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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Dec 18, 2015 2:17:08 GMT
Since returning from his weekend in Ithaca, Tripp VanderMill had been spending a lot of time thinking about a certain brunette woman he had kept hostage in his bed. In addition to thinking of the ways that they had flirted with and teased each other in between the moments of passionate sex, he kept thinking about how surprised he had been when he hadn't wanted to let her go. It wasn't just the sex that had kept him interested, which admittedly had been far above average, it had been the way that she had quickly proven herself to be unlike anyone else that he had the pleasure of meeting over the last several years. It was that interest that had driven him to track down her information, and it was that interest that had caused him to send her gifts: one to remind her of the weekend that they had spent together, and another to ensure that she knew that he was serious about asking her to go to dinner with him.
He had arrived at her apartment promptly at seven, as promised, and had smiled easily at the sight of her. Though he had quickly determined that there was more that had intrigued him about her, it had been her appearance that had first driven him to speak to her at the mixer. Even now she was as lovely as he remembered, an enticing combination of sophisticated elegance and sex appeal. Getting the scripted moment of telling her how beautiful she looked and making sure that she was going to be okay with the dinner plans he had arranged, he had found himself seated close to her in the town car. The close proximity immediately reminded him of the moments that they had been entangled in the hotel bed and he tried to push the smirk away from his lips when it rose.
Escorting her inside of the restaurant, he pulled out her chair for her before confirming her wine preference and ordering them a bottle. Once the waiter had left, he looked at her with a smile posed on his lips. "I'm glad that you decided to come tonight."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 18, 2015 2:27:52 GMT
By the time Melanie Benson had turned thirteen, members of the opposite sex had begun paying attention to her. It had over the years, become something that she often took advantage of and dealt with well. Sure, there had been plenty of unpleasant advances and disappointing encounters. But they were all on a physical level - at least for her. She'd been proposed to three times, propositioned once, and had been on the wrong side of numerous Manhattan wives and girlfriends. Still, Tripp VanderMill was different. She'd known it, probably since she'd laid eyes on him, recalling that she'd thought he looked just like heartbreak in a well-tailored suit. Still, the weekend with him had been incredible and she had to admit she'd been sad to leave his hotel bed.
When the gifts had arrived, she was surprised as how happy they'd made her. Men had sent her pretty baubles before, but no man had ever sent her a case of blackberry jam before. Melanie was intrigued by him, but still cautious. She didn't want to get invested in anything or involved too fast - though she imagined that she didn't have much say in the matter.
Upon opening the door to greet him that evening, she reminded herself of her first impression - the potential for heartbreak waiting to happen, charming smile and all. Though she didn't show it, she was extremely pleased with his choice in restaurant for the evening - being a fan of the chef and his signature dishes for quite some time now. She flirted with Tripp in the car and once they were seated at their table, she laughed softly at his statement. "Yes, well, you didn't really make it seem optional. There wasn't a question mark on the end of the note," she teased. "Plus, how does a girl say no to a case of blackberry jam." She toyed with her necklace, the one he'd bought for her. "And the necklace. It's beautiful," she nodded.
"So, Tripp VanderMill - tell me about yourself. I know that you went to Cornell. I know that you drink coffee in the morning when you read the paper. Tell me something I don't know."
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Dec 18, 2015 2:48:51 GMT
He smirked at the way that she played with the necklace that he had given her. At the time that he had been thinking about her, he had caught sight of it and decided that it was never too early to send a beautiful woman a beautiful gift. Tripp had a habit of sending gifts whenever they made him think about someone and he was pleased to hear that she appreciated the gesture. The idea was slowly coming to him that maybe she was the sort of person that he would easily be able to dote upon without it becoming over the top or in any way unwanted. Though, like she had brought up to him, there was still a lot about each other that they hadn't yet figured out. He thought about her question, taking a drink of the wine that had been delivered.
