“Don’t you want them to be a surprise?”
I thought about it for a moment and finally nodded.“Si.Surprise me,bella.”
“You got it …bonazzo.” Her smile grew even bigger until her nose crinkled in the most adorable way.
My eyes went wide, and my brows hiked up my forehead.“You just called me a ‘super hot guy.’”
“I know.”Color filled her cheeks, but she didn’t look away from me.Yeah, there was definitely something different about her from the night before.A newfound confidence, maybe?A calmness too.Whatever it was, I liked it.It made me want to be more playful too.To keep the banter and vibe flowing.
“What happened last night after I left you?”I asked as we rumbled down the old island road, periodically passing other vehicles, and always on the lookout for hippies on bicycles.
“What do you mean?”
“You seem … different,bella.Not in a bad way.Just … calmer.More playful.Less …shy, I suppose.”
If it were even possible, her cheeks grew even darker red, and she finally glanced out the passenger-side window.“I was a virgin when I married Rufus.I was nineteen; he was fifty-four.”
We were nearly at my property now, but I wasn’t sure if I should keep driving so she could continue, or simply take us home and maybe she’d bring the story out of the truck.Either way, I wanted to hear it.
“He is theonlyman I have ever been with.”
Whoa.
I turned down my driveway, taking it slow past the fence.All the horses and donkeys—even Piñata—lifted their heads to watch us pass.
“He was a brute.Big, hairy, unhygienic, misogynistic.My pleasure wasnevereven on his radar, let alone a priority.I would lie there, counting the ceiling tiles—forty-six in case you were curious—just waiting for him to finish so I could go shower.”
I parked the truck and turned off the ignition, then reached across the bench seat for her hand.She glanced sideways at our now laced fingers, but continued to watch the horses in the field outside the passenger window.
“You’d think that in the last ten years since being free of him, I’d date and try to makemypleasure a priority for once.But I haven’t.I almost thought I was asexual or had hypoactive sexual desire disorder—which is a thing I didn’t even know existed.I just never found myself attracted to anyone—man or woman—and I had no desire to be intimate with a man, or even myself.”
She finally met my eyes; sincerity and uncertainty burned back at me.
“Until I met you.”
I squeezed her hand.
“Last night,” she swallowed, “after our kisses, I felt almost … electrically charged.I don’t know.I can’t explain it.But that was the first time in my life, I ever felt any kind of true desire to feel pleasure.So I, um …” She broke eye contact again, this time staring down at our knitted fingers.“I touched myself.To thoughts of you.Of us.”
She hedged a veiled glance my way through her lashes, then quickly dropped it back to our fingers.“I had my very first orgasm last night.And then I had four more.”
I was trying so hard to keep my reactions to a minimum, but what she told me right then was nothing short of mind-boggling.Her first ever orgasm at thirty-two?
She lifted her gaze once more to mine.“I get it if you’re not ready, but just so you know … I am.I like you, Tom.I feel safe with you.I’m attracted to you, and when …if,you are ready, or would like to take our relationship to the next level, I want you to know that I want it too.With you.Please.”Her lips twisted in an impossibly cute way, and all I could do at that point was unbuckle my seat belt, grab her by the back of the neck, and crush my mouth to hers.
While kissing me back, she unbuckled her belt as well, and soon, our hands were all over each other as we made out in the cab of the truck.
Out of breath, and with the windows all fogged up, we parted.Her lips were plump and puffy, and her eyes held that slightly drunk, glazed-over look.“Bella,” I murmured, pressing a kiss to her brow bone.“I have not been with another woman since Erin.And I didn’t think I ever would be.That I would everwantto be again.Then I met you.”
She blinked those long lashes at me, and a small, almost timid smile tipped her mouth.
“I tried to fight my attraction to you.I felt guilty at first for thinking such thoughts about another woman, but you are in here,bella.”I tapped my heart.“And here.”Then I tapped my head.“And I would not take the gift you are offering me lightly.You deserve to be worshipped, Danica.To have your body laid out and caressed, kissed, and licked until every part of you trembles with pleasure.”
Her mouth parted just slightly, and a faint “Yes” escaped her.
“Come,bella.Mouse can wait.”Then I kissed her again, chastely this time, before untangling our arms and opening up my driver’s side door.“We have much to do today.”
“Yeah, I need to see your tattoo.”
