by Lynda Bailey
He frowned. “Always?”
She nodded. “I’m a vegetarian and that limits what I can eat.”
“Really?” His stomach growled. He really wanted that veal parmesan. “Is it all right if I eat meat?”
A tiny smile touched her shiny, pink lips. “Of course.”
The waitress appeared with their drinks. “Ready to order?”
“Can we have a few more minutes?” Mic blurted out.
Scott’s eyes widened. The waitress seemed equally surprised at the outburst as she retreated, a worried look on her face. He swirled his drink while Mic took a hefty swallow of the wine, like she needed to gird herself for something unpleasant. She then fiddled with her napkin and silverware. He’d swear she was nervous. But why? This was just dinner.
With a smile he leaned forward in the hope of alleviating her distress. “What’s your favorite story about Nonie? I remember—”
“Before we talk about Ester, I have a favor to ask and I need your answer before we go any further.”
Alarmed now, he drew his eyebrows together with a quick nod.
Mic opened her mouth, closed it, then downed almost half the wine in her glass. She pinned him with those cocker spaniel eyes of hers and all the air left his lungs.
“I want you to sleep with me.”
Chapter Five
Scott looked like he’d swallowed a water balloon and the liquid was bulging out his eye sockets. Mic dropped her gaze to her lap, her fragile self-esteem in tatters. Long moments passed as the muted sounds of clicking glasses and murmured voices magnified to the point of pain. Humiliation scalded her face.
When she couldn’t take the silence any longer, she pushed from the table. “If you’ll excuse me,” she muttered.
His hand jettisoned out to snag hers. “Where are you going?”
She didn’t look at him. “I think I should leave.”
“Why?”
The quiet word almost shattered her razor-thin control. Tears burned. They presented quite the spectacle to the other patrons with him gripping her wrist from across the table. “Please,” she begged on a whisper. “Let go.”
“Only if you promise not to bolt.”
After another excruciating moment, she nodded and he released her hand. Mic tried to stop the tears, but couldn’t. She dabbed her eyes with her napkin. The silence brutalized her. Why had Scott insisted she stay if he wasn’t going to say anything? She forced herself to meet his gaze.
He sat forward, his hands clasped on the table, a confused expression on his face. When the waitress returned, he glanced up, shook his head and she did an immediate about-face. “Why do you want to sleep with me?”
Mic gave a tiny shrug, hoping to seem nonchalant. “For the usual reasons. I’m sorry if my proposal shocked or offended you.”
He smiled a small heart-breaking smile and an infinitesimal amount of her humiliation dissipated. “I don’t shock or offend that easily.”
“Oh.” She sat straighter. In for a penny. “What’s your answer then?”
He smoothed the wrinkles from the wrinkle-free tablecloth. “Well, I…uh…kinda thought…that is I heard you were…a lesbian.”
Her eyes popped. “What?”
“I mean I didn’t know for sure, but, well…” He blew out a sigh. “I hate to say it, but when a woman works like—”
“A man,” she finished. “You assume she’s a lesbian.”
“Yeah,” he sighed, leveling his eyes on her. “Sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. So far, it’s gotten us nothing but trouble.”
He grinned at her tease then signaled the waitress. “Ready to order?”
Mic shook her head. “I couldn’t eat now. Food isn’t appealing.”
“Want to go somewhere else?”
“No. I just want to go home.” And forget any of this night ever happened.
Scott pulled his wallet out and handed several bills to the girl. “We’ve changed our mind about dinner. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
By the look on the waitress’ face as she took the money, she’d be this inconvenienced any time. Scott stood and helped Mic to her feet. With his hand touching her lower back, they walked outside.
She cleared her throat. “Just drop me at the garage. I’ll drive myself home.”
“You can’t do that,” he stated.
Her hackles rose at his firm tone. She wanted this humiliation over, and over right now. “Really? And why is that?”
He held the convertible door for her. “Because I haven’t given you my answer.”
*
Within minutes, Scott parked the car at the edge of Ginny Pond, a small, man-made lake in the center of Tatum. He cut the motor and stared out the windshield. They sat surrounded by the muffled chorus of crickets.
He watched the water slowly lapped at the dirt shoreline as the scent of honeysuckle mingled with the faint odor of stagnant water. He used to come here in high school. The peacefulness never failed to calm his wayward teen-aged thoughts. He turned to his passenger, who had remained very quiet on the drive. She now studied her folded hands.
With her head bowed, the curtain of her hair spilled forward to catch the last of the sun’s rays. Her locks shone like a soft, metallic fabric. He resisted the urge to thread his fingers through it, settling instead on waiting Mic out. From the passages he’d read in his grandmother’s journals, Mic reminded Nonie of a cat, unable to curb her curiosity.
Finally she peeked over at him. “What are we doing here?”
“I thought we should talk someplace quiet.”
“Talk about what?”
“Anything you want, but I believe we should spend a little time getting to know each other, don’t you?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Are you involved with anyone right now?”
“No. Next.”
Scott’s lips kicked up. Her brusque tone didn’t surprise him. Nonie had also written about the defense mechanism Mic employed when threatened in any way. He reached over and took her hand in his. The way she jumped, you would have thought he’d landed a white hot poker on her skin. He intertwined their fingers and stroked his thumb across her palm.