"What would you like to know?" he prompted, curious if there was something in particular that she was looking for. "I studied finance in school. I work on Wall Street. And as you saw, I'm still relatively active in my alma mater's alumni events." Smiling at her, he was finding it amusing that it seemed very comfortable to just speak to her like this. "What about you, Melanie Benson? Tell me about yourself."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 18, 2015 3:04:28 GMT
Melanie smiled at Tripp as he spoke about himself. She continued toying with her necklace. When she'd told a few of her girlfriends about her upcoming date, they'd fawned over the piece of jewelry but stated that they thought it was a bit weird how he'd just tracked her down and sent it without any contact information. But she'd disregarded it. One of the reasons Melanie had broken things off with Brody - aside from his being desperately in love with another girl - was that he was going away. Melanie needed someone who took initiative and who showered her with attention. When left to her own devices, she got into trouble.
Melanie paused when she was asked about herself. "Let's see. I have a younger brother named Jamie, he's still in high school, but we're really close. I think I already told you that I didn't finish college, but I was a Finance major - for a bit. I was a lot of majors for a bit," she admitted. "But overall, just didn't really think it was for me," she shrugged. "And I also really love chocolate souffle, which is really great here," she added with a laugh. "So we should get it."
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Dec 18, 2015 3:17:33 GMT
As she gave him a quick glimpse into her life he started putting all of the puzzle pices together to help shape his idea of who this woman was. At the very core of whatever relationship they were currently entertaining themselves with he knew the sort of things about her that he felt were much too inappropriate for the dinner table. Tripp hadn't realized that sitting across from her at dinner was going to cause him to recall exactly the way that she had moaned into his ear or the way that her nails had dug into his back, but he had drawn those memories up at some point to start putting them all into a file of things that he knew about her. And while he had been determined to take her out on a date and had been determined to learn much more about her, he kept thinking back to the hotel room and was now wondering if he would counteract all of his efforts to get her to date him regularly if he resorted to sex with her on their first date.
"What other majors did you have?" He asked curiously, wondering what had caused her to jump around so much. "I will note that about the souffle."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 18, 2015 3:24:06 GMT
Melanie tilted her head, thinking back to a few years ago. "Well, I started out just a business major," she started. "Then I switched to a focus in marketing during my first semester. But my second semester I decided to major in Victorian Literature, and then the last semester before I left school, I was a Finance major," she explained with a dismissive wave of her hand.
At the mention of the souffle, she tilted her head. "Chocolate souffle is sort of my weakness," she admitted to him. "Any time it's on the menu, I get it. It's kind of like sex," she noted. "Because you have to order it at least twenty minutes in advance, usually when you order your main course. So you have all of this anticipation and you have to plan your night perfectly with everything leading up to it so you're not too full. And when it's good, it's amazing. And when it's bad, it's more like chocolate lava cake, which is messy upon the first bite and therefore disappointing when you've been expecting a souffle."
Realizing she was rambling, she chuckled a bit and shook her head. "Anyway, it's your turn. Tell me something else about you."
When the waiter arrived with their wine, she thanked him, glancing at the menu trying to make her final decision on what she wanted. She settled on a dish she hadn't tried there before and handed over her menu.
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Dec 19, 2015 20:18:01 GMT
Curious about what had driven her to and away from Finance, he smiled at the complexity that seemed to be Melanie Benson. All of the ways that he was continuing to realize she was unlike anyone else he had ever had the pleasure of getting to know was driving his curiosity about her, and he found himself not only paying more attention to what she had to say but already thinking of more questions to ask her. When she began comparing her favorite dessert to sex, Tripp turned his attention to her with a small smirk, wondering for a moment if she would have classified their first night together more along the lines of chocolate souffle or lava cake. Without vocalizing his curiosity, he could make an assumption about what she was going to say, but he knew that his ego would have enjoyed hearing it said aloud.
After the waiter had excused himself and allowed them to resume their conversation, he opted to give in to her demand. "There's not much more to tell you," he admitted, "Though I suppose I could tell you that I have a younger step-sister named Penelope," he added, noting that she had mentioned her own sibling. "But the rest of it really seems very dull in comparison to you."
Truthfully, he was enjoying getting to know her more than he was enjoying answering qustions about himself. "Do you have any other food analogies that I should know about?"
