couldn’t function beyond what her system instinctively did to keep her alive. Fear and desire, and lust and more fear bombarded her. One minute she’d nodded like crazy, encouraging his dirty plans, the next she’d shaken her head, then she was nodding again, then trembling with horror at the thought of accidentally getting pregnant from the seed he wanted to pump her full of. Mmm. How could the word “seed” make her want to spread her legs and beg for load after load of it?
But she wouldn’t, because she’d be her mother all over again. She was no longer fifteen, but having a baby at twenty still wasn’t something she had any interest in doing. Which was why she’d gone on the pill last year. She’d thought if ever she was lucky enough to have sex with Josh, she hadn’t wanted birth control and condoms to get in the way of it. She’d fantasized about conjugal visits even though she wasn’t sure they actually existed. Which was dumb, because if Josh hadn’t wanted to see her across a table, why would he have brought her in for sex?
Obviously sensing he’d freaked her out, he tempered himself. “I’m sorry, baby. I finally scared the shit out of you, hmm? Spooked my fuckin’ virgin.” He laughed softly. “Holy Christ. I thought chicks like you were a myth, yet I’m being gifted my very own. Wrapped up and presented to me on a goddamn platter. Not a blemish on you. Maybe God doesn’t hate me after all.” Loosening his hold, he sifted his fingers through her hair and played with her earlobes with his pinkies. Her dangly earrings tinkled. “There’s no need for you to be afraid. That was me telling you what I want to do to you. Not what I will do to you. We’re gonna stick to the original plan. My fingers, my mouth, your…everything. Okay?”
She was too distracted to take in the naughty reassurance, because now that he’d given her a second to settle, she felt more able to think. He really seemed taken with her virginity. She frowned as the disturbing thought filled out. What if he lost control, and they went further than planned and had sex—long, beautiful, dirty sex. If she was no longer untouched, would Josh’s interest disappear right along with her hymen? Wasn’t that what guys did? Fucked the innocent girl then screwed off in search of another? What if this was a one-time thing? He was horny; she was begging for it. Could she go back to being simply friends after experiencing him as a lover? How would she live through seeing him hook up with someone else? What if he brought home an old lady?
Ice replaced the blood moving swiftly through her veins. If once was all he wanted and this thing she felt blossoming between them wilted as quickly as it was coming to life, how would she get over it? Over him?
Placing her palms on his chest, she was too distracted to take any notice of how fast his heart was beating. “Uh, the fact that I haven’t done any of this before seems pretty attractive to you.”
“You have no idea.”
Oh, God. “Huh.” She gnawed on her lip and then injected a note of casual interest into her voice. “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, I fibbed a little and did a whole lot of fooling around with some guys, but didn’t have actual sex. Would you still consider doing this with me?”
His body turned to concrete under her hands, and he instantly took a step back, his golden eyes glinting with something that looked downright nasty. “You saying you lied to me, Tish? Made that shit up to rope me in?”
She curled and uncurled her tingling fingers. “Would you?” she pressed without answering him. “Or would you be turned off? Would it disgust you to know someone else touched me first?”
“No. It would enrage me.”
“And turn you off, right?”
“No. It would enrage me.”
She shook her hands out when they began to sting from the adrenaline seeping into her system. “’Kay, but aside from that. If I’d been used, you wouldn’t want me anymore,