Page 12 of Charming the Cowboy
“What?” He knew that he was pushing the line by even asking. Knew that he was making a mistake, even. Because her sex life was none of his business. And he shouldn’t be curious about it. Not even a little bit.
“I shouldn’t say,” she said, her face cherry-red.
No, she shouldn’t say, and he shouldn’t push.
“You can tell me.”
He had no idea why those words had come out of his mouth. None whatsoever. It was like they had come from somewhere beyond him. Like he had been compelled to say them even.
As if forces beyond him had pushed those words to come out of his mouth.
“I… I’ve never actually… It’s just not good for me, okay?”
She had never… Oh. Well, he could put that together himself. He didn’t need her to finish the sentence. And it filled him with a sense of rage. He didn’t know enough about Eliana’s personal life to know who she’d been sleeping with, but whoever it was, he hated him.
Not because hewantedher, really.
Because any man who slept with a woman and didn’t see to her pleasure was no kind of man in his opinion. He had some extremely strong opinions about that. And he prided himself on being a good lover. He might not have any designs on forever with anybody, but if somebody was going to trust him enough to share their body with him, then he was going to honor that gift.
“That’s not from a curse,” he said. “It’s because some men are assholes.”
“No. Everyone has been a very nice guy. One time, I was going to hook up with a guy, and when we were making out on his couch, his fuse box flew open, and a fire started. And one time, I gave the guy anaphylaxis. In fairness to me, he did not tell me he was allergic to shellfish.”
“What?”
“It’s a series of disasters. And it isn’t really their fault. Anyway. I just want to be able to put a giant spider on something.”
“Okay…”
“And I promise I won’t make my scary story about my sex life.”
“That’s probably for the best. I have a feeling we would get in some trouble for that.”
“Likely.”
When the check came, he paid for it, in spite of Eliana’s insistent grabs toward the paper.
“No,” he said. “You got my beer placement in this festival, and I’m going to pay for lunch.”
“Well. Okay.”
She still looked a little bit cross about it.
When they finished paying, they walked out of the diner together.
“Thank you again.” She reached into her pocket then and took her phone out. “Oh. I have your beer quantity.” She gave him a number of kegs, and he made a note to talk to Hank about that. “And they want us to do our first hayride on Friday night if we can. So, we’d better get the wagon decorated.”
“I guess so. And you better get to learning a scary story that isn’t about how guys can’t make you climax.” Yet again, he didn’t know why the hell he’d said that out loud.
She wrinkled her nose. “Oh, I didn’t say that a guy could make me… I’ve never actually… I’ve never managed to go all the way. I’m cursed to be a virgin.”
Chapter Three
That was a Top Ten Most Embarrassing thing that had ever come out of her mouth. Who just said something like that? And why had she offered that information for free? It was just… None of it was for lack of trying. There had been a catalog of errors with her attempted hookups to the point where it had become a little bit of a complex. And yes, explosions and anaphylaxis ranked at the top of the worst reasons that she’d never actually gotten laid, but there were other things like her prom date getting in a car accident on his way to come get her – he wasn’t injured, but his wheel had broken off his axle and his car had been disabled.
There had been the guy who’d flat-out ghosted her, the one who swore that God told him they’d be sinning if they had sex. The guy who’d had spontaneous erectile dysfunction – they’d been nineteen and she’d taken that one really personally.
The universe didn’t want her to bang, and every man who had ever tried to participate had been punished.
