Being Amber by Sylvia Ryan Page B

It’s totally natural.’ While the attitude about sex in Sapphire is more like ‘wait for the right person and don’t be easy or they won’t respect you.’”
    “I’ve heard that from other people who’ve come from there. You’ll like it better here. I guarantee it.” Emily beamed.
    “That’s what Jordan said. She also said that the men here are better lovers.” Jaci took another swig from her beer and knew that her face was full on flushed with embarrassment as she continued, “That they, you know–know what they’re doing.”
    “We should. We’ve had lots of practice,” Xander said smugly as his hot gaze traveled over Jaci’s body and back up to her face. He searched her eyes as if he were trying to gauge her reaction.
    It was the first time he’d done anything at all that could be interpreted as sexual and it flustered Jaci so much she looked away. “Well, I’ve had…I’ve had not as much as you.” She lifted her chin. A conspicuous silence followed her comment and she felt compelled to fill it. “I’m not a virgin,” she announced, trying way too hard to not sound like one. “But the experiences in Sapphire were,” Jaci paused, “less than gratifying. It made me wonder what the big deal was about.”
    Xander and Rock flashed incredulous glances at each other.
    “Don’t worry about it. The guys do all the work anyway,” Emily said, looking at Rock with arousal flaring in her eyes.
    “I’m not worried,” Jaci lied. “I’m actually kind of excited that maybe it will be better here.”
    “Jaci, it is definitely going to be better here.” Emily winked at her. Then to Jaci’s mortification, she continued, “Are you comfortable being naked? Because you’re never going to be able to come if you’re feeling self-conscious.” She looked at Jaci expectantly as if she’d asked whether she liked the color blue or if she had read any good books lately.
    “Uh, not particularly.”
    “I can help you with that particular problem,” Xander said. He was obviously amused by the turn the conversation had taken.
    Jaci looked over at Xander as he made his amused offer for help. Then Emily said something, but her voice receded. Jaci wasn’t listening. Her gaze was locked with Xander’s. He wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked her over with X-ray eyes. She actually brought her hand up to check her shirt. Then her heart skipped a beat when his scorching gaze traveled there. It made her wet, and from the look on his face, he knew it.
    Jaci spent the rest of the night confused. As they progressed through the marathon, she was hyper-aware of every miniscule movement, every changed facial expression from the man sitting next to her on the bed. All of a sudden, it seemed like she had to try extremely hard to keep her eyes off him. She was fucking losing it.
    They all drank heavily and laughed hysterically at episode after episode of what Jaci could only describe as ridiculous clothes and mindless problems.
    At some point, she’d fallen asleep and barely reached consciousness when Xander woke her up to get her under the covers.
    She woke in the middle of the night curled up, as always, in Xander’s arms with his hand gripping her wrist. When she opened her eyes, she was staring into Emily’s sleeping face. Rock lay curled around her with his arm in a tight hold around her waist. The video feed was paused, frozen on a close up of the main character of the series they’d been watching.
    She was surprised to see Emily and Rock were still there. She’d assumed that they would leave at the end of the night. This place was so fundamentally different from the Sapphire Zone that it was hard to anticipate other people’s behaviors. She was constantly revising her expectations of what others would do or say.
    Lying there in the still silence of the night was about as close as she got to having time to herself. For the most part, she didn’t mind the absence of solitude. This way, she didn’t have time to