Blind Date and Beginnings - 3. Blind Date - Part 3

I turned and found myself looking right into Ryan’s eyes. God! He had the most beautiful eyes. I’m a sucker for guys with green eyes and Ryan’s were a deep, dark green like I had never seen before. They would have shamed emeralds with their clarity.

“Uh,” I mumbled nervously. “Yeah, I guess.” I was kicking myself inside my head. Could I maybe at least try to pretend I could string together a coherent sentence?

Ryan just smiled at me in amusement, the grin emphasizing those sexy dimples of his. Those dimples were going to be the death of me! “The coffee shop is just a couple blocks away. Everybody from the hospital stops there but they should be fairly slow now. We can just walk if you are up for it.”

Ryan put his hand on my back starting to turn me towards the door and I felt myself flinch involuntarily. I couldn’t help myself and I blushed as he looked at me questioningly. “I’m sorry,” I gulped. Why on earth couldn’t I get a grip? My damned shyness!

“Uhm,” I mumbled looking at Ryan and then quickly looking away again. “Look Ryan,” I began, trying to figure out how to get this out without making Ryan realize I was a basket case. “I don’t know about this. I don’t know if going to the coffee shop is a good idea,” I continued feeling miserable.

I glanced at Ryan again and saw the disappointment flash across his face. I felt like a complete ass as I watched his shoulders slump. “Oh,” Ryan said trying to hide the hurt in his voice. “That’s too bad. I was looking forward to getting to know you. I’ll get someone to call you a cab.”

“Huh?” I asked confused. And then it hit me. How could I be so impossibly dense? Ryan thought I wasn’t interested in him, and who could blame him. My powers of communication were more than a little lacking. “Oh no,” I protested quickly trying to fix my blunder. “I still want to get to know you too,” I said looking straight into his eyes trying to make him believe me. “I, uh, well, uhm….” I started to try and explain. “I don’t do well in, uhm public places…” I trailed off my voice getting quieter with every word.

I looked down at my feet as if they were the most fascinating thing in the world. “I’m sorry Ryan,” I said barely whispering. “I’m not sure how I’d react if someone you know stopped by the table while we were having coffee. I’m nervous as hell just meeting you .”

Ryan reached over and touched my shoulder. “Hey,” he said quietly and I risked glancing up to look him in the eye again. He was smiling again, a comforting, gentle smile. “It’s ok,” he said. “We can just grab a coffee to go or something. Find someplace private to talk.” God! How could he be so understanding? And that smile on his face was going to make my knees melt. “C’mon,” he said grinning at me. “Let’s go.”

“You really don’t mind?” I asked wonderingly, the relief in my voice making me blush yet once again.

“No, I don’t mind at all,” Ryan answered as we walked out the door. “Why don’t we just go thru a drive thru and go back to my place. It’s quiet and we can just sit and talk comfortably.” He started grinning. “And the place is even clean today, which is a rarity!”

I started laughing at him as we walked towards the parking lot. “What?” I asked in a teasing voice. “No pizza boxes or dirty underwear on the floor?”

“Well….” Ryan drawled smiling at me. “I said it was clean. I never said I had picked up all my underwear.” Ryan stopped in front of his car and looked at me in concern for a second. “Oh shit!” he exclaimed in mock horror. “I hope I picked up all my porn and put it away.”

I couldn’t help it and busted out laughing. “You nut!” I said as I got into his car. “I promise I won’t judge you too harshly if you left out anything incriminating.” Ryan laughed as he started his car and pulled out of the space. “Uh, would you mind if we go thru someplace I can grab something to eat?” I asked as my stomach growled a reminder that I hadn’t actually eaten tonight.

“No problem,” Ryan said as he pulled onto the street. “Anyplace in particular?”

“Anyplace is fine,” I answered relaxing in his easy friendliness. “Mickie D’s is just up the street and I can grab a cheeseburger or something.”

“That’s bad for you,” Ryan replied looking at me sternly. I silently groaned to myself. Had I hooked up with a health nut who was going to lecture me on my evil ways? I mean, I knew he was a doctor, but was he going to try and make me feel guilty about having a burger?

“Do you know the kind of damage all that grease and cholesterol will do to your arteries?” Ryan continued without taking his eyes from the road. “And the sodium? Do you know that you get a full days allowance of sodium in just one order of fries? You really should try and eat something more healthy.” Ryan glanced at me and I saw the corners of his mouth twitching as if he was holding back laughter. “I think there’s a broccoli hut up the road,” he said laughing.

“You shit head!” I yelled laughing at him. “You had me going there for a second.”

“I’m sorry,” Ryan laughed at me. “I couldn’t resist. And that expression on your face was priceless.” Ryan turned the car into the drive thru lane still laughing. “As a doctor I’m going on record to say you should eat healthy, but as a guy I’m going to confess I eat here occasionally too. What do you want?”

“Well, tell the doctor to put a lid on it for a few minutes,” I answered smiling at him. “Just order me a cheeseburger. And I really don’t eat here very often, promise!”

Ryan laughed again as he placed our order and pulled up to the window. I started to grab my wallet but he waived my offer to pay away. “I asked you out,” he said smiling at me. “I’ll pay. Besides, this has to be one of the cheaper dates I’ve ever had!”

I laughed along with him as I took the bag and drinks and he pulled away. “Well don’t get used to it,” I teased. “I’m normally not a cheap date. I’m a cheap drunk instead.”

“Hmmmm,” Ryan said smiling slyly at me. “I’ll have to keep that in mind.” I laughed again but inside I felt the butterflies stirring in my gut again. That sly little smile of his was sexy as hell and I couldn’t imagine being too rational around him when he was flashing me one of those.

