Page 32 of His Virgin Romance Series

“I’m good.”

“I heard you made it,” Anna said. “You’re finally a firefighter.”

“I am,” Jared nodded.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” Jared replied.

“You were so nervous that you wouldn’t make it,” she continued, touching his arm unnecessarily. “But I always knew you would make it. You had it in you from the start.”

“You always believed in me too much.”

“I believed in you because you gave me a reason to,” she said. “How’s your brother, by the way?”

I felt another little spark of discomfort. Jared had never mentioned his brother to me. “I haven’t spoken to him in a while,” Jared’s voice was low with some emotion that I couldn’t name.”

“You haven’t visited him?” Anna asked.

“It’s been years,” he admitted.

I frowned. There was something I was missing—and apparently, despite our months’ worth of conversations, it seemed I didn’t know anything real about Jared.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” he said, glancing over at me. “I’m being so rude. Anna, this is Rachel. Rachel, this is Anna.”

I shook her hand woodenly, mustering up the faintest smile I could manage. “Nice to meet you,” she said, but I couldn’t tell if she meant it or not. “What are you guys here to see?” she asked.

She addressed the question at me, but when I didn’t reply, Jared stepped in and spoke. I watched them go back and forth, and it was evident from their conversation that they had history. She was an old girlfriend obviously, but she had also been a significant relationship in Jared’s life to know things about him that I didn’t know about yet. I felt a little sick and I couldn’t stand there anymore.

As another rush of people crowded around us, I turned and lost myself in the crowd. I walked away from Jared and Anna, wondering if he would even notice that I was gone.

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