Page 8 of Jealous Mountain Man
I shook my head. “No guy will believe that. We’re all sure we can be the exception.”
I hesitated, but once again I had this unexplainable urge to be honest. “It’s more than that. It’s the pressure of being the first man a woman’s been with. The playing field isn’t level.”
Now her entire face scrunched up. She was frowning at me. She didn’t get it.
“Romantically,” I added. “You can’t exactly have a one-night stand with a virgin.”
“Why not?”
“Well, if it was a one-night stand, you probably wouldn’t reveal your status to the guy. So just telling him that sets up the expectation that it’ll be more than once.”
“What if I wanted a one-night stand with a hot mountain man? Would that be so bad?”
I didn’t answer right away. I was gawking at her again, trying to understand these feelings I was having. The more I was around her, the stronger they got. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced.
“What if I don’t want a one-night stand?” I asked. “Not with you, anyway.”
Her eyebrows arched. “You want one with someone else?”
Crap. I’d just stuck my foot in it again. I was far from the smooth talker I’d prided myself on being when I was younger.
“There’s no way I could, you know, with you, and walk away,” I said. “I’d rather not do anything at all.”
Was I actually saying that I’d give up the opportunity to have sex with this amazing woman—the hottest woman I’d ever met—because she didn’t want more than a one-night stand? That was definitely not like me. Not any version of me, going all the way back to my teen years.
She shrugged. “I don’t want a one-night stand with you. I’m not going anywhere. I live here, remember?”
She said that as though distance would be the only issue in our relationship. She had no idea what I was dealing with. I might be fairly safe here, but having my image plastered all over the internet, even briefly, had me remembering how quickly that could change. And bringing a woman like her into it would be a huge mistake. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to her because of my past.
No, I had to distance myself from her. We’d finish up this meal, and I’d find a way to get her on the road back home—no matter how hard it would be.
I took a deep breath and prepared to tell her we couldn’t sleep together. But before I could get the words out, she said something that stopped me dead in my tracks.
“I want you to do something about it,” she said. “Tonight. I want to get naked and hop in that pond and lose my virginity. And I want you to be the man who helps me with that.”
5
LARSEN
Water. That was all I was drinking—water with ice cubes. So where had I gotten the courage to proposition this guy? I didn’t even know if he was interested in me.
As the seconds ticked by with no word from Enzo, I began to have second thoughts about what I’d just blurted out. I was offering myself to him. If he turned me down, I’d be mortified. I’d probably have to spend the rest of my time in this town hiding from him.
That wouldn’t be too hard, actually. I had a feeling this guy kept a low profile.
“You just met me,” he said.
Those words might have felt like a rejection, but there was heat in his eyes, and his voice had a huskiness that wasn’t there before. I had to keep going.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I said. “Have you never met someone and known right away?”
It had never happened to me before, but I definitely felt it now. I was the inexperienced one. It was understandable thatthis would be a first for me. But Enzo was clearly in his thirties and had been around the block a time or two.
“I can’t say I have,” he said.
My heart sank. So what I was feeling was one-sided. It shouldn’t surprise me. But it did.
“Not until now,” he said. “Not until I saw you coming up that trail.”