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 20, 2015 3:19:32 GMT
Melanie looked at Tripp for a moment, she couldn't help but note his entree selection for the evening. While she didn't say anything, she approved. She liked a man with good taste, and while the vain part of her said he'd displayed that when he had asked her on a date, she wanted to know other things about him. It seemed as though Tripp wasn't one for talking much about herself, instead focusing the conversation on her. She smiled at his compliment, lifting her wine glass to try to cover up some of her grin. "You're very charming, did anyone ever tell you that? Men as charming as you are usually dangerous," she nodded, remembering the way they'd used the same adjective to describe their night together in his hotel room. She thought briefly back to that night - something she'd thought of more than she'd ever admit - and the way his fingertips tangled in her hair, tugging just enough to make her body arch against his and elicit a moan from her.
"I probably have a lot of food analogies - and a lot of sex analogies, none of them mutually exclusive. But if I told you all of them now, what would the fun in that be?" she told him. She leaned back in her chair slightly, smiling at him as her fingers moved back to her necklace, toying with it. "Do you make a habit of sending women you have one night stands with such pretty things, or am I special?"
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Dec 20, 2015 3:58:00 GMT
Her compliment made him smile in response and Tripp shook his head softly at her use of the word "dangerous". If there was anything that he was coming to know about her it was that she had all of the makings to be more than just dangerous. It wasn't that he was afraid to be involved with the woman sitting across from him because that certainly wasn't it at all, it was that he thought it might actually be dangerous for her. Once he made a decision to get involved, he knew that it could be perhaps bigger than she was expecting. "Is dangerous a bad thing?" he questioned, a smirk rising to his lips at the reminder of other ways that he had found their very new relationship.
Watching as her hand went back to the gift he had given her around her neck, his thoughts trailed back to the night that they had spent together and everything from the words that had been exchanged, the feeling of her skin underneath his fingertips, and the feeling he had experienced when she had given in to his demands that she stay with him through the night and through breakfast. "This stopped being a one night stand the moment you agreed to have dinner with me."
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Post by Melanie Benson on Dec 20, 2015 4:16:16 GMT
Melanie ran her finger along the edge of her wine glass thoughtfully, pursing her lips for a moment as she thought. "Dangerous is..." she trailed off for a moment. "Interesting," she settled on that after thinking, nodding as she said it. "Different that the dangerous I'm used to," she added. And that much was true. Melanie was no stranger to risky behavior - but what she defined as dangerous was different than most. After all, leaving an event away from home with a complete stranger to have sex in their hotel room was dangerous to some. Club hopping until three in the morning was dangerous to some. Flirting with men regardless of their marital status was dangerous to some. But not to Melanie. No, probably the most dangerous thing she could have done was agree to go to dinner with a man that intrigued her as much as Tripp. As much as she wanted to find herself in Tripp's bed, she found that she was also curious about him as a person and it was that sort of thinking that she found dangerous.
"Well, technically I had no choice but to agree. I already told you that there wasn't a question mark," she grinned. "Do you know what those look like?" she used her index finger to draw an invisible one in the air in front of her. "They imply that you're asking a question rather than making a statement. Though, honestly, I have enough jam now that I may never need to go out to eat again, I can just live on blackberry jam. This might have been a tactical error on your party, Tripp," she teased, but then shook her head at him. "You didn't answer my question."
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Post by Tripp VanderMill on Dec 20, 2015 23:47:23 GMT
Tripp watched her in amusement as she contemplated how dangerous things already were between them or how dangerous they might have become. He had already become aware of how different this entire situation had been from those that she had been involved in the past. Not that he necessarily knew all of the details about her life and what she had experienced before, but because he had known women like her before - those who assumed that everything was a one night stand and that true relationships hadn't been possible. He had agreed with those women too, however, Melanie was causing him to think that she was wrong about herself. After all, she hadn't refused the offer to have dinner with him, and honestly, that was probably the most dangerous thing that could have happened for either of them.
Smiling at her, he shook his head softly at the explanation of a question mark. Biting back a retort about not needing to ask a question that he already knew the answer to, he opted to answer her original question instead. "You would be the first," he informed her. While he had sent other women gifts before, they had been women that he had already been involved in, and the gifts had meant to serve a purpose. Flowers as an apology, earrings as a Valentine's Day gift, but never jam and a necklace to help convince a woman to go on a date with him. Now that he thought about it, he wasn't sure what had made him think that he needed to sweeten the deal, but he supposed that was another way that Melanie was dangerous, too. She was unpredictable and he didn't know what to do with that loss of control.
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