Page 30 of The Keeper and I
“Nope,” she confirmed.
“You’re a—”
“Virgin, yes.”
He paused for a long beat. “How?”
She snapped her gaze to his face. “I…well…I haven’t had the opportunity.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Why not? I said I haven’t had a boyfriend before.”
“You don’t have to be in a relationship to have sex,” he scoffed.
“Look, I know that Icouldhave sex if I wanted to,” she said. “And while I’m not necessarily waiting for the perfect someone, I do want to be with someone I like and I’m attracted to—and trust.”
“Aye, well, that’s a good standard,” he said, and it was genuine.
“So, where does that leave us?” she asked.
“It takes Netflix and chill off the table, that’s for sure,” he said.
For some reason, that stung. She decided to cover it up with a joke, referencing his earlier comment. “Even though I’m hot?”
He cracked a smile. “Hot as you are, we shouldn’t. This is fake.”
“We don’t have to be in a relationship to have sex,” she reminded him in her best attempt at his accent.
“This is different, you’ve never done it before.”
“Why does it matter so much to you?” she asked earnestly. “What I have and haven’t done.”
“Because I feel a bit like I’m robbing you of an experience by being your fake boyfriend when you’ve never had a real one,” he answered. “I don’t want to do that with anything else. And sex—the first time, especially—you deserve to share that with someone you really care about.”
She paused to mull that over. Even the few times she had been involved with someone, there had never been so many mixed signals. Jordan was so stiff around her like he was at a family gathering and someone brought up politics. But he had sent her flowers, her favorite flowers, when he didn’t have to. In the same breath, he told her she was hot, but that he wouldn’t be having sex with her. He wasn’t even going to try. The reasoning, of course, was their false relationship, but even so, she was confused.
“Yes…” she said, trailing off after she swallowed some sushi. “And someone who cares about me.”
He looked away, his eyes tracked the pattern of her backsplash. “Aye, that too.”
She gazed at him, searching his face, but he was stoic. Clearing her throat, she popped her last piece of sushi in her mouth. He turned to her again.
“So, shall we continue our game of twenty questions?”
She clapped a hand over her mouth until she swallowed. Giggling, she met his gaze. “I suppose after all that, there’s very little we won’t answer, is there?”
“Fire away,” he said with a chuckle.
Laci was still thinking about Jordan the next day as Amy, her makeup artist, swept eyeshadow over her lid. They’d had a successful night banging out the way they wanted this fake relationship to work and got to know each other a little better. She learned that his father had owned a small grocery shop in Glasgow, but it went out of business, and his family had struggled. His favorite movie wasMoonstruck, which surprised her. His only explanation had been a shrug and that he “liked watching Cher slap the shit out of Nicholas Cage.” He had also shared that he'd been single for almost seven years. He hadn’t gone into detail about why his last relationship ended. Apparently, they were just in different places.
But the only thing she couldn’t stop thinking about was that they wouldn’t be having sex. She had been okay with it at first, but the more she got to know Jordan, the less pleased she was with that decision. He made her laugh, and he was smarter than she thought a footballer might be. Not to mention, he was fit as fuck, which she already knew about him, but having seen his personality, she found herself craving him.
“Open your eyes for me, love,” Amy said, and Laci obeyed, looking straight ahead. “Looks nice and even.”
Laci stole a look at herself in the mirror. She looked like a sexy Christmas elf with the way the red and green shimmered in the vanity lights. The shoot was for holiday lingerie, so it was fitting.
“Hold on while I grab your lipstick,” Amy said, and she went to speak to a model a few chairs down.