Chapter 1
Chapter One
Wendy Ann McGuire
A woman about to step out of her
comfort zone with a sexy one-night stand
she didn’t realize she was looking for until
a gorgeous man kissed her senseless…
I ’m going to do this.
I’m really going to do it.
I’m about to lose my virginity via one-night stand to a handsome pediatrician, who is an incredible kisser, seems as attracted to me as I am to him, and has called me beautiful twice .
Best of all? He’s leaving town in three days, ensuring I won’t have to deal with any post-coital embarrassment if I prove to be as bad at sex as I’m anticipating I will be.
In general, my self-esteem is healthy, but I’m not a sporty girl. Anything involving cardiovascular activity, strength, or balance is out of my wheelhouse, and sex seems like a pretty physically demanding activity. I will probably need months, if not years, of practice in order to achieve anything resembling sexual fitness.
Heck, it took three months of yoga classes just to touch my toes, and my downward facing dog still looks like an arthritic goat.
But that’s okay. Someday, when I meet the right guy—perhaps a nerdy, STEM enthusiast who loves gathering data and testing a hypothesis as much I do—he won’t mind that my carnal side is a work in progress.
Or, more likely, I’ll have this one, rite-of-passage night before reverting to a sexless existence for the rest of my life.
Honestly, it’s not an upsetting thought.
I’ve had a few boyfriends and kissing is nice, but not as nice as having sole control of the television remote after dinner or a bathroom to myself. I also adore sleeping alone. After years of sharing a room with my sister growing up and various roommates in college—and briefly living with my parents after graduation— having an apartment to myself is heaven.
So really, I have nothing to lose!
Except my virginity…and potentially my peace of mind, if I’m not one hundred percent sure I’m protected from pregnancy and STDs. I’ve been on the pill since I was a teenager to help with cramps, but I’m not sure about condom protocols.
With that in mind, I corner my sister on the dance floor and shout in her ear, “Congratulations! Your wedding was beautiful, and I love you so much, but I have to go.”
“What? Why?” Binx’s brow furrows, but the happy smile remains on her face. She’s been beaming since she walked down the aisle to Seven, and who can blame her? Her husband is gorgeous in the way of action movie stars and professional lumberjacks.
And he adores her, a fact he proves by wrapping her up in his arms from behind and kissing the top of her head as my unruly relatives shout for the band to play Come on Eileen. The McGuire family party favorite is way too loud to talk over, so I hurriedly explain, “I met a man, and I’m going home with him. He’s nice, and I’m not worried about my safety, but I am worried about diseases. Is a condom still good after a couple of years? I have one in my purse, but it’s been there for a while.”
Binx’s eyes go saucer-wide. Seven steps discreetly away, clearly not wanting to stick around for this kind of sister talk.
“Wow. Woah.” Binx laughs. “That was not what I was expecting you to say, but go, girl.” She lifts a hand for me to high five. “Get you some. It’s about time you let that wild side out to play.”
“I don’t have a wild side,” I say, ignoring her hand as I push my glasses up my nose. “This is a reasonable decision that was quickly, but carefully evaluated. And you didn’t answer my question.”
“Oh, right,” Binx says, blinking as her hand drops back to her side. “No, I wouldn’t trust a condom that old. You’d better stop by a gas station or something. Better safe than sorry.”
Lips pressing into a firm line, I nod. “Absolutely. Okay, thanks so much.” Hopefully, stopping for protection won’t take the wind out of Connor’s sails, but if it does, then this clearly wasn’t meant to be. I’m not about to put my health at risk to maintain an air of spontaneity. “I’ve got this.”
“You do,” Binx says, frowning as she adds. “But if you change your mind at any point, that’s okay, too. Make sure this jerk knows no means no, even if you’re already half naked.”
My cheeks flaming, I roll my eyes. “He’s not that kind of guy. He’s really nice. And gorgeous and an excellent kisser.”
Thankfully, Binx’s whoop of celebration is drowned out by the opening notes of Come on Eileen. Only the guests closest to us hear her holler, and they’re soon distracted by McGuires bouncing up and down all around them, like Irish jumping beans.
I’m about to make a run for the door when Binx pulls me in for a hug and shouts into my ear, “You’re a strong, beautiful, amazing woman, and I hope you have the time of your life.”
I pull back with a grin, loving my big sis even more. But then, she’s always been my biggest cheerleader. If I do end up moving to Boston, I’ll miss her most of all.
“Here you go,” Seven calls out over the music as he returns to Binx’s side. He reaches out, taking my hand in both of his. He curls my fingers around something with sharp plastic edges and says, “These are brand new. Got them from a reliable source.”
My eyes fly wider as I realize what I’m holding.