“You know, it’s not every day I receive a proposal like yours.”
“Hmm.” Her distracted gaze followed the movement of his thumb.
“It’s a rule of mine that I find out all I can about a woman I’m about to be intimate with.” He started to trace his free hand up her arm, but her whole body shuddered so hard he stopped.
Maybe a different tack, he thought, leaning in close. Mic pressed herself further into the passenger door. When he drew a single finger along her shoulder to solicit that glorious hair away from her neck, she almost catapulted out the windshield. His hand slapped to his thigh as he flopped back into his seat. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” The denial might have sounded more convincing if there wasn’t a distinct nervous quiver to her voice.
“Every time I touch you, you jump.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Yes, you do.”
To prove his point, he quickly, but gently, gripped the nape of her neck and brought her face to within a millimeter of his. Her big, brown eyes were squeezed shut with her entire face scrunched up like she anticipated a punch.
Scott eased Mic away and she lowered her head. “For someone who wants to sleep with me, it’s not going to work if I can’t touch you. Tell me what’s up with you.”
She met his gaze. He had no clue what was going on, but his instincts, along with the icicles that slid through his veins, told him it was going to be a doozy.
“I’ve…I’ve never done anything like this before,” she confessed on a whisper.
Beat. Two. Three.
“I’m a virgin.”
Chapter Six
Mic watched Scott’s expression go void of all emotion. Well, maybe not all. His lip curled back in what could only be described as sneer. She fumbled with t
he door handle, desperate to escape the confines of the car.
She ran, but her heels sank into the soft, sandy dirt. A broad hand gripped her upper arm. “Let me go!”
He whipped her around to face him. Her humiliation couldn’t be more complete. First the restaurant and now this. God had a cruel sense of humor. “I said let go!”
“No.”
She torqued away. “Why not? It’s not like you want anything to do with me now.”
His incredible eyes widened, their green turning the color of dense forest. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I know I disgust you.” She yanked from his grasp, gaining an inch or two. “Now, let go.”
Her gained ground vanished as Scott hauled her in tight to his body. “Why in the world would you think you disgust me?”
She had to scoff at that. “Oh, come on. Your reaction said so.”
He shook his head then wrapped his arms around her. While it wasn’t a tight hold, she didn’t have any leverage to fight against it. Knowing she had no choice but to submit, she ceased her struggle.
Scott’s hands traversed her back, making her aware of just how close they were. The firmness of his muscles melded to her softer curves and the mild scent of his musky aftershave tickled her nose. Under different circumstances, his nearness might actually have felt nice.
He pulled back enough to meet her eyes. “You have to believe me when I say the last thing I’m feeling right now is disgusted.”
She closed her eyes against the onslaught of the falsehood. “After everything that’s happened tonight, don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not. Why would you think you disgusted me?”
“Because I’m a virgin.”
“I’ll admit I’m feeling quite a lot about that little fact, but I assure you, none of it is disgust. Here.” He guided her back to the convertible. “Let’s take a breath and talk this out.”
Before she could react, Scott’s strong hands circled her waist and lifted her onto the hood. She stifled a squeal at his sheer maleness. He hiked his foot onto the bumper, his hands clasped together. The silence stretched out between them.
She folded her hands in her lap. “Okay, so talk.”
He sighed and stared at out across the darkening lake. “I’m not sure where to start.”
“How about the part where I don’t disgust you.”
He looked back at her. “You definitely don’t. Guess I’m shocked.” His gaze made her insides shiver. “Even though I thought you were a lesbian, I figured you’d been with at least one man. Hard to believe that’s not the case.”
“I haven’t even really been kissed by a guy.”
He shook his head. “How is this possible?”
She shrugged. “Maybe because all the men in Tatum thought like you, that I was gay.” She studied her folded hands, the inking of hope blossoming in her chest. “You were just shocked by my confession?”
When he didn’t answer, she forced herself to look at him. Goose bumps flew over her skin at the intensity in his eyes.
“I was also worried.”
That crinkled her forehead. “Worried? Why?”
He took his foot off the bumper then leaned his backside against the hood next to her, crossing his arms over his chest. “It’s a very big deal when a woman offers a man her virginity, especially when she’s waited as long as you have. Something this important should be saved for someone special in your life, not just a one night stand.”
She couldn’t stop her short, bitter chuckle. “I don’t have anyone special or the prospect of getting someone like that in the future.”
“Still,” he pressed, “if we do this, I don’t want you waking up tomorrow, regretting what happened. Or hating me.”
“First, how could I hate you? This was my idea, remember? And second, the only thing I’ll regret is not taking advantage of this opportunity to be with you. Even if it is only one night.”
Mic slid from the hood and walked to the water’s edge. The murky ripples of the water glistened like all the tears she’d cried for years over her inadequacies as a woman. Large hands enveloped her shoulders. In spite of her best effort, she flinched, but soon welcomed the warm pressure of Scott’s touch.
