Page 50 of Escorted

He narrowed hiseyes. “Why are you laughing at me?”

“I’m not. Notreally. I was just looking at those scratches I made on your ass. Sorry aboutthat.”

With ahalf-shrug, he replied, “No big deal.”

“I didn’trealize I scratched you that hard. They don’t hurt, do they?”

“Not much.Don’t worry about it. At least it wasn’t my head.” His mouth quirked into asmile. “Although youwererather enthusiastic.”

His tone waslight and teasing, but Lori’s cheeks burned painfully. Shehadbeenenthusiastic. More than enthusiastic. She’d been almost frantic in her need toget him inside her. She’d liked the feeling at the time, but now she wasembarrassed by her brazenness, her almost childish eagerness.

“What’s thematter?” Ander asked, studying her face. He tried to meet her eyes but sheavoided his gaze.

“Nothing.”

“Lori.” Ander’svoice held an edge of warning, the way Sabrina’s always did when Lori was beingfoolish.

“Fine,” Lorirelented with a scowl. “I’m just embarrassed.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.It’s not rational. It’s just that the world seems to think that being cool andcollected is the way to go. And I can never manage to be that way, no matterhow hard I try. I just get too excited about things. And this sex stuff isstill pretty new to me, and you made it sound like I...like I ...” She trailedoff, not sure how to articulate her uncomfortable feeling.

“Like youwhat?” Ander had turned onto his side and was watching her with a frown.

“Like I wasoverly eager or something.” The flush on her cheeks deepened and she couldn’tlook him in the eye. She wished she’d never brought the ridiculous subject up.“Never mind. It’s just a stupid feeling. I know it’s silly.”

“Yes,” Andersaid slowly. “It is.”

She gasped andcut her eyes back to glare at him.

He just liftedhis eyebrows. “Surely you know better than to think being enthusiastic in bedis a turn-off.”

When he put itthat way, her embarrassment did sound pretty silly. But still... “No need to besnotty about it,” she huffed.

Ander justchuckled and changed the subject. “So have you been practicing with yourvibrator?”

It seemed aperfectly natural transition to Lori so she answered easily. “Yes. I’ve beendoing pretty well, I think. Thanks for getting it for me and helping me withit.”

“You’rewelcome.” Ander stretched his long body, as if he were trying to make himselfmore comfortable. “So your boyfriend was a disappointment in bed?”

Had Lori beenthinking about it, she might have noticed that there had been no real segue tothis question. But she was feeling relaxed and satisfied again, and she didn’tnotice anything odd about it. “He wasn’t my boyfriend. We never got that far.”At Ander’s puzzled look, she clarified, “We never got far enough for him to bemy boyfriend. And, actually, we never got as far as bed.”

“I see. He wasone ofthose. Sloppy sex in the back of a car?” Ander asked, his voicedry and teasing.

“No!” Lori’stone was outraged, but she was more amused than anything else. “We never hadsex at all.”

Her quiveringsmile faded as she thought about Phil and how he’d made her feel. She shook herhead ruefully. “Evidently, that was the problem.”

“What do youmean?”

“I didn’t putout soon enough for him, so he found someone younger and hotter.”

“What?” Ander’squestion wasn’t loud, but the understated astonishment in his voice was onceagain comforting.

“So you thinkit’s bad too, don’t you?” Lori asked, meeting his eyes earnestly. “I mean, youdon’t think it’s acceptable for a guy to treat me like trash just because Ididn’t fuck him on the third date.”

For a moment, Ander’sjaw was tense and a little muscle flickered in his cheek. Then his face relaxedand he turned to give her a small shake of his head. “Sounds like you pickedout an asshole for yourself.”

---