Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
He glances at the assorted ingredients. “Yeah, it hasn’t been out that long. I’m sure it’s still okay.”
“Since it’s been sitting out, can you rinse it off before we cook it? I hate handling meat.”
He smirks, and belatedly I hear it.
“I didn’t mean it that way,” I mutter.
“Uh-huh.” He turns the sink on and washes his hands, then he grabs the raw meat, unbothered by its grossness.
“What do you want me to do?” I ask, eager to help.
“I got dinner. You finish unpacking.”
“Are you sure?”
He nods, reaching for the cutting board and the head of broccoli he must have been handling before he dropped it and ran to save me—again.
“I don’t usually get in this much trouble,” I tell him, feeling the need to explain myself.
He glances over at me before returning his attention to the veggies. “No? You’ve certainly stepped in your fair share of it these past couple of days.”
“I know. It’s uncharacteristic of me, truly. I lead a quiet life. I participate in maybe two virgin sacrifices a year—three max.”
He cracks a smile. “Don’t want to overdo it.”
“You can only escape so many virgin sacrifices and remain a virgin.”
“What’s up with that, anyway?” he asks. “You super religious or something?”
I shake my head, looking for some place to put the cat food. “No, just romantic, I guess. I know plenty of people do casual hookups and seem to enjoy it, but I dated someone I loved and didn’t even sleep with him, so I guess… I just held onto it for so long, it felt like it needed to be something truly special to give it up. You know?”
Nodding faintly, he says, “I guess I can see that. Why didn’t you sleep with him?”
“Hm?”
“The guy you loved.”
“Oh. Well, it was high school, and he was stupid.”
Killian laughs, taken off guard by my honesty. “That checks out.”
I crack a smile. It’s nice being able to smile over something that had me gutted as recently as last year. “At first, I didn’t want to move too fast. I wanted to wait until I was ready. But I guess I made him wait too long, and he… did something stupid.”
“Something or someone?” he asks knowingly.
I sigh. “There was this wretched girl. I don’t want to talk about it because I hated her independent of her hooking up with my boyfriend, but when mentioning that both things happened, people jump to the conclusion that I blamed her for all of it. I didn’t, he was an even bigger asshole in my eyes because he knew how much I disliked her, but he was drunk at a party, and we got into a fight. It was idiotic. The entire relationship was just… a major lapse in judgment. He treated me like shit, he had no self-control. It was a bad relationship, but it was the first time I’d ever fallen in love, and like an idiot, I let that tie me to him for longer than I should have. But once he hooked up with the other girl, I couldn’t bring myself to sleep with him. I should have known then it was too late, the relationship was over, but I hung on and let him keep stringing me along. I guess I kept hoping he would… find a way to make me get over it.” I shake my head. “I don’t know how to explain it, but obviously, that didn’t happen. He wasn’t willing to put effort into our relationship prior to cheating on me; what made me think he would after?”
Killian shrugs. “He might have. Some guys take what they have for granted, and it takes a wake-up call to snap them out of it.”
“Maybe. But I want a guy with enough awareness and intelligence to know what he has the moment he catches me. It shouldn’t take fucking me over for him to see my value. And if it does, honestly, it’s too late. I don’t want him anymore, so… relationship over.”
“That’s fair. He made his bed.”
I nod, searching the cabinets for cereal so I can add mine to it. “But since I hung out in that doomed relationship for the rest of my high school career, refusing to end it and maybe find someone better, but also refusing to sleep with him…”
“You entered college a virgin.”
“Yep.”
“You’re a sophomore, though, right?”
“Yeah, but I was pretty closed off to dating last year. Freshly broken heart and all that. I take a while to mend.”
“Especially when you don’t heed conventional advice.”
“Which is?”
He sounds faintly amused. “Fastest way to get over one guy is to get under a different one.”
“Oh.” My cheeks warm a bit. “Yeah, obviously I didn’t take that advice. What about you?” I ask, glancing back at him. “Have you ever been in love before?”
“Nah. It’s not really for me.”