Page 52 of Make Her Mine
“She’s old enough, Darleen. She just hasn’t let anyone in before. She’s letting me in. She told me about the friend who was murdered by her mother.” A chill moved through me.How could a mother do that to her own child?
“It would be wrong to tell you the true reason she went to Dallas.” She pushed her hair back off her face, showing an odd expression. “So, I won’t tell you why exactly. But can I ask you this? Have you guys talked about sex?”
“No.” Why did she ask? “I’m not that way. Not with her, at least.” With other girls for certain, but Ella was poles apart. “She’s a virgin; shehastold me that.”
“In every way, Brandon. She’s never kissed a boy or even held hands.” She took off again toward her room. “I need to take a nap today. School has been grueling this week.”
“She’s told me about her lack of experience.” I wasn’t as out of the loop as Darleen thought. “We haven’t talked about what to expect when the time comes. That’s better left as a revelation.”
“You think so, huh?” She stopped when we made it to the door of their quarters. “And along with that revelation would come the one about birth control, right?”
I had condoms! “Darleen, rest assured I’ve got that covered.”
“So, you talked about protection then?” She put her hand on her hip the same way Ella and her mom did.
“No.” No need to talk about that with Ella. She probably wouldn’t let me. “She’s inhibited about stuff like that.”
“Yes, and that’s exactly why she’s not ready for what you have in mind.” She opened the door, then looked at me smirking. “Do us all a favor and give her time, Brandon. Consider what you’re really doing here. Ella isn’t playing games; she’s truly an innocent girl with much to learn about life. And she’s also a shrew most of the time.”
“She can change.” She’s been nothing but nice when we talked on the phone. “And I can smooth out her rough edges.”
“Don’t think I’m being crass, please,” she said with a stoic look on her face. “Is your interest in her about her being a virgin?”
“No,” I said quickly.
“You said that pretty damn fast, Brandon.” Darleen stepped inside. “Ask yourself if that’s the God’s honest truth. Taking a girl’s virginity should not be taken lightly, you know.”
“I wouldn’t know.” I never had a virgin before.
“Oh, I see.” She winked at me. “Interesting, don’t you think? You’ve come across a virgin, and you got a hard on for her. It’s not the first time a man’s been in your position, is it? Promise to think about her more than you’re thinking about yourself. She has a lot going on inside of her. If you hurt her, it’ll break her in ways other women can’t be broken.”
“Of course.” I understood that completely. “I’ll think about what you’ve said. Thanks for talking to me so honestly. I really do appreciate it, Darleen.”
Going up to my room, I couldn’t get her words out of my head. What if it really was just a hard on for the pretty virgin? What if I was interested, not in Ella’s mind, but her body and her virginity?
Sitting on the bed and thinking about things, I picked up my cell to check something out. I called Ella every time we talked. Except for that one time when I sent her a text, asking her to call me.
Maybe she wasn’t that interested in me? If I hadn’t made the first move, would Ella have ever thought about me?
What is the right thing to do? I’ll put the ball in Ella’s court. If she really wants to be with me, she’ll call and keep things going. If she didn’t, here was her chance to let me know.
Ella wouldn’t know how to break up with a guy! She’s never done it! She never had to even brush a guy off before. Have I been taking advantage all this time? Perhaps I was taking advantage of a woman who lacked too much in life experience to know what was happening?
Not once had I thought of myself as a predator. But the fact was that I never had sex with a virgin. Did that make me into a creep?
Would my male instinct to seek out a female who’d never been touched make me into something akin to an animal? At this point, all I knew was of my hots for Ella. But did she have it just as bad for me?
It wouldn’t be fair if she didn’t. Why pressure her into giving her virginity to me if she wasn’t as into me as I was into her? That wouldn’t be appropriate.
“When did you become so damn moral?” I asked myself.
I couldn’t recall any girlfriend’s family I got to know so well. Maybe that’s it? If I talked in depth to their older siblings, I might’ve seen things differently.
A knock on the door. Clayton. “Hey, Brandon, I’m going to ride around the ranch with Kyle and Mr. Finely on horseback. You should come, too.”
Getting up, I decided to go. Why wait around for Ella to call? Why not give her some space? “Coming.”
Meeting him in the hall, Dyllan was stepping out of his suite, Bobbi Jo at his side. “Hey, we’re going, too,” he called.
