by Holly Dodd
Mia tossed a covert glance around the immediate area. Satisfied no one was eavesdropping, she scooted closer until she was all but draped over the plates in the middle of the table.
It was gossip time and she hung on my every word.
I focused on the near-miss her curly black hair had with a puddle of Alfredo sauce, and ignored the mixture of horror and fascination racing across her face. “Why are you suddenly tired of it now? You’re like a unicorn. I didn’t think anyone post-college, especially our college, could claim to be pure. But you are.”
“Well.” Twisting my wineglass between my fingers, I swished the rose Moscato against the sides. Why was I hesitating? I’d already admitted to Mia my darkest secret. One of them at least. I knew she wouldn’t blab, but I didn’t want her to think any less of me. “You know Regi?”
Mia uttered a sultry noise in the back of her throat. She might not be part of the Regi fan club, but any heterosexual female could appreciate his sizzling good looks. “God yes. He is one hunk of man. Are you still pining over him?”
I couldn’t agree more. He was a bear of a man that I wanted to mount. I licked my lips.
For months, I’d tried analytically dissecting why I craved Regi. Until I’d met him I’d fantasized about guys in three-piece suits and manicured hands. The type of guy at home in a board room, and wouldn’t know his way around a barn if you printed him directions.
Regi was rugged and caveman-ish. I could imagine him running around with a furry loincloth strapped to his hips and a huge ass claymore in his hand. He’d get a hand in my hair, maybe club me and drag me back to his cave and…
I had to stop that train of thought or I was going to leave a wet spot in the booth.
While I was vain enough to want a hot guy in my bed, I also admired his ambition. He was pre-med with the laser-focus required of budding surgeons. We both had our sights set on the best Masters programs in the country. We had a lot of the same classes since we were both in the Science program. I wanted to be a psychologist, he wanted to cut people up. It was a match made in soap opera heaven. “I want him.”
A flurry of emotions danced over Mia’s face. Her forehead scrunched into worry lines, and then relaxed as she went into mothering mode. “Oh honey. We’ve had this discussion. You know he isn’t the settling kind.”
I kicked back another sip of wine, and savored the sweet fruity flavor tickling my taste buds. The alcohol burn had ceased to impact me a glass ago, and now it was just fuzzy warmth heating my belly. “He just hasn’t found the right woman.”
“He doesn’t do… Oh.” If this were a cartoon, Mia would have a huge light bulb flashing on over her head.
Bingo. She got why I was suddenly o-v-e-r being a virgin.
“Exactly. He doesn’t do virgins. If I ever want a shot at him, I need to ditch it. I need to become the type of girl he likes.” I had planned it out once I’d verbalized my idea. Instead of listening to Doctor Willard drone on in class, I’d schemed about what I was going to do to get Regi into my bed.
Mia grinned. “Slutty?”
I threw my wadded-up napkin at her, laughing. “Sexy! Confident.” Traits I was seriously lacking. I was the awkward ugly duckling who hadn’t yet turned into a swan.
I desperately wanted to be a swan.
Mia propped her cheek onto her knuckles. She assessed me, and I tried not to squirm beneath her blatant gaze. “And you think getting deflowered will help with all of that?”
I shrugged. Honestly, I didn’t know if it would help with my confidence issues. “It can’t hurt. I’m graduating in a few months. How am I going to be able to talk about sexual dysfunction and get my Masters if I’ve never experienced any of the normal hook-up and relationship drama? I’m almost twenty-three. It’s time. I wanted to wait ‘till marriage, but what if I never get married? I’m wasting my youth and my shot with Regi!”
Mia grinned. “That’s the goodie farm girl talking.”
I flashed her a warm smile. When I first met Mia I never would have thought we’d become this close. We were truly opposite. She was the definition of a sassy Latina; gorgeous, smart, and confident; skimpy tops and leather leggings; a monochromatic fashion sense with a drag queen’s makeup skill, and the vocabulary of a bilingual sailor.
I fucking loved her
And though she ribbed me about my rural upbringing--there had been more than enough incest and sheep jokes--it was lighthearted instead of mean. There were a lot of mean girls in college, ones who didn’t understand that we should hold each other up, instead of tearing one another down.
