Page 7 of Jealous Mountain Man
“Weird word, I guess,” she said. “I just mean…you know, the whole eye candy thing. I didn’t mean to objectify you. But women were going a little bananas over you in the comments.”
Bananas. Interesting way of putting it.
“I don’t pay much attention to that stuff,” I said. “I keep my head down and live my life.”
“This is amazing,” she said after swallowing the bite she’d just taken. “Maybe I should shoot some video of you cooking.”
Oh, hell no. I wasn’t going to shoot a video in the privacy of my own home. That would be like inviting the world into my kitchen.
Before I could come up with a response, she blurted out a question. “So, do you date?”
Wait, what? We were actually discussing my sex life—or lack of one? No, sex hadn’t come into the conversation. This was about dating, and if this beautiful woman wanted to know my relationship status, was I really going to complain?
“Not recently, no,” I said. “This town isn’t exactly full of eligible women my age.”
“Plenty of people my age, though,” she said.
I’d stepped right into that. She was not my age. She was younger than me. In fact, her uncle was my age.
I shrugged and said, “I haven’t met anybody that interested me until now.”
Her expression told me I’d slipped up. I winced inwardly at the “until now” part. I’d basically just blurted out that I was interested in her.
“Until meeting me?” she asked.
I could deny it. I could backtrack. But no, I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to be honest with her.
“Meeting you showed me that my libido is still alive and well,” I said. “Most women I’ve met just haven’t sparked my interest.”
Maybe that was too honest, but I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt this kind of attraction toward a woman. Had I ever?
No, definitely not. I was battling the urge to go around this table, pick her up, and kiss her until both of us were out ofbreath. My hands would start wandering—as would hers. Maybe we’d shove all these dishes aside and do it right here on the table. I had to suppress a groan at the image of her naked, legs spread, as I thrust into her, sliding inside that wet pussy like my life depended on it.
“It’s the same for me,” she said. “I’ve had that issue all my life. I’d meet a guy and something just wouldn’t be right. I even had a couple of kisses, but I couldn’t let it go any further because I wasn’t feeling it, you know?”
“Wait a second, what are you saying? You never let it go further than a kiss with anyone?”
“I’m twenty-three years old and still a virgin,” she said. “Is that weird? I feel like it is. You probably think something’s wrong with me.”
“Nothing’s wrong with you,” I managed to choke out. “You’re perfect.”
This wasn’t the first time a woman had told me she was a virgin. It was, however, the first time someone told me that and I didn’t look for a way out. In fact, I didn’t want to go anywhere.
“I’d assume you’d been fending off guys for years,” I said.
She laughed heartily, then paused to slide a bite of potatoes into her mouth and swallow before continuing. “All I have to do is tell a guy I’m a virgin and he runs.”
She was looking at me point blank as she said that, as though daring me to do exactly what other guys had done. I returned her stare, unblinking. I could lie to her and say I’d never be the type of man who would run from that. Maybe even call those other guys wusses.
But that would be a lie. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to lie to this woman.
“Yeah, I’ve been that guy,” I said. “Total chickenshit move. It’s a lot of responsibility, you know.”
Judging by her narrowed eyes, she didn’t know. She didn’t know at all.
“No one wants to give a woman a horrible first time,” I rushed to explain. “It has to be really, really good.”
She shook her head. “A woman’s first time is awful. Horrible. You just push past the pain and hope the next time is better. Everyone knows that.”
