I laugh.“Whoa, dude!Whatyoudid?I think I did some stuff, too.”
“I took your virginity.You deserve the utmost in respect and care, and I’m honored to provide it.”
“Say what?Hello?Are we trapped in an old-timey romance novel or something?”
“A what?”
I sit up.He sits up.
“That statement—my duty to marry you—sounds like a line of dialogue from one of those black-and-white movies Phyllis makes me watch with her.Or wait—how far back should we go?The Middle Ages?Do I need to provide a dowry?I might be able to rustle up a pig and a couple goats, but—”
He’s on me.His mouth is all over mine and his hands are gripping my ass, and this is not fair.In the past, he couldn't shut me up by kissing me because kissing wasn’t part of our deal.Now it is, and I can’t fight it.I can’t fight him when he’s on me like this.
I don’t want to.
I throw my arms around his neck and press myself against him.The kiss goes on and on, and eventually, I understand that this isn’t about shutting me up.It’s just a new way we can communicate with each other.
And Declan is telling me that everything will be all right.That he will take care of me.
His face looks tortured when we separate.
“Declan, you don’t have to do this.You’re a very good man, a very honorable man, but you aren’t obligated to marry me.”
“Of course I am.You’re a virgin, Summer.”
“Not anymore!”
He points at me.“Exactly!Not anymore!I took that from you.I didn’t have the right.We absolutely have to get married.I have to do right by you.You deserve nothing less.”
“Are youdone?”I ask.
He slouches.“Yeah.”
“You didn’t take anything from me, Declan.It was my choice to lose my virginity.And I’m damn glad about it, too.I told you what I wanted, and you gave it to me.I’ve waited a long time for it, and it was awesome.So thank you.”
He’s still upset.
“This isn’t a ‘you break it, you buy it’ situation, okay?”
That gets a chuckle out of him.But then I suddenly realize something.“Wait.Hold up.Am I your first virgin?”
“Are you?”His answer comes in the form of a question.
“Am I the first woman you’ve asked to marry you?Let me rephrase that—am I the first woman you’veorderedto marry you?”
“Perhaps that’s none of your business.”
I laugh.“So, that’s how our blessed union is going to work?You’re going to tell me to shut my trap and mind my own beeswax?I never knew marriage could be so magical, Declan!”
“Of course you’re the first, Summer!What a question!And I refuse to fuck this up or dishonor you.You’re the kind of woman a man marries and keeps with him his whole life.”
“Aman?Which man?”
“This man.”
“Just checking.”
“We’re getting married.Now.”
