“Stan! How are you?” I smiled at him as I walked closer.

“I'm just fine and how about yourself?”

“Great. I brought somebody with me to listen to your music.”

“Is this your young man?” Stan looked up at Braden and gave him a big grin.

“This is our first date,” I explained. “Braden, this is Stan. He’s a genuine bluesman. He knew all the greats; Willie Dixon, Big Boy Crudup, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker and he played with quite a few of them.”

“Oh hush now,” Stan said. “You’re gonna make me blush. Tell you what, since this is a special occasion, I’ll play you a special song by another fella you may have heard of, Mr. John Lee Hooker.”

Stan started to play and I heard the opening chords to I'm In the Mood. I started clapping my hands along with him. He was awesome as always, making that guitar sing.

A few other people started to gather and Stan immediately went into two more songs as folks dropped money in his guitar case. When he finished up, a middle-aged guy who had been standing over against a wall approached him.

“I’ve got to tell you sir, I’m a big-time blues fan and you’ve got some real talent.”

“He certainly does,” I said. “This is Stanford Benson you’re talking to.”

“The Stanford Benson? You’re kidding me right?”

“No sir. Stanford Benson from Atlanta Georgia.”

“Have you been playing here long?”

“A few months. I’ve fallen on some hard times, to be honest with you sir. It can be hard for an old bluesman to get gigs these days.”

“My name is Ron Baker. I write for the Philadelphia Inquirer and I’d like to write a story about you. I’d also like to introduce you to a friend of mine who owns a little club called the Blue Moon. I think he’d be thrilled to have you play his place.”

“Well sir, I would certainly appreciate that,” Stan said, his voice cracking a little. I was feeling kind of emotional myself to tell you the truth. I figured it was time for us to make our exit.

“Thanks so much, Stan. That was like the coolest first date song ever.”

“Yeah, I agree,” Braden said and dropped a hundred bucks in Stan’s guitar case on top of the fifty I had slipped in there surreptitiously.

“Thank you! Both of you! I think you must be good luck.”

We waved goodbye, and walked in contented silence for a couple of minutes and then Braden turned to me and said, “Well, how about that? Something exciting happened.”

“Yeah! No kidding, I really hope Stan gets a regular gig,” I said and he gave me a strange look that I couldn’t interpret. I figured that he was probably thinking that I was nuts. “Is this the weirdest date you’ve ever been on?”

“Yeah, probably. And I like it, but I do really have to get up early.”

“We can just head on back if you want.”

“It’s not that I want to. It really is only because I have to get up at five and I’ll be helping him move.” He hesitated and then said, “I could cancel game night tomorrow and just take you out if you wanted. Mark and Adam would understand.”

“It’s okay. Game night is fine.” I looked at him and smiled. “You’re going to be tired anyway.”

“You’re pretty easy to get along with outside of court,” he said smiling back.

“Maybe I’m just hoping you’ll be easy next Friday night,” I teased. His look heated up again.

“I wouldn’t worry about that if I were you. I think your chances of getting pretty much any kind of sex you want are exceptionally good.” My tummy flipped over.

He walked me to my apartment door but didn’t make any move to touch me. He just stood there about three feet away from me waiting to see what I wanted him to do.

“I had a great time tonight,” he said, watching me carefully.

“Me too,” I said, a little nervous about actually initiating anything.

“Well then, I guess I’ll call you tomorrow.” He started to turn back toward the elevator.

“Kiss me! Please?” He paused and turned back. “I asked nicely.” He smiled and then walked slowly over to me, looking into my eyes as he approached. When he was directly in front of me he leaned down to kiss me slowly and gently on the lips. My heart was pounding so hard I thought he must be able to hear it. I had just witnessed a famous bluesman playing a private dedication to me in a train station but not even that seemed as unbelievable as the fact that this man who I had wanted for months was actually kissing me. He started to move away and I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him back. He kissed me harder then and I opened my mouth to invite him in. Within minutes I had the door pressed up against my back and Braden pressed up against my front and his tongue was confidently stroking mine and exploring my mouth sensuously. His hands were under my shirt, against my bare skin, exploring my ribcage sensuously too. Sensuous exploration seemed to be a strength of his and I felt that this was a very good sign.

