My steps stutter just inside the door.
He turns to me, and my stomach clenches. He’s hard again. Already. This knowledge has me equal parts elated and terrified. Am I really going to go through with this?
He’s studying me, worry etching his features. God, he’s gorgeous. I’d be foolish not to do this. Wouldn’t I?
I DON’T know what happened between the bathroom and the bedroom, but Hanna looks terrified. Am I rushing this? Rushing her?
“What’s going on in that head of yours?”
“Nothing. I mean…nothing bad. I mean…we can do this. It’s okay.”
Oh, hell. She’s spooked. Her dark hair frames her face in long, wet waves that fall past her shoulders and nearly cover her breasts. She’s so fucking gorgeous. Wet, nude. Like Aphrodite risen from the sea foam.
I cup her face with one hand and trace her lips with my thumb. She closes her eyes at the touch, and I can see some of the tension leak out of her. “Do you want me to take you back to your room?”
“You… I mean, I thought we were going to…” She motions toward the bed.
I could lead her there, touch her until whatever’s got her tied in knots loosens. “Are you thinking about him? The ex?”
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“No!” Her eyes widen and lock with mine. “I promise that’s not what’s wrong.”
I nod. “So there is something wrong.”
She frowns and worries her lip between her teeth for a solid thirty seconds before she speaks. “It’s just…I’ve never done this before.”
My shoulders sag in relief. The whole one-night stand thing is freaking her out. “I didn’t think you had.”
Her jaw drops. “You…knew?”
“That you aren’t the kind of girl to have a one-night stand?”
“Oh. No. Not that.”
“You have had one-night stands before?” I don’t like the idea of that, though it’s a little hypocritical of me to feel that way.
“No. I haven’t. I’ve—” She rolls her eyes and takes a deep breath. “I guess I should just spit it out.”
“Please?”
“I’ve never done this before.” She waves to the bed again.
She looks such the perfect combination of sweet and sexy standing there, nude with her thick, dark hair falling around her shoulders, her hands twisting in front of her. But I’m so hungry to have my hands on her again that my brain is struggling to make sense of her words.
“Done what exactly?”
“Sex.”
“Sex?”
“I’m a virgin.”
NATE DRAGS a hand through his hair and lets out a long breath. “A virgin? Like…born again something?”
“Not born again. Just a virgin.” This is a really mortifying conversation to have under any circumstances, but it’s even more mortifying to have it while standing here buck naked. “Do you have a T-shirt I could throw on or something?”
He drops his hands to his sides and his eyes to his own naked body as if just remembering we don’t have clothes on. “Um. Sure.” He grabs something from his drawer and crosses to me. He’s barely a breath away when he looks down at me and shakes his head. “I really hate to cover up all that gorgeous skin.”