Her Hometown Hero(19)

As the last of her tremors subsided, she felt herself being pulled back  into the water, the gentle heat warming her cooled limbs as Spence  pulled her on top of him, her thighs spread over his, his erection  pressing against her core, begging for entrance.                       
       
           



       

She needed to tell him. He should know . . .

But she couldn't say the words. In a blissful euphoria, she waited as he  began to press forward, his erection stretching the opening of her  heat. "Spence," she sighed as his mouth caressed her neck. All the  sensations he was giving her were overwhelming in the most wonderful of  ways.

"Oh, Sage, I can't hold back any longer," he cried. He gripped her hips and pulled her down hard on his solid shaft.

Pleasure evaporated. A sharp pain ripped through her and her eyes shot  open, her body tensing. Everything seemed to go quiet as Spence froze  with their bodies still locked together. He pulled back just a bit and  looked into her eyes, his own rounded.

"Are you a virgin?"

Oh, she didn't want to play truth or dare anymore. She didn't want to  answer this question. Why did the female body generally have to be so  obvious when it hadn't had sex before? Why must there be a barrier for a  man to discover?

"Seriously, Sage, are you a virgin?"

"Yes. Or, well, I was a couple of minutes ago," she finally said, trying to make a joke of it. He didn't laugh.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked in a calm and gentle voice. "Why did  you allow me to hurt you like this?" He began pulling out of her, and  she panicked.

"No. Don't stop, Spence. I don't want to stop. I . . . I don't know why I  waited so long, but I chose you," she said before she was able to stop  the words.

"Sage, this changes things," he said, and then pulled his body from hers, leaving her feeling empty and rejected.

"It changes nothing, Spence," she said, on the verge of crying. "I'm  sorry I didn't tell you, but I'm still me, just no longer a virgin."

"I can't do this. I just can't, Sage."

The sting of his rejection was almost too much to bear. She certainly  didn't want to look at him. He pulled her back to him as his hand  trailed down her back. His touch was no longer comforting, though, it  was humiliating.

"I'm sorry, Sage. This shouldn't have happened."

"It doesn't matter, Spence. Please let me go." She was too mortified to  sit there and talk about her feelings. She wouldn't beg him to make love  to her again.

Without another word, he released her, and Sage climbed from the tub,  grabbed the towel she'd discarded, and practically ran inside his house  and straight up to the guest room. She wanted to leave badly enough to  risk going out on the snowmobile, but she knew better.

It would just be a very long night in his oversized home. She'd spend it  facing the humiliation of a second rejection by the man she'd loved for  the better part of her life.


THE NEXT MORNING, when Camden showed up to give her a ride home in his  truck, she was more than grateful. It was time to start forgetting about  Spence Whitman. She had warned herself when he was flirting with her  that he only wanted one thing. She just hadn't realized that he'd wanted  it with an experienced woman.





"Spill the beans right now!"

"Huh?" Sage turned toward Grace and lifted an eyebrow before she faced  the tree again and checked it over. It had to be perfectly decorated.  The ornaments had to be spaced evenly to give it the best appeal, and  everything needed to be in its place. She knew she was ridiculously over  the top when decorating, but she couldn't help it. The people around  her would just have to deal with her holiday OCD.

Besides, it was something she could control in her life, unlike people.  She couldn't control them at all, and that was hard for her to accept.  The day after her humiliation in the hot tub, Spence hadn't even  bothered to talk to her, let alone call. He'd flown back to Seattle for  some high-profile surgery. Yes, he'd been sending a vase of flowers  every day since, making her home look like a dang floral shop, but not a  single phone call, nor a text, and not a word of explanation. If he  really thought flowers were going to make her all warm and fuzzy, he had  obviously never tried to court a woman like her before.

Decorations! She needed to focus on the decorations and not think about Spence Whitman or his stupid hot tub, or snowstorms.

As if the stress of Spence wasn't enough, Grace walked over to her  perfectly organized table, scooped up a few ornaments, and placed them  on the tree all wrong before she scooted around one of the large vases  filled with roses and plopped down on the couch.

"You've been moaning in your sleep and I want answers," Grace said as she got comfortable.

"I have not," Sage replied, trying to be sneaky as she grabbed the  ornaments Grace had just placed on the tree and repositioned them.                       
       
           



       

"I saw that, Sage," Grace said, making Sage turn to see the satisfied smirk on her friend's face.

"They looked fine. I just think those branches won't hold them," Sage  said, not wanting to admit her need for perfection or hurt her friend's  feelings.

"You know, if I didn't love you so dang much, I might be offended that  you think I'm a terrible decorator," Grace said before taking a sip of  coffee.

"I don't think you're terrible, not at all. It's just that I don't want the branches to break," she said on a sigh.

"I'll let you think that I believe that," Grace said with a wink. "But I  will admit that your compulsion to make everything perfect is just one  of the many reasons I adore you."

"You know I love you, too, Grace."

"Now, back to why you were moaning in your sleep," Grace said, not letting Sage off the hook.

"I was not moaning in my sleep."

"Ha! I caught you," Grace said, sitting up a little taller against the  back of the couch. "There's no way you'd be turning so red if there  wasn't something you were actually trying to hide. You've been my best  friend since the first day of kindergarten. Why in the world wouldn't  you spill your guts to me? I'm hurt."

"Wait a minute! You want me to spill, but I spotted you in town with  Camden yesterday and you haven't said a word." Now Grace was the one  blushing, and Sage had the upper hand.

"That was nothing. We were just . . . uh . . . talking. Besides, this is about you right now, not me."

"I'll tell if you do, Grace, 'cause right now it looks as if we've both been holding back."

Sage had been having a nice lazy morning getting the tree decorated just  the way she liked it-color coordinated and symmetrically  appealing-drinking her coffee, and even contemplating reading the  paper-not that Sterling had much of a paper. Grace, for once, also had a  bit of time off, so it was supposed to be just a relaxing morning. But  this was better.

"Look, it's not even Thanksgiving for a couple of days. The tree can  wait. Come sit down with me and tell me all. I think my innocent ears  may get singed if the ten different vases sitting on every available  space in our apartment are any indication. Only a man who is incredibly  pleased or incredibly guilt-ridden sends so many bouquets."

"No, I haven't done anything for the flowers," Sage said. And then she  stopped, her turncoat face turning scarlet again and spilling the beans  for her.

"You have done something, Sage! You know I can always tell when you're lying."

"Fine, then." How was she going to speak about this? How could she not?  She'd thought of little else since that night in his home last week.

Taking a deep breath, she looked at Grace, her cheeks permanently red,  her stomach tied in knots. "It was the night of that huge storm, when I  couldn't get home. Spence and I had a few kisses." Okay, this was harder  to say than she'd imagined. "Stop looking at me like that."

"And . . ." Grace was sitting on the edge of her seat now, not allowing Sage to look away.

"Well, then we got into the hot tub . . ." She just couldn't admit her humiliation to Grace. It was too horrid.

"Tell me everything now, or I swear, Sage, we will no longer be besties."

"We started to make love and then he jetted off to another state  practically before I even arrived back home," Sage said hurriedly.

"Wait! You started to make love? How far did you get? What exactly happened?"

"We . . . um . . . went all the way-or sort of all the way-but he  freaked when he found out I was a virgin, and neither of us had a happy  ending," Sage said, feeling the humiliation all over again. "He just  stopped."