Page 26 of Crimson Bond

Was it my imagination or had Abbi just let out a long sigh? That was when I realized she was jealous of Imogen. Not because of her unique beauty or her immense power.

Because of me.

Suddenly I was breathing like I’d just come off a thirty-mile training run. Abbi’s breathing had become audible, too. She was nervous. Or excited. Or both. Whatever it was, the palpable energy she was giving off was doing terrible things to me.

Her next question was so timid and breathy I almost didn’t hear it. “Are you... disappointed?”

“Disappointed?” Why on earth would she think I’d be disappointed about not sleeping with a two-hundred-year old woman?

“Yeah. You know, because she’s the only woman you can...” Her shyness prevented her from finishing.

I glanced around the dark, empty room, which was ridiculous. It wasn’t like we’d been followed, and we’d picked a hotel at random. There were no listening devices in here. But I was about to make a risky confession.

“No. I’m not disappointed. I never wanted her that way.”

“Oh.” A long pause. “And other girls?”

“There were no other girls.”

“Really?” I could tell she didn’t believe me.

“Really. I was a classic late bloomer in high school. Even if a girl had been interested in me, I wouldn’t have noticed it—or had any idea what to do about it.”

“And college?”

“I was in the middle of first semester freshman year when I met you at that bonfire. I dated some, but I lived in the athletic dorm with my teammates. We weren’t allowed to have girls in our rooms. And I guess I never went out with a girl who liked me enough to invite me back to her room.”

“I seriously doubt that.” Abbi’s tone was much lower than her usual speaking voice. The sound of it curled around my belly and made me feel like that awkward college freshman again.

“Well, they weren’t allowed to have guys in their dorm rooms either,” I said. “Maybe if I’d gone out with an upperclassman who lived off-campus, I would’ve gotten lucky.”

“Maybe,” she said, and we both laughed.

Abbi got serious again. “But I’m glad you didn’t.”

A flush moved through my body, raising its temperature by several degrees.

This was dangerous. Abigail Byler and Reece Hendrix had zero business discussing the topic of sex. Especially lying in bed together face to face. And yet I couldn’t seem to stop myself from probing further.

“And you... I guess your community standards sort of prevented pre-marital sex?”

“Not sort of. Completely. No opportunity. No one I was interested in that way, anyway.”

“So then...”Don’t ask, Reece. Do. Not. Ask.“Did youevermeet anyone youwereinterested in... that way?”

My heartbeat pounded so hard in my ears I was worried she could hear it too. She probably could, in fact.

Her eyes answered my question before her words did.

“I think you know the answer to that.”

And that was how my “master plan” to seduce Abbi and break her heart died—with a whisper.

Or maybe it had crashed and burned back at the gas station when she’d been threatened by those guys and needed my help.

How had I ever thought I could hurt this girl?

All I wanted to do wasprotecther from harm. Well, okay, that wasn’tallI wanted to do, but it was the extent of what I would allow myself to do.

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