Jared’s own white teeth flashed in the darkness as he grinned. “They’re pretty lovable, aren’t they?”
“And you,” she said, tentative. “You deserve to find someone too.”
“It’s never been too high on my list of priorities, you know? I’ve sort of walled myself off.” His voice took an odd turn at the end, sounding almost puzzled, or as if he’d suddenly just worked something out for himself. Maybe he hadn’t even realized he’d been living that way. It was second nature for her.
As she turned that revelation over in her mind, though, a crazy thought occurred to her. Something she had no business asking him about, but suddenly she was insanely curious, and curiosity with alcohol was a dangerous combination. “So you were with Macy for, like, years, right?”
“Since middle school.”
“How old were you when you broke up?”
“I was nineteen. She was eighteen.”
“Did you get with Shelly right away?”
“Pretty much. Maybe a month in between there.”
Was her theory correct? Had this gorgeous man really only been with two women? Assuming he had been completely faithful to both, and she had no doubts he had been, at least physically… Surely not, though. Someone, somewhere had gotten into his pants at some point. A rebound in between, or after his divorce, or something. It was simply too hard to believe he hadn’t nailed a rodeo babe here and there.
From the driver’s seat, he chuckled. “I can sense you’re going somewhere with this.”
“No,” she said too quickly. “Just wondering.”
“The list isn’t extensive,” he said mildly, “but the damage is.”
Starla almost blurted out that she was the exact opposite. Her list was extensive. But the damage was minimal. She’d never been with anyone who could leave such a deep scar on her heart. Brian didn’t count; she’d never been with him.
Jared didn’t want to hear about that, though. Wouldn’t a man like him, who guarded his body as well as his heart, be put off by promiscuity? She’d never, not once, felt shame over her many sexual conquests. She didn’t now, really, it was just weird. As wanton as she was, she didn’t think she’d ever been with a man who’d had fewer partners than her, or at least not enough to make much difference. It had always been a pretty level playing field as far as she knew.
But this… Hell, it would practically be like deflowering a virgin. She had to giggle.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, chuckling with her. And she couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Only, um…those two? I’m sorry. You have to admit it’s uncommon.”
“Well,” he said, fidgeting a bit, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand while the other gripped the wheel, “like I said, Macy and I were together from the time we were kids. I thought we’d stay together, get married, have a family, but she ended that. The one and only time I intended to have a one-night stand to forget Macy, I ended up married with twins on the way.”
“Oh,” she said, shamed into silence. She hadn’t looked at it like that.
“Not that Shelly was— She wasn’t a stranger. She was a friend. I liked her, and we got along well back then. But I don’t think I would’ve pursued anything further with her if not for Ash and Mia coming along. It’s sad, but there it is.”
“You gave it a chance,” she said. “It’s more than a lot of guys would do.”
“I never much worried about what other guys would do. Just what I should do.”
“Yeah, well, having sampled my fair share of ‘other guys,’ I’m somewhat of an expert on what most of them would do.” Oh shit, should she have said that, given he was two vaginas removed from virginity? Damn tequila. “I probably shouldn’t admit that, but…” She chuckled and gave his previous words back to him. “There it is.”
He laughed as he flipped the blinker to turn down his road. “You’re all right.”
Was he for fucking real? Kind, crazy about his kids, gorgeous, and nonjudgmental. There had to be some fatal flaw in this system. Had to be. Some switch somewhere that, once thrown, would bring everything crashing down around her.
Maybe it would be sex, but she hoped not. Maybe it wouldn’t be him, it would be her. She’d always been so confident in the bedroom, but he had her mind all messed up. She’d never been here before. She’d never felt this way with anyone before. When she wanted it, she went for it—except, of course, with Brian, whom she’d set upon some unattainable pedestal long ago. So, so close, but so far away. Would the same thing happen here?