Petula pulled away from his chest at that, and regarded him carefully as if searching for a lie.
“I swear to God,” he pledged, not flinching.
“Wow. Talk about something I wasn’t expecting,” she marveled, then her eyes widened. “Does that mean you’re…?”
Clearly, she couldn’t finish her question, so Julian put her out of her misery with a chuckle. “No. I’m not a virgin. Far from it.” He hated to sound like a man-whore, but his past was his past, and honesty was something to which they’d been sticking. He had to let her know that his awkward phase had eventually come to an end.
“Once I finished my growth spurt and graduated from high school, I went right into the Air Force, and my whole life changed. It didn’t take long to, uh, find ladies who liked the uniform. So when I was on leave, I tended to…sample what was made available.”
Petula actually grinned and patted his pecs. “Good. One of us needs to know what the hell they’re doing when we get down to it.”
Julian nearly swallowed his tongue.
“I… Get down to it?” he squeaked. “As in, you’re sure we’re going to…?”
Now it was his turn to grow beet red and end a sentence, tongue-tied.
“Well,” her lashes lowered, her blush continuing. “I kind of hope that’s where we’re headed, because unlike the other two guys I, um, tried things with, I actually feel things for you that never happened before. Things in my body,” she clarified.
Julian felt like he was on a rollercoaster. One minute he’d been ready to take down Petula’s enemies with his bare hands, and the next, his heart was threatening to beat out of his chest, and his cock was fast rising at the picture she was painting.
Her body had been responding to him, she said.Halle-fucking-luiah.
“Petula,” he said gravely, shifting his hips before she got a load of his stirring lap-monster and ran away screaming. “I…” He cleared his throat. “I might be having a bit of a reaction to those words right now, so if that’s going to scare you, you might need to back away and keep your distance.”
Instead of taking his advice, her eyes lit with an interested twinkle. She looked down at the front of his pants, parted her lips and did not shy away.
Shit.Julian wanted to smack his head.We have lift off.
“Mmm,” she responded impishly to his growing bulge. “That looks pretty impressive,” she told him, then wrinkled her nose. “It’s a lot bigger than what I’ve dealt with before, but I’m sure we can make things work.”
Julian didn’t like the way she said “dealt with”. That’s not how one should feel about sex. He needed to fix those misconceptions right the hell now.
“Petula,” he began, reaching for and taking her hands in his once again. “Sex is supposed to be fun. And fulfilling. I think it’s important that you tell me why you haven’t liked it before. If it’s because of your past, I fully understand, and we can work to make you more comfortable with…everything, before things go any further with us.”
She shook her head. “I’ve had lots of therapy, Julian. Statler insisted, and we actually found someone who really helped. I’ve understood for a long time that nothing that happened at the Bothwin’s was my fault, and that all men aren’t animals.”
He nodded, knowing she had more to say.
“Here’s how things proceeded for me.” She took a cleansing breath. “After a year or so of therapy, when I was feeling more confident about life in general, I started attending a community college. That’s where I met Matt. He was everything the Bothwin’s weren’t. He was sweet, shy, and he had lots of friends who were very good people. That’s why I gave up my virginity to him.” Her smile grew. “Whatwasn’tideal, though, was that he was a virgin, too, so he had no clue what he was doing. But the fumbling ended up making me feel more confident. I didn’t throw up. I didn’t run away screaming. I wasn’tbroken.I was just a rookie. Matt and I parted as friends.”
“And the second time?” Julian asked. Not because he wanted to pry, but because he felt like he needed to know what he was up against.
“Ah. The second time.” She nodded. “I picked a bad-boy for my next attempt,” she told him, but she was still smiling.
Julian guessed the guy couldn’t have been atruereprobate.
“Gleason was good looking, he had swagger, and he talked a really good game, which I thought was what I needed. Someonewith experience who might be able to show me what all the hype was about.”
She let out a giggle, maybe the first Julian had heard from her, and it was cute as hell.
“Boy oh boy, could that guy kiss.”
Julian felt a growl grow in his chest, but he forcibly tamped it down. Petula didn’t need him to go all alpha when she was so openly sharing with him.
“So at least I learnedthatfrom him,” Petula stated.
She was staring at Julian’s lips and her tongue poked out.
