
“So much for that, huh?” Bennett scoffed as he stood to his feet. “I can’t believe you were lying to me the entire time, that you got my hopes up. I was excited about fucking you tonight.” He wrapped a scarf around his neck and looked me right in my eyes. “Pay for your own cookies, bitch.”