That Night with You
By
Alexandrea Weis
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © Alexandrea Weis 2014
Smashwords Edition
First Edition Alexandrea Weis November 2, 2014
Smashwords Licensing Notes
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in articles and reviews.
Book Cover: Bookfabulous Designs
Editors: Maxine Bringenberg, Melissa Ringsted
Chapter 1
A swirl of cigarette smoke gathered about the darkened entrance of Owen’s Bar, hovering in the air like a ghost waiting for a divine wind to move it along. When the thick, wooden door of the establishment opened, the smoke cloud parted. In walked a slender brunette with alabaster skin, pink lips, and cheekbones so well-carved that they seemed chiseled by a master’s hand. Her lean body, shapely legs, and slender hips sauntered into the dank bar. Dressed in jeans and a white tank top, she turned a few heads of the men gathered about the worn walnut bar across the room. She glided like a dancer as she moved amid the paltry array of dark wooden tables set about the dirty stone floor. Her deep green bedroom eyes flashed with recognition when they settled on two young women, their heads together, at a table not far from the entrance.
“Madison,” a yellow-haired girl in pigtails called.
“Hey guys,” the brunette greeted as she stood by the table, gaping wide-eyed at her friends. “What did I miss?”
A round-faced redhead with curls and thick lips smiled up at her. “Madison Barnett, you’re late. We’ve already done a round of tequila shots. You need to catch up.”
The blonde narrowed her blue eyes on Madison, smirking with delight. “I warned you, girl. We’re gonna get shitfaced tonight.”
“Sorry.” Grimacing in apology, Madison removed the small black purse from about her shoulder and eased into her seat at the table. “I got held up with old man Pellerin.”
“And how did the old coot act?” the bouncy redhead inquired.
“He was sweet, Lizzie, and don’t call him an old coot. He told me if I ever wanted a job with his architecture firm, I had one.”
The blonde reached for a half-empty glass of beer. “Come on, Mads, you know you hated working for him. You told me the other day that he was creepy.”
Madison glanced over at the blonde, her green eyes clouded with misgivings. “I know, Charlie, but he was really sweet today. He even got me a cake and had a nice little sendoff with everyone from the office.”
Charlie raised her glass to Madison in a celebratory toast. “Luckily, you’re done with Pellerin, Everly, and Walters. Tomorrow you start working for Parr and Associates, the biggest residential architectural firm in Dallas. You’ve hit the big time, kid.”
Madison ran her fingers along the gouged surface of the wooden table, her full lips turned downward. “Not the big time, Charlie. I’m not working for a firm that builds skyscrapers, only houses for rich people.”
Lizzie patted her hand reassuringly. “Hey, you’re only twenty-six. You’ll get there. First, the houses for the snooty people, and then the skyscrapers. Baby steps there, girlie.”
“Hey,” Charlie shouted as she banged her beer glass on the table, “don’t go and get all depressed on me, Mads. We’re here to celebrate! Your new job and my wedding.” She waved her hand, summoning a barmaid who was resting her elbows against the wooden bar. “It’s not every day I get married, or my roommate gets such a cushy job. We need to top this night off with some serious drinking.”
“Absolutely.” Madison smiled brightly and slapped her hand on the table, banishing her unhappy thoughts. “But we can’t get too wasted. I start my new job tomorrow.”
Charlie nodded. “Agreed. I’ve got my last dress fitting at eight, so we have to make sure we’re in bed by three at the earliest.”
“Charlie,” Madison scolded with a caustic gaze, “you’re going to be Nelson’s wife in three weeks. Don’t you think you should start cutting back on the late nights?”
The barmaid came up to the table. “What’ll it be ladies, another round of beers?”
Charlie gave a wobbly shake of her head, already appearing lit. “Three tequila shots and another round of beers, please.”
The barmaid grinned, happy for the business. “You got it.”
As she walked away, Charlie rolled her blue eyes. “I’m not dead…I mean married yet, Mads. I’ve got to get it out of my system before I make that march down the aisle.”
Madison shook her head, angrily pressing her lips together. “If you feel that way, why marry Nelson?”
“I love him,” Charlie avowed. “I’m just terrified of marriage. You know, sleeping with the same guy for the rest of my life seems so boring.”
“I don’t know,” Lizzie piped in. “It would be kinda cool not having to go out on any more dates, have those awkward first times in bed with someone…you can just be yourself with a guy.”
“Hey, don’t knock those awkward first times in bed,” Charlie countered. “They’re some of the best memories I have of my sex life.”
“Not me.” Lizzie grimaced. “I remember the first time I did it, I was in high school and it really sucked. Took me a few times to get comfortable with sex. I always thought it was going to be like it is in the movies, you know?”
“Yeah, me too.” Charlie slapped back in her chair, the spark dimming in her eyes. “When I lost my virginity, I was sixteen and he was a senior on the football team. What I remember was how much it hurt.”
“Mine was with a guy in my high school chemistry class.” Lizzie shrugged. “I remember being disappointed it didn’t last longer…or he didn’t last longer.” Giggling, she reached for her beer.
