A light pink darkened her cheeks at that. He really did love seeing that flush of her skin and wondered how far down it went.
That, however, was going to have to wait for another time. He placed his list in front of him and met her gaze. “First, let’s talk about your sexual experience. How many sexual partners have you had?”
Her eyes went wide and he saw the pulse in her neck pick up its pace. “Do I have to answer that?”
“Yes.” Jesse wasn’t sure why she was hesitating. He knew she didn’t have a lot of sexual experience with men.
She swallowed and looked down. “Two.”
That was lower than he’d expected. He knew she hadn’t slept with her last boyfriend, but she was twenty-seven.
He tried not to think about all the possibilities and focused on what she was saying. “Tell me about them.”
“What do you want to know?” Her voice was soft, barely audible if he hadn’t been sitting so close to her. She was clearly uncomfortable.
“Who was the first?” he asked.
“My high school boyfriend. Brian.”
“How old were you?” It seemed he was going to have to pull every little detail out of her.
“Sixteen.”
“How was the experience?”
She froze and her hands curled into fists. “I don’t remember.”
He knew she was lying and that irked him, but her body language had all his protective instincts on high alert. “You don’t remember your first time?”
“Can we talk about something else?”
Jesse knew she wanted him to drop it, but he refused. Not only did he want to know, he needed to know. Especially if something had happened. And if something had happened, it might explain her hesitation when it came to sex with her last boyfriend. “No.”
She met his gaze, then looked across the room before standing and striding toward the door.
He scraped his chair on the hardwood surface and caught her after only a few feet. He turned her to face him, forcing her to meet his gaze. “What happened, Cass? Tell me.”
She shook her head.
Placing his forehead against hers, he cupped her face with one hand and tried to comfort her. “Tell me.” It wasn’t a question, and she knew it.
Cassie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “We’d been dating for almost six months. He was a star football player and a senior. I was shocked he was even interested in me, but he was. He made me feel beautiful, special.”
Something told him he wasn’t going to like this, but he kept his thoughts to himself and waited.
“Our team had just won the state championship and he’d wanted me to go to a party with him. Mom said no, so he’d gone to the party alone.” She paused. “At two in the morning, he snuck into my room.”
“Was he drunk?” Jesse knew what happened at parties after big games. He’d been to a few of them.
“Yes.”
Anger for this man he’d never met flared. “Did he rape you, Cassie?”
“No. It wasn’t like that. I mean…I was his girlfriend. He…”
“He what?”
“He was a little…rough.”