A Gentleman's Guide to Hooking Up

r u l e # 8

Rule #8 Don't keep hooking up with her if you see her as a potential girlfriend

If you could use the facilities at the gym without paying, why would you sign up for membership? Sex is very important in a relationship, but if you want to go down this road, remember there are other things to explore and share besides your reproductive organs.

Go out with her. Tell her a secret. Show her the skeleton in your closet (unless you have one literally). Let her give you a hug. Enjoy the way the air changes with her around you.

Then go ahead and have more sex ;)

......

Jake watched Jessica pick up a bottle of body lotion from the shelf, trying to decide on a fragrance. They were standing in Jo Malone at the mall after leaving the house together.

The breakfast at Jiang's seemed to have brought them closer, even though Jessica might have agreed to spending the day with him simply because she felt too embarrassed to stay at home. Either way, she was here with him.

That was good enough.

He would've laughed if a few months ago someone were to predict that he'd enjoy shopping with a girl, but right now, he felt as if he had made a huge progress from stripping in a hotel room to standing around smelling testers.

"I like this one." He pointed to a bottle that said orange blossom.

"I can decide for myself," Jessica said, but she picked it up and placed it in the basket anyway.

Jake grinned. "I figure I have a say since I'm the one who'll be sniffing all over you."

She eyed him sideways and shook her head, like he was a bad puppy she didn't know how to deal with. Jake remembered when he first met her, she was one blooming smile following the other, but now he had collected a few more expressions along the way.

Her frowns, her pouts, her stricken face when thunder struck, her shaky voice when they overslept, the way she brushed at her hair when she was nervous, how her voice rose, the way she sighed at him when she was annoyed yet amused at the same time.

She was exceptionally beautiful.

"What did my dad say to you?" she asked again as they sat down for drinks. The waiter had messed up her order, but she glanced at the counter, saw that they were swamped, and decided not to say anything. Jake smiled internally at the way she grimaced every time she took a sip.

He shook his head. "I can't bring myself to live through that horror again. I'm scarred for life, Jessica."

"Really?" Her eyebrows knitted together. "I'm so sorry about that. You didn't have to stay but you were so cool about it."

"Nah, I'm kidding. Your dad is awesome. He's very understanding," he said. "Not to mention breakfast was great. I enjoyed everything from the century eggs to your mom's feng shui lessons. Maybe even Michelle's digs at me."

She laughed. Life is short and summers are shorter, and to be able to sit together on a fine day like this was sweeter than postcoital bliss. Jake was glad he could appreciate the simplicity of it.

He was admiring the curve of her lips when his eyes caught a blond head across the fountain. The familiar shine of her hair was etched in his memory, and it was now coming alive and roaring like a golden lion.

It was like getting a kick to the groin. He momentarily forgot how to breathe.

"Jake?"

"Dammit." He turned his whole body and covered one side of his face with his hand. He was hyperventilating but he couldn't stop.