Page 21 of Dirty Sweet Valentine
Kira waits to swallow before answering. “I’ll finish up my reign this year, yeah.” About to pop another chip in her mouth, she pauses. “Will that bother you?”
I think about it. “Except that you aren’t completely naked at the moment, nothing about you bothers me.”
Her eyes twinkle. “You’re not naked either.”
This is true. I stand and remove my jeans. Putting my hands out in a ta-da pose, I declare, “Now I am.”
Kira pulls off her T-shirt, throws it aside, and mimics my pose. “So am I.”
“Awesome.” So awesome. It’s so cool how she isn’t shy around me. Lots of girls like to cover up and play prude, even after we’ve done the horizontal hustle. Kira seems comfortable with her body and I like that.
I think for a moment about her question from earlier. “As for the Cherry Saver thing, it really doesn’t bother me.” It is odd, though. Will I have to pretend that we’re just friends when I see her in public? Can she even hang around me in public? Does she even want to?
I take a swallow of my pop and try to figure out the best way to address all my questions. “I just need to know how to play it.”
She shrugs. “Discreetly, I guess.”
Well, that isn’t saying much. I’ll have to be more forward. “Like, can you date? Are you allowed to hold hands? Can you kiss in front of other people?” Mustering my courage, I add, “Can I kiss you in front of other people?”
“Of course. I’m not a monk.” She pours a handful of peanuts into her hand from the jar I had brought in. She seems to consider for a minute. “Truth?”
I nod.
“Half the Cherry Savers are sexually active.”
Huh. I guess Jared was right about the rep of the girls in the group. He’s still a douche, though.
“But as Princess, I should try harder to maintain appearances.” Her cheeks pink up and she peers at me from under lowered lids. “But I’m definitely hoping you’ll kiss me in front of other people.”
“Then, I will.” I grin, feeling more elated than I probably should. “I’ll kiss you whenever you let me.”
Still, the whole thing is a little phony. “If you’re all putting out, why do you even join? Isn’t that a bit…” I trail off, not sure what word to use that won’t offend her.
“Hypocritical?”
Thank God she’d said it for me. “Yeah, that.”
“Maybe. But there are lots of good values we focus on besides purity.”
“Such as…?”
“Like, how to handle pressure to put out. Not using sex as a way to judge your worth. Waiting for the right person.” Her eyes gleam as she talks. “Admittedly, some people are only there to please their parents or have an organization on their resume. But others take it seriously to varying degrees.”
I think I’m starting to understand. “You mean, some of you are just okay with oral, and some go all the way?”
“Yeah, like that.”
“And your experience with oral…?” I have to ask. It’s in the Dude Handbook, I’m pretty certain.
“Look at you, Mr. Reporter. Are you conducting an interview for one of your articles?”
I feel a passing stab of guilt in my chest. I’m obviously not doing the journalism piece on her anymore, but I had come pretty darn close. Thank God I’d come to my senses. Otherwise I’d be forever looking in the past with Kira and not toward the future as I am now.
Of course, she doesn’t know about the story I’d planned. She’s just teasing me. “Yeah, that’s right. An exclusive tell-all interview with a princess and daughter of the president.” I wait for her to laugh. “No, I’m just curious. I lost my virginity kind of early.”
Her eyes narrow.
“I wasn’t a slut,” I amend. “But I’ve always been active, so Cherry Savers is totally out of my realm of understanding. And I’m truly interested in whether or not you give blowjobs. Because I’m totally a guy, if you haven’t noticed.”
“Oh, I noticed.” It’s sexy the way her brows waggle and her voice drips with sultry tones. “And you’ll just have to wait and find out whether I’m educated in the ways of BJs. But chances are you won’t have to wait terribly long.”
I can’t stop grinning. Not just because she’s suggesting she’ll go down on me in the future, but because of everything she says and is. She’s cute and spunky and beautiful and super sexy. She’s a hundred things I always liked in girls and another hundred things I never knew I liked. As I gaze at her, adoration likely written all over my face, I can’t help but wonder how I got so fortunate as to end up with her. How she’d ended up picking me, of all the guys she could have, to be with intimately.
She blushes under my stare. “What?”
“Why me?”
“Why you, what?”
I push our picnic aside so I can stretch out next to her. “Why did you save yourself for me?” She hadn’t known me so maybe that’s not the right phrasing. “Or would you have hooked up with any guy that walked into that bar that night?”
She opens her mouth to say something, then shuts it again.
“It’s okay if that’s the answer.” I sure hope that isn’t the answer. “I just want to know.”
Kira looks down at her hands. “I went there to find a guy.”
“Oh.” I know my disappointment shows in my voice.
“But…” She scoots down so we’re both horizontal, facing each other. “I’d been going there all summer looking for a guy.”
She’d been going there all summer. “Really?” I’m surprised. And delighted.
Or maybe I’m taking it wrong. Maybe I was her only choice. “No other offers?”
Kira pushes my chest. “I had plenty of other offers, thank you very much.”
Dammit, I always say the wrong thing. “I’m sorry! I totally didn’t mean it like that. Of course you had other offers. I’m betting men were lining up for you.” How could they not? She’s perfect.
I reach out to brush a strand of hair off her face. “I didn’t mean to sound surprised about that. It’s me I’m surprised about. Why was I the guy?”
“Stop ragging on yourself. You’re pretty hot. Yo
u know that, right?” She pins me with her velvet browns.
“No.” I know I’m all right looking, but hot? I can’t say that I’ve ever been called that. I like it, that’s for sure. Especially coming from her.
“Well, you are.” There’s that blush again. “But that wasn’t why.”
“Then why?”
She shakes her head. “It’s silly.”
“Tell me.” When she still protests, I decide to play dirty, grabbing her wrists with one hand and tickling her.
“Stop! Stop!” She’s breathless when I let up. “Okay, fine.” She takes a deep breath, still recovering from my attack. “Remember when you were trying to teach me how to play pool? And you put your arms around me?”
I do remember that. I’d reached around to help her get the right action with her cue. It had been the first time I’d touched her that night and it was magic. “There were sparks. Right? Because I totally felt sparks.”
“There were sparks.” Her face sparkles with the memory. “But that wasn’t it.”
God, then what the hell was it?
“It was what you said when I missed the shot. Do you remember?”
“I’m not sure.” I remember a lot of things I said that night—like, “Wanna find some place more private?” and “God, Kira, you feel good.” But nothing comes to mind that was out of the ordinary or especially interesting.
“You said, ‘That’s okay. On our next date, we’ll play again and you’ll play better.’” She raises her eyes to meet mine. “You talked about the future and not just hooking up for the night. You made me feel like you would have waited for me. That’s how I knew you were the one.”
Warmth spreads through my body despite the fact that I’d just been feeling a bit chilly what with no clothes on and all. I had talked to her about the future because, even early in the evening, I’d really hoped to see her again. She’d been cool and fun and different from a lot of the girls I knew in San Diego.
And all this time I thought I’d been the only one feeling it, she’d felt the same way. “Then why didn’t you give me your phone number after?”
She takes my hand, laces her fingers through mine and squeezed. “Why didn’t you ask?”