“Be safe.” Seven winks. “And have fun.”
“I think I will,” I say, grinning like a crazy woman as I wave goodbye to them with my condom-free hand and dash for the door.
Up ahead, I spot my mother camped out by the champagne fountain next to Petey Sinclair and a blonde woman I’m pretty sure is his mother and quickly adjust course. I duck down, shielding my face with my purse as I weave my way through the crowded dance floor toward the exit on the opposite side.
Mom’s been trying to set me up with Petey all night. But I’m not interested in the boy who used to eat his boogers in my sandbox and throw his wrestler figurines at my head when we were kids. I wasn’t interested the first five times she suggested we’d make a “cute couple.” After kissing his smoking hot big brother down by the boat dock, I’m even less inclined to do so much as shake Petey’s hand. Connor sold his practice and is sneaking out of town on Monday without telling his family, all to avoid practicing medicine with his kid brother, leading me to assume that Petey is as insufferable now as he was as a kid.
Hearing Connor get all passionate about protecting his patients from someone he doesn’t feel is ready to be a physician was unbearably hot. Is there anything sexier than a man devoted to excellence in his work? And to protecting the innocent?
No. No, there’s not.
I’d want to get naked with him even if he weren’t the most handsome man I’ve ever seen in real life.
But, lucky me, he is. From his shaggy blond hair to his magnetic eyes to those broad shoulders and strong arms that felt so lovely wrapped around me, Connor couldn’t be more perfect if I’d conjured him with one of my sister-in-law Tessa’s witchy spell books.
The thought puts a skip in my step as I scuttle around a group of bouncing kids who already know every word to our family’s unofficial anthem and duck through the door onto the landing outside the ballroom. Seconds later, I’m down the stairs, through the hotel lobby, and jogging out into the parking lot.
Jogging . I’m actually moving faster than a breezy walking pace of my own free will.
Connor Sinclair is already doing strange things to me.
Things I can’t wait to explore more back at his place…
As he pulls up in front of me in a vintage yellow Mustang convertible with the top down and a summer breeze ruffling his sandy blond hair, I again experience that strange sense of being in the starring role for the first time in my life. Me, Wendy Ann, hyper-protected baby of the McGuire clan, uber nerd, ancient virgin, and girl voted most likely to marry a robot of my own creation by my senior class—they were a cruel group of teenagers—is sliding into the passenger’s seat of a sexy vehicle, next to an even sexier man.
“For a second there, I thought maybe you’d changed your mind,” Connor says, his green eyes—they’re green, even more perfect—bright in the lamplight from the hotel.
I shake my head. “No. Saying goodbye just took a little longer than I thought. Then I had to sneak around my mother. She had your brother locked down and was lying in wait for a matchmaking ambush.”
He frowns. “I don’t know what she’s thinking. You’re out of Petey’s league. Way out.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, fighting a smile. But in the end, I lose the battle as I ask, “Yeah? You think so?”
“I know so,” he says, reaching out to take my hand. The feel of his warm fingers wrapping around mine is enough to make my heavy pulse sink lower, until it’s thudding between my thighs, and I’m very aware of the seat vibrating beneath me. “I remember you. Even when you were a kid, you were one of the smartest people I’d ever met. And kind. The fact that you didn’t kill Petey for throwing toys at you is proof of that.”
I blush, but feel obligated to confess, “Thank you, but I did hit him once. I don’t remember it, but my mother said she caught me slapping him with a sock full of sand.”
Connor laughs. “Good for you. Maybe if he’d been slapped a few more times, he wouldn’t have grown up to be such a lazy, entitled pain in my backside.” He squeezes my hand. “But I’m done talking about my brother. I’d rather hear more about you. What are you doing with that big, sexy brain of yours these days?”
As I explain my work as a research assistant and data analyst for a study looking into the efficiency of cognitive behavioral therapy in children with OCD, he pulls out onto the narrow blacktop road. It’s a nearly hour-long drive back to Bad Dog from this side of the lake. Binx and most of the wedding party are staying at the hotel tonight. I was supposed to sleep in the “kids” suite with Binx’s stepdaughter, Sprout, and two of my teenaged cousins. But as much as I adore Sprout, I’m so glad to see the massive Victorian resort shrinking in the rearview mirror.
“Fascinating,” Connor says, sounding truly fascinated. “I initially wanted to go into psychiatry. There’s still so much to learn in that field. It’s exciting.”
“Agreed,” I say. “Why did you decide on pediatrics, instead?”
“I took a semester off to volunteer with Doctors without Borders. We worked with a community in Ecuador, and I fell in love with the kids and families there. And I seemed to have a way with them, so...” He shrugs and flashes me a self-conscious smile. “Probably because I’m still a big kid myself. And because it felt so good to have that kind of connection. I was pretty lonely growing up. I never fit in with my family, but when I’m working with parents to help their little ones feel better, I do. Pediatrics felt like a perfect fit.”
