Aching for the Mountain Man - Page 8

“Mmm.” He opened his eyes and looked down at me. “I like it when you say my name.”

My breath caught. This was all so much. Almost too much. I was on sensory overload. At the same time, I didn’t want to do anything that might ruin this for me.

I guess I hadn’t thought through what coming here to lose my virginity actually meant. I never thought about deceiving a guy into sleeping with a virgin. I wouldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair to him. But now that I’d met Mac, the thought of not being completely upfront was almost laughable.

No, I had to tell this guy the truth. About everything. For the rest of my life.

Yes, I was thinking about the rest of my life all of a sudden. Specifically, I was thinking about spending the rest of my life with this guy.

“I’m a virgin.”

The word came out as basically word vomit. Just one big burst. I waited, holding my breath, staring directly at him as I tried to decipher his reaction. Slowly, his features hardened and a line formed between his eyebrows. That was definitely a frown.

“A…virgin?” he asked.

He said the word as though it was completely foreign to him. Maybe it was. Guys like Mac probably didn’t run into too many virgins. He was probably used to experienced women throwing themselves at him, not women like me, who still had so much to learn.

“My friends and I saw that video that went viral of Jax,” I said. “We decided this town was probably full of guys just like him. Single, hot, perfect for our first time.”

He blinked several times in rapid succession. It was clear he was trying to process all of this.

“So, you came here to lose your virginity?” he asked. “You and your friends?”

I could feel it. A wall going up between us. I waited for it to bother me that I might have just jeopardized my chances of reaching my goal today.

But that wasn’t what bothered me. Not at all. No, what bothered me was the thought that I might be losing this guy. That he’d put a wall between us. It was a wall I wanted to tear down.

“That was before I met you, though,” I said. “Now that I’ve met you…it’s different.”

His features softened slightly, or maybe that was wishful thinking. All I knew was I felt my chance to keep him in my life slipping away. I had to lay it all out on the line, even if it meant I might scare him off for completely different reasons.

“I’ve never felt anything like this before,” I said. “We have a connection. Is it my imagination?”

Now the frown completely disappeared. He looked almost relieved.

“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” he said.

I didn’t even try to suppress the smile that spread over my face at that news. “What are we waiting for then?”

But there was still uncertainty in his expression. “I don’t think this should be your first time. I want to make it special.”

I looked around. “Are you kidding? This is a story we can tell our grandchildren.”

He threw his head back and laughed at that. I loved the sound of his laugh. I loved everything about him.

Did that mean I loved him? Maybe not yet, but I was getting there.

“I don’t think this is a story we’ll be telling our grandkids someday,” he said. “Maybe our friends.”

“I can totally see sharing this story with my friends. I guarantee my first time story will beat theirs.”

“Oh, so it’s a competition?” he asked.

I shook my head. “If it were a competition, I’d have already won.”

His hands started moving up my back, proving just how true the statement was. I’d won big with this guy, and I wasn’t going to do anything to mess it up.

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