Page 12 of Always Yours

I fix her with a glare. “Right, because I always lie to you.”

She starts to stutter and shakes her head. “Shit, you’re serious.”

I know it’s more of a rhetorical question, but I still nod my head. “Yep. I’m serious.”

Her mouth is hanging open. “But why? It doesn’t make sense. Women throw themselves at you.”

I roll my eyes at her. “I don’t just sleep with anyone that shows interest in me.”

She nods. “I know that, but that still doesn’t explain how you haven’t had sex in… years.”

I lift one leg on the couch and turn to face her. She’s sitting the same way, and our legs are touching. “Are you sure you want to know?”

She looks at me worriedly for a second. “Oh my God, Austin.” She puts her hand to her mouth and whispers, “Do you have something?”

I rear back in surprise. “What? No, of course not. Geez, if you want to know it all, I’ve slept with three women, and I’ve wrapped it up every time.”

She pushes her hand against my chest. “Bullshit, Austin. There’s no way you’ve only slept with three women. We’re in our thirties.”

I take a deep breath and let it out. “The first was in college and uh, I was stupid. It meant nothing. The second one was—”

She cuts me off, holding up her hand with a disgusted look on her face. “I don’t want to hear about women you’ve slept with.”

I nod, understanding. Every time I think of her with the baby’s father, I want to punch something. “I get it. I don’t want to talk about men you’ve slept with.”

She nods and then tilts her head. “Okay, I have to ask. Why? Why haven’t you slept with a woman in so long?”

I rub my hand which is sweaty down the thighs of my shorts. “I’m not talking about this with you.”

She laughs. “Oh hell no, you can’t drop a bombshell like that and then not tell me the story. Why have you not—”

I don’t want to hear her saysexagain because it puts all kinds of images in my head. “Because I can’t… you know…”

She curls her nose up. “You can’t…. What… get it up?” If that’s not bad enough, she points her finger out straight and then makes it limp.

I grab on to her hand. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”

She’s shaking her head before I even finish and starts to laugh. “But that’s not true… it works… I felt it. I mean, I felt it against my foot. You can definitely get hard.”

I don’t let go, but I do let our hands fall onto my leg between us. “You’re right, Ally. I can definitely get hard… with you.”

She points at herself as her eyes widen. “With me?”

I can’t help but laugh. Does she really not have any idea? “Yes, when I think of you, when I see you, when I touch you… I’m hard.”

She pulls away from my hand and tries to scoot back, but I grab on to her waist to hold her still. “Where do you think you’re going? You wanted to talk about this, and you’re right. It’s past time. I think we need to talk about this. It’s about time we got it out in the open, don’t you think?”

She sounds as if she’s about to burst into tears. “You’re lying to me, Austin.”

I deny it instantly. “I’m not lying to you.”

She crosses her arms over her ample chest. Her red hair is wild around her head, her lips are puckered, and her eyes are wet. “I don’t need you to feel sorry for me.”

“Feel sorry for you?” I burst out. “I don’t feel sorry for you. What are you talking about?”

She points at her belly and then waves it up and down her body. “So I’m supposed to believe that you’re attracted to all this?”

“Yes, because I am.”

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