“More?”
“They normalized blow jobs. Most of the girls were giving them. In fact, they said it didn’t even count as sex.”
“And what did you think?”
Her mouth twisted. “I thought that taking a guy’s cock in your mouth was more intimate than intercourse.”
Were they really sitting here discussing teenage sexual practices? How the hell had that happened? Nick sought another subject because this was not at all what he’d had in mind, but before he could think of anything, she spoke again.
“When did you lose your virginity?”
Shit.This was reverse “in vino veritas.”
But if that was what she wanted to discuss, he’d humor her.
“Late,” he said.
“How old were you?”
“Twenty-one.” Before he could stop himself, he added, “It was my birthday.”
“Wow.” She poured herself more wine. “Your first legal alcoholic drink paired with your first lay.”
He tensed, expecting her to ask for details, but she didn’t. He wasn’t about to tell her that he’d visited the Blonde Bombshell Bordello near Reno, intending to pay for just one night, but ended up staying at the brothel for the whole week. Nor that what he experienced there shaped his view of sex and intimacy forever. Looking back, he realized the striking Nordic woman he’d chosen looked a lot like Jannie.
She must have read something in his expression because her eyes gleamed, reflecting the fire in the pit. “What have you learned in ten years, Nicholas?”
Oh, you have no idea.
Ropes, cuffs, blindfolds …
Wait, had she just called him by his full first name?
“What did you learn?” she repeated.
She wasn’t dropping it.
He thought a moment. “Self-discipline.”
“That’s evident.” Her gaze lingered on him so intensely that he became fully aroused, and it struck him that this was happening without the usual setting and trappings. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d gotten hard just because a woman was studying him. And one who wasn’t tied up and on her knees, at that.
He watched her lick a bit of dried chocolate off her knuckle and resisted the urge to adjust himself.
“How often do you work out?”
His shoulders relaxed in relief at her departure from what he found to be a very uncomfortable subject.
This, he could talk about. “Daily, except Sundays.”
She smiled. “Is that when you hit the sweets hard?”
“A reward day is key to maintaining the regimen. Gotta havesomefun.”
“My brothers love to work out.”
“I don’t.” He smirked. “The best part of working out is having exercised.”
“How long did it take you to turn into”—she made a sweeping motion toward his body with her hand—“that?”
