"You make it sound like I should have pounced on you."
"You don't know the locker room talk. Girls saying that guys could get it from anyone and they had to be doing all this stuff so they could keep their boyfriends. It freaked me out. You were the hottest guy in that school. And I wasn't opening my legs."
He kissed her eyelids, taking his time to form his thoughts and get the words right. "I guess I matured early. Really, sex with those kinds of girls was well, it was good. But, you were different, Mandy." He brushed her hair back from her face. "I was so in love with you, I would have done anything."
"Tell the truth. Did you tell the guys in the locker room we were having sex?"
"Of course," he said, scoffing. Then he went serious. "Probably. I was still a kid."
"I'm okay with that. I told the girls the same thing. Of course we were having sex. I didn't want them to think they could steal you away from me. I had to start reading romance novels so I could pretend I knew what happened."
He couldn't help it. The thought of her telling those snobs things she read in romance novels was too much. He would have thrown his head back, but he couldn't keep his eyes off her. But, looking down at her in his arms, he laughed at her. Those were the girls he dated before he'd known Mandy. These were girls he'd had sex with, unbelievable as it was now. "I'm sorry," he said when he settled down. "I didn't mean to laugh at you. But the imagery was so funny."
"I know. I can't believe I needed to impress those bitches. They were so mean to each other, I couldn't imagine what they would say to me." She shrugged, beaming up at him. He felt like the sun was shining on him.
"I have an idea," he said, kissing her nose. "You want to get into the hot tub."
She glanced over at his stove clock. "Don't you have to get up early in the morning?"
"I think we're supposed to be on ice at nine. So we need to get up at seven. Are you tired?"
She nodded. "Let's just go hang out in the living room somewhere. Listen to music."
"I think that sounds like the best idea I've heard all night."