Page 6 of Never Let Me Go

She nodded firmly. “It does. I’m glad we had this talk. Closure is good. Now we can get on with our lives.”

Her tidy summation of the situation pissed him off. “How does a woman get to be a twenty-four-year-old virgin? In the twenty-first century?”

Marisa glared at him. “First of all, that’s an insulting question.”

“I really want to know.”

“It’s not as unusual as you think. We’re not unicorns. I’ve met several women like me.”

“I don’t care aboutthem,” he said. “I want to know about you.”

She sighed. “My parents were very strict. I wasn’t allowed to date until I was a senior in high school. By then, I had a reputation for being extremely shy, which was well deserved, by the way. I wasn’t the kind of girl who talked easily to boys.”

“And after you graduated? You told me you went to culinary school in Atlanta. Surely men noticed you. You’re a stunning woman.”

His flattery didn’t appear to make a dent in her mood. “It’s not a question of being noticed. Guys asked me out. But I was sharing an apartment with four other girls. Sexual intimacy wasn’t an option there. Besides, I was living in a big, possibly dangerous city for the first time. I didn’t feel safe going home with a guy to his place.”

“You went home with me,” Jeff pointed out.

Silence fell. Marisa’s expression was a combination of shock and dismay. “I know. I’m not sure why. Especially since you bundled me up afterward and took me back to my place like an unwanted package. It was humiliating.”

“I didn’t know what else to do,” he said quietly. “I felt like I had taken your innocence. And I didn’t know why you had offered it.”

She stared at him, lips parted, chest rising and falling with her rapid breathing. “You didn’ttakeanything. And I didn’t offer. It just happened. To be honest, I’ve done my best to forget about that night.”

“Ouch.” He rotated his neck.

“You should forget about it, too,” she said firmly. “No reason for a guilty conscience. We both enjoyed a sexual encounter that was mutually satisfying. End of story.”

He wanted to challenge her. Needed to challenge her. But until he understood what he wanted, perhaps it was best to leave things alone. “I still feel bad about how things played out,” he said. “A woman’s first time should be special, gentle. I’m really sorry, Marisa.”

She was quiet for so long he started to think she was stonewalling him. But finally, she spoke. “I chose to be with you,” she said. “Because I wanted you. And I have no complaints. It was very nice.”

Nothing like damning with faint praise, he thought ruefully. He wasn’t even entirely sure she had come. Likely not. The truth was, she had wound him up to a fever pitch and turned him into a desperate, ravenous mess.

He rubbed the back of his neck and took his own turn at pacing. The conversation had ground to a halt. Maybe he should concentrate on getting them out. If he could.

When he glanced at his phone a second time, he felt a jolt of relief.Hehad one bar now. Quickly, he dialed 9-1-1. A voice on the other end answered, but before Jeff could say a word, the call dropped.Damn.

Marisa straightened, downed half the bottle of water, and grimaced. “No luck?”

He shook his head slowly, hating the feeling of helplessness. He liked solving problems. “At least the call went through for a couple of seconds. Maybe they’ll see the number and know where we are.”

“Okay.” She yawned and stretched. “We might as well sit down now. I’m guessing we’re gonna be here more than five minutes.”

He watched her get settled and did the same. The fabric seat wasn’t great, but it wasn’t terrible. Soccer moms and dads all over the country sat in these things for hours. It only seemed uncomfortable because Jeff and Marisa had no idea how long they would be stranded.

For half an hour, neither of them spoke.

Finally, Marisa sighed. “Why did your sister set you up on a blind date, anyway? Jilly knows I have no social life. But what’s your excuse?”

He stretched his legs out in front of him, flexing his feet. “Owning a business is hard. You know that as well as I do. I tend to bite off more than I can chew when it comes to projects and deadlines. Ihadto push hard and work hard when I was getting started. It became a habit. At night, I would fall into bed and then repeat the schedule the next day.”

“I might know a little about that,” she said.

“It’s a vicious cycle. Before you know it, a week has passed. Then a month. And suddenly, you can’t remember the last time you had a day off to go fishing or swim at the lake or head down to Florida for a long weekend.”

Marisa nodded. “So how did she convinceyouto go on a blind date? Has she done that before?”

---