Page 28 of Badd Baby

"That's the point." I relented, however, sensing she had something on her mind. "Did someone say something to you? A boyfriend or something?"

"About what?"

"About not kissing you after you've gone down on him."

She looked away, tried to pull away, tried to slide off me. "Don’t worry about it."

I held her in place. "Hey, no. Nope. Talk to me."

She shrugged, still looking away. "Doesn't matter."

"It does to me."

"I just…" she sighed. "Historically, I have absolutely terrible taste in men."

"So that's a yes. Some jackass said something." I tilted her face so she had to look at me. "Rune, listen to me."

She pulled away forcefully, and I had no choice but to let her go. "It doesn’t matter. Old news." She sat on the floor beside me. "Men just suck. Present company excluded…so far."

I laughed. "Considering some of the stories my girl cousins have told, I'm inclined to agree that men do seem to suck."

She shrugged. "You're different, so far."

I scooped her onto my lap and stood up, went to the side of the bed, and sat down with her on my lap. "Tell me. Please."

She shook her head. “You don't want to hear about that shit.”

"Maybe I do."

"Then you're a weirdo."

"I am a weirdo, and I do want to hear about it, if only so we can agree about what a fucking loser that guy was."

She sighed. "If we talk about this while I'm all…” she wriggled her shoulders. "Into you, or whatever, I’m liable to cry."

"That's okay. I'm not afraid of a few tears."

She sighed again and slid off me, but I captured her again and nestled her on my chest.

Eventually, she groaned in annoyed capitulation. “Fine. He was a jackass. End of story."

"Rune."

"We just had the hottest not-sex of my life, and now you wanna talk about old painful shit?" She snorted. "This was fun, Duncan, but you don't need to pretend it’s something it’s not.”

I hated the sudden rush of complex feelings her words riled up inside me—hurt, anger, pride, curiosity, jealousy.

"Hottest not-sex of your life, huh?" I asked, faking a lightness I didn't feel.

She shrugged, rolled away from me, and sat up, pulling the sheet up and tucking it under her arms. "Yup."

"What's not-sex?"

She didn't look at me. "Well…that." She gestured with a flip of her hand at the edge of the bed. "Messing around. Sex, but not actual sex."

"I see." I sat up and turned toward her. "It's not gross."

She rolled her eyes. "You don't need to prove anything."