I was getting a little crazed out there in the hallway, to be truthful. I could feel his erection pressing up against me and I was starting to squirm shamelessly against him. Just the thought that I could get him into that condition was blowing my mind. It was a little scary that a simple goodnight kiss from this guy was driving me into such a state of hyper-arousal so quickly. Even though I felt hot and flushed I still had goose bumps everywhere. It was like my body didn’t know what in the hell to do with this much stimulation so it just threw everything it had at it.

His hands started to explore higher and his fingers grazed the bottoms of my br**sts and then gently traced the outline of my ni**les through the soft fabric of my bra. I’m sure they weren’t difficult to find, since they were so hard that they ached. I became vaguely aware of a quiet moaning sound and realized that it was me. My self-control was almost at the breaking point and I was getting close to telling him that we could always sleep in next weekend when I heard Jessica on the other side of the door.

“Hey, Gabrielle? I really hope that's you moaning out there. Are you planning to have sex in the hall? Don’t forget that Kaylee next door is only fourteen.” Braden and I flew apart and I straightened out my clothing while I caught my breath and cleared my throat.

“I'm just saying goodnight. I'll be right in,” I called out.

“Goodnight,” he said, sounding a little out of breath himself. “I'll call you tomorrow.” He gave me a sexy grin and headed for the elevator without objection or complaint. I ducked into my apartment and went off to my room to break out my all-time favorite online purchase.

CHAPTER SIX

The next day when Braden called he told me that he was running late and he asked me to come by at about six-thirty. Since we were just hanging out at his place I dressed casually in cut-offs and my “Brainy Is the New Sexy” tee-shirt.

“You’re sure you want to go drink beer and eat pizza with Adam and Mark?”

“I’m sure that I want to go and do anything with Braden.”

“Do you even know how to play baseball?”

“Basically. You hit the ball and run around the bases and the other team tries to stop you. How hard can it be? I don’t completely understand football either and I watch the Harvard-Yale game.”

“You really have it bad for this guy. I can’t imagine you doing this for anyone else.”

“I have court early tomorrow and so I probably won’t be home late.”

He greeted me at his apartment door, looking very cute in faded jeans, an old gray tee-shirt with Phillies written on it and bare feet. His hair looked slightly damp. He smiled when he saw my shirt and then his eyes traveled down my legs.

“Come in and make yourself comfortable. You’re welcome to take off your shoes, or any article of clothing that you like, for that matter.” He gave me a smile that made my tummy feel all fluttery. I slipped off my shoes and left them by the door. His apartment had an open layout with beautiful dark hardwood floors. Straight in front of me there were floor to ceiling windows along one exterior wall that presented a spectacular view of the Square and the buildings beyond. To my left was a modern kitchen and dining area and to my right a large flat screen TV was mounted on the interior wall and surrounded by an arrangement of a black leather sofa and matching loveseats. There were also lots of books and bookshelves everywhere. I loved books. I also loved people who loved books. This too, was a very good sign.

“This is really nice, Braden. I like the way that it’s so open but it still feels cozy.”

“Thanks.” He looked genuinely pleased with the compliment.

“So I guess Adam and Mark aren’t here yet?” I wandered over to the window to check out the view and I imagined how the buildings in the distance looked lit up after dark. It must be beautiful. I was a city girl.

“They usually come at about seven,” he said walking up behind me. “I wanted to have a chance to spend at least a little time with you alone. This was the best I could do. I didn’t get home until six myself and I wanted to at least shower.”

