Page 156 of Morally Corrupt

"It's not your fault. I was very good at pretending. That and I have a pretty high pain threshold."

He anxiously takes a sip of the wine before admitting, "Itwasprobably my fault. I…wasn't very experienced. I didn't know how to read a woman's body."

"Are you for real?" I almost choke on my food when I hear him.

"Honestly, everything I learned was with you… or Pink, I should say."

"I can't believe that." I laugh. Adrian looks at me, curiously.

"We both had no idea what we were doing but were pretending to be experts. Don't you see the irony?" I ask him, still laughing.

"I guess when you put it like that…" That elicits a smile from him, and I shake my head.

"I'm probably going to regret asking this, but what do you mean exactly when you say you weren't experienced?" I almost bite my tongue when I ask this.

Adrian scratches the back of his neck and looks exceptionally uncomfortable, as he says, “Pink was the first woman I went all the way with. I tried in the past, during my fighting days, but it didn’t feel right. It was expected of us to blow steam like that.” He takes a deep breath. “There was a lot of peer pressure to do it, but I couldn’t go through it. I didn’t like how impersonal it was—how transactional.”

"Interesting…” I say, though inside I am full of glee. Did he just admit he was also a virgin the first time we fucked? I don’t want to think about what he means that he tried in the past. As far as I’m concerned, that is null.

I’m his first.

Oh my Lord!

He’s fully mine. Just as I am fully his.

“Then why Pink?" I clear my throat and ask before I do something stange—like start doing a celebratory dance and shout as loud as I can that I was his first. I’m not sure this establishment would approve that type of behavior.

"Honestly? It was the confidence. You seemed so into it, into me…" He smiles at the memory.

"I was! I'd been watching you for too long. I came up with Pink exactly because I didn't know how else to get your attention."

"Well, you did get it."

"Come on, I can't be the only one to find you hot. I'm sure there must have been other women to hit on you." Yes, please tell me so I can murder them, is what I actually mean.

He frowns, as if remembering. "There were, but I was never interested. Ever since I became Theo, I've been working too hard to pay attention to any of that."

"Then, why me?"

"Your presence comforts me," he states. "Remember when we first met? At one of Martin's Sunday dinners." I nod, and he continues, "He somehow put me right next to you at the table. You didn't speak much, but I could feel your presence radiating in the entire room. It was… intoxicating." He takes another sip of his wine. "I couldn't stay away. I told myself multiple times that I didn't have time for any entanglements, especially with Martin's daughter. You weren't someone I could just have an affair with and call it quits."

"You did take a long time to ask me on a date."

"I was only delaying the inevitable."

"That you were." I raise my glass to him, and we clink.

At the same time, my foot slowly travels up his leg—screw taking this slow. I'm getting in the mood when I hear an accented voice behind me.

"Hastings. And with your lovely wife." Annoyed, I drop my foot and turn to give Enzo a dazzling smile.Please leave.

"Enzo." Adrian stands and shakes Enzo's hand. He's accompanied by a tall, gorgeous woman, likely a model.

"We were just leaving," I say, giving Adrian a small sign that I don't want him to ruin our date. It's too late, however.

"What a coincidence. We're leaving too. Why don't you join us? We're going to see Quinn's fight." Enzo narrows his eyes at Adrian, and I can see this isn't a mere invitation. Interesting…

Does he even know, I wonder, that his partners are related to his enemy? I almost chortle at the thought but compose myself quickly.

---