Page 45 of Giddy-Up
Riley was the one to pull back, a twinkle in deep brown eyes as she said, “You’re gonna have to wait until I’ve eaten my fajitas before we can do that again.”
Wade barked out a laugh while safely depositing her from his lap to her chair.“Alright, I suppose I can wait until we’ve finished.”
He waited for Riley to tuck back into the food before he took his next bite.Somehow, it tasted even better.
Once they’d satisfied their stomachs, there was one question Wade had been dying to know the answer to.He’d waited, hoping that Riley would open up, but he didn’t want to wait any more.
“I gotta ask...how is it that a woman as gorgeous as you has never...never been with anyone?”
Riley was quiet for a while.Understandably.He let her take her time.
When she finally spoke, her voice was low.“I guess I grew up quite sheltered.”
“Sure, darlin’, I get that.But there’s sheltered and then there’s—”
“A thirty-year-old virgin?”she finished for him, her small smile fleeting.
Wade swallowed hard.“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
He wasn’t sure he meant that, but he was trying to be a gentleman.Although he didn’t really feel like much of one.Taking her virginity in his truck was one thing, but going from that to some kind of dominant forty-eight hours later was playing on his conscience.
She asked you to tell her what to do.
She did.However, they could have gone slower.He could have held back.
“It’s okay,” Riley said.“I guess it’s a combination of things.My parents were strict, and I lived at home right up until I moved to Woodvalley.”Her gaze flicked between the wooden surface and Wade.“I worked at my uncle’s motel.So when I wasn’t with my parents, I was with my uncle.Throw in a good dose of social anxiety—and your virginity is pretty much guaranteed to stick around.”
“So you’ve never dated anyone before?”She shook her head.“Are your parents religious?”She shook her head again.
He was still looking for answers.How strict could they possibly be and why?
As if reading his mind, she went on to answer his question.“My cousin went missing when I was young—she was okay, but my parents just kind of switched after that.They wouldn’t let me out of their sight.”
Bingo.
“So they weren’t strict before that?”She shook her head again, a flicker of sadness dulling her shine.“I take it they’re not too pleased with your move out of town?”
“That’s putting it mildly.”Riley pushed her phone across the table and urged him to look at the screen.
Twenty missed calls.Three voicemails.And six messages.
Holy shit.
“They call me twice a day.Once in the morning, once in the evening.If I don’t answer, this is what happens.”
That’s fucking madness.
A strange feeling came over him.The urge to fix this.Although he had no idea how.Yet the feeling penetrated deep.He wanted to make her life better.Had to.She deserved to have a life.She deserved freedom without guilt.
“Call them,” he said, just as surprised at himself as she was.
“I-I don’t think that’s a good idea.It’s one in the morning.”
Maybe not.But a part of him wanted them to know that not only was she safe, but she was also with him and would be for the foreseeable future.
That’s not at all possessive and slightly worrying!
“It is.And they’re worried.Call them and let them know you’re okay.”