I turned around and put my arms around his hips. “I don’t know. I think I might like you a little sweaty,” I teased. It’s amazing how brave six months of celibacy and a very sexy guy could make me.

“Well, I’m looking forward to getting sweaty with you.”

I started feeling warm and my skin felt tingly. I bit down on my bottom lip and his eyes seemed drawn to it. He traced it with the pad of his thumb and then he bent his head down and kissed me, biting it himself and tugging it into his mouth. He sucked on it lightly before deepening the kiss and slowly rubbing his tongue up against mine. I began to shiver a little and when he moved away from my mouth and started trailing kisses down my neck my legs got shaky.

“Uh, Braden,” I said a little breathlessly.

“Mm?” he replied, tugging my earlobe into his mouth and sucking on it. Jesus that felt good!

“I think I may need to sit down.”

“Sure,” he said, looking a bit concerned. I’m sure my eyes were probably glazed over and my face was flushed. I probably looked drugged. He took my hand and led me over to the sofa where I plunked myself down less than gracefully.

“Are you feeling okay?”

“More than okay — I was feeling so good that I was afraid I might hit the floor,” I said throatily, and a big beautiful grin slowly took the place of the worried look. He sat down beside me and picked right up where he had left off, returning his attention to my very lucky earlobe. I ran my fingers through his hair enjoying how warm and soft it felt even slightly damp. Actually, he was warm all over, but his hair was probably the only soft part of him. I ran my other hand over his back, and lordy, those muscles were tight. I breathed in his spicy scent and I felt drugged too to be honest. I was high on Braden.

My hands weren’t the only ones that were busy. His had started out on my back but then one hand had worked its way to my front and up under my tee-shirt. He reached into my bra this time, cupped my breast and circled my very attentive nipple with his thumb. I whimpered a little and arched my back, pushing against him hard. He stopped kissing me for a moment and gave me that blue flame look.

“They’re going to be here soon.” His voice was a little husky. “We don’t have a lot of time and I don’t want to drive both of us crazy, but, you know the other night when you took your jacket off at the pub?” I nodded. “I couldn’t help but notice you have really gorgeous ti… uh, breasts. Could I, um? Could I maybe just…” He had a sexy, almost boyish, smile on his face. I nodded again and I noticed that he was breathing quickly and looking just a little flushed himself. He held my gaze but reached behind me and unhooked my bra. Then he gently eased my shirt up. I realized at that moment that there was a fairly good chance that Braden was a boob man. His gaze dropped and he let out a low groan. Yep – boob man.

“Beautiful.” And then a slightly shaky breath. “Must touch.” He swallowed hard and reached out to cup and caress my breasts, lightly pinching my ni**les and making me moan and push myself against him some more. Christ, I was totally shameless with him! “Perfect,” he said in a low thick voice almost to himself. Oh my God. I was so turned on that I was starting to tremble. He gently pushed me down onto my back, leaned over me and lowered his head. I felt his tongue graze one very hard nipple…

… When Adam and Mark rang up from the lobby. That had to have been the quickest half hour of my entire life. I let my head fall back against a pillow, stared at the ceiling for a second and, I’ll admit it, I said a really bad word. Inner-Gabrielle also kicked the wall a few times. I looked back at him and despite startled amusement at my colorful choice of expletive (recall that I spend my days interviewing guys in jail), I could see from the expression on his face his self-control was getting a work-out. I wasn’t the only one in the room craving some hot sweaty monkey sex.

“I’m sorry,” he said. He sounded apologetic and looked frustrated.

“It’s okay.” I sat up and fixed my clothes while he had them buzzed in. When he was done I looked at him and smiled. “Don’t worry. We’ll have the opportunity to get seriously freaky soon.” I know — I’m just so wonderfully warm and romantic sometimes. A sweet talker like me should write for Hallmark.

“I’ll make sure it was worth waiting for,” he said, giving me a slightly wicked look and went off to splash cold water on his face. I could have benefitted from being hosed down.