“What about you?” Charlie turned to Madison. “You never told me about your first time.” She rolled her eyes again with incredulity. “Let me guess…you and the prom king on the night of your senior prom. I bet he rented some expensive hotel room and everything. ”
Lizzie and Charlie snickered as Madison ran her hands nervously up and down her bare arms. “No, ah, it wasn’t like that.”
Looking over her glass at Madison, Lizzie took a sip of her beer. “So, spill it. What was your first time like?”
Madison sat back in her chair, debating on how much she should disclose to her friends. “I was in college, and I didn’t really know him. It was just the one time.”
“What did you do…pick him up in bar?” Charlie’s smug look gave Madison pause.
The barmaid returned to the table, saving her from having to come up with an answer right away. “Twenty-six even, ladies,” she stated, removing the drinks one by one from her black tray.
Madison eagerly reached for her purse. She searched for her wallet while avoiding the inquisitive stare of her roommate. After handing the money to the barmaid, she picked up her glass of beer, looking for a distraction.
“Are you going to tell us?” Charlie insisted.
After taking a swig of courage, Madison put the glass on the table and nodded her head. “I was nineteen. Everyone I knew had done it, and I figured it was time I did something about it. I felt so embarrassed to tell any of my college friends that I was still a virgin. I remember pretending that I had slept with guys, but the truth was I had never wanted to do it with anyone until….”
“Who was he?” Lizzie asked, leaning into the table.
Madison skittishly smiled while searching for the words. Christ, did she want to do this? She had never told the story before, but now with her friends…was she ready to talk about him? Breathing in the essence of beer and stale smoke in the air, she rallied her nerve. “It was spring. I had just failed my first midterm in my Introduction to Architectural Design class and I needed to get out. I was feeling really low and I remembered there was this bar around the UT Arlington dorms that everyone talked about being great for hookups. So I got dressed up and headed out. I never told anyone where I was going, not even my roommate. Looking back, it was really a stupid thing to do.”
“Wait, you lost your virginity to some guy you picked up in a bar? For real?” Charlie angled closer to the table, her blue eyes ablaze with interest. “You’re always so picky about men. You never want to go out with anyone I set you up with.”
“That’s because the guys you set me up with are scary, Charlie.”
“Doug the paralegal was not scary,” Charlie argued.
Madison rolled her eyes, mimicking her friend. “He was married.”
“Separated,” Charlie protested. “And so what if he wasn’t technically divorced. I thought you two—”
“Would you let her get back to the story?” Lizzie cut in. She turned her doe-like, amber eyes to Madison. “So what happened with you and the guy in the bar?”
“Skylar’s, that’s what it was called. Inside there were a lot of business types hanging out…you know, guys in suits. Some girls, but more men. I went to the bar and had a seat on this torn, red leather stool. I remember that stool…funny, huh? Anyway, it didn’t take long for a few guys to hit on me, buy me drinks and stuff.”
Lizzie snorted. “You must have been some real eye candy. Men love to watch you.”
“It’s because she was a dancer,” Charlie inserted. “Men love watching dancers.”
Lizzie slapped Charlie’s hand. “Let her get back to the story.”
“Well,” Madison went on, “none of the guys that talked to me really hung around for long. They just talked and left. I guess I had been there about an hour, and was a little buzzed from drinking vodka, when this guy came up to me.” She closed her eyes as her thoughts went back to that night. “He was really good-looking, handsome with thick, dark wavy hair, small gray eyes. I think he was in his late twenties.” She opened her eyes. “He was slender, but built, like he worked out. I remember he had on this dark blue sweater, a real nice one, and he smelled….” She sighed. “Really good. His face was kinda rugged, with a wide jaw and thick brow, which made him seem really intense. The first time I looked into his eyes it was like pow.”
“Whoa,” Charlie breathed. “What did he say when you first met?”
“Hello,” Madison replied. “He just said ‘hello,’ and had a seat next to me.”
“What, no pick up line?” Lizzie questioned.
Madison shook her head. “No, no lines. In fact, the whole night he never used one line on me. I remember he told me he liked to cut right to the chase. He thought ‘games were better suited for cards, not people,’ his words.”
“Sexy. Did you get his name?” Lizzie fidgeted in her seat, enthralled.
“He said his friends called him Harry, so I called him Harry. I told him my name was Mary.” Madison sipped her beer as a myriad of lustful memories came back to her. She could see him sitting beside her, still feel his hand on hers, smell his musky skin, and…she regained control and went on with her story. “We spent about an hour at the bar talking. Well, we didn’t talk per se, he just asked questions and I talked. He asked me a lot of questions.”
“What kind of questions?” Charlie intruded.
“Where I was from, what I was studying in school. He knew a lot about architecture and was pretty smart. I think he talked about how hard architecture school was, but I’m not sure if he mentioned going to one. He wanted to know about my family, what I liked to do outside of school…stuff like that.”
“Get to the good part.” Lizzie moved her chair closer to Madison. “Did he take you to his place?”
