Page 18 of Dirty Sweet Valentine
“Ah, I see.” I frown. Bet her dad loves that. “That could definitely make celibacy seem attractive.”
“It did. Now, not so much.” She smiles shyly—and did she just scan her eyes down my torso?
Maybe it was wishful thinking. So I just raise a questioning brow.
“I realized that Mia’s problem was with responsibility. I mean, all my friends were having sex and none of them were getting pregnant. Mia—that’s my sister—”
“I figured.”
“She really disappointed a lot of people.” Kira’s voice is suddenly heavy. “My parents, for example. I guess I overcompensated by being the good girl.”
“Hmm.” But… Now that I understand her reasons for keeping her virginity for so long, I find myself confused by why she’d decided to lose it.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Of course that wasn’t a question I really want to ask out loud. What if she tells me again that it had all been a mistake? “Nothing.”
She nudges my leg with hers under the table, igniting that electricity again. “Come on. Tell me.”
“Really, it’s nothing.” But that plea in her eyes…how could I not answer her? “Okay, okay, I was just wondering what made you decide to finally give it up.”
“Then you believe me now? That I was a virgin?”
She nudges me again with her foot and I can’t help nudging her back. “I told you I believed you back on the quad. Why would you lie?”
“Right?”
Now our feet are tangled together and I’m having a harder time focusing.
“So what’s the answer?” I move my foot up and down her calf, noticing her eyes glint as I do so.
“I don’t know.” I scoot forward in my chair so that now it isn’t just our lower legs touching, but our knees. I want to make hers weak. “I felt ready, I guess. Wanted to see what all the excitement was about. I was tired of feeling like I was left out of this secret club.”
“I get that.” I do not get that. I lost my virginity at fifteen, the first of my friends. There was no feeling left out for this guy. I was president of the secret club. But hey, I can empathize, right?
Besides, that wasn’t really what I was asking her. And now that our legs are wrapped up together so intimately, I work up the courage to spell it out for her. “What I meant was, why did you decide to give it up to me?”
Kira meets my eyes with such an intense look that I feel dizzy. Jesus, that girl does a number on me. It’s a really good feeling.
After a few seconds of that all-consuming gaze, she looks away and makes me suffer. “Ah, come on. A girl’s got to have some secrets.”
I miss her stare already. And the heat from where our legs were touching burns through my thighs to my groin. I want her. Again. There’s no denying that.
But she deserves so much more—holding hands, footsies, dates at Open Mic Night. And if I have my way, I’ll give it to her. All of it. But after the rocky start we’ve made, will she even want that from me? Or will I always be the guy who took her virginity, didn’t take her number, and then guiltily bought her coffee six months later?
Kira wipes her mouth with a napkin and pushes her chair away from the table. “Are you ready?”
“Uh, sure. Where are we going?” Please, God, don’t let her send me home yet. I’m not ready to leave her. I hold my breath while I wait for her response.
“You wanted to see the sights, right? I thought of someplace worth showing off.”
Chase Matthews Is Having the Best Day of His Life.
Five
Ten minutes later, I’m strapping myself into the passenger seat of Kira’s brand new Kia. Bet you can’t say that five times fast. My dad’s old Toyota Corolla is back at my house, while hers had just been up the block. Very convenient.
“Nice car,” I tell her, as she pulls out of her parking space.
She glances at me before returning her eyes to the front windshield. “A present from Daddy when I made Princess Cherry Saver.”
“It’s even red, how fitting.” I can’t help but laugh at that. “So, do you have to give it back now?”
Kira scoffs. “I’m not telling him anything. Are you?”
“Hell, no. Authority figures scare the shit out of me as it is.” No, I do not plan to tell the man anything at all. My head fills with images of things President Satchell could do to me. Pull my scholarship. Throw me out of the Education Department. Or just plain kick me in the balls.
The last thought makes me glance around. School presidents don’t employ spies, do they?
“Relax. He’s not coming after you.”
Damn, how does she read me like that? It’s freaky and freaking cool all at the same time.
We stop at a red light and Kira gives me another once-over, this one quite obvious. “In fact, you’re exactly the type of guy I could bring home and Dad wouldn’t blow a gasket.”
At first I can’t decide if I should be grateful for the compliment or scared shitless. If any of my buddies had told me that their first date was talking about meeting her parents—I’d have told them to run far and fast. Funny now that I’m more curious than concerned.
Proud even.
I sit up taller in my seat, and return her up-down look. “What makes you think I’d be Daddy material?”
She laughs. “Oh, did you think that was a compliment?”
“You’re kind of a bitch, you know that?” But I’m laughing with her. And it’s real obvious from my tone that says I think she’s anything but.
“Princess bitch, thank you very much.” Now she’s the proud one.
“I’m making you a T-shirt so everyone will know. It can replace the one you’re wearing.” I look down at the cherries on her chest that conveniently lie between her perfectly perky breasts. That awful slogan—Life’s Full of Pits, Save a Cherry—taunts me. “I have to admit, that shirt on you drives me a little insane.”
“Does it? I could take it off.” Her sly grin suggests she has nothing but her bra on underneath.
And…there goes my cock. Fanfuckingtastic. Just when I’d gotten my last semi under control.
“No? I’ll leave it on then.” She pats my thigh. “But if you change your mind, let me know.” And she winks.
My pants grow even tighter.
“Anyway…” I run a hand over my face and wonder how I should play this. Is she hoping for a repeat performance? Or is she simply being flirty? Or maybe she just likes seeing me in misery. Surely it’s just a joke, regardless.
Now someone explain that to my dick.
I shift in my seat and try to think about something totally nonsexual. Like Jared. Or President Satchell.
Neither image helps. Truth is, they just aren’t as potent in my mind as the intoxicating presence of Kira at my side. The totally hot, beautiful, amazing Kira Larson.
Shoot me now; I’m completely smitten. In the space of a single afternoon, how could I have gone from fantasizing about a stranger, to furious with a liar, to overwhelmed by my growing feelings for this complicated woman?
I shake my head and try to shove my emotions back into a box. She’s given me no indication that this means anything more to her than a flirtatious afternoon. Won’t help to mope about it, though. Regardless of what she’s feeling, I get to be alone with her. What more could I want?
Well.
A bed would be nice.
Or at least someplace private. I glance out the window, noticing the total lack of well—anything. We seem to be in the middle of nowhere, on a rough road surrounded by fields and vacant plots of land. “So where are you taking me, anyway?”
Her devilish grin returns, accompanied by that twinkle in her eye that I’m starting to adore so much. “It’s a surprise.”
“Is this a good time to tell you I don’t do well with surprises?” I do fine with surprises. I would simply prefer to not have been surprised by my growing affection for her. Or for what she could possibly be thinking about me.
“Too bad, because I’m not telling you.” She glances at me just in time to see the disappointment flash across my face. Then, seeming to take pity, says, “It won’t even make sense until you see it.”
