Page 21 of It's Going to Be a Chrome Christmas
Cayden really should stop teasing her, but he couldn’t get enough of that blush on her cheeks. She looked so adorable and innocent.
“I want us to have sex.”
His eyebrows shot up. Okay, so notthatinnocent after all. “You’re already aware of where I stand on this subject.”
Her chocolate eyes narrowed. “I am not begging you, but I do have conditions.”
Interesting. “Consider me intrigued. Go on.”
“You said you wanted to learn about me, that once wasn’t going to be enough. I assume that means you’re looking for a relationship?”
Cayden nodded once. “I’m done with one-nighters and quickies. Don’t get me wrong, I am not opposed to a quickie in your office on lunch break or on the bay floor after closing, but I want it to be with you. I only wantyou.”
And there was his reward: that red flush on her cheeks. “I need to be honest with you. I suck at relationships.”
He couldn’t help but smile at that confession. “I’ll admit you’d be my first.”
Her voice raised an octave as she exclaimed, “You’re a virgin?”
Cayden let out a barking laugh. “I’m as virginal as a professional gigolo. What I mean is, you’d be my first girlfriend.Baby girl, I haven’t been in a ‘relationship’ since I told my prom date that I wanted to go out with her just so I could fuck her under the bleachers. Trust me, whatever track record you’ve got, mine’s worse.”
“I doubt that.” She said it so low that he almost didn’t catch it. Interesting. He was dying to know more. “Look,” she said louder, “I do like you. I want us to…try, but I need you to understand that that is literally all I can offer right now. Totry. I haven’t been on a date in forever, and I haven’t had sex in nearly as long.”
He leaned forward on his knees. “How long?”
“Since I’ve had sex?” He nodded. Her blush returned. “Um, about that… I’m not entirely sure I’ve, you know,doneit.”
Cayden’s jaw dropped. Fuck, that’s about as innocent as it gets. “You’re a virgin?”
She fiddled with a pen on her desk and didn’t meet his eyes. “My high school boyfriend and I got drunk after homecoming. He said we did it, but I honestly don’t remember. Right after that, there was a lot of family drama and thenmi papiwas diagnosed with cancer. We lostmiabueloright after we lost him, and I took over the shop. Sex hasn’t exactly been a priority for me, I guess.”
Cayden got up quickly and rounded the desk. He reached for her, pressing her shoulders and face into his stomach. He felt like a million bucks when she wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight. “I am so sorry, Trix. You deserve so much more than that.” He paused, realizing, “And you deserve so much better than me.”
Damn, she was a virgin. Or as good as. What did it say about him if he took that from her? He had no history with virgins. What if he hurt her? He knew that much at least, that it hurt the first time for a girl.
Trixie stood up. Her eyes were red, but her cheeks dry. “It ismychoice who I sleep with whether it’s my first time or not.”
Cayden wiped his hand down his face. “Christ, the things I’ve said to you. I’ve been so crass?—”
“And I’ve found it exceedingly hot. Now, are we going to do this or not?” When he shook his head, her eyes narrowed, “Come on, Russo, don’t wimp out on me now?—”
He cut her off with a kiss. “First, my name is Cay-den,” he emphasized the syllables. “Use it, memorize it, write it on a fucking sticky note if you have to. Second,” he put his hand under her chin, “we aren’t doing thisnow.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he rushed forward, “Baby girl, this is your first time. Even if it’s not actually your first time, it’s the one that will count. I havenoexperience with virgins, and I need to make this good for you. No way in hell am I doing it with you bent over your desk. You deserve better than that. Not this weekend but the next, I can request a weekend pass away from the house. I can take you out to dinner, wine and dine you like you deserve. Then I can bring you back here to your bed and make love to you all night longlike you deserve.”
Though she scowled, her blush gave away how flattered she was by his words. “You keep talking about what I deserve, but what about you?”
“Me?” Cayden snorted. “Baby, my list of sins makes it very difficult to justify deserving anything.”
Her eyes narrowed. “I’m going to need more detail on that.”
“Anything you want to know,” he vowed. “Consider me an open book where you hold my skeleton key.”
Something resembling pain crossed her face then, to which he was dying to know the reason for. Instead, he stayed quiet as she said, “I like that. I like the idea of getting to know you better. It’s just…” She bit her lip. He was torn between wanting to comfort her again and wanting to bite that lip along with her. “Itmight take me a bit to get there. I’m not used to sharing myself with people outside of my family.”
Cayden nodded to one of the pictures on the wall behind her. “They look like a nice family.” A young Trixie sat on the lap of her grandfather. Surrounding them was a man Cayden assumed was her father and three teenage boys of varying ages. It didn’t pass his notice that she was the only girl. Where was her mother or grandmother?
She turned her face over her shoulder to look at her wall, and again that pain touched her eyes. He wanted to find the source of that pain and squash it like a bug under his boot. “They were.” She turned back towards him. “What about you?”
He allowed the change of subject, hoping, in time, she’d open up to him. “I was raised by my grandmother. No clue who my mother is or if she’s still alive. My father was killed when I was three, drive-by shooting.”
