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“Well, I’ve done it now,” she said. “There’s not really any point lecturing me. Not really any point scolding me. I’ve done it now.”

He brushed his thumb over her cheekbone. “Yes, you have. We have. It wasn’t just you. It doesn’t matter that it was your first time and not mine.” He paused. “I’ve never been with a woman in this house.”

“You haven’t?”

“No.” He shook his head. “I have kept sex separate from my life at home. For all these years.” He closed his eyes. “That’s not strictly true. But this house was built long after the only time I ever had an entanglement that felt a little bit personal. So there hasn’t been anyone here.”

“What personal entanglement did you have?” She felt suddenly outraged, wanted to find whoever the woman was and...

What was wrong with her? That sudden rush of possessiveness was not her. Not at all.

It was messed up, that she would be jealous of another woman, angry at her instead of Levi. She would say that she stood against such things. Her father had had an affair, and even her mother had said it was a poor showing of feminism to hate her. And that all the hate should be reserved for their dad. Quinn had happily and easily obliged.

And yet... She certainly wasn’t doing a good job of applying that element of sisterhood to this moment. And whoever the woman was, she hadn’t even betrayed Quinn.

“It’s not a great story. I’m not sure it’s a good time to tell it.”

“I want to hear it.”

“I’ll tell you what. I’m going to find some sweats for you, and then we’re going to go downstairs and have some ice cream. And we’ll talk about it at the kitchen table. But not in my bed.”

“Okay.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

LEVI FELT SHAKEN to his bones. He hadn’t been able to resist her when she’d come into the shower. It had been the slippery, wonderful surprise of his life, and he had been uninterested in resisting.

She was beautiful, and he wanted her.

So why the hell not? She was there, she wanted him, and he wasn’t going to protect the girl from herself.

He’d expected to be in control of it. He hadn’t expected her to be a virgin.

He got ice cream out of the freezer and set two bowls on the table.

And waited.

He heard soft footsteps coming down the stairs, and when he looked up, his whole being went tight. His groin, his chest, everything in between. She was wearing a very large red sweatshirt and some plaid pants that were far too big for her. And the pants were seemingly held on by boot socks that she had pulled up over the bottoms of the pants, which were... Why were socks so cute on this woman? He had never given a single damned thought to socks a day in his life, and here he was with Quinn Sullivan, obsessing about socks regularly.

Her red hair was wet and bedraggled, and he wanted to pick her up again and carry her to the table.

But he didn’t.

He let there be a little bit of distance, because he felt like he needed it.

Dammit all, he needed it.

She padded to the table and sat down, right in front of one of the bowls.

“Mint chocolate chip or salted caramel?”

“Salted caramel,” she said, pushing the bowl toward her preferred ice cream container. He started to scoop it for her.

“Okay. So, you know my dad died when I was eighteen.”

“Yes,” she said.

“I wasn’t an adult. I felt...half-finished at best. I had to figure out how to be the caregiver and I was fighting blind. I still didn’t know that I had all those learning disabilities and suddenly all this paperwork was on my lap. Plus, three kids. The first time I had sex it was some girl from school who pitied me. Who came by and had a quickie with me on my couch after the kids went to bed, when she dropped off a casserole her mother had made. I was glad, because it felt like I needed to get it over and done with. I needed to be an adult. An adult ought to know what sex is, right?” He sighed. “I don’t know how to do the emotions, though. I’m not... I know how to take care of kids. I raised my siblings. I love them. In a lot of ways I never learned how to really take care of myself. I learned to stitch myself back together. To make sure I wasn’t bleeding all over, but I’m not... I’m not the kind of man who should be having sex with virgins.”