“Good, and if he hurts you, contact me.”
Staci hugged him again, laughed, and climbed into the front seat. “I can’t wait until you come back and we can get to know you better. I know you know Tony, but not on a personal level.”
“I look forward to it. I’ve already talked with Erin and I should be back here in six weeks.”
Tony had hopped out and gave him a bro hug, and shook his hand. “I’m looking forward to it.” They watched Shay grab his pack and enter the terminal, then Tony hopped behind the wheel and they made their way out of the airport. Neither said a word until Tony pulled into a hotel parking lot, and turned to her, without shutting off the truck.
“What do you think about getting a room, since we have today and tomorrow off. Go out to a nice restaurant for dinner, then get to know each other better without anyone judging us back home.”
“One, I don’t think they would judge us. Two, I don’t have any extra clothes with me, and three,” she paused and turned to him. “Why do we have to go out to dinner?” She looked over her shoulder at the hotel, then back at him. “This establishment looks like it would have room service.” She laughed as he lunged, and laughed harder when his seatbelt prevented him from reaching her.
She hopped out of the truck, and came around to him, but frowned when he stood there holding a bag. “What’s that?”
“I had planned this when I knew we were bringing Shay to the airport. You do have a change of clothes with you. I just grabbed some of the things you had left at my cabin.”
“Oh, I forgot about them.”
“Yes, we might not have started having sex yet, which I hope to rectify today, but we have been spending the night with each other.” They turned and walked into the hotel and were told there would be a room available in about an hour. They received their room keys, and with the time they had to wait, they went into the hotel’s restaurant, found a quiet table, placed their orders and only made small talk until their food arrived.
“Can I ask you something?” Tony asked halfway through their meal.
“Sure, what’s up?”
“I told you about my three serious relationships, what about you? How many serious boyfriends have you had? Not that it matters, because the past is the past, we’re moving forward and in my mind, you’re it for me.”
“Ah, thanks, but the answer is none. You are my first serious boyfriend.”
“Are you telling me you’re a virgin?” Tony had to lean as close as he could and whisper the question.
“Yes, is that going to be a problem?”
Tony sat there in shock for several moments, shook his head, and grinned as he resumed eating. “Nope.”
“You do have protection, right?”
“I do, I had to run into town for a feed order last week, I picked some up then.”
“Good.” She held her burger, then looked at himwith a heavy sigh. “I’ve never had a boyfriend before because I was too busy with school. I think I told you this before but I was taking college courses while still in high school, and it only took three years to get my PhD in bio-engineering slash bio-mechanics. Once I received my doctorate, I threw myself into my work. Besides,” she paused, took a bite of her burger, then shook her head sadly. “I learned early on not to trust boys.”
“Why?”
“When they found out how smart I was, and remember, my parents refused to allow me to physically skip grades and start college before I was seventeen, but the boys at school would ask me out, only to want me to do their homework for them.”
“Ah, users.”
“Correct, after the fifth one in my sophomore year said that, I went to the principal and told them what they were doing, I know it was a bad move on my part, but I told the principal that I refuse to be used, that if these boys, because that was what they were, little whiny boys that didn’t get their way, then I would out them to the teachers.” She shook her head as she remembered that part of her life. “Every single one of these whiny boys were on some sports teams. They had already been threatened by the teachers that if they didn’t maintain their grades, then they would be kicked off the team. I could have understood, and helped if they hadaskedme to tutor,or help them. Nope, theydemandedthatI dothe work for them. That doesn’t fly in my book. They were just like the professors, so I guess entitled little whiny boys come in all ages.”
“I don’t know if I understand why you would want to do that.”
“Because when I refused to help them, they started spreading rumors about me. About how easy I was, but we never even held hands, hugged, or even kissed. They only wanted me todotheir homework, not tutor them, do the work for them, because they were jocks and if they didn’t maintain their grades they would have been kicked off their team. Whether it be basketball, football, baseball. Several of them were seniors and were skating on thin ice. Oh, and several of them had people coming to watch their games, I think they were called scouts, but I refused to help them after they demanded I do their work.”
“Wow, I feel something happened.” Tony looked at her with a smirk when her face lit up.
“Yep.”
“Dare I ask what?”
“When the principal didn’t do anything, I went to the head coach, he told me it was my duty to help his boys out so they can get ahead in life. When I asked him what about me, and my education, he flat out told me that a woman’s place was to stay home.”
