“I don’t want to know, honestly. All that money just seems like a lot of hassle.” She pulled a plain black sweater out of the closet and held it against her. A bit worn, but it’d have to do. “So did Logan tell you about his past? The thing with the scars and the kidnapping?”
“Nope. No one talks about it, apparently. No one except you.”
“Yeah, me and my big mouth.” She tossed the sweater down on the bed, and it landed on a curled-up Igor, who meowed in resentment. “I guess I shouldn’t have asked. But I was curious.”
“Well, leave your curiosity at the door. From what I can remember from meeting him, he doesn’t like it if people so much as look at him the wrong way.”
“Jeez, Audrey, exactly how many times have you met this guy?”
“A handful of times. Like I said, he’s one of Logan’s closest friends.”
“And you never thought to give your sister the cliff notes rundown on the man?”
“Well gee, Gretchen, I didn’t think you’d want to bang the guy.”
She sighed deeply. “Is it weird that I’m finding the scars sexy?”
“Yes,” Audrey said flatly. “They’re not cute scars, Gretch. They’re disfiguring.”
“Yeah, but they have a story. He has a story. I like that about him. I just
can’t figure him out.”
“Have you considered that he might be a virgin?”
“What? He’s not a virgin.”
“Why does that seem so crazy?” Audrey snorted. “You said he blushes, right? And doesn’t look you in the eye? And that he was scarred at an early age?”
“Yes, but—”
“You think he’s going to get a lot of ladies with a playbook like that?”
“But he has to be close to thirty, if not already thirty. I can’t believe he’d still be a virgin. Can’t you hire hookers for that sort of thing?”
“Gross, Gretchen. That’s just gross.”
“I know, but we were both thinking it.” Gretchen stared into her reflection in the mirror, considering. Was the reason why Hunter kept shying away from any sort of flirtiness that she tossed his way because he didn’t know how? Because he was a virgin?
That seemed weird, and yet . . . the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. He’d been kidnapped when he was ten. Something like that would probably leave him with trust issues and emotional scars, not to mention the physical scars. He’d freaked out when she’d seen him naked. And he’d freaked out again when she’d come close to kissing him. He’d also froze like a deer in headlights when she’d flirted with him.
And he’d stared at her note like it was the thing he wanted most in the world. “You might be on to something, Audrey.”
“Of course I am,” her sister said smugly. “The question is, what are you going to do about it?”
“You mean, hold him down and take his virginity?”
“No! Yuck! Gretchen, that’s a visual I did not want.”
“You brought it up. What do you mean, what am I going to do about it?”
“I mean that the man’s skittish as hell. If he’s a virgin, you’re going to have a hell of a time getting him to come on to you.”
“So I’ll come on to him.”
“But you said he retreats every time you try to get intimate. Perhaps he doesn’t want you to come on to him. Maybe he wants to be the aggressor and you’re not giving him a chance? Is there a way you can level the playing field?”
Gretchen thought for a moment and became a little depressed. The playing field hadn’t been level since she’d seen him naked that very first day. There was no way to recover from that. “I’m not sure.”