He spoke against her hand. “I didn’t know where we would be when the moment hit us, so I stashed kits all around the building.” Gesturing behind himself at the small storage cabinet by his workstation, he added, “Second shelf from the top. I labeled it.”
Rose smiled at the sheer Keys-ness of this entire moment. A labeled sex kit. This man, who had annotated parenting books with highlighters and sticky notes and had built a neuromuscular interrogation system and named it the Grand Theft Autonomy Jamboree hadof coursecreated and labeled sex kits, which he then proceeded to stash around the building.
A part of her wondered if any of the Riley brothers had discovered one, but then also realized she didnotwant to know the answer to that question.
She loved him so much in that moment it was almost inconceivable.
“Keys,” she said, lowering her hand so he could speak unhindered again.
He gave her a sheepish look, “Yeah?”
Rose reached up and straightened his glasses. “Thank you for being so responsible.”
The pink in his cheeks deepened. “You’re laughing at me.”
As seriously as she could, she said, “I’m really not.” She took his face in her hands. “I am in awe of you.”
“Yeah?” Though repeated, this time there was a spark of hope, even a bit of humor, in the word.
Rose nodded and leaned forward to kiss him. “Why don’t yougo get your sex kit? I’m assuming you also provided the instruction manuals and safety data sheets for everything inside?”
“Of course,” he said, not picking up on her sarcasm. “What if one of us has an allergic reaction and the doctors need to know exactly what we touched?”
Rose couldn’t help it. Gripping his face, she pulled him down to her. Behind them, as candy and chips were crushed beneath her weight, the fondue fountain completed its journey to the floor.
Neither of them noticed.
* * *
There wasa stigma attached to virgin men, like they were somehow lessman. While arguably, the opposite was said for women who had had sex. Even a number of romance novels that Rose read had the virgin woman to the experienced man, ormen. Rose was not ashamed that she wasn’t a virgin—because changing that would wish Oscar out of existence—but a part of her did wish that she was experiencing her first time with Keys, thatKeyswas the only man to have ever touched her body.
The last time Rose had had sex, she’d been nineteen and would wake up not to kisses or intimate touches, but to her lover telling her that he planned to bring some men over to her house later that day to “inspect” her, to see which one would want to pay him the right to use her. Rose had been so confused, so hurt, that she hadn’t even fully processed what had been happening until she was being dressed up in lingerie and high heels. While no man had touched her that night, she would never forget the memory of listening to their offers, the lewd ways they proclaimed they wanted to use her body. Like she was nothing more than a malleable doll.
When she’d run and put Kennedy into prison, even before shediscovered her pregnancy, she thought she was finished with sex. At nineteen and done.
She’d never been so grateful, sothrilled, to be wrong.
Kissing Keys was akin to sticking her finger in an electrical socket. Energy buzzed under her skin, dancing like a live current. His touch was magnetic and addictive.
Keys moaned against her mouth. “I want to claim every inch of your body, but like being presented with a giant buffet, I don’t know where to start.”
The snort left her before she could stop it. When hurt flashed across his face, Rose quickly tried to explain. “I’m so sorry. What you said was romantic, really. But after the banana comment, it just came out of me.”
Keys blinked down at her. Rose feared that she’d ruined the moment, but then Keys reached over her head. Bringing his hand back, she couldn’t see what he had before he traced his finger down her cheek, and she immediately smelled the chocolate. He dipped his head down and licked up the side of her face.
“Just for that, I’m not sharing this.” He grabbed another scoop of chocolate and dribbled it over her mouth, chin, and neck before sticking his fingers inside his own mouth and sucking off the delicious goodness.
Rose’s eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared. “Don’t stand between me and chocolate. You won’t like the consequences.”
Keys raised an eyebrow before dipping his head and licking up the side of her neck. “I think I’ll take my chanc?—”
Before the sentence was out of his mouth, Rose grabbed up the first thing she could reach, which turned out to be a handful of gummy worms, and smashed it into his face.
“Oh my God!” Keys shouted, shooting upright. “It’s in my nose!”
As Keys moved backwards, gummy worms falling down the front of him, Rose did indeed see a worm sticking out of his nose.But that did not stop her. Sitting up on the table, she pushed herself off and tackled Keys to the floor.
Unfortunately, her leg caught on the table’s edge on the way down, which turned the table and all its contents came crashing down on top of them, too. But by sheer luck, Keys landed next to a piece of the chocolate fondue fountain they’d already knocked over.
