After the Christmas Party(41)

“Here.” He set another box in the center of the cut paper. He placed his hands on her face and forced her to look at him. “Let me show you how I do this then you can develop your own technique.”

Trying to ignore the bolts of electricity zooming through her at his touch, she grimaced at the roughly wrapped package sitting beside her. “I certainly need to lose my current technique. I’m horrible at wrapping.”

At lots of things. Things she wanted to be good at. To be mind-blowing at.

“You just need a little guidance and then some practice.” He stroked his thumb across her cheek. “I’m more than happy to oblige.”

“Is sex that way, too?”

That had his eyes bulging and her grimacing.

“What do you mean?”

Her and her big mouth. Why had she had to say any-thing? Then again, she really did want to know. Because she thought about sex with this man a lot. Sometimes in a good fantasy way and others as in a scary way that would have him changing his phone number and running when he spotted her in the hospital hallways.

“I told you I’m horrible at that, too,” she admitted, wondering if she was like the worst woman ever in making her admission. Then again, if she’d thought she could fake it successfully, they’d have gotten naked on the beach the night he’d cooked for her. She’d wanted to but had been scared of losing him, something she hadn’t been ready to admit, much less risk. “Is sex something you’d instruct me in and then help me practice?”

“Princess, happy doesn’t begin to convey how I feel about helping you with sex, but I’ve kissed you and know how wonderfully sensual you are. My guess is that you’re better than you think.”

If only. She knew she wasn’t. She’d been there. And if she hadn’t been, well, Chase had told her and the entire Christmas party how awful she’d been in the sack.

“No, I’m not.”

Twisting a piece of ribbon around the package, he frowned. “Not that I believe for one minute that it’s true, but what makes you say that you’re not any good at sex? Are you a virgin?”

“No,” she said quickly. Did he think she’d just made up that she lacked bedroom skills? That wasn’t exactly the kind of thing a woman went around tooting her horn about. At least, none she’d ever known. “My ex told me how terrible I am.”

“Your ex was an idiot.” His words were immediate and matter-of-fact.

“Well, yes, he was.” Chase had been. She could see that now. “But, unfortunately, on that matter, he was right. I didn’t enjoy sex and won’t be winning any Oscars for my bedroom performance.”

“If you didn’t enjoy sex, then he was the one who was lacking, not you.” Riley’s gaze bored into her, making her want to squirm. “It’s his job to see to it you’re enjoying sex, Trinity. If you weren’t and he blamed you, he was an even bigger idiot than I thought.”

Than he thought? She’d barely mentioned Chase to him, because mentioning her ex just brought her down, made her worry that Riley would move on as well. Riley was so much more than Chase had ever been. Why wouldn’t he move on?

“What do you know about Chase?”

For once, it was he who averted his gaze and started wrapping the present, but as if he realized what he’d done and didn’t like the action, he met her gaze head on. “Just what little you’ve told me…and what I overheard you tell Jewel Hendrix.”

“You were listening to my conversation?” Her cheeks heated. That would teach her to have inappropriate conversations with older women who went on and on about glass slippers and Prince Charming.

“Perhaps I shouldn’t have, but I did.”

She digested that, trying to recall just what all she and Jewel had said about Chase…and Riley himself. “What else did you overhear?”

“That he dumped you at a hospital Christmas party. Sounds like a jerk.”

“He did and he was.”

“He didn’t deserve you,” Riley said immediately, with such conviction that she had to stare at him in wonder. He believed that. He believed in her. The question was, could she believe in him?

“No, he didn’t.” Warmth lit inside her and spread through her chest. “Funny that it’s taken me two years to realize that.”

Riley paused from wrapping the present to take her hand and kiss her fingers. “Is he why you don’t like Christmas?”

“Partly.”

“And the other part is the lack of Christmas while growing up?”

She wasn’t sure she liked him knowing so much about her, the real her beneath the surface. Riley and Jewel had a lot in common.