Page 24 of His Virgin Vessel

Chapter Nine

Corinne

His words fell like hot lead into my ears. How dare he! How dare this man who had met me only a few nights ago presume to know anything about me?!

I mastered my feeling and spoke calmly. "Well, thank you for that opinion, and may I say how completely full of horseshit you are."

Asa shrugged carelessly. "You asked."

"Two nights ago you made me a woman," I said hotly. "Now you want to turn me back into a little girl?"

Asa shook his head. "There's more to being a woman than what we did. Sad to say, there are little girls all over the world who've been subjected to that. And there are women having it daily who'll never grow up. People put too much stress on sex. It's a pretty meaningless thing."

"Not to me, it wasn't." Against my will, hot tears were rising in my eyes. It had to have meant something to him!

"Well, you started with the wrong person," admitted Asa. "There are plenty of nice, decent men out there who read all the meaning and emotion into sex that you do. Marrying types. I've been with too many women for it to mean something. If it meant something, then that would make me a horrible person."

"With the right person, it means something!" I insisted.

"And I hope you find him."

"You're telling me you felt nothing when we made love?"

Asa pulled a face. "We didn't make love. In all of history, those words have never been applied to sex in a storage closet."

He hadn't answered the question. Right or wrong, I grasped hold of that and believed in it—he hadn't answered because he wouldn't lie. It had meant something to him.

"Why did you ask me here?"

"To say thank you."

"You brought me to a waterfall and made me a picnic," I pointed out. "Joseph Hartman helped you more than me; does he get a picnic?"

The flicker of indecision that crossed Asa's face gave me more hope.

"Look," I continued, "I don't know why you insist on denying what happened between us, but if you must, then go ahead. We both know that you'll keep finding stupid excuses to meet me, and sooner or later that's going to lead somewhere."

Asa tried to scoff but I could tell I'd touched a nerve.

"How about we put the question of who I really am to one side?" I went on. "And turn it back on you."

"What?"

"You think that, deep down, I'm a little goody two-shoes daddy's girl? Well, wouldn't that type of girl's dream date be a picnic by a waterfall?"

Asa looked trapped and I decided to let him off the hook.

"Stop trying to analyze me. You don't know what it was like growing up as the disappointment."

Asa shrugged. "Maybe I don't know you that well, but I doubt your dad thinks that."

"He wanted me to be a lawyer. Can you picture that?"

"What did you want to do?"

"Be an artist."

Asa nodded. "I bet Brian didn't like that. I bet he laid down the law and forbade you from taking classes, or studying art. I bet he wouldn't even let you have paints in the house."

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