Page 40 of White Room Virgin

“No,” she objected and stood up. As she went to the table and refilled her glass of champagne, the topknot came undone again. The curls cascaded down, draping her slender upper body like a veil. When she faced me, her long hair concealed her breasts.

Like a nymph …

I liked how much importance Clarissa attached to her appearance. She wasn’t conceited and didn't think much of surgery, but she was meticulous about her diet and exercised a lot––a little too much, in my opinion. She sipped her glass and settled onto the bed beside me.

“Whatno?” I asked.

She was a master at not voicing thoughts as if the rest of the world could read minds. “You’ve changed, Lu.”

“And what do you mean by that?” I asked, bored. I lay stretched out next to her, with my arms crossed behind my head and one leg over the other.

“The way you fucked me.”

“Ha!” I laughed out loud. “Well, in that case.”

“Here,” she said, handing me the still almost full champagne glass. “I’d rather save myself those 100 calories.”

I took the glass and drank it down in two gulps.

“You know I like it when you do me really hard,” she continued, tossing her hair over her shoulders. “But today you were so… reserved. What was wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Clarissa narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “You know you’d better come right out with it.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll tie you to the bed again, like when you tried to hide the fact that you were with Phil.”

Just hearing his name made my blood run cold. Even Clarissa could see that she had caught me completely off guard. “I’m sorry,” she said remorsefully and put her hand on my forearm.

I was paralyzed and couldn’t even shake her off. Luckily, she got up again and picked up the bottle of champagne from the table. When I sat up, she was already holding out another full glass. “Here. You look like you could use this.”

I hated champagne, but it came in handy right now. This time, I only took three small sips.

“So,” Clarissa said, climbing back onto the bed and sitting opposite me. “Then tell me about it.”

“There’s not really anything to tell,” I mumbled. “Take three guesses …”

“Okay. I’ll take a guess then. You’ve messed up.”

I nodded.

“You broke a promise?”

I covered my eyes with one hand. “Is it that obvious?”

“Who did you hurt?”

I excitedly stroked my hair and took a deep breath. “I guess Martin. But the real damage was done to his cousin.”

Clarissa laughed. “Oh, Lu! You’re just incorrigible. Does Martin know about this?”

“No,” I replied and took a sip.

“Then what’s the problem? He doesn’t have to know.”

“You don’t understand. Jonah … I … I really don’t think he’ll get over it that easily.”

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