Page 77 of A Ballad of Betrayal and Beauty

I nibble on her earlobe and smile as she shivers. “Yeah?”

“When can you get away next? To the cabin.”

“Hmm . . . Friday. My parents are taking my brother out of town for some kind of debate tournament.”

She looks up at me and her blue eyes sparkle. “So, does that mean you won’t have a curfew?”

“Why? Plan on keeping me out late?”

I can just make out her cheeks turning pink. “I just—I thought . . .”

My brow furrows. “What?”

“I thought maybe we could, you know . . . We’ve been dating for a while now and I thought we could spend the night together.”

“I—wait . . . what? You don’t mean?—”

She offers me a shy kind of smile, like that’s exactly what she means.

“We could have sex,” she whispers. “If you want.”

For a fleeting moment, I think of Cynthia and Karen. Maybe there was some truth there . . . Is Dusty an evil temptress trying to seduce me? But of course it’s nonsense. She’s my best friend, my girlfriend.

My blood thickens in my veins when I meet her gaze. “Well, I-I mean, of course—I just—” I stumble, take a deep breath. “I just have never, uh—done that before.”

She tucks her hair behind her ears. “Me either.”

I nearly choke. “You—you’ve never . . . ?”

“You thought I wasn’t a virgin?”

I fear that saying anything will just get me into trouble here, but words tumble out anyway. “I’m just surprised. You’re always way ahead of me when it comes to grown-up things.”

That must’ve been the correct choice, because she wraps her arms around my neck and plays with my hair. “I mean, it’s not like I never had the opportunity. Guys tried, but . . . I guess I was saving myself.”

The blood whooshes from my head straight to my groin. “You were?”

She nods and kisses the corner of my lips. “I always wanted it to be you.”

I cup her face in my hands and look into her starry blue eyes. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted,” I whisper. “There’s no one like you.”

* * *

My palms are sweatingas I pull my bike up to the abandoned cabin. There’s candlelight flickering through the grime-covered windows and I take a deep breath. When I knock quietly and let myself in, Dusty’s mouth drops open.

“Oh! Wow, you look so handsome,” she says.

I’m an idiot. What kind of guy wears a suit and tie to lose their virginity? “Sorry, I just—I don’t know . . . this seemed like a special occasion.”

Before my face can get any redder, I hold out the bouquet of flowers I got her. Her face splits into a beautiful, dimpled smile.

“Key, they’re so beautiful. Now I wish I dressed up.”

“You’re always beautiful,” I say.

“I didn’t know you were such a romantic,” she says, taking the flowers and placing them in a large glass with water.

I shrug. “I don’t know about that. I guess it’s just that the church taught me this is supposed to happen on our wedding night.”

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