“That’s none of your business.”
I sat forward, her words propelling me. Her thinking her sex life wasn’t my business sparked something in me. What, I didn’t know, being completely unfamiliar with the feeling.
“Besides, freshman year was my first and only time having a roommate. I learned my lesson early on. You weren’t the only guy Tracey had in and out of our room that year.”
I snorted. I was well aware of that. Tracey had been a one-time thing. I moved on almost as soon as I’d pulled out of her, but I didn’t need to tell Deborah all of that.
“Where are you from?”
Deborah looked at me, again taken aback by my line of question. But I wouldn’t take it back. I wanted to know more about her and I needed her to tell me.
“Why?”
“Because I want to know.”
“Where are you from?”
“Williamsport.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Oh.”
“You’ve heard of it, I’m assuming.”
“Of course.”
“Great. Now your turn.”
She hesitated, then rested her chin in the palm of her hand as her elbow leaned on the wooden desk. She stared at me for a few silent moments, contemplating. She tried to appear confident, nonchalant, but her eyes gave her away. I was certain she didn’t even realize it but her eyes revealed embarrassment.
“Beattyville, Kentucky.”
I squinted. “Never heard of it.”
She snorted. “You wouldn’t have. It’s a tiny town in eastern Kentucky, in the heart of Appalachia. Nothing like the big city of Williamsport, though we do have a little claim to fame.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“Ten years ago, President Johnson visited our town on one of his many stops to gain support for his War on Poverty.”
I lifted my eyebrows remembering that particular tour. “That’s where you’re from?”
She swallowed. “That’s where I’m from. One of, if notthepoorest region in the country. But heck, I got to shake the president’s hand when I was eleven so there’s that.”
I’d also shaken President Johnson’s hand, once, but under very different circumstances. It was actually at a gala event that my father hosted at our home, Townsend Manor, but that information didn’t need to be a part of this conversation.
“We come from two very different worlds,” Deborah stated.
I’d known as much since the first time I met her. It may have been what drew me to her in the first place. Again, I kept that thought to myself. Instead, I glanced around the interior of the room we sat in and then let my gaze fall back to her, saying, “But we’re in the same world right now.”
The room fell silent as we gazed at one another. No words were needed as the air crackled around us.
I leaned in, as did Deborah, our lips closing in on one another’s … but just before they touch the goddamned door of the room burst open.
“Robert, man, I’ve been looking for you.”
“What the hell do you want?” I exploded on Jack Lassiter. He was something of a friend to me; however, he’d just interrupted the most important first kiss I was about to have. I felt that even before our lips touched.
Jack’s brown eyes widened in fear. “Sorry, man, but this is important.”
