“You used to tell stories, when we were out on the boat—”
“About girls I thought were pretty back in high school?” He smiled ruefully. “Yeah, well. I did think they were pretty.”
I shook my head. It wasn’t fair for me to be upset, but…
“We were friends. I cared about you. And you knew I was queer. You could have toldme, even if you couldn’t tell anyone else. I wouldn’t have told anyone.”
He laughed. “Rafe. You were the last person I’d tell.”
“What? Why?”
“Because…” He shot me a look, then bit his lip and focused on the road. “You just were.” He shrugged.
I nodded slowly. “Well. If you need help with anything now that you’re out…” I shut my mouth quickly and cleared my throat. What was I about to offer right there? Advice? Instruction? Moral support for the next couple of days?
Jay grinned like he could read my mind. “I’m actually pretty sure I’ve had more experience with guys than you have, but thanks.”
I rolled my eyes. “I mean. You’re cute and all, but I doubt you’ve hadmoreexperiences since you didn’t get started until three years ago. But you’re welcome.”
Jay did that thing where he stretched his jaw from side to side, which seemed to be what he did when he got annoyed. No lie, it was starting to give me a little thrill every time he did it. “Once I broke the seal, I made up for lost time.” He cut his eyes to me. “So it’s not only possible, it’s almost definitely fact. Remember, I wasn’t dividing my energies sleeping with women.”
“Please. I haven’t slept with a woman in yea… Um.” I broke off with a little gurgling noise, remembering who I was talking to and all he didn’t know. “When I was in college, I once had three partners in a single night, one right after the other. So. Pretty freakin’ experienced.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Is that supposed to impress me? I’ve had three partners at once.”
“You have?” I cocked my head. “Really?”
His cheekbones flushed. “Okay,twopartners. Three of us total. And yes, really. It was after a show. I… I went back to their hotel room.”
“Was this in Vegas?” I demanded, remembering his words from earlier about the stories he could tell.
The idea of him with a pair of guys was undeniably hot. It also seemed seriously fucking dangerous, foranyonebut especially for him.
None of your business, Goodman.
“What? No,” Jay said, confused. “Peoria. FYI, Iowans are amazing lovers.”
“Peoria is in Illinois.”
His mouth opened and shut like a fish. “Whatever. We weren’t talking aboutgeographyat the time, if you catch my drift.” He cut his eyes to me again and added unnecessarily, “Because we were busy havingsex. Bountiful, sweat-ful sex.”
I rolled my eyes, pushing back an acute stab of highly inappropriate lust and even weirder and more inappropriate jealousy. “Yes. Thank you. Got that.” I made a face. “Sweat-ful. Tell me again what a brilliant wordsmith you are?”
“You don’t have to be all pissy,” he said in a smug voice that suggested he was enjoying my discomfort, “just because I’ve packed more sexual adventure into a few years than you have in a lifetime.”
“I’m not pissy! I don’tgetpissy,” I lied. Pissily. I uncrossed my arms, which had somehow crossed themselves over my chest. “And I don’t think we’ve established that you have. In fact, I was just now remembering one of my own, ah… adventures.” I hesitated, my mind completely blank.
“Oh yeah?” Jay challenged. “Adventures involving multiple partners?”
“No! Involving… involving… monster trucks.” I winced.
Of all my sex-related memories to dredge up, I’d picked the most embarrassing one.
His jaw dropped open. “You had sex in a monster truck?”
“I… No. Not exactly. Hey, should we stop for lunch soon? I’m hungry, and your metabolism—”
Jay would not be sidetracked. “My metabolism’s fine because I just ate my weight in pancakes a couple hours ago. And when you saynot exactly, does that mean yousort ofhad sex in a monster truck?”
