‘He didn’t force me, Zane…’ She felt the furious blush set fire to her scalp but soldiered on. ‘We only did it a couple of times and then he got bored with me.’ She stuck her chin out, made her gaze meet his. She had to stop feeling ashamed about this. ‘Turns out, I’m not a natural at this.’ She coughed, reached for her glass and took a quick sip to swallow down the frog that had lodged in her larynx.
‘Not a natural at what? Sex?’
He sounded so incredulous, she got a little peeved. Was it really so hard for him to understand? Surely she wasn’t the only woman he’d ever met who wasn’t that into sex? But then she thought of the giddy rush that she’d been struggling to suppress most of the night—and realised she probably was.
‘Yes…I get tense and flustered and I can’t relax and then the moment’s gone.’
His forehead creased. And the arousal fizzled and died.
Terrific, Iona, that was way too much information. Why not kill the mood completely?
‘And Demarest made you think that was your fault?’ he asked in a stiff voice.
She hitched her shoulder in a non-committal shrug, determined not to be defensive. Not every woman could be multiorgasmic. ‘Possibly,’ she said, the hairs on the back of her neck stinging with humiliation.
‘And you believed him, why exactly?’
‘Because I don’t exactly have a lot of other testimonials,’ she blurted out, getting more peeved by the second.
‘What are you saying—that he was your first?’ He sounded incredulous again.
‘Maybe.’ She looked down at the floor, her humiliation complete. ‘That’s not to say I haven’t had boyfriends. I’ve had lots of boyfriends.’ Two. ‘But it never…It never quite…There isn’t a big array of possible…Kelross Glen is a small place and…’ She trailed off.
Great, now he knew just how pathetic she was.
Warm hands still on her hips, he tugged her close, nudged her hair with his lips. ‘That really sucks.’
‘Don’t I know it.’
He tucked a finger under her chin, lifted her face. ‘So I’m assuming you’ve never had an orgasm while making love?’ The question was asked in a gentle coaxing voice that belied the intensity in his gaze.
She bit into her lip. Good Lord, how had they ended up talking about this? ‘I’m really not comfortable discuss—’
‘I figured as much.’
‘I never said—’
‘Shh…’ He touched his thumb to her lips. ‘No more talking, Iona. You talk too much anyway.’
Indignation flared. ‘Now wait a—’
His lips covered hers, silencing the protest, and the need raged back to life, the dance of lips and tongue so erotic she could scream as he held her head and explored in slow, deliberate strokes.
He eased back and clasped his hands round her waist. He hauled her up as if she weighed nothing and deposited her on the countertop. Her bottom landed on the cold formica.
She clung on to his shoulders for balance, felt the bunch of muscle and opened her mouth to say something. Anything. But nothing came out as hot palms edged up her thighs under the dress, shocking her into silence.
‘You know what we’re going to do now, Iona,’ he said slowly, his fingers drawing tantalising circles on her naked thighs.
She shook her head, having lost the power of speech for the second time in one night, which had to be a record.
‘We’re going to forget about him, undo all the bad stuff he did—and make this your first time.’
Something tight banded around her heart. ‘I’m not sure that’s entirely necessary—’
‘It isn’t hard to bring a woman to orgasm,’ he interrupted. ‘Not if you pay attention and take the time and trouble to do it right. If he didn’t do that, it was his fault not yours.’
The blush crept up her throat. She’d known that, of course she had. she’d known as soon as she’d lost her virginity to him and he’d laughed at her inexperience that Brad was a selfish lover as well as a nasty man, but she’d been so desperate to believe his lies she’d allowed herself to bury her growing dislike of him. And that had been her fault, not his. Even if he had been a liar and a thief.