I nod, my chest aching as I study his profile, silhouetted against the dark woods zipping by. He’s not just a pretty face. He’s as pretty on the inside as he is on the outside.
Be still my thudding heart…
“I agree,” I murmur, warning my heart not to get any ideas. This is just one night. One night to enjoy this amazing man before we go our separate ways. “I’m sorry you were lonely.”
“Thanks,” he says. “I bet you didn’t have to worry about loneliness, not with a family the size of yours. Seemed like almost every seat at the ceremony had a McGuire in it. Seven only had what? One row of guests? Two?”
I laugh. “One and a half. Binx was so embarrassed.”
“She shouldn’t have been. It’s great that you have such a big, happy family.”
I nod. “It is, but it can still get lonely sometimes. Especially if you’re…different. My older brother, Barrett, is nerdy like me, but he’s so much older that we don’t spend much time together. He’s too busy with work and family to discuss the latest article on dark matter with his baby sister, and the rest of my family couldn’t be less interested in things like that.”
His brow furrows. “Why? Dark matter is fascinating. It makes up eighty-five percent of the matter in the universe, but we still have no idea what it really is. What’s more fascinating than that?”
“Exactly,” I say, my blood pumping faster as I shift to face him in in my seat. “An invisible force not even the most brilliant minds in the world can understand or explain is underpinning our entire universe, holding it up like scaffolding and we are completely in the dark about what it is or where it came from. How can you hear something like that and not want to investigate it until your brain explodes?”
He glances my way, heat in his expression that makes me keenly aware of the warm vibration of my seat again. “Has anyone ever told you that your mind is incredibly sexy, Wendy Ann McGuire?”
I swallow and shake my head, shocked to feel my nipples tight and tingling beneath the bodice of my bridesmaid’s dress. “No, they haven’t.”
“Well, it is,” he says, in a rough voice that makes me believe him. “Incredibly sexy.”
“I think yours is pretty nice, too,” I murmur.
“Nice? Just nice?” He smiles, a wicked grin that makes me want to kiss him again.
Right now.
So, I do.
I lean across the console and press a kiss to his cheek.
His voice even huskier as he murmurs, “Your lips are so damned soft.”
“And you’re the most compelling man I’ve ever met,” I whisper, kissing his jaw, then his neck, my nerve endings tingling. I’ve never been this bold, but it feels right…perfect, even.
He exhales a ragged breath. “Should I pull over?”
“Pull over?” I ask, running the tip of my tongue across his skin, humming in appreciation at the clean, but lightly salty taste of him. Even his skin is delicious.
“So, I can kiss you again properly,” he says. “If not, you’ll have to stop. I’m going to run off the road if you keep—” He breaks off with a soft curse as I swirl my tongue against the pulse in his throat. “No more of that, Wendy Ann. Not if you want to wait until we’re behind closed doors.”
I grin, feeling delightfully wicked. “You wouldn’t,” I whisper, brushing the tip of my nose back and forth across his jaw. “You’re a respectable physician, not a man who does salacious things to a woman on the side of the road.”
“I’m a respectable physician on his way out of town,” he says, his hand curling around my thigh, making the pulse between my legs beat harder, deeper. “And I could find a nice dark place to park so we wouldn’t be seen.”
I bite my lip, easing back into my seat with a hint of regret. “All right, I’ll be good.”
As much as my body aches to have him closer, I don’t want my first time to be in the backseat of a car.
“Please, don’t be good,” he says, his fingers tightening on my thigh. “Be as wicked as you want to be, just…” He flashes me a shaky smile. “Wait until we’re back at my place? For our mutual well-being? I don’t want to put your safety at risk.”
I nod. “Same.”
Speaking of safety…you should probably let him know it’s your first time. That would be good information for him to have before he assumes you’re going to know exactly what to do.
Or before he rushes in, penis-blazing.
I wrinkle my nose at the inner voice.
Penis-blazing? What is wrong with me?
Penises don’t blaze and my body was literally made to do what we’re about to do. Having sex isn’t like running a marathon, for goodness sakes. I don’t need to train or ease into this with some kind of couch to 5K program.
I just need to relax and let nature take its course.
And to keep my mouth shut and refrain from giving Connor any reason to change his mind about our steamy night together. He’s a good man, the kind who might have qualms about “hitting and quitting it” with a virgin, and I really don’t want tonight to end in a friendly goodbye.
I don’t want to say goodbye to this man until tomorrow morning, after we’ve spent a steamy night together, one I already know I’m never going to forget.