There.He’d done it.Even though he still didn’t seem to be getting up on his feet.
“No, it’s okay.I—it’s just kind of embarrassing.”The pink was back in her cheeks.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
She reached for one of the throw cushions on the couch, wrapped her arms around it, and held it tight to her chest.“The guy didn’t like the fact that I didn’t have a lot of experience.”
He really needed to get up and leave.But once again, his mouth seemed to have disengaged from his brain, and it was saying something:
“How much is not a lot?”
Silence.
Right.Bad question for so many reasons.“You know what?You don’t have to answer that.It’sreallynone of my business.”
“No, um, it’s okay.I have lots of experience in lots of things but no experience in, um, one specific thing.”
His brain got tangled there for a second over “lots of experience in lots of things.”He wanted a detailed explanation of that.Then he caught up to the end of the sentence.“That one specific thing being ...?”
As soon as the prompt was out of his mouth, he regretted it.How did hethinkshe was going to finish that sentence?Jesus, Ambrose, think before you talk.
“Intercourse,” Becca whispered.
The word occupied a lot of space in the dark, quiet living room.And then Griff got his brain unstuck on Becca’s experience or lack thereof, and what exactly it entailed, and put the last pieces together.
“Wait, andwhat?He didn’t want you because you’re avirgin?What adick.”Not to mention anidiot, but Griff wasn’t going to say that.“And anidiot!What kind of moron would turn down the chance to be a girl’s first time?”
Okay, whoops, hehadsaid it.He really needed to work on the coordination between his better judgment and his mouth.
“You wouldn’t?”She sounded surprised.In a good way.Pleased.
Which—uh-oh.Had he sounded like he was volunteering?
Was he volunteering?
No.No, no, no, he was not.He’d had sex with a virgin once, and it had taken him to hell, by way of divorce.No way would he do that again, even if the woman in question did not already have a bigNo Entrysign tattooed across her chest.
Of course, she hadn’t asked.Wasn’t asking.He was just being a dope.And she was sitting there looking at him with a sad expression on her face, becausewhat kind of assholes had she been dating?He had to at least reassure her that all men were not created equal in the douchebag department.And that there was nothing wrong with being a virgin, at any age.
“My ex-wife, Marina, was a virgin,” he said.
Those were not the words he’d intended to say.He’d meant to say something neutral, like,It would depend on the circumstances, of course, but if I was with her and she wanted me to be her first, I wouldn’t walk away from that.
Becca’s eyebrows went up.“And that wasn’t a problem for you?”
“No.It was ...For me, it was kind of a plus.It was, I don’t know.Nice.”
Way to go, Ambrose.“Nice”?
“Griff?Can I ask you something?”
Every cell in his body screamed,Danger.“No,” he said, definitively.
She drew herself up.Straightened her shoulders.Squared her chin.“But—you don’t know what I’m going to ask.”
Damn New Becca.He was guessing Old Becca would have folded already.“No to whatever you are about to ask.”
“You must have slept with, I don’t know, a hundred women?At least?”