I cover her small, warm hand with mine. “I’m sorry. Do you know why? What caused them to start?”
Sarah’s smile is tight. “Everyone has their quirks.”
Then she breathes deep and deftly changes the subject. “Are you enjoying filming the show?” Sarah asks. “Narrowing down your choice for queen?”
I nod. “So far, Guermo’s my top pick.”
She chuckles.
“What do you think of the show, so far?” I ask.
She grunts. “I think it’s a glorified beauty pageant.”
“You don’t approve?”
She shrugs. “I suppose it could be worse. At least they’re including a variety of women, not just those who check the boxes of those disgusting laws on who a crown prince can marry.”
“Are you a virgin?” I ask.
“Well . . . yes.”
“Then why are you complaining? You qualify.”
Sarah’s eyes flash with annoyance and she practically growls at me. “Because I’m more than my hymen, Henry! To base the value of an accomplished, intelligent, passionate woman on a flimsy piece of skin is degrading. How would you feel if your worth rested on your foreskin?”
I think it over. And then I grin. “I’d be all right with that, actually. I’ve heard it was an impressive foreskin—all the nurses were fawning over it. It’s probably being showcased in a museum right now.”
She stares at me for a beat, then she laughs out loud—a rich, throaty, sensual sound.
“You’re a terrible human being.”
“I know.” I shake my head at the calamity of it all.
“And you’re an even worse feminist.”
“Agreed. That’s something I need to work on. You’ll help me, won’t you? We should spend as much time together as possible—every minute of the day and night. I’m hoping you’ll rub off on me.”
Sarah pushes my shoulder. “Ha! You’re just hoping I’ll rub you off.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh. Because she’s not even a little bit wrong.
“But there’s never been anyone? Really?”
Sarah shrugs. “Penny and I were tutored at home when we were young . . . but in year ten, there was this one boy.”
I rub my hands together. “Here we go—tell me everything. I want all the sick, lurid details. Was he a footballer? Big and strong, captain of the team, the most popular boy in school?”
I could see it. Sarah’s delicate, long and lithe, but dainty, beautiful—any young man would’ve been desperate to have her on his arm. In his lap. In his bed, on the hood of his car, riding his face . . . all of the above.
“He was captain of the chess team.”
I cover my eyes with my hand.
“His name was Davey. He wore these adorable tweed jackets and bow ties, he had blond hair, and was a bit pale because of the asthma. He had the same glasses as I and he had a different pair of argyle socks for every day of the year.”
“You’re messing with me, right?”
She shakes her head.
“Argyle socks, Sarah? I am so disappointed in you right now.”
“He was nice,” she chides. “You leave my Davey alone.”
Then she laughs again—delighted and free. My cock reacts hard and fast, emphasis on hard. It’s like sodding granite.
“So what happened to old Davey boy?”
“I was alone in the library one day and he came up and started to ask me to the spring social. And I was so excited and nervous I could barely breathe.”
I picture how she must’ve looked then. But in my mind’s eyes she’s really not any different than she is right now. Innocent, sweet, and so real she couldn’t deceive someone if her life depended on it.
“And then before he could finish the question, I . . .”
I don’t realize I’m leaning toward her until she stops talking and I almost fall over.
“You . . . what?”
Sarah hides behind her hands.
“I threw up on him.”
And I try not to laugh. I swear I try . . . but I’m only human. So I end up laughing so hard the car shakes and I can’t speak for several minutes.
“Christ almighty.”
“And I’d had fish and chips for lunch.” Sarah’s laughing too. “It was awful.”
“Oh you poor thing.” I shake my head, still chuckling. “And poor Davey.”
“Yes.” She wipes under her eyes with her finger. “Poor Davey. He never came near me again after that.”
“Coward—he didn’t deserve you. I would’ve swam through a whole lake of puke to take a girl like you to the social.”
She smiles so brightly at me, her cheeks maroon and round like two shiny apples.