A Cowboy in Manhattan(41)
He’d happily keep her in his bed that long and longer. He didn’t know what had happened, or more accurately, what had not happened in her past: why she’d waited, or why she’d picked him. But right now nothing mattered except that she had.
“I went to an all-girls school,” Katrina found herself explaining, still draped across Reed’s naked body. She’d hate him to think there was something wrong with her. “From when I was ten all the way to college. I mean, we saw the boys from the affiliated school occasionally. But it wasn’t as if we had time to get to know them.”
“Are you saying you didn’t date in high school?”
“I didn’t date in high school,” she confirmed.
She slowly slid from his body to his side and let her cheek rest on his shoulder.
He settled a wool blanket over them.
“And then I went to the college affiliated with Liberty Ballet,” she continued. “I’ve been really busy with my dancing career. So, you know, even though I live in New York City, and my social life is quite active with all the events and parties—”
“Katrina?”
“What?”
“Are you apologizing for being a virgin?”
“Yes. I mean, no. I’m not apologizing.” Exactly. “I’m telling you it wasn’t my fault.”
His body rumbled with laughter, and his lips brushed the top of her head. “You don’t understand men at all.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” The man was exasperating.
“Yeah?” His tone turned serious. “Well, listen up, Katrina. Because I understand men perfectly.”
“Bully for you.”
“You’ve got it all wrong.”
“I’ve got what all wrong?”
“How I’m feeling. What I’m thinking.”
“Okay, what are you feeling and thinking?”
He seemed to choose his words, his tone deep near her ear. “I’m feeling privileged and proud. I’m thinking someday, a long time from now, when I’m very old and very tired, and there’s nothing left of my life, I’ll be remembering this night, and you, and that I was the first.”
Something flip-flopped Katrina’s stomach. She drew back, tipping her chin so that she could gauge his expression. “That’s a really great line, Reed.”
“Thank you.”
“Ever used it before?”
“Of course not. How can you ask that?”
So he was serious? He’d be thinking of her on his deathbed? She had no idea how to respond, so she laid her head back down on his shoulder and just breathed for a few minutes.
Reed spoke first. “But is there something wrong with all the men in New York City?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
“Because I was with you all of five minutes before I realized I’d never be able to keep my hands off you.”
“Five minutes?” She couldn’t help but be pleased to hear that.
“Did they ask you on dates and you turned them down?”
“Five minutes?” she repeated.
“Focus, Katrina.”
“I am focusing.”
“The men? In New York City?”
She gave up. It was really just her ego that wanted him to admit it anyway. “Some asked for dates,” she admitted. “Most I turned down. The others didn’t really work out. And Quentin Foster, well he just skipped right to the proposition.”
“Quentin Foster.”
“Just a guy,” said Katrina, regretting even saying the man’s name out loud.
“Did you meet him at one of your fancy parties?”
She shook her head. “He’s on the board of directors for Liberty. I’ve known him for a while. He’s a big contributor, and people kowtow to him. I don’t think he has much of a life outside the ballet company, because he’s always hanging around. He comes to rehearsals. And he’s forever closeted with the ballet company director discussing… I don’t know what they discuss, funding, I guess.”
Reed came up on his elbow. “And he propositioned you?”
She scrunched her face up in a grimace. “Yes.”
“As in solicited sex?”
“Is there another kind of proposition?”
Reed blinked several times. “A man in a position of power over you actually asked you to sleep with him?”