“Maybe, but that’s not the reason I’m still pure. I just haven’t been into a lot of guys. This whole year it’s been Regi. I am dying to get on that, but he won’t touch me. I figure it is time to do something…drastic.”
Mia’s brows rose. “You sound as if you have a candidate.”
I chewed nervously on my bottom lip. This was the part of my plan I was unsure about.
Mia wouldn’t judge me. She was the crunchy peanut butter to my jelly. I’d be lost without her, and vice versus. While it was harder now to spend time since she’d graduated last semester, we were making it work. I was paranoid that she wouldn’t be okay with my plan. It was drastic, and if I hadn’t felt that time was running out, I wouldn’t be planning my deflowering at all.
Academia was going to be my life for the next ten years. Soon I would have my Bachelor degree in Science. Then I’d work on my Masters of Psychology. After, it would be time to tackle the doctorate. Though if I made it that far it would be a miracle. I was in my last semester of my bachelor’s program and just had to get through finals.
Honestly, I should be home hitting the books and worrying about life after graduation, but I wasn’t. I hadn’t really experienced any of the quintessential college life, and I wanted that. I craved it. If there was a time to have a fling, or figure out if Regi was the love of my life, it was now or never.
“His name’s Kevin,” I confessed.
Mia shoved the empty bread basket aside and crept closer. I swear if she moved another inch she was going to be bent over the table. Our server had already been hitting on her. If he saw her with her ass hiked up in the air he might think he had a shot. “And who is Kevin?”
Just hearing Kevin’s name gave me hot flashes. My cheeks pinked all over again, and I crossed my legs beneath the table to quench the dull throb flaring to life between my thighs. In the matter of hours, I’d creamed over two guys. I was feeling no shame about it. I was a horny freaking virgin, after all.
I didn’t know how people survived back when premarital sex would get you burned at the stake. I thought about sex all the time. Would I become even more fixated on it when I started having it?
I hesitated. Anxiety prickled me, leaving behind an uncomfortable flood of sweat at my nape and between my boobs.
The words tumbled out. “Angela brought him home one night last month.”
“You’re keeping tabs on your roomies one night stands?” Mia laughed.
“That would be a full-time job. He was just…there the next morning.” My pulse sped up. Even if I lived to a hundred years old I would never, ever forget the moment I’d seen the blond-haired hunk standing half-naked in my kitchen. He’d been so damn casual, wearing just a pair of low-slung boxer briefs. His torso a carved wonderland of muscles and smooth, caramel skin.
I still wasn’t sure how he managed to look that tan while most Wisconsinites in winter could pass for albinos. The lickable V of his iliac furrow had been on display, the chiseled trench a damn beacon begging me to look lower. And oh, how I’d looked. I’d never been jealous of a piece of fabric before. If there’d been a time to have x-ray vision, that would have been it.
I licked my lips, hoping I wasn’t drooling at the memory. “We got to talking and became…friends.”
“You sound a little breathless.” Mia stared at me as if I’d grown two heads. I never got worked up over a guy. Other than Regi I’d never felt
this wild. “Tell me more.”
I could gush about Kevin. How he was much more than just a pretty face and hot body. “He’s a fitness trainer.”
“Aren’t they all?” Sarcasm colored Mia’s words. She sat back and took a quick sip of her wine. “Is he also a model, actor, entrepreneur, blah, blah, etc.?”
I reached over and squeezed Mia’s hand.
She’d had an affair with a married trainer at her gym. Though she hadn’t known he’d been married at the time. That sort of betrayal left a mark, and a few months later she was still carrying around the pain. While she hadn’t told me everything, I knew she’d fallen hard and fast for him. For a while he’d been all she talked about. Now his name was akin to a curse. He was Mia’s Voldemort; a no-name boogieman with halitosis breath and a micro-penis.
“He’s not like that. He’s a little older than us, and while he went to school for nutrition, he wants more now. He’s going back to get his Masters in Nutrition and Dietics.” I was impressed he was rejoining the ranks of academia at nearly thirty years old. Becoming a registered dietitian was no joke. It was med school without a PhD. Most people heard dietitian and didn’t realize how hard someone worked to become one. “He also volunteers at the animal shelter.”
