Regan stared up at him and hesitated.
“It’s not important.”
But it was. He could see that. “Tell me,” he said gently. “I know I was an asshole. I was a dumb boy who wanted to get laid, and you weren’t the girl for that.”
She sat up, pulling on the sheets to hide her nudity. “Why would you say that? Was I that unattractive?”
“What? No. You were always a beautiful girl.”
Regan made a face. “I was chubby and wore glasses.”
He kissed her nose. “You were still cute as hell.”
“Really?” Regan played with the edge of the sheet. “And that’s why you asked me to prom?”
Okay. They were getting into some tricky territory here. “Totally.”
“You’re lying.”
He was, but he didn’t want her to know that.
“You asked me to prom because you lost a bet to Sean McAdams.”
Dumbfounded, he stared at her, mouth open. “How did you know that?”
“He told me prom night. At about the same time I walked in on you with Lana Parsons.” She looked away. “Everyone knew except me, and that was hard.” She glanced back at Wyatt. “I would have you know, with you, I would have had sex that night. In fact, I planned on it. Thought about it for days.”
“I had no idea.”
“No. I guess you didn’t.”
“Babe, I’m so sorry.”
She shrugged. “It’s not your fault that my juvenile fantasies weren’t exactly on the same page as yours. I should have known. God, I should have known.”
Silence fell between them, and Wyatt inched closer to Regan. He thought back to that night. To her tearstained face. The mud on her dress. The tear in that same dress.
“What happened, Regan?”
Her lower lip trembled, and she exhaled slowly. “I decided that I wanted to be like everyone else. That I was going to have alcohol and sex.” She looked at him and shrugged. “So, I did. I had too much to drink, and I went out to the boathouse with Damien Allero, and I had sex. It was awful because I didn’t like him all that much. It hurt, and I was ashamed, and as soon as it was over I ran. I fell down, ripped my dress, and of course, you were the first person I saw right after it happened.”
“Shit. Regan, I…?
??
“No.” She shook her head and leaned toward him. “The past is gone, Wyatt. It’s over and there’s no use dwelling on it. As cliché as that sounds, it’s the truth. That night made me strong. As shitty as it was, I was stronger, because I realized that I would never give myself to a boy or a man unless I wanted to. I was never going to settle.”
He pulled her in close and rested his chin on the top of her head. “I love you,” he whispered. “And I’m sorry.”
“I know. But there is something you can do to make it better.”
He smiled. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “You know that thing where you…”
“Yeah.” His hands pulled the covers back, and he pressed her into the pillow. She gasped when his mouth closed over her nipple.
“And then you…”