“I thought I had. I thought when we were in the bar, and you…” Her cheeks went a little more pink. “You were…it was clear you wanted me. I thought it would be my chance. Then you suddenly run away from me.”
“I didn’t run away.”
“Pretty close to it! How do you think I feel after that?”
Forrest winced.
“I didn’t want to hurt you.”
“Well, you did.” Chrissie hesitated. “My first time, and I was feeling confident about it. Then you suddenly back away.”
For a moment, Forrest thought he had misheard. He stared at her.
“What did you say? Your first time? Are you saying…?”
“That I’ve never been with a guy? Yes.” Chrissie looked away, some of the fight going out of her. “Rita’s been telling me that I should take a chance and use some of that confidence she knows I have. But I didn’t think the rejection would hurt so much.”
Forrest was floored. Chrissie was a virgin? With a body like hers and her looks? This had to be some sort of joke. But from the look on her face, it was very real.
Holy shit. She’s a virgin, and she wants you as her first? How are you not jumping her now?
“But it seems like I wasted my time.” Chrissie turned away and headed towards the door. “I’ll leave you to it, Coach. Maybe I’ll go and talk to some of the single guys in the team. I’m sure they’ll be happy to teach me a thing or two before I go looking for a proper boyfriend.”
“Stop right there.”
Forrest had no idea where his coach voice came from, but it was now barking out. The thought of Chrissie going to one of the football players and asking them to take her virginity filled him with a possessive rage. Nobody was getting their hands on his Chrissie.
There you go again. Calling her yours when you’re pushing her away. This time, you had better follow through, or you’re going to fuck up again.
Forrest stood up and strode towards her. Chrissie turned, and he saw a flicker of nerves in her eyes. Even with the confidence just now, she had had to gather a lot of courage to confront him. It made his heart crack knowing that she was like this.
He didn’t know how to touch her to begin with. For a moment, he floundered, unsure what to do. But then he thought about Chrissie being in the arms of someone else, and everything disappeared. Screw the fact she was Jared’s kid. Screw that this could get them into trouble at work.
As far as he was concerned, Chrissie was his. Right now.
Reaching up, he buried his hands into her hair, tilting her face towards him. When he kissed her, Chrissie immediately sank into the embrace, kissing him back just as fiercely, her hands fisting his shirt. Her inexperience was pretty clear, but it just made this even better.
The idea that no man had touched her before him, and that he would be tasting everything first, was more erotic than he expected.
If he had anything to do with it, nobody else was going to get the chance to touch her like this.
Chapter Four
Chrissie hadn’t liked how her confidence failed her when Forrest all but ran out of the room. Nor did she like how it faltered again when she admitted to being a virgin. But then it had flickered back to life as she made that comment about finding a football player to take her virginity. She wouldn’t have done it; she wanted to make Forrest hurt.
But it seemed to work. Now Forrest was kissing her like his life depended on it, and Chrissie was practically clinging to him. Her fingers throbbed from holding tightly on his shirt, so she released him, pushing the shirt apart to touch his bare chest for the first time.
Fuck, he was ripped. He was more than a decade older than the oldest player on the pitch, and he was in better shape. Chrissie had ached to get her hands on his body to trace every muscle he had.
Now she had an opportunity, and she would be an idiot to waste it.
Then they were turning, and Chrissie felt her ankle wobble. She broke from the kiss with a squeak as she started to fall, only for Forrest to hold her upright.
“It’s the first time I’ve had a woman fall at my feet,” he said with a wry smile.
“Sorry.” Chrissie ignored the throbbing in her ankle. “Maybe I should be taking these boots off.”
“Pity. Your legs look pretty awesome in them.” Forrest urged her towards the bed. “Sit down a moment.”