Read Stripped for Free Online Page B

looked at me, well it was like I was worth looking at. I'm so positively average that no one glances my way twice, so when he did those things that should have gotten him slapped, I felt flattered. I'm such a head case.
    My aunt works crazy hours to keep this little trailer. I guess the politically correct term is mobile home—or manufactured housing—I forget, but it's her house and she's been so nice to me since I walked off the plane. Robyn and I decided to make her dinner since she works late. We ran to the grocery store before coming home and have been getting dinner ready ever since. The conversation drifts all over the place, but Robyn brings it back around to sex.
    "So," she says carefully, as she finishes setting the table. "What's with the no sex thing? Is that your Mom's idea—"
    I cut her off. "No, it's my thing."
    "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry, it's just that I don't know anyone who's proud to be a virgin and you seem to be, so I was wondering what I was missing. That's all. Don't be all pissy at me for weeks. I won't be nosy again. Promise."
    I glance up at her and smile. "You're such a dork."
    "Shut up, virgin."
    The tension between us is gone. I debate how much to tell her, because I want to say something. I know it sounds strange, but it makes sense to me. "At some point, I don't remember when," my voice wobbles a little because I remember exactly when I decided this, and the events around that day are trying to claw their way out of the box in the back of my head. I mentally shove them back down and continue with a smile on my face. "I decided that I wanted my first time to be on my wedding night. It's not religious or anything like that, I just liked the idea of being each other's first and only. It's romantic."
    A male voice rings out behind me, "It's never going to happen."
    Whirling around, I see Jonathan Ferro standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Dark jeans cling to his narrow hips as he leans against the jamb with his sculpted arms folded across his chest. His head is tipped to the side with that mess of dark hair falling into his eyes. My heartbeat races like someone is going to kill me. I stare at him with my mouth open, wondering why he's here.
    "Hey, Jonny," Robyn says, as she crosses the kitchen to the sink.
    "Hey, Rob. Your cousin here is really cute, but you need to get some things through her naïve little head before some big nasty boy crushes her heart." He pushes off the doorway and walks into the room without looking at me. I hate the way he talks about me like I'm invisible, like I'm a child that's too stupid to know better.
    "It's not naïve," I counter, glaring at him.
    "It is too." He reaches for the bowl on the table and pops an olive into his mouth before he rounds on me. Leaning back against the old beat up island, he says, "Think about it for a second, you're only interested in putting out for a guy that's never had a chick before? That's going to land you a gay guy or a liar. Every guy has had sex by the time he's our age. You're looking for a guy that doesn't exist." His cobalt eyes burn into mine. It feels like I've been scolded, slapped across the face.
    "You're an asshole. Who invited you here anyway?" I sneer at him, clutching my fingers by my sides. He has no right to judge me. He doesn't even know me.
    Grinning, he says, "Your aunt likes me." His hands move behind his back and he rocks on his toes. It's a juvenile gesture that's as clear as sticking out his tongue and nah-nah-ing me.
    I take the bait. "And you'll lower yourself to schlep food from the dinner table inside a trailer? How kind of you."
    "Cassie," my aunt's voice rings out behind me. Damn it. Why is everyone sneaking up on me today? "Mind your manners. Really." She hangs up her coat on a hook by the door. The floor creaks as she crosses the narrow room and heads for the kitchen.
    I try to apologize but she just holds up her hand. "People live in different kinds of homes, Cassie. It's not the castle that