She liked knowing he was jealous. “There was only one guy.”
“Who was it?”
“I can’t tell you that. I’ve never told anyone other than Pepper about those kisses.”
“I need to meet this secret-keeping sister of yours, but I think I understand. Was he my wild thing’s first?” His voice was low and seductive.
She lay on the bed. “No. I didn’t do that until I was in college.”
“We’re in trouble now, Amber.”
“Why?”
“I think I just fell a little harder for you. Yup. I feel it right here in my chest.”
She buried her face in the pillow to keep a happy noise from slipping out.
“Are you still there?” he asked cautiously.
She rolled onto her back. “Mm-hm.”
“Can I ask you something personal?”
“I just told you one of my most coveted secrets, didn’t I?”
“And I’m glad you trust me enough to share it with me.” His warmth slithered through the phone like an embrace. “I’m just wondering if you waited because it never felt right, or because of what you told me the other night about how boys kept their distance because of your epilepsy?”
She closed her eyes as the tenderness in his voice drew out her answer. “Both, I guess. I was also scared of it.”
“Then we have that in common. I only did it in my senior year of high school because I was afraid of being the only Virginia State football player who was still a virgin.”
“Really?” She was surprised he’d admitted that.
“Absolutely. There’s a lot of pressure that goes along with being a cool guy.”
His honesty was like a drug, luring her in.
“Any guy who tells you he wasn’t nervous the first few times is lying. Hell, I was nervous last night.”
“No way.”
“Sure, I was. You’re special, I didn’t want to mess things up. I wanted to be the best kiss, best touch, best everything for you.”
She closed her eyes, letting his confession soak in. “You definitely were.”
“Yeah, I knew I’d ruin you for any other man, but I didn’t want to sound too cocky.”
They both laughed.
“I bet you have lots of other secret kissing stories from high school, don’t you?”
“Not really. Just a couple of stories, but they aren’t secrets.”
“Why was your first kiss a secret?”
She rolled onto her side. “I don’t know. It just is. He’s someone I still know, and it was a private, special kiss.”
“Ah, that’s the romantic in you. I sure do like that. I’d give anything to have known you then, to have taken you to barn dances and fairs. I would have made your first time special, just the two of us in some private place that only you and I knew of. I would have set up candles, spread out blankets, and made love to you under the stars.”
She sighed, shifting onto her back again. I think I just fell harder for you, too.
“Of course, as a teenager I would have lasted about a minute, so I might never have lived that down.”
Laughter burst from her lips, and Reno lifted his head.
“You think that’s funny, huh?”
“I’m sorry.” She tried to stifle her laughter, but she pictured him as a lanky teen and couldn’t hold it in. “I hope you’re better at it now.”
“Does that mean if I’m not, you’re done with me?”
“For sure,” she said through her giggles. “Although you do have a very gifted mouth.”
He made a growling noise. “You haven’t experienced the half of it. Remember what I said about clearing our schedules.”
Her mind raced through all the dirty things they could do.
“Now we really do have trouble on our hands,” he said gruffly. “You’ve reminded me of how sweet you tasted, and it’s turning me on.”
“Dash,” she whispered, embarrassed.
“Am I alone in this? You didn’t think about us today? You’re not thinking about kissing me right now? Touching me? Having my mouth on you?”
Her pulse spiked. She swallowed hard, mustering the courage to confess the truth. “You’re not alone.”
“Thank God, because I can’t stop thinking about you, and I’ve never been like this with anyone. I want to see your beautiful face. I want to hold you in my arms and kiss you until we both lose our minds.”
Me too. Her heart was beating so hard, she was sure he could hear it through the phone.
“FaceTime with me. Let me see you, sweetheart.”
She held her breath, knowing where this was heading. She’d read some really hot phone sex scenes, and her sisters had told her stories that made her blush a red streak. She wasn’t sure she could do it. But oh, how she wanted to.
“Come on, baby.”
She opened her mouth to speak, and it took a second for “Okay” to come. A few seconds later, his handsome face appeared on the screen, his jaw peppered with stubble, his dark eyes gazing hungrily at her. His chest was bare, and she wished she could touch him.
“There’s my beautiful girl.”
Swept up in her desires, she could do little more than smile.
“You feel it too, don’t you? A desperate need to be closer?”
She was breathing too hard. “Yes.”
Reno must have sensed the change in her, because he lifted his head and laid his head beside hers.
“Hey, Reno, that’s my spot.” Dash’s eyes never left Amber’s. “Are you okay?”
She nodded.
“Nervous?”
She nodded again, embarrassed that she was that transparent, but also glad that he cared enough to notice.
“I want you to know something. I’ve never met anyone who I wanted to get serious with until you. I’ve never had a threesome, and I don’t want to.”
Relief washed over her. She hadn’t even realized she was worried about that.
“I’m not a guy who video chats with women, partly because I’ve never fully trusted the women I’ve gone out with.”
“Because everyone wants something from you?”
He nodded. “I think you and I are a lot alike. We both need a higher level of trust in order to open ourselves up to others in certain ways.”
He saw her so clearly, she wondered how many other parts of her he was already taking note of. “What’s the other reason?”
A smile played at the corners of his mouth. “I’ve never wanted to see anyone that badly. All of these feelings, this need to talk to you, to see you while I’m thousands of miles away, is new to me, too. Don’t be nervous, sweetheart. Let’s just talk. That’s enough for me. You’re enough for me.”
Chapter Nine
DASH GOT UP at four o’clock in the morning to call his mother by seven her time, hoping to catch her before she left for work Friday morning. She was always doing a hundred things at once. He pictured her rushing around, her straight blond hair she’d worn parted on the side since he was a kid brushing the shoulders of one of her smart pantsuits.
“Hi, honey.” Her words were carried on laughter. “How are you?”