Princess Next Door(13)

“There is something to be said about just being yourself. We spend way too much time worrying about what other people think and feel.”

“They would be having a huge fit right now if they saw me last night.”

He reached out, taking hold of her hand. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

She gave his hand a squeeze, liking his touch.

“I am curious though,” he said.

“What about?”

“Why did you think for even a second finding some faceless dick in a bar would be the key to losing your virginity?”

She groaned. “You remember all of that.”

“I’ve discovered, Princess, that with a few beers inside you, you get very, very talkative.”

She covered her face, and when she dropped her hands he was still sitting there, laughing at her.

“Don’t laugh. That is so not fair. There should be some kind of rule where friends don’t laugh at other friends after vomiting.”

Zane didn’t stop, not once. “I’ve heard of people making a lot of mistakes in my time.”

“Could we please just stop, and really not talk about this? I don’t even want to think about what was going on inside my head.” She leaned her elbows on her arms and stared at him. “How did you lose yours?”

He raised a brow. “You really want to know?”

“Yes. You’ve seen me at my worst. I may as well keep on going.”

“I had an older lady friend many years ago. Her husband traveled a lot, and of course she got lonely.” He patted his chest. “She taught me everything I know.”

She stared at him. “Do you miss her?”

“Nope, but I appreciate everything she ever did for me. She’s the one who listened to me play, and told me I was good.”

She saw the fondness in his eyes, but not love.

“Your first time is going to be crap, Princess. The least you could do is save it for someone special.”

****

“How can you even bear to look at me right now?” Princess asked, opening each door of his truck.

She’d gotten changed, and Zane had left her long enough to take a shower and change into clean clothes. Princess wore a pair of rubber cleaning gloves, a shirt, a pair of shorts, and some kind of coverall.

“Quite easy, actually.”

“This is gross. It stinks so bad.”

He kept a good few feet away, aware that with the sun up, and his car baking in it, the stench wouldn’t be all that good.

“Do you want me to help?” he asked.

“No. Absolutely not. It’s bad enough that I made this smell. I can’t—no, stay back.”

Zane watched as she slowly cleaned away her vomit, only she didn’t stop at the floor. She cleaned the entire seating area, wiping everything down, spraying some kind of smelly, flowery odor stuff, and in the end she spent two whole hours cleaning his truck.

“There, I’m going to leave the windows and doors open. Do you want some lemonade?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

She left him alone, and he climbed into the driver’s seat. The truck was as good as new. He was shocked by how good it looked and smelled.

Princess joined him outside. They sat together in two deck chairs he’d brought out and watched their neighborhood go about its business. A couple of kids several doors down were arguing over a ball.

Parents were cleaning their cars, and not one of them approached them.

This was what he liked about this street. Even the deputy sheriff had told him that they were left alone when Slade and Cassie lived here.

“I really do like this place,” she spoke up.

“I do as well.”

“It’s warm. It’s cozy. This is probably going to sound crazy, but I’ve even driven down this street during Halloween and Christmas. I love the decorations that people do. It just feels like home.”

“I get that. I love this place as well. I couldn’t believe when my house went up for sale. It felt like fate, you know.”

“Yeah, and I was able to use my inheritance to afford it as well. It felt good.” She pushed some of her blonde curls off her face. “I think my grandparents knew that I was a little different from the rest of my family. They left me enough to get started on my own and live my own dream.”

“They sound like good people.”

“My family is nice. They just like to judge everyone and everything.”

“Sounds like every single person in the world.” He finished off his glass of lemonade, and felt so calm, so relaxed.

It had been a long night. He’d spent most of it awake, babysitting Princess, but he couldn’t recall a time ever feeling so at home.

“Can I trust you?” she asked.

“I cleaned vomit from you. I spent the night. You can trust me, Princess. There’s no one I’m going to spill your secrets to.”

“I want to lose my virginity.” He tensed up and turned toward her. She stood up, placing her hands on her hips. “Do you like the way I look?”

Okay, his dick just got hard in the fastest time he’d ever known it.

“Yes.”

“Well, you were taught by an older woman, and well, you’re an older guy.”

“Princess.”