She walked up the four steps to the front door and rang the doorbell.
The door opened. She saw a nice-looking young man facing her.
"Hi," she said.
"Hi, there!" he shot back. "Are you Bridget?"
"Yes."
"I'm Dale. Come on in."
She crossed the threshold as if stepping carefully over a minefield. As he ushered her into the living room, she took in the grandeur of the place—far more impressive than her tiny apartment in Stamford. He led her to the sofa, and she sat down gingerly.
Only then did she notice that he was only wearing a robe. Well, maybe that was not so unusual—after all, it was almost 10 p.m. But, with a blush, she suddenly felt like some kind of call girl.
"Can I fix you a drink?" he said amiably.
"No, thanks," she said. "I don't drink."
"Are you sure? You seem a little . . . uptight."
You got that right!
"Well, a little ginger ale, if you have it."
Maybe that'll settle my stomach a bit.
Dale leaped at the chance to do something for this shy, scared young woman. He raced to the refrigerator and poured out a liberal glass of Canada Dry.
Handing it to her, he said, "I hope you don't mind if I fix myself a drink."
"Be my guest," she said without interest.
He prepared his drink and sat down on the sofa, about two feet away, gazing intently at her but saying nothing.
She was disconcerted by his staring. "What's the matter? Something wrong with the way I look?"
He smiled genially. "Not at all. I just wondered why you didn't want to meet me elsewhere."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, at a coffee shop, in the daytime. This is our first meeting—and here you are, it's already dark, and I figure you're staying the night."
She shuddered when he said that.
"Well, aren't you?" he pursued.
"I don't know," she whispered.
He took stock of the situation. "Do you not want to do this?"
"Do what?" she said evasively.
"You know what."
"I—I don't know. If
you
don't want to . . ." She said it as if hoping against hope.
"I never said that. But it just seems that maybe you're not quite ready for this."
That somehow offended her. "You don't think I can take it?" she said heatedly.
He smiled again. "No, no, I didn't mean that. It's just that I'd never want to force you, or any woman, to do anything she didn't want to do."
She had been clinging to the drink as if it could afford some sort of protection—protection from
what,
she wasn't quite sure. But now she put it down.
"I—I think I'm ready," she stammered.
He looked highly dubious, but put his own drink down.
"Well, okay," he said. "Let's see what we can do."
With that, he stood up and held out his hand. She got up unsteadily, as if in a daze. They were now standing in the middle of the room.
With a quick motion he slipped off his robe. He was naked underneath—and hard.
She gaped, first at him, then at his erection. It seemed enormous, almost aberrant.
A man's thing can't really be that big, can it?
She instinctively wrapped her arms around herself. When he gently approached her, she flinched as if in expectation of a blow.
"Just relax," he said, folding her into his arms. She tried to push away from him, her hands pressing against his bare chest, but gave up after a short while. He was not holding her tightly, but he wasn't going to let her go.
Her arms hung down at her sides as he embraced her. For a minute or so he did nothing more—he just let her get comfortable with a sensation of being in a man's arms. He couldn't help pressing his erection against her belly, but aside from that he could have been her brother.
Then he took her face in both his hands and gave her a long, deep kiss.
Her lips were fluttering under his, but she didn't try to pull away, as she easily could have. She realized that his lips were soft and warm, and that his kiss was strangely chaste.
Finally he pulled back and said, "Was that nice?"
She said nothing, but her eyes were shining. She nodded shakily.
He held her again, this time kissing her cheek and neck. When he slid one hand down to her bottom, she tore it away and cried, "Please don't do that!"
He sighed audibly—she could tell he was irritated—but all he said was, "I'm sorry."
Now she felt ashamed.
God, I'm such a baby! I mean, I agreed to come here, and I knew exactly what I was getting into. Why not just go through with it?
Her embarrassment increased when he let her go, looked at her piercingly, and said, "Would you like to go home?"
Turning crimson, she blurted out, "No! Let's get this over with!"
That wasn't the right thing to say. He looked crestfallen and seemed on the verge of putting his robe back on and ordering her from the house.
"I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!" she exclaimed. "I didn't mean it like that! I
do