“A good-looking animal lover?” Mia snorted, her words grating with bitterness. She downed the rest of her wine in a gulp. “This guy sounds too perfect.”
“Mia, you don’t…wait I have a picture.” I grabbed my cell phone from my purse. Maybe if she saw that he didn’t look anything like her needle-dick ex she might feel better.
The only reason I had a photo of Kevin was be because there might have been a few late-night sessions of Facebook stalking and picture saving once we’d connected. Though I would never admit it. Double tapping a photo to open it, I twisted my phone around for Mia to see.
It was my favorite publicly-accessed photo of Kevin. Wearing his floppy, dirty-blond hair in a ridiculous man bun, he was shirtless, showing off his sculpted body and tattooed arms. It wasn’t his mouthwatering physique that caught my attention, but the expression in his sea green eyes as he looked down at the orange and white striped ball of fluff in his arms. Another cat, this one a fat ginger, balanced on the arm of his computer chair. The three of them together made my ovaries ache.
Mia blinked a few times. The dazed expression was one I knew well. Looking at Kevin in all his glory was like staring into the sun. You may go blind after, but experiencing that type of majesty was fucking worth it.
“Wow. Holy...wow. Okay.” Her smile was back and her eyes gleamed with intrigue. “You make him sound perfect. What’s the downside? What’s wrong with him?”
I cleared my throat, battling the crippling embarrassment gripping my body.
Dropping my phone beside my discarded silverware, I sighed.
Kevin’s “downside” was a biggie, and a huge reason why I would never trust him with anything more than my flesh. He was a heartbreak waiting to happen. “He’s a man whore. He’s not even apologetic about it. He doesn’t do relationships. Every night there’s a new girl riding the Harris express. I know because he tells me all the dirty details. I think I’ve become his personal therapist.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about getting the literal blow-by-blow of his “dates”. Part of me was so fucking jealous I wanted to gnash my teeth. The other part built a moat around my heart and tried to drown the jealousy. Kevin wasn’t mine. I belonged to Regi, even if the lug head didn’t know it yet.
Still, I couldn’t deny that since the first moment I laid eyes on Kevin I’d felt…something. I wanted to scratch out the eyes of every girl that touched him.
How could I be hung up on two guys at once? Was I so fickle that all it took was another equally hot guy for me to sway from being Regi’s #1 fan?
It made no sense, and I was playing ostrich, sticking my head into the sand and ignoring the quandary.
“I don’t know if I blame him. If I was a guy and had that body, it would be my divine duty to let as many women experience it as possible,” Mia said wistfully. She didn’t need to tell me, but I knew she was thinking of her ex. I waited until she was ready to talk again, letting silence overlap our conversation.
Shaking her head, Mia leveled her stare on me. “When does seduce Kevin start? Or has it already commenced?”
I wrinkled my nose as a sudden wave of self-doubt blossomed in my chest. This was the sticky part of my scheme. “He hasn’t put any moves on me. I don’t even know if it’ll work. Maybe I’m not his type. Maybe he’s anti-virgin too. He was sleeping with Angela.”
Mia swatted the air in front of my face, a shadow slap meant to chase away the phantoms of insecurity. “Stop that. No, you don’t look like Angela. Hell, no one can look like her unless they win the genetic lottery or have about fifteen different cosmetic surgeries, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t beautiful too.”
I exhaled. My roommate was everything I wasn’t. No amount of exercise or dieting would give me Angela’s rail-thin physique. And baby-fine blonde hair didn’t come in a bottle.
I was short, with a petite body that leaned toward thick if I wasn’t careful. With all the fast-food binges from exams stress, I was ten pounds over my personal ideal weight. I couldn’t grow my hair out no matter how hard I tried. I kept it in a long bob that brushed my collarbones. The rich mocha color with its sprinkling of bright purple highlights was entirely thanks to my amazing colorist. My natural color was a disgusting shade of mouse brown. I was of sturdy German-Polish stock, from my coloring to the wide bridge of my nose.
“I know what you’re thinking.” Mia scowled.
