Page 23 of Token

The hell it does.That luggage was her shield, fortified and strengthened by the time passed.

He continued to toy with her, asking, “Say what? The truth?”

“I’m saying, why would you even bring that up?”

Seriously, the gall of the man. He had come toherasking for her services, and this was the way he behaved? Sitting there, legs spread like he owned the place as he needled her about a past she tried hard to forget. Some days she managed it better than others.

“Did you or did you not give your virginity to me?” He posed the question as if it were a frequent topic of everyday conversation, which of course it was not. Not by a long shot. Especially when they’d only ever talked about it once after the fact.

The memory of their first time together swamped her, his words ringing in her mind with the clarity of Dolby Digital Plus.“If I didn’t know better, I’d think this was your first time,” he’d half groaned once he was hilt-deep inside her.

Kennedy slammed her eyes shut, a brief respite from having to look at his face. His ridiculously gorgeous face. She willed herself not to think about it.

That he was purposely taking her on a trip down memory lane only made her angrier. Slitting her gaze toskewer him like a shish kebabrange, she pressed her lips together, refusing to rise to the bait because that was exactly what he wanted.

“Not admitting to it won’t change what happened.”

Kennedy literally had to sit on her hands to stop herself from reaching across her desk and wringing the obnoxiousness out of him. “What does one thing have to do with the other?” she asked snippily.

“What does you professing not to know me have to do with me being your first, is that what you’re asking?” Chuckling softly, Nate shook his head. “You can’t even say it.”

Cheeks on fire, Kennedy was a hairbreadth away from attempting to bodily remove him from her office. However, since he outweighed her by a good seventy pounds, he wouldn’t exactly be in danger of being manhandled. A good tongue-lashing, however, she could deliver.

There will be no tongue anything.

Again with this? For the love of God, would you please get your mind out of the gutter?

“I’m sayingwhoopee, we had sex, so what?”

His gaze sharpened on her. “You gavemeyour virginity.”

“And? The last I checked, that still counts as sex.”

“Are you saying it meant nothing?”

Kennedy lifted her shoulder in a negligent shrug, purposely evading the question. “I had to give it to someone eventually.”

An ominous stillness settled over her first-ever lover. “Yes, because I suppose at the age of nineteen you would have given your virginity to anyone who looked at you twice.” Despite the already hot eighty-two degrees outside, an early winter frost lurked in the depths of his blue eyes.

“First of all, I was eighteen, and it wasn’t as if we were in a relationship. What we had was a—was a—a series of—of one-night stands.” Okay, she’d blown that big-time. It was impossible to achieve convincing nonchalance without a smooth delivery.

But so what if she hadn’t lost her virginity earlier? Eighteen wasn’t exactly ancient. And she could honestly say that in high school, she hadn’t been ready, much to the frustration of two boyfriends who’d tried their best to cajole her into giving it up to them. Steadfast and true to her convictions, she’d been convinced she’d know when the time was right.

Then Nate materialized like a manna from the virginity gods, and she had known. Her body had definitely known. He’d hit every one of her buttons, and a few she hadn’t known existed. From their very first meeting, her attraction to him had skirted the edges of idolatry. It had also scared the shit out of her because she’d never felt that way before about anyone.

How he’d felt about her...? To this day she still didn’t know exactly. Had she been a notch on his bedpost? APretty Little Thing?A novelty? It was over before she was able to squirrel it out of him.

“A series of one-night stands over the course of four weeks?” A skeptical raised brow accompanied his question.

Kennedy bit back a growl of frustration. “Oh, for goodness’ sake, what I’m trying to say is that just because you took—that you were my—that we—that we had sex, it doesn’t mean that Iknowyou or that you know me.”

“I knowyouwell enough to call you on your bullshit, which is exactly what’s coming out of your mouth right now,” he stated baldly.

“Is this how you are with all the women you’veeverslept with? It’s been over ten years.”

Eleven years and five months, but really, who’s counting?

Certainly not you, Miss “After All These Years, Nate Vaughn Is STILL the Best Sex I Ever Had” Mitchell.

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