Fantasy Boyfriend #2 (A Tattooed Bad Boy Romance) by Vanessa Stone Page B

to thrum once again. Seconds later, he said
something to his date, and then abruptly stood and left the restaurant, leaving
her to follow.
    I hoped he was jealous. In fact, I hoped he was
choking on it. Even more so, I hoped that he assumed Greg and I would be having
sex tonight, right after I had allowed him to have sex with me. So what if he
thought I was a slut? He deserved it. Let him think what he wanted. I had no
intentions of allowing Greg any liberties, but Luke didn't know that.
    The waitress came over and handed Greg the bill, and
as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and placed a credit card in the
sleeve, I felt tingling of guilt. He was a nice guy. I felt guilty for using
him to make Luke's jealous, but maybe there was more to it than that. Greg did
have a lot of good things going for him, so maybe I should give him a better
chance. No sense in writing him off completely, whether I was sexually
attracted to him or not. Come to think of it, there had to be more to the
foundation of a relationship than basic sexual chemistry.
    While most of my romance novels built upon sexual
tension between the hero and heroine, it was often after they got to know each
other that they actually fell in love. Maybe I just had to be a little more
patient with Greg. After all, this was our first date. It wasn't like I was
looking for marriage declaration from anyone, whether it came to Luke or Greg.
So why couldn't I just allow myself to have a little bit of fun for a change?
Of course, knowing that Luke would be jealous when she saw me with Greg was
icing on the cake.
    I wasn't a mean-spirited person – most of the time –
and didn't intentionally plan on using Greg as a tool, but there was nothing
wrong with taking advantage of the situation, was there? Then again, was I
doing the same thing to Greg that Luke had done to me? I shook my head. No, of
course not. I wasn't planning to have sex with Greg and then dump him. I was
just out enjoying a nice evening with a nice guy. It wasn't my fault if he had
greater expectations, and come to think of it, I didn't even know what to
expect. Would I go out on a second date with Greg if he asked? Perhaps I would.
He was a nice guy and I had enjoyed spending the evening with him. Just because
I wasn't sexually attracted to him at this point, didn't mean that I couldn't
enjoy his company, did it?
    At the same time, I knew deep inside that I was
allowing myself to stoop to a position that I had never found myself in before.
I was using another man to try to make someone else jealous. Did I really think
Luke was worth all the effort? I felt conflicted and not just a little guilty
about what I had just done behind the restaurant. At first, I tried to tell
myself it was all Luke's fault for treating me so callously in the first place,
but then I realized that I also had to accept responsibility for my own
behavior. Did I really want to play this game? An image of Luke flashed in my
head. Why was I doing this? Was it out of revenge or was I desperately trying
to get Luke back, not that I had really had him in the first place. My
conflicted feelings whirled in my head and before long, I felt a headache
throbbing in my temples.
    As soon as the bill was paid, Greg stood and walked
over to my chair, pulling it out for me. Ever the gentleman. I smiled up at
him. I allowed him to walk me out of the restaurant back to his truck. On the
way home, we once again engaged in small talk, commenting on how good the food
had been and how stuffed we both were. When he pulled up to the old Victorian,
he turned and smiled at me. He put the truck in park, but didn't turn off the
engine.

 

Chapter 12
    We sat together with the engine idling for a moment or
two, and then I turned to Greg to tell him that I had had a nice evening. At
that moment, he leaned toward me. I knew he was going to kiss me. I figured
that one kiss wouldn't hurt. Besides, I wanted to see if his kiss elicited the
same spark as Luke's