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whispered, trying to tug her hand free. “I’ve never been kissed.”
    Sweet mercy. Joel’s pulse picked up. “And the big things?”
    He had a good idea by now, no matter how impossible it seemed.
    Vicki lowered her chin and looked him in the eye as she spoke. “I’m a virgin. In everything. So if you’re up for the challenge, go ahead, teach me to ride.”
    The response of “you’re fucking kidding me” wasn’t the right one, but damn, he’d never been so tongue-tied in his life. Her wrist slipped from his fingers, and she moved away, staring down the ravine at the creek.
    Silence stretched between them, different this time than before. It wasn’t him patiently waiting for her to gather her courage. This time there was anticipation along with the discomfort.
    The discussion had totally not gone where he’d expected, and all his images of being a knight in shining armor and helping her redeem her name were buried under a sea of holy fuck, holy fuck, holy fuck…
    Her being a virgin was impossible, and yet why would she lie? And she wasn’t lying, not that he could tell.
    “I’m trying to absorb this, okay?” Joel spoke softly, like he would around skittish horses—ironic, that. He didn’t want to scare her off, but he needed time to process the information. “I’m totally going to work with you on the horse thing, and dealing with your fears will require us to at least pretend to date each other. All of that, I’m good with. I’ll do it.”
    He stood and walked to her side. Vicki had crossed her arms over her chest and she wasn’t bouncing anymore. Just standing, motionless.
    It was awkward, towering over her. He shifted uneasily on his feet before pulling her back toward the bench. “Sit, I want to ask you something.”
    She went willingly enough, curling up on one side of the sturdy bench and drawing her legs to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and rested her chin on her knees. “I kind of blew your mind, didn’t I?”
    He nodded. “I won’t push for the secrets right now, but…holy shit, yeah. I want to ask you something.”
    She lifted her head and waited.
    “Why me?”
    A crease folded between her eyes. “Why you, what?”
    Joel shrugged. “I promise to help you no matter what, so it’s not like we have to fool around to make this work. If you’ve gone this long without having sex, why do you think you have to change things up now?”
    “Because you don’t want to have sex with me?”
    Oh God. He beat down the images flashing into his brain. “Because most women I know want sex to be something special. Especially their first time.”
    Her mouth twisted into this teasing grin. “You saying you suck in the sack, Joel? That’s not what I’d heard.”
    “You’re not making this any easier,” he complained.
    “Look, if it’s too freaky to consider then, whatever. But sex is sex. I have my own reasons for not having had it until now, but…”
    She turned those bright eyes his direction, and something inside just about melted. Whether it was from how hot she made him or her total lack of self-consciousness, he understood a little better what a deer felt like when the headlights hit them.
    Vicki squirmed closer. “You’ve always been on my radar, although I never did anything about it, both because of my family and the you and Jesse thing. But honestly, if there’s anyone in this town I want to get intimate with, it’s you. So why don’t you think about it for a while and get back to me.”
    The absurdity of her statement struck like a bat. “Call and let you know I’m okay with fucking you?”
    “Don’t think being crude is going to scare me off.” She knelt on the bench. “And don’t be stupid. I feel like some hick-town kid as it is. What happens when I get the hell out of here, and I meet some guy I like? I’ll be all messed up and stereotypical, and I’m so goddamn over being left out. I want what I want for once in my life. And yes, that means I want