Snapping back to her surroundings, Ella slid away from Mark to the center of her two dinner companions. Showing her emotional vulnerability hadn't been on the agenda tonight. No feelings, no complications, no neediness. She repeated to herself.
Ella was curious how John and Mark would react. It wasn't every day that a woman you just met on a casual encounter board shared the details of a torrid affair. Granted, they had pushed her for the details, but she had been fairly graphic about what had happened.
While telling the story had taken an emotional toll, her body was still responding to the physical memories. Greg, the subject of her tale, may have turned out to be a jerk, but it was by far the best sex she had ever had. Not an experience to be repeated with him, but there were parts she wanted to recreate with someone else.
Glad she was wearing jeans, Ella felt her cream dripping out. Not having worn anything in between, she was dependent on the denim to keep things from getting embarrassing. Finally mustering up the courage to look at her companions, Ella was relieved that they didn't seem angry or disgusted.
Mark was the first to make immediate eye contact with her. "You definitely left out the best part of the story in your first edition, Ella. And you told it beautifully. However, I am feeling the need to hunt down Greg and teach him a lesson or two on how to treat a lady."
"I'll join you on that mission, partner," John chimed in. "With pleasure."
"Ok boys," Ella laughed. "Regardless of my size, I can take care of myself, thank you. I don't think you can change guys like him, anyway. And," she added with emphasis, "I don't need protecting."
John and Mark shared a 'like hell you don't' look, but they stayed quiet. Ella obviously wasn't like most women. She was independent, funny, smart, sexy, and, it didn't hurt that she was drop dead gorgeous.
Mark checked his phone and asked Ella if he could excuse himself for a moment.
"Only if you leave me your wallet to go through," Ella joked. Surprisingly, she wasn't still mad at him for looking at her cell phone earlier when she had been in the bathroom. It was a weird thing to do, but she now felt like Greg was completely out of her system, and that felt wonderful.
Getting up from the table, Mark dropped his wallet in front of her. "Be my guest."
"I was joking..." Ella started to say as he walked away. She looked over to John, who seemed just as puzzled as her. "Alright, John. I think its time you told me why you and Mark are here. My instinct tells me that you have more to do with this than Mark."
"That is one problem with smart women," John said giving her his charm-boy look from earlier, "not very easy to slip things past them."
"Spill it, and fast," Ella told him. "Before Mark gets back." John looked a little uncomfortable and started to shuffle in his seat. "Now," she demanded quietly, raising her eyebrow at him.
"You will have to settle for the short version. Mark and I really are partners, as you can probably tell. We were in Special Forces together after college for about ten years and have worked together since our duty ended a few years back. My girlfriend is still overseas. She's given me free license to explore and enjoy. That's a long story in and of itself."
"Mark's story is a little more complicated. His girlfriend left him about a year ago. They met while he was on leave and they were together about five years. She realized that most of their time together had been a long distance relationship, and while a week every couple of months was great, day in and day out the relationship didn't work for her."
"He was pretty devastated even though he still won't admit it. Not many women can handle his strong personality and dominant nature. He knows it, and seems to have given up even trying. So, that's where I come in. As a partner, he has been excruciating to work with. I've tried to set him up a few times. He's been a real bastard from what my acquaintances say. Toying with them, asking crazy questions, driving them out of the restaurants as fast as he can. Mark told me his personal record is 5 minutes."
"So, being the resourceful guy I am, I saw your ad and thought it might be a perfect opportunity to get him laid and back to normal for a bit. We did this a few times when we were young, so I was playing on old times to convince him to do this. And honestly, I think it is working. He's been on super good behavior and I can see that sparkle in his eyes."
Ella almost choked on her water. "Good behavior???. Really? He's looked at my cell phone, forced me to the table and said that he would punish me if I lied. That's good?" Ella questioned. "What is bad behavior? Do I want to know?"
