Page 32 of The Draft

Dash rested his elbows on his knees, bringing his hands together in a clap as he blew out a long breath. “Madison, I like you, but—”

There it was again. The unease in his voice. I may not have had a guy break up with me before, but I’d seen enough TV shows to know when he was letting you down gently.

I didn’t want this.

I was almost ninety-nine percent certain Dash didn’t want this either.

So why was he doing it?

Cade.

It was ridiculous. He was willing to ignore the chemistry between us for the rest of his life just because he didn’t want to upset my brother. The same brother who slept with half of Connecticut when he was in high school. Seriously, there were rumors about him sleeping with our friend’s mom, but I digress. I had no business knowing Cade’s sex life, just like he had no business knowing mine.

Not that mine existed.

But the point was that I should be allowed to have one that he didn’tknow about. I should be allowed to sleep with the one guy I’ve been fantasizing about and not feel guilty over it. Why couldn’t I get what I so badly wanted this one time?

What if there was another way?

“One night.”

Shit. Shit. Shit.

I winced because the echo from the bathroom confirmed that I said that out loud. It was just an idea that had been flittering through my head since reading it in a novel last week. A little spark of something that when I went to sleep at night and my hand drifted south that I thought about. If Dash and I only had one night, maybe that would solve everything. We’d either get each other out of our systems, realize we aren’t compatible, or he’d fall desperately in love with me.

Sure, that last one might seem a little optimistic, but why couldn’t it work? One night might be just what I need to dull the desperate ache between my thighs when Dash crossed my mind. The more I thought about it, the more I convinced myself that this was the right thing.

“One night?” Dash repeated, confused.

Well, he hadn’t kicked me out at the mere mention of it, so that was a good thing. I could drop it now, and play it off as some random thought, but I didn’t want to. I wanted to feel him out and get his opinion on it. I’d managed to get him to kiss me after all. What else could I convince him to do with just a little push? “Give me just one night.”

“Of?”

I wet my lips and stiffened my back, in disbelief that I was about to say this but feeling confident that I should. “Us. You and me. Together. For one night.”

I knew it sounded crazy, but it really wasn’tthatbad when you thought about it. We both needed this. I needed this, because even if nothing else came from it, at least I tried.

Dash was a quiet guy, but it seemed that I’d stunned him into silence. Stewing in his own broodiness, I watched him lean back and shake his head. “Madison. I can’t do that.”

I couldn’t deny that I was feeling deflated, but it was obvious that was going to be his first reaction. I needed to make the offer more enticing. “Why not? You just kissed the crap out of me against your door.”

“I did, and that was a mistake.”

“A mistake you’re no doubt going to tell my brother about, right? Well, if you’re going to get punished for something, you might as well go all the way with it.” My logic was flawed. It was like saying you’d already beaten someone up, why not kill them? But it seemed Dash was contemplating the idea, so he might have been as drunk on arousal as me. He took a sharp breath and slowed the rubbing of his hands.

I was getting so jittery and nervous; I was about to pee my pants because, on top of trying to convince Dash, I was low key trying to convince myself that this was a good idea. He just had a girl in his room for crying out loud, and I was desperately trying to convince him to sleep with me because I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Not to mention the tiny fact that I was a virgin.

Was I getting myself in too deep?

Maybe, but it wasn’t like Dash was going to be easy to convince, anyway. Besides, I’d already come to terms with the fact that I’d throw out all my logic just for one night with him. Even if it was the biggest mistake of my life and he broke my heart after. I needed to know what it felt like to be with him. I needed Dash to be my first regret if that was what he ended up being.

“No,” Dash lamented.

“Yes.”

He chuckled humorlessly. “I’m not going to sit in my bathroom and barter over whether or not I’m going to sleep with you, Madison.”

“Then what do you call this?”