It was only a few minutes later and we were pulling into Ryan’s driveway. I got out of the car following him up the walk to his door. I was a little amazed at myself really. I was feeling more and more comfortable around this man that I barely knew and at the same time I was feeling a building sense of nervousness. I didn’t really think Ryan was the kind of guy to try and push things past where I was willing to let them go, but I never let myself go this fast and that was making me more than a little edgy.

“Make yourself at home,” Ryan said as he opened the door for me. “You know, I’m glad we came here instead of the coffee shop. We can sprawl out and be comfortable.”

“Yeah, and I’m not really sure the owners would have been thrilled at hosting a guy with a blood soaked shirt on either,” I answered smiling. “That’s gotta be bad for business!” I joked.

“Oh shit!” Ryan said frowning at me. “I completely forgot about that. I should have taken you by your home so you could change.” Ryan took a good look at me. “I think we’re about the same size,” he said mentally measuring me. “I can lend you some sweats or something.” He paused and smiled at me. “They’d be a lot more comfortable anyway.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?” I asked not quite able to conceal the eagerness in my voice. I hate the feeling of wearing wet clothes and knowing that my shirt was wet with blood wasn’t real pleasant. It was drying somewhat, but that just made it stiff and didn’t relieve the ‘yuck’ factor.

“No problem,” Ryan answered me leading me towards his bedroom. “I want to change too. These scrubs might look comfortable, but after wearing them all day I think they could stand by themselves.” I couldn’t help laughing at his joke. “How bout these?” Ryan asked me handing me some sweat shorts and a t-shirt. He grabbed a similar set for himself and proceeded to strip off his scrubs in front of me.

I gulped as I watched Ryan pull his shirt off over his head revealing a sculpted chest and tight abdomen. He definitely took care of himself and I was more than a little impressed by his definition. He was muscular without having that overdeveloped gym-rat look and I found myself staring at him without realizing it. Ryan stepped out of his pants and I saw that he paid attention to his lower body too. There wasn’t anything about this man that I didn’t find appealing and he looked damn good standing there in his underwear. Like Pavlov’s dog I found my mouth watering and I blushed as I realized it.

Ryan stepped into his sweat shorts seemingly unaware that he was being ogled by a lust crazed lunatic. I shook my head realizing I was making a fool of myself and thankful that Ryan didn’t seem to notice my stares. I started to pull my shirt off and winced as I moved in a way that my stitches didn’t seem to want to allow.

“Here, let me help,” Ryan said instantly by my side. I felt his hands touch my chest and I swear it seemed like they were on fire. The heat from his body seemed to just radiate into me and I shivered slightly feeling more and more like a fool.

Ryan pulled my shirt over my head and suddenly stopped leaving my arms still tangled in my shirt sleeves. Impossibly he stepped even closer to me, a sparkle in his eyes that drew me into their depths. Leaning in even more I felt his lips brush mine ever so gently. I felt like my brain had turned to molten lead and I couldn’t help shuddering as he slowly pulled away.

“Sorry,” Ryan said in a low, husky voice. “I’ve wanted to do that since I first saw you and I just couldn’t resist any longer.” Ryan smiled at me sexily, his dimples turning my legs into jelly. I felt his fingers trailing slightly thru my chest hair and I shivered again. “You are turning my body on fire Zach,” Ryan whispered and I shivered as his voice seemed to go right thru me. “Damn!” Ryan muttered more to himself than me. “I think I better slow down before I make a fool of myself,” he said regretfully as he stepped away.

“Uh,” I replied trying to gather my wildly running thoughts. “Yeah,” I said and I could tell by the smile he gave me that I didn’t hide the longing in my voice very well at all. I shook my head feeling a little dazed. “Uhm, yeah,” I repeated. “Slow.” Oh yeah. I’m real eloquent when I’m lust crazed!

Ryan grinned at me and I blushed again. “Stop it!” I finally laughed at him. “You’re making me act like an idiot and I can do that well enough on my own!” Ryan laughed along with me diminishing the heat of the moment and we finished changing a bit more relaxed. The sexual tension was still there but we both had it under wraps at least.

I followed Ryan back to his living room and took a seat grabbing the sack of now cold food. I really was starving since I had skipped lunch and dinner had been aborted. Even the cold drive thru fare tasted good to me at this point and I fell to with a vengeance. Ryan took a seat next to me idly turning on the TV to provide background noise.

I surprised myself by finding myself really talking with Ryan. Normally I’m so shy it takes me forever to open up to someone new, but with Ryan I found myself telling him all about my life and interests. It was like I had known him for years and he felt totally comfortable. I listened raptly as he described his life to me and I found him more than fascinating. This man interested me in ways that appealed to me enormously. He was funny with an ironic, often sarcastic sense of humor and he was intelligent and lively with a sense of life that I found thrilling. I found that we shared many of the same interests including a fascination with science fiction and fantasy and our tastes in music almost seemed parallel. When he revealed that he loved the old classic horror movies as much as I did I started to wonder if I was dreaming all of this.

We talked and laughed for hours and I couldn’t believe it when I glanced at my watch and saw that it was drawing close to 1 in the morning. “Shit!” I exclaimed. “I can’t believe how late it has gotten.”

Ryan glanced at his own watch and I saw his eyes widen in surprise. “Wow,” he agreed. “Where’d the time go?” he asked wonderingly. Ryan looked up at me again and I saw a brief look of anxiety cross his eyes. He hesitated for a second, and when he licked his lips I knew he was nervous.

“Do you,” he started hesitantly. “Uhm, do you want to spend the night?” Ryan asked biting his lip.

Suddenly those pterodactyls were flapping around in my stomach again…..