Fallen Too Far (Rosemary Beach #1)(22)

Rush shook his head. "Not now. We're friends. I'll talk and I won't leave. Just please, stay in here with me."

I looked around the small rectangle that barely had room for my bed. "There isn't a lot of room in here," I said, glancing back at him and forcing my hands to stay flat on his chest and not fist his snug fitting shirt into my hands and pull him closer.

"We can sit on the bed. We won't touch. Just talk. Like friends," he assured me.

I let out a sigh and nodded. I wasn't going to be able to turn him down. Besides, there was so much I wanted to know about him.

I sank down onto the bed against the headboard and leaned back. I crossed my legs underneath me.

"Then we'll talk." I said with a smile.

Rush sat down onto the bed and leaned back against the wall. A deep chuckle came from his chest and I watched as a real smile broke out on his face. "I can't believe I just begged a female to sit and talk to me."

In all honesty, I couldn't either.

"What are we going to talk about?" I asked, wanting him to start this. I didn't want him to feel as if this was the Spanish Inquisition. I had so many questions whirling around in my head that I knew I could overwhelm him with my curiosity.

"How about how the hell you're still a virgin at nineteen?" he said, turning his silver pools toward me.

I'd never told him I was a virgin. He had called me innocent the other night. Was it that obvious? "Who said I'm a virgin?" I asked in the most annoyed tone I could muster.

Rush smirked, "I know a virgin when I kiss one."

I didn't even want to argue about this. It would only make the fact I was a virgin all the more obvious.

"I was in love. His name is Cain. He was my first boyfriend, my first kiss, my first make-out session, however tame it may have been. He said he loved me and claimed I was the only one for him. Then my mom got sick. I no longer had time to go on dates and spend time with Cain on the weekends. He needed out. He needed freedom to get that kind of relationship from someone else. So, I let him go. After Cain I didn't have time to date anyone else."

Rush frowned. "He didn't stick by you when your mom was sick?"

I didn't like this conversation. If someone else pointed out what I already knew it would be hard not to have angry feelings about Cain. I'd forgiven him a long time ago. I'd accepted it. I didn't need bitterness toward him to creep in now. What good would that do?

"We were young. He didn't love me. He just thought he did. Simple as that."

Rush sighed, "You're still young."

I wasn't sure I liked the tone in his voice when he said that. "I'm nineteen, Rush. I've taken care of my mother for three years and buried her without any help from my father. Trust me, I feel forty most days."

Rush reached his hand across the bed and covered mine with his. "You shouldn't have had to do that alone."

No, I shouldn't but I didn't have any other options. I loved my mom. She deserved so much more than she got. The only thing that eased the ache was reminding myself that Mom and Valerie were together now. They had each other. I didn't want to talk about my story anymore. I wanted to know something about Rush.

"Do you have a job?" I asked.

Rush chuckled and squeezed my hand but didn't let go. "Do you believe everyone must have a job once out of college?"

I shrugged. I had always thought people worked at something. He had to have some purpose. Even if he didn't need the money.

"When I graduated college I had enough money in the bank to live the rest of my life without a job, thanks to my dad." He looked over at me with those sexy eyes hooded by thick black lashes. "After a few weeks of doing nothing but partying I realized I needed a life. So I began playing around with the stock market. Turns out, I'm pretty damn good at it. Numbers were always my thing. I also donate financial support for Habitat for Humanity. A couple months out of the year I'm more hands-on and I go work on site. Summers I take off from everything that I can and come here and relax."

I hadn't been expecting that.

"The surprise on your face is a little insulting," Rush said with a teasing lilt to his voice.

"I just didn't expect that answer," I replied honestly.

Rush shrugged and moved his hand back to his side of the bed. I wanted to reach over and grab it and hold onto it but I didn't. He was done touching me.

"How old are you?" I asked

Rush grinned, "Too old to be in this room with you and way too damn old for the thoughts I have of you."

He was in his early twenties. He had to be. He didn't look any older. "I will remind you that I am nineteen. I'll be twenty in six months. I'm not a baby."

"No sweet Blaire, you are definitely not a baby. I'm twenty-four and jaded. My life hasn't been normal and because of it I have some serious screwed up shit. I've told you there are things you don't know. Allowing myself to touch you would be wrong."

He was only five years older than me. That wasn't so bad. He gave money to Habitat for Humanity and even did onsite labor? How bad could he be? He had a heart. He had let me live here when he had wanted nothing more than to send me packing.

"I think you underestimate yourself. What I see in you is special."