Page 19 of Reversal of Fate

“We’re not in my room.” She winked at him. “Yet.” Then she stepped back and took his hand.

He let her lead him to the stairs, and together they walked to the second floor. She opened the door to her room and entered, still holding his hand.

Automatically, he shut the door behind him and pulled her into his arms. Moonlight streamed in from the window, but otherwise it was dark.

“We should close the curtains,” Julie suggested.

“So you can have your way with me?” Carter said.

“So I can put the light on.”

Carter turned to the window and pulled the curtains shut. Julie switched on the bedside lamp. It provided just enough light to see everything he wanted to see.

He looked at Julie. She appeared a little lost, as if she was suddenly getting cold feet. He went to her and tipped her chin up with his fingers.

“May I promise you something?” he asked.

“Promise me what?”

“That I won’t undress myself. You’ll be the one to undress me, if that’s what you want. Okay?”

“But don’t you want to…”

“Don’t think about what I want. Think about what you want, what you feel comfortable with. That’s the first rule tonight.”

“If there’s a first rule, what’s the second?”

“You’ll decide if and when to take off your clothes. If you want me to help you with that, you’ll just have to ask.”

“Good.” Julie put her hands on his chest and started undoing the buttons of his shirt.

He took her hands, stilled them. “There’s no rush, Julie, you don’t have to prove anything to me.”

“I’m not doing this to prove anything to you. I’m doing it because I want to feel you. I’ve waited long enough.”

“We only just met.”

She sighed. “I don’t know whether you’ll understand, but I always wondered if I would know when it was the right time, or whether I was just afraid of… you know…”

“Sex?” he asked with a smirk.

“Yes, that. It turns out that I wasn’t afraid of… losing my virginity. But I was afraid of losing it to the wrong guy.” She looked into his eyes. “It’s the right time. And you’re the right one.”

He hoped that she would still think the same once she found out where he was from, and what his mission was. He wanted to tell her the truth. He wanted to come clean, but he knew what would happen if he did this tonight in the wake of Julie almost being drugged—and raped—by Todd. She would lose her trust in men completely, and shut him out. He couldn’t let that happen. He had to show her that he cared about her happiness. Even if that meant hiding the truth from her tonight.

“So you want me to take this shirt off,” Carter said.

“See, now you get it. You’re not just a pretty face,” Julie joked.

He shook his head, laughing. Then he finished unbuttoning his shirt and shrugged it off, tossing it toward the chair. “Is that what you want?”

He noticed her looking at his hairless chest, a look of approval in her eyes.

“Can you help me with my dress?” she murmured, her voice sounding husky all of the sudden.

He reached behind her with both hands and found the zipper. Inch by inch, he pulled it down with one hand, while he let his other hand glide onto her skin. He caressed her back.

Julie closed her eyes and sighed. “Kiss me.”