“And what am I thinking?”
Mia threw my napkin back at me. “That you’re going to skip dessert because you think your ass is too big.”
I laughed. That was my usual go-to excuse. It never worked with Mia. Another reason why I loved her so. “The tuxedo cheesecake looks good. Besides, if my plan works I’ll be riding all the extra calories off on Kevin, right?”
Mia lofted her wine glass and held it towards me with a wide, proud grin; a mother duckling watching her chick toddle out of the nest. “Here! Hear!”
I clinked my glass against Mia’s and took a long swig of wine. Mia beckoned the waiter over to take our dessert order, but my mind was on things other than cheesecake.
Tonight, operation seduce Kevin Harris would commence.
Two
Kevin
“Guess who asked me out.” Regi grunted as he hoisted the barbell over his head. The bear-like bellow competed with the clank of machines as he held the position. I watched his elbows, making sure he didn’t lock them. Nodding with approval, I flashed him a thumb up.
Only a minimal amount of strain shone on Regi’s face. I was fucking proud. When he’d first come to me he’d been fit, but wiry; the classic beanpole of a post-high school athlete going to fat with the freshman fifteen. He’d wanted to add muscle and bulk up.
Now, nearly four years later he’d almost achieved the goals we set for him. The past six months he’d been cutting, showcasing the muscles he’d built. He was pushing it today, trying to increase the weight he could bench press, and I knew adding weight to reps wasn’t an easy task.
I kept my hands hovering above the bar, mentally counting the seconds Regi held the lift, and waiting to grab the barbell if need be. I was spotting Regi today. He’d started out as just a client, but now he was also a friend, and all gym rat laid out on the weight bench.
“Who did? Another new chick you’re nailing,” I asked as Regi pumped the weights down towards his barrel chest, and up again with another grunt.
“Nah, not this one,” he muttered through clenched teeth. “Though I want to. She’s been panting after me all semester. She’s ripe as fuck, but I don’t do virgins.”
“Don’t hold your breath, breathe through it.” I reminded him.
Then I realized what he said. My fingers twitched as my hands froze above the weight bench. My min
d catching up with who he was talking about. I didn’t need a name. Not when tossing the V word around. There was only one virgin who had befriended two notorious man whores and still held onto her cherry. Though she didn’t know that Regi and I were friends, or that we talked about her. “Jo?”
“Fuck you and your breathing,” Regi groaned. He heaved another rep. “Yeah. She wanted to go to the Brewhouse together.” Sweat beaded on Regi’s swarthy forehead. His face twisted into a grimace as he lowered the bar half-way. I knew he was done when he notched the barbell into the anchors on the bench.
Regi sagged back onto the vinyl covering. “Damn that was brutal.”
“You did great. Have you given any thought of doing that fitness showcase?” I had to keep talking. A runaway train of emotions and jealousy billowed through me. The sudden surge made me uncomfortable. I didn’t like it. Not one bit. Why the fuck did I care if Jo was pursuing Regi? I didn’t do relationships. Still, my gut clenched and it took a few power breaths for the urge to drop the weights onto Regi’s head to pass. “What’d you say to Jo?”
Regi swung off the bench and grabbed his water bottle. “I said no. Virgins are way too much trouble. They’re clingy and needy. But if she ever got over that affliction, damn man you know I would tap that. She even asked me that. If I’d want her if she was more my type. I got fucking hard in the middle of class thinking about it.”
Grabbing a towel, I made sure my back faced Regi as I wiped down the bench. Just so he wouldn’t see the anger twisting my face. What a way to talk about Jo.
My fucking Jo.
Not yours.
Fuck.
She wasn’t just another girl for him to tap. Hell, she wasn’t for me to nail either.
“You fuck anything with a hole. Guy or girl.” Not a lot of people knew Regi swung both ways. I wasn’t sure if he was bisexual or just a hedonist. I only knew he didn’t mind who owned the hole when he’d tried convincing me to suck his cock one night after a bender. I was strictly into pussy, but his predilection didn’t deter me from hanging out. Everyone had their thing. Guys hit on me all the time. It came with being a personal trainer. Men. Women. Young. Old. They all wanted a piece.