Madison played with her beer glass in her hands, fighting that rush of unease. “He drove me in his Porsche to his apartment. More like a penthouse really. It had this wall of windows with a great view of the UT campus. I remember he had a bar.” She cocked her head, lost in her memories. “Really nice paintings on the wall. He told me the name of the painter, but I’ve forgotten.”
“Sounds nice.” Charlie grinned. “He must have been rich to have a place like that.”
“I don’t think we ever talked about his family. I don’t know if he was rich, but he seemed sophisticated. Like he knew a lot of things.” Madison shrugged and rested her arms on the table, getting comfortable. “He led me into his apartment, turned on a song named ‘Feelin’ Good.’ I remember asking him about it. He told me it was by his favorite singer, Nina Simone.”
“Is that the song you always play? You know, I’m feeeliiinnn’ gooood,” Charlie sang out. “I hear it coming from your bedroom sometimes.”
“Yes, but I listen to the Michael Bublé version.”
“Oh, I love him,” Lizzie squealed.
“So you play that song for him, don’t you?” Charlie probed. “You’re dreaming of being with him again.”
Madison nodded. “I always wonder what it would be like if he was there with me. Sometimes I daydream about dancing for him, and….” She rubbed her arms, feeling she had said too much. “Silly, huh?”
“I think it’s romantic,” Lizzie giggled. “You and Harry have a song.”
“Enough about the song,” Charlie clamored. “What happened next?”
“He wanted me to sober up a bit before, so he made me some coffee in his kitchen. I was sipping on the coffee and we were standing in the kitchen talking when I slipped or got dizzy…I’m not sure. He went to grab me, and I spilled some coffee on his nice sweater. I was mortified and kept apologizing, but he just laughed at me.” She smiled, lost in her thoughts. “He had this great laugh. Deep, soulful; the kind that vibrates inside your bones. The one thing I clearly remember about that night was his laugh.”
“And then what happened?” Lizzie inserted.
Madison was awakened from her memories. “I grabbed for some paper towels and started wiping his sweater. I must have looked like a total idiot. He took the paper towels from my hands and kissed me.”
“Good kisser?” Charlie posed with a hopeful lilt in her voice.
Madison nodded, blushing. “Really good. The kind you don’t want to stop kissing.”
Lizzie’s grip on her glass of beer tightened. “Then what?”
Madison lowered her eyes to the table. “He took my hand and led me from the kitchen to the master bedroom. When we got to the door, I think I had a mini-panic attack. I was so nervous…never having done it before. He put his arm around me, kissed my cheek, and gently eased me into the room.” She raised her head. “After that, I wasn’t quite as nervous.”
Charlie’s blue eyes grew round. “And the sex? How was it?”
“He was very gentle.” Madison shrugged her shoulders. “I thought it was going to hurt more, but he went really slow. I’m not sure if he knew I was…. He made me feel comfortable, or as comfortable as I could feel in that situation.”
“Jesus.” Lizzie reached for a shot glass in the middle of the table. “He must have been really good.” She knocked back the small glass of tequila.
Charlie nudged Madison’s hand on the table. “But what exactly happened? How did he do it?”
Madison’s jaw dropped. “What do you mean ‘how did he do it’? You’re kidding, right?”
“No, Mads, I’m talking about before he took off your clothes. How did he seduce you? You know, what kind of moves did he put on you? Or did you two just get right to it?”
“Oh that.” Madison became silent for a few seconds. “Yeah, well, he, ah, danced with me. After we stepped into the bedroom, he took my hand and held m
e close. I don’t know how long we swayed like that to the music, but he made me feel special.”
“Special?” Charlie laughed. “What about the morning after? How did you feel then?”
Madison slumped in her chair, tucking her hair behind her ear. “There wasn’t a morning after. When he fell asleep, I snuck out of his apartment and walked back to campus.”
Lizzie stared at her. “You snuck out? Honestly, you didn’t want to hang around and find out more about him?”
“No. I was so relieved to have finally done it, I just wanted to get out of there and avoid the whole morning after thing.”
“Damn,” Lizzie extolled with admiration in her eyes. “You’re a lot braver than me. I always wanted to meet some hot guy in a bar, but with all the crap out there these days, I’d be terrified to have him touch me unless he was encased in rubber.”
“Please tell me you used protection,” Charlie groaned as she reached for her shot glass.
“We used protection. He had condoms.”
“Ever wonder what happened to him?” Lizzie pestered.
“Sure,” Madison reluctantly disclosed. “He was a really nice guy. I kind of wish I could meet someone like him today. You know…handsome, sophisticated, articulate, someone who made me feel—”
“Special?” Charlie interjected.
Madison nodded to the three-carat diamond on Charlie’s left hand. “You’ve got Nelson. You’re lucky you don’t have to go out in the world and find a man anymore.”
Charlie pushed the last shot glass of tequila across the table toward Madison. “You’ll find someone…you just have to hit a few more bars.”
Lizzie snorted with laughter while Madison smirked at her roommate. Picking up the shot glass, Madison toasted her friends.
“To meeting men in bars,” she proclaimed.
Lizzie lifted her beer glass and Charlie did the same. “To meeting your Harry in a bar,” Lizzie declared. “I’d kill to find a man like that.”
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