Thugs and Kisses by Sue Ann Jaffarian Read Free Book Online Page B

high-school reunion. It was all he needed to know. And he certainly didn’t need to know about my past relationship with the murder victim.
    So that’s what brought me to be huddled on my sofa, drinking soda, eating pizza, and spilling my guts to Dev Frye about Donny Oliver.
    “So he seduced you that summer?”
    “Huh?” I turned my attention back to Dev.
    “Oliver,” he said. “Did he seduce you that summer with his attention?”
    I laughed. “No. He was actually quite the gentleman, especially considering what happened later at the prom.” I took another drink of soda. “The seduction part was more on my side.”
    Dev’s left eyebrow raised in question.
    “Don’t be so surprised.”
    I excused myself and disappeared into the downstairs bathroom. When I returned, I was armed with a fresh box of tissue, and Dev had repositioned himself from the floor to the armchair. Instead of pizza, he was now chewing his signature wad of gum and held his small detective’s notebook.
    “Is that necessary?” I asked, indicating the notebook. “After all, you’re not officially on the case, are you?”
    “No, but I want to be able to give the guys working on it as much info as I can, to see if they will leave you out of it.” He clicked the top of his pen and readied himself for details.
    I settled back onto the sofa and started where I’d left off.
    “Like I said, I was the one who did the actual seducing, such as it was. His folks had a nice house with a pool, and often we would go to his house to swim after we finished at the restaurant, which was mid-afternoon. Usually we swam with his younger sister, Amelia, but one week his sister was away at camp and every afternoon his mother played tennis, so we were alone a lot.”
    I blew my nose and continued. “I never fantasized about Donny being my boyfriend. I was having fun, but I wasn’t all that attracted to him romantically. I was an odd creature, a teenage girl without romantic notions, but I was sexually curious, and Donny had a great body. I approached the whole thing rather methodically. I decided I wanted to lose my virginity and that Donny might be the best candidate. My only concern was that he might reject the idea of sleeping with a fat girl, and I didn’t want to face that rejection. So I tested the waters the week we were alone. First, I made sure he got many great views of my ample cleavage.” I laughed. “Let’s face it: at that age, I was one of the few girls at school with big boobs.”
    Dev quickly looked down at his notebook, but I noted a smile on his face.
    “Although I’ll admit, the first time I saw him with an erection through his trunks, I almost bolted. Knowledge is one thing, putting it into practice is quite another.”
    Dev laughed and shook his head. “Odelia, you are something else. I wish I had known you then.”
    I shrugged. “I wasn’t much different than I am today, just a bit lighter in the weight department and a lot more naïve. And I was just as thick-skulled and single-minded.”
    Dev put down his pen and smiled again, this time directly at me. It was a knowing smile, a smile full of tenderness and patience. In that moment, I knew that Zee was right: I wasn’t being fair to Dev last night. Maybe after the pain of losing Greg passes, who knows? But that would be a long time, maybe forever, and Dev was far too decent and caring a man to be a consolation prize.
    “Anyway,” I continued, “I baited the hook, and he bit. Now the question was: did I want to reel him in?”
    After laughing, Dev got up and went to the kitchen. He retrieved the bottle of soda from the fridge and refreshed our glasses. I thanked him, noting how comfortable he was in my home.
    “I gather you did reel him in?”
    “Sure did.”
    Dev raised his eyebrow again. “Did you use protection?”
    “Donny wasn’t a virgin and had some condoms hidden in his room. I had some in my bag, but I didn’t tell him that. I didn’t want it to seem