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He sighs huskily. “It’s different for men and women. There’s more stigma attached to men, especially a man of my age. But it’s proof that I waited for you, Callie, that I was happy to die a virgin if it meant never meeting you.”
I gasp, way too loudly, causing several people to snap their gazes to me.
“Did you just say you’re a virgin?” I whisper aware people might be trying to eavesdrop.
He nods. “Yes, yes I did.”
“But how is that… that doesn’t make any sense. Have you ever looked in a mirror, Conrad? You’re like a caveman and a male model and an MMA fighter all mixed into one, into this delicious silver fox package and—”
I cut myself off, a blush spreading across my cheeks, red and hot.
“No, go on,” Conrad smirks. “I’ll never turn down a compliment. Not from you.”
I squeeze onto his hand. “Seriously, though, surely you can see how crazy that is. You’re so handsome, so manly, so rich. You could have any woman you wanted.”
He shrugs. “Maybe I could. I won’t lie, Callie, I’ve had my fair share of offers over the years. But I’ve never wanted it, never even came close to wanting it. I always knew that if I met the woman I dreamed about – if I met you – I’d want to only be with her. Forever.”
I shake my head, as though that will bring this into some sort of order, as though that will make any of this make sense. But all I can do is continue to shake my head because it doesn’t.
“Conrad, you wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
“Never,” he growls. “I thought I made that clear. I’ll swear on my dead mother a thousand times. I. Am. A. Virgin.”
“Uh.” The waiter is standing at the edge of the table, a tray balanced in his hand. “Your drinks.”
I smile and glance at Conrad. He smirks back at me, a silent message in his eyes. We share a look as the waiter places our drinks on the table and then backs away.
“Is he the sneakiest goddamn waiter in the universe or what?” Conrad jokes.
I giggle, nodding. “I think he might be.”
“But does that help a little?” he says. “You’re the only woman I want. The fact that I waited proves it. So let people look if they’re looking. Let them think what they want. Because at the end of the day, we win. We get to share something, to be something, they can only dream about. It’s me and you, Callie, just me and you.”
“Forever,” I whisper, at the same time he does, our voices coming together in an emotionally filled union. “Okay, okay, I get it. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to freak out. This is all so new to me.”
He moves his hand to my face, stroking along my cheek, causing even more sensations to dance across my skin. And inside of me – shimmering through my body, my heart, pumping as hot as his predator’s blood.
I love you.
I almost whisper the impossible words, but something holds me back. A desire not to shatter the perfection of this moment.
He wants me, only me.
And I only want him.
Forever.
I can’t risk ruining that.
Chapter Seventeen
Conrad
“So why did you choose interior design?” I ask as I cut into my steak.
Callie looks at me, her eyes bright and glittering in the light of the chandelier. The jewels on her dress catch the light and make her whole body sparkle like a gift just begging me to unwrap. Hot rage boils inside me when I think about how self-conscious she was when we first came into the restaurant.
She should never have to feel like that, never even have to dream of feeling like that.
But then I told her the truth about my virginity, and I could tell she was struggling to believe me. If our connection didn’t go past reason, if our connection didn’t thunder into us and settle deeply, settle hotly, I know she’d doubt me.
Yet she can’t because she knows I’d never lie to her.
Now she bites her lip, as she picks at her food. A surge of possession washes over me when she clasps onto her lip like that, making me think of the way she’ll look when I’m plunged inside of her for the first time – the first time for us both.
“My dad used to talk about it when I was a kid,” she murmurs, struggling valiantly not to let sadness quake in her voice.
She chews on her food, as though delaying, and then washes it down with some juice. Even the act of her eating fills me with hope and a scorching sense of belonging for the future. She’s fueling her body for what we’re going to do together, the family we’re going to make.
She’s keeping herself strong and wide-hipped and curvy and all the things that make her so damn beautiful.
