Page 44 of Nitro

She eyed him with huge, serious eyes and whispered back, “Okay.”

“You can have that bath later,” he said, ready to have her naked, even if he didn’t get to see it. Unless he renegotiated their agreement. Too bad he couldn’t ask He suddenly wanted to wake Big . He’d trained him to think outside the box and exploit situations.

Wait. He could text him.

****

Maybe by tomorrow she’d be able to shut her shocked mouth.

Catch your dang head. Catch. Your dang. Head.

“Comfortable?”

She took the coffee from his extended hand, surecomfortablewould never apply anywhere at this place. “It’s uh, perfect,” she said, hating to lie, but hell, she didnothave the words to express what she felt.

“I should’ve warned you,” he muttered, sitting across from her in the small room so full of greenery it reminded her of a tropical forest. He’d changed into something more comfortable which was loose black flannels and a black muscle shirt. Jesus, save her. She stared at the coffee in her cup, feeling doomed. How would shenotstare at all that?

“How was your visit with your friends this afternoon?”

Ah shit. The sexual inexperience visit. She took a sip of the coffee and gave an “Mmmm. This is good!”

He waited.

She circled the top of the cup with a finger, giving him a smile. “It was fine. Same silliness as always. Dumb…married women girl stuff.”

He nodded, his mouth hinting with a smile. “No idea what that is,” he admitted. “You tell them about our arrangement?”

Shit. “I did,” she said, keeping her voice light. Was just an arrangement. “They had all kinds of questions. Ring gave it away,” she said, flashing her hand up then tucking it back into her lap.

“How’d they take it?”

“You know…like bored drama mommas do. I’m the latest, greatest soap opera now.” She pulled at her shorts, wishing they were three feet longer. His eyes kept straying to her bare legs, making her wonder why and what he thought. She was fit and believed in tanning. That was her onegirlindulgence. “I told them about me wanting a baby and boy that blew up in my face.”

His grin ran circles in her stomach. “How so?”

“Well… sex is a hot topic with those three.”Tell him now. Just get it out.“Which brings me to something I feel you have a right to know.”

“And what’s that?”

Lord, his tone. Felt more seductive than ever for some reason. And his gaze. Maybe he was tired. He was definitely relaxed.

“Well…” She turned the coffee cup round and round in her hand. “It’s only fair you know what you’re getting. Or not.” She smashed her lips together then wet them. “This is awkward. I know it’s just biology, I’m just not used to speaking freely about it. Specially to a man. Because I havezeroexperience. With men. Hell, when you mentioned sealing the deal with a kiss, I may have panicked just a little. Or a lot.” She ran into his gaze and the boil in them sent her own straight to her lap. “I know it’s not rocket science but if there’s a right and wrong way with that, I havenoidea what it is. But I can learn anything and I’m a fast learner. I’m sure you realize if I have zero experience with that then I have negative zero with the rest of what goes after it. And you did come up by the way. Your past and what not,” she hurried on, not about to pause the conversation on her not knowing a single sexual thing. “They had tons of rumors to spread about you. None of which I believe,” she assured, flashing him a look, and even managing to hold it. “I know how rumors are, there’s two sides and usually the one side being rumored is stretched thin. Of course…maybe they are true, I don’t know, and really, it has no bearing on who you are now.”

“Which rumor?” he asked, his voice still silky low.

“Just teenage years, silly stuff.”

“Like?” he pressed.

Dammit, she didn’t like repeating it. “How about you tell me your past if you want me to know it rather than us discuss what other people think they know.”

He lowered his smile. “That bad, huh? Porn addict? Spy? Stalker?” He met her gaze. “Those rumors?”

“Like I said, silly,” she muttered.

His head slowly shook as he stared right at her. “Not silly. Fairly accurate.”

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