“My mom left when I was six months old,” she said in a low voice. “Being a wife and mom hadn’t been her thing. Daddy had just bought out the garage and was working nearly twenty hours a day. He couldn’t afford a babysitter when I was little, so I stayed at the shop with him. I grew up playing with ratchet sets instead of Barbie dolls. In high school, when I got interested in boys, they were only interested in me doing the brakes on their cars in time for their Saturday night dates.”
His hands squeezed. “Sounds lonely.”
“It was, kinda. But I had Daddy and the other mechanics and their families. I managed.”
He pulled her until her back was flush against his front. The rock hardness of his body sent a swarm of nervous butterflies through her blood. She held herself in rigid check.
“You know,” he rasped so near her ear, his breath moved her hair. “If we do this, I’m gonna have to touch you.”
She gave a jerky nod. “But you’ll go slow, right?”
He turned her around. The light reflecting off the water made his eyes shine like perfect emeralds. “I’ll go as fast, or as slow, as you want. For now, however…” He cupped her face with both his hands and drew her up until she stood on tiptoe. His mouth hovered close enough his five-o’clock shadow tickled her lips. “I think a kiss is in order.”
He took possession of her mouth in a commanding caress. Shivers racked her body as his lips and tongue moved over hers. Her belly became a sprinkler of tingles which pooled between her legs. On instinct, her hands curled into his sweater.
Not at all sure what she should do, Mic mimicked his actions, the stroking of his tongue, the nipping of his lips. His chest rumbled beneath her fingers.
This wasn’t what she expected, this gentle assault. It occurred to her that Scott could easily dominate her, but he didn’t have to. Not when his mouth held her captive.
He eased back and she whimpered a soft protest. She tried to open her eyes, but the lids felt anchored by weights. She pried them apart enough to see his smile.
“Wanna see my motel room?”
She swayed into him. “Definitely.”
He kissed her nose then pivoted her toward the car. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Chapter Seven
Tension crackled inside the convertible as Scott drove along the main thoroughfare toward Tatum’s only motel. Mic sat beside him, saying nothing, her hands folded in her lap. Her demure posture didn’t fool him, though. The way she’d returned his kiss had totally blown him away. She might not be experienced in lovemaking, but he’d bet next year’s salary she’d prove to be a quick learner.
The fact she was a virgin burgeoned his cock to the point of pain even as the story of her childhood cracked his heart. For whatever her reason, Mic was giving him the most treasured of gifts. He fully intended to reciprocate by making her first time everything he could.
Pulling into the deserted motel parking lot, the Days Inn sign blinked brightly against the dark night. He cut the motor. For several moments, they just sat enclosed by silence. He turned to her. “You sure about this? No hard feelings if you say no.”
He held his breath, knowing he’d be in absolute agony for days if she did say no. Yet he had to give her the chance to back out. Wordlessly, she opened the car door and stepped out. He didn’t hesitate to do the same, taking his key card from his pocket.
After unlocking the door, he swung it wide. She hesitated for the span of a heartbeat then walked inside. He followed and flipped on the bathroom switch. Light slashed across the beige carpet. Mic stood in front of the king-size bed, her hands clasped in front of her, her purse dangling from her fingers. Though the light was muted, he saw both fear and resolve on her face. He knew grown men who possessed less courag
e.
He took a step. “Let me take your jacket.”
She shrugged off the garment and he tossed it onto a chair. Her purse sailed next. He gently placed his palms on her bare shoulders and winced when she cringed. “So,” he said with a slight squeeze before releasing her to open the sliding glass door drapes. “What do you like?”
“What do you mean?”
Moonlight spilled onto the bed. He turned. “I mean what do you like. Physically.”
“Oh.” She shifted. “I guess I don’t know.”
“Have you ever touched yourself?”
Even with the dim lighting, he could see the pink blush creep up her cheeks. “Sometimes.”
“Ever used toys?”
“Toys?”
“Yes, toys. Dildos or vibrators. Ever play with them?”
He heard her swallow from across the room, her gaze averted. “Does a neck massager count?”
He flashed a small grin. “It does. What parts did you…massage?”
Her pink blush deepened to crimson as she shifted her weight again and gestured low, between her legs.
“Okay.” He got the small finger massager he used for his occasional migraines from the dresser and set it on the nightstand. “Should I undress you or do you want to do it?”
She stomped her foot. “Why all the questions? Can’t we just do this?”
He stood in front of her. “That’s not how I operate. Besides, I’ve never done this before.”
Her eyes bulged. “What do you mean you’ve never done this before?”
A short chuckle escaped. “I’ve done that, just never with a virgin. And with this being your first time…well…it’ll be uncomfortable. Even painful.”
She rolled her eyes. “I know. I sat behind you in health class, remember?”
Her testy tone widened his grin. “I remember.” His smile faded. “I just want to do whatever I can to diminish your pain.”
Mic held his gaze. Gone was any hint of irritation. The trust in her cocker spaniel eyes buckled his knees. “I think you should undress me.” Her husky whisper skipped along his skin. “That way I can get used to your touch.”
It took a moment, perhaps several, for the meaning of her words to sink into his brain. When it did, his whole body coiled around itself. “All right,” he rasped.
