Chapter 8
Lia
“Maybe you need a man with more experience.”
Mom’s words repeat in my head over and over. And let’s be honest, she’s not the one who put sexy thoughts of Nick in my head. Seeing Nick had already done that.
“Your mom’s joking,” Dad had said.
Then Mom stole the phone away and let me in on a secret. “Nick’s amazing in bed,” she told me. I could hear Dad groaning in the background. “For Christ’s sake, Kim. He’s my best friend.”
But Mom had the inside scoop. So even though my cheeks burned in the cool night air out on that deck, I’d listened.
I’d absorbed. Sarah knew they wouldn’t last. They were too different.
But Nick was too good in bed. So good, apparently, that she really gave it a go, marriage and all.
But the fact that they didn’t have much in common outside the bedroom took its toll.
“She said he’s the most generous lover she’s ever had,” Mom had whispered. “Perfect for a first time. Don’t tell your father I said that since you don’t want him to know you still have your V card.”
“People don’t say that, Mom,” I’d groaned, but her words had dumped water and fertilizer on an idea that had formed the moment Nick walked in on me naked.
He’d been thinking about my panties and looking at my breasts. So how exactly did one go about seducing a man to take her virginity?
I was still considering that idea when there was a knock on the bedroom door. I was in a tank top and shorts, teeth brushed and face washed. I was ready for bed.
When a knock came again, I opened the door. Nick was there. He looked shell-shocked.
“What the fuck were you talking to your parents about?” he whispers.
“Nothing! Whatever Mom said, she’s on her own in that.”
“Is she?” he asks.
“I… I didn’t suggest anything.”
He nods thoughtfully. “Okay.”
Now that he acquiesced so easily, I can’t help but wonder if he wanted to do what Mom suggested or not. That’s when I realize that I might be mortified for no reason. I have no idea what she suggested.
“What did she say?” I blurt.
Maybe she was just pranking me. Maybe she threatened to text something dirty to Nick because she knew that Dad and I didn’t want her to.
Nick huffs out a laugh and shakes his head. “Your dad said to disregard anything she said.”
I nod. That makes sense.
“What did Mom say?”
Nick looks at me. I’m watching him so closely that I even notice when his nostrils flare. His hand grips his phone tighter at his side.
“Your mother said that you need an experienced introduction to sex.”
I choke on my own spit, coughing until I’m out of breath.
“I’m trying to figure out if that’s meant to be information or an invitation,” he says.
“I didn’t think she’d really do it,” I admit.
“She told you she was going to do this?”
“She was joking. I thought she was joking. She said…” I don’t really want to finish that sentence.
“She said what?”
I shake my head.
Nick reaches out and curls a finger beneath my chin. He tilts my head up until my eyes meet his. “You can tell me. What did your mother say?”
“Sarah told Mom that you were the best lover she’s ever had. Like still, to this day.”
Nick’s brows raise in surprise. “I guess women really do talk about everything. But it doesn’t matter what your mom thinks or what she wants. It only matters what you think, what you want.”
With his finger beneath my chin, I can’t look away. “I didn’t know you were an option.”
His lips part, probably in shock. “I didn’t really know you were an option, not until I walked in on you naked in my shower. And then torturing me by walking around with no bra or panties on. Do you have any idea how hard it was not to picture you after knowing exactly what you look like naked?”
This is so different. It doesn’t scare me like it did when Jake did these same things. When Jake made comments, I wanted to curl in on myself, to cover myself with a blanket or my hands. When Nick does it, it sets my body on fire.
“Fuck. I’m old enough to be your father.”
“You’re younger than my father,” I blurt. I clear my throat. “Not too old.”
He groans. “Fuck, Lia. You can’t say shit like that, not to me, not now that I’ve seen you naked.”
“Like what?”
His eyes are dark with something forbidden as tilts his face down and looks up at me from under his brows. “Don’t tell me that I’m not too old for you.”
“You’re not.”
“Is this what you want, Lia? Do you want an experienced introduction to sex?”