A Perfect Ten (Forbidden Men #5)(98)

He had diarrhea of the mouth or something. The words just started vomiting out of him until he had my head spinning.

I finally lifted my hand and said, “Wait. Why would you even once think I’d second-guess our relationship after seeing him?”

“I don’t know,” he muttered. “He was your first love, or whatever. You chicks get all sentimental and shit when it comes to your first loves, don’t you?”

Why, yes. Yes, we did.

“But Sander was not my first love. He was just some...stupid boy who smiled at a young, vulnerable, lonely girl starved for a little attention. He was a user and left me used. The only thing I feel for that douche is supreme satisfaction that you kicked him in the junk for me.”

“Really?”

I smiled and rolled my eyes. It completely boggled my mind that cocky, confident Oren Tenning was acting so uncertain. But then I remembered this was the first time he’d dared to open himself up to anyone and attempt a relationship since his sister’s death, since that one stupid whore who’d first had him had shattered his ego. Thinking of it that way, yeah, it made sense he’d have a few doubts.

“Yes, really,” I murmured. “And yes, I’d love to spend the day out with you.” If Noel discovered us, I guess that was just a chance I was willing to take to show Oren I most definitely wasn’t having any second thoughts about him. Because he was my first love.

“Cool,” he murmured as if trying to piece together his doubts and return to being confident Oren. “I have just the place to take you. There’s this park about an hour from here, near my hometown. It’s really nice and should be far enough away that your brother won’t learn about it. It’s by a river and there’s a carnival and little food kiosks, and—”

“You mean Rainly Park?”

“Oh, you’ve heard of it?” Disappointment filled his voice.

“Yeah, sure. Noel’s taken us there a few times for family outings.”

“That f*cker,” he exploded. “I’m the one who took him there first. How dare he take you there before I could?”

I grinned. “If it makes you feel better, I bet I’ll have a much better time there with you than I ever did with him.”

“You’re damn right you will.”

I laughed and he finally chuckled along with me.

“Pick you up in an hour at our spot?” he asked.

Pleasure bloomed in my chest. “Sounds great. I’ll see you then.”

“Yes, you will. Lick you later, baby.”





He took me to get corn dogs first, because he was starving, and while he snarfed down three to my respectable one (okay, fine, I stole half of his last corn dog), we meandered around the craft booths, watching a few artists freestyle paint before I came across a vintage video stand.

After flipping through a pile of old DVD and VHS cassettes, I found a readapted version of Disney’s Child of Glass and nearly wet myself. “Oh my God, I’ve been looking everywhere for this movie.”

Checking out the cover, Oren snickered. “Wow. With the glasses that kid is rocking, I can see why it had your panties all wet.”

I smacked his arm. “Hush. It’s a seventies movie. Everyone had tacky fashion sense back then.”

“Yeah, I can tell. Honestly, if I ever wear a shirt like that, please shoot me and put me out of my misery.”

“It was the storyline that hooked me, not what they wore.”

“What was it about?” Oren took the DVD out of my hand and flipped it over to check out the back.

I frowned. “You know, I can’t remember.”

“Sounds titillating,” he intoned.

I scowled and nudged his arm again, just to make myself feel better. “I was really young the last time I saw it. It was some kind of Saturday afternoon movie special on TV. I only got to see it once, but I remember just adoring it. I loved the name of the ghost. Inez Dumaine.” With a sigh, I grinned. “I built this dream in my head that I’d name a little girl Inez Dumaine if I ever had children.”

Remembering I never would have children, my smile faded. Oren looked up from reading the back cover, and I could tell from his expression that he knew exactly what I was thinking.

So I cleared my throat and kept talking. “Anyway, I loved her accent too. I loved the way she said the main boy’s name who was helping her. And I wanted to watch it again the next day, so Noel took me to our nearby movie rental place to get it, but they didn’t have it. We looked everywhere. I finally wrote a letter to Walt Disney and asked if I could buy a copy from them.” With a scowl, I added, “That bastard never wrote back.”

“I’m going to kick his ass,” Oren promised, sounding dead serious.

I cracked up and grasped his arm. “It doesn’t matter anymore. We have the movie now.”

“Well, let’s buy this som’bitch and watch it tonight when we get home.”

As he carried it to the vendor to pay for it, reaching into his own pocket for his wallet, I stayed back and stared after him, amazed. Once the transaction was complete, he returned to me with my new movie and a proud grin on his face.

“What if it ends up not working?” I said, suddenly leery as I bit my lip. “Or what if it does work, and it ends up being an awful movie? I was young, it’s been years since I’ve seen it.”