Page 3 of Forbidden Virgin

Chapter 2

Kate pulleddown the hem of her sleeveless black dress. She had never worn anything so revealing on a first date. Well, it wasn’t exactly a date but she’d work on the semantics later. She’d goaded Graham into taking her out for dinner, but thankfully he’d fallen for it.

Graham’s sense of duty continued as strong as ever—and so did his hotness. She should have touched herself to get the edge off but there had been no time. She’d used the last two hours to take a long hot bath, then carefully applied makeup to make her blue eyes pop, and pondered which dress would help her reach her goal faster.

The LBD won the contest: it showed the valley between her breasts, hugged her curves, and the hem whispered at her thighs. She would have to be careful whenever she sat or climbed stairs, otherwise passers-by would get a full view of her bare ass.

Kate didn’t care. For the longest time, she’d been the awkward ugly duckling—her sister Marjorie had a foot over her, with endless legs, perfect bone structure and slim as a top model. Kate, on the other hand, had struggled with acne during her teens, made use of high heels to seem taller than her five feet five, and certainly had a stubborn roundness in her belly and hips even crazy workouts hadn’t killed. But tonight she’d leave old insecurities behind and become the bold woman she’d dreamed of becoming. The woman Graham had helped to bring to life, even if he didn’t know it yet.

She grabbed the gold clutch that matched her stiletto shoes and headed out of the room. When she entered the elevator, a couple of men gave her lingering glances but didn’t say a word. She kept her eye on the numbers changing and didn’t worry about them. Ever since she’d begun to buy sexy clothes for this trip, a sense of purpose grew inside her. She wanted to be attractive for Graham, for him to treat her like she was a sexy, grown-up woman and not his friend’s daughter.

When the elevator pinged, she exited to the lobby. Thankfully, a number of guests had just checked in and gathered in small groups, chattering too lively to notice her presence. She headed for the round sofa at the front, wondering whether she should sit or not. Sitting meant she’d have to keep pulling at her dress, and that would kill her vibe.

She stood, knowing damn well she was five minutes late. But nothing short of a cocktail of Xanax would calm her nerves. Besides, she wanted to be fully alert for all the sensations he evoked in her.

The minute Graham marched through the automatic doors, her heart skipped a beat. He’d replaced the stuffy suit from hours earlier with a long-sleeved white shirt, which would have seemed harmless but it outlined his impossibly broad shoulders and muscular biceps. She sucked in a breath, and her stomach stirred like her airplane snack would make an appearance. God. What if she were lucky enough to screw him? Would she even survive it?

Kate blinked. When I sleep with him. She’d always wanted to excel at soccer even though a toddler had better skills than she did when she started. And she’d kept at it until she made it to the high school team and earned trophies. Graham would be a delicious trophy she’d most decidedly love to earn.

Hormones bubbled hot in her bloodstream. She admired his wide chest, then slid her gaze down his dark slacks and shoes that didn’t scream work shoes. Graham always had a good sense of fashion for a straight man. He also could easily pass for a thirty-one-year-old if it weren’t for the few white strands blending with his thick brown hair.

He found her, and halted for a moment. His navy blue eyes darkened to midnight black, and the contours of his handsome face tightened. Didn’t he like what she had picked? Insecurity poked at her, but she willed it away.

“Kate,” he mouthed and she could read his lips from several feet away.

She sashayed to him like a woman would to a date, with a slight swing at her hips and her eyes on his. Pretending to be a cool and collected femme fatale was far easier than ignoring the organic response her body darted at her every time she saw him. Her thighs were sticky with heat, and her clit throbbed at every step.

“You look . . .” he said when she angled close enough to smell his woodsy scent. Everything about Graham screamed virility, power, and hotness. She always wondered why he’d never married all those years—yet couldn’t hide her happiness at his bachelorhood. Any married man would be out of her league; she’d never mess with bad karma.

“Thank you,” she said. “Shall we go?”

He nodded, and gestured for her to go ahead.

Tension charged the drive to the restaurant. She kept bringing up current events and politics but he didn’t say much and acted like taking her out represented some obligation for him. Still, when they arrived at their destination, she smiled.

The hostess at the upscale seafood restaurant ushered them to a nice table on the beach. They could have stayed indoors but maybe fate was on her side—this time—and presented her with a gorgeous full moon outside and the dreamy sound from waves hitting the shore.

Tiki torches outlined the pathway, and crisp white linens adorned the beautifully set table. Maybe the location near the beach screamed cozy, but the number of glasses and cutlery hinted this was one of those fancy restaurants her father enjoyed visiting. Wait. Did he bring her here to impress her father? Or her? “I love this place. Do you come here often?”

“I used to,” he said, looking away.

“Is this where you bring your dates?” she asked, remembering her parents had mentioned some Amanda he’d dated on and off for a year.

“It’s a nice place,” he said, and his gaze collided with hers.

She winked at him, pretty sure she made him uncomfortable. “So I’m a date then.”

“No. I wanted to bring you somewhere nice. Your family has always been so good to me,” he said, and she remembered how Dad mentioned he’d met Graham through a church program her family managed. Grandfather had taken a liking to Graham, a man with real flaws and from an unsheltered world—unlike Dad.

“This is how I know this isn’t a date, Graham. You just told me the least sexy thing you would tell a woman.”

His lips curled at the corner of his mouth. “I don’t think of you as a woman.”

Not yet.“Strike three. Should I find a shrink before the night is over, or is my female confidence safe with you?” she said, adding a smile so he wouldn’t think she’d meant it.

“Sorry,” he said. “You’re a very beautiful, vibrant young woman who would never go for a guy like me,” he added, and she imagined he meant because of his close relationship to her father and family. When they’d entered the restaurant, every woman who crossed his way gave him an appraising glance. Graham could moonlight as a male model for expensive perfume ads.

He stared at her in silence. His eyes betrayed his speech for a moment and studied her in a way she wouldn’t peg for pure. She would have given anything to know what went on in his mind, but a man a good fifteen or twenty years his senior approached him from behind.

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