The Red-Hot Cajun by Sandra Hill Page B

of me,” she accused.
    Great! Now we ‘re going to play “I dare you.” He heard a rustling sound and assumed she was pulling the shirt back on. “Damn straight I am.” He turned then and his eyes about bugged out. Val was lying on his sleeping bag, propped up on her elbows, still 99 4 I 10-percent pure naked. He couldn’t have spoken then if he’d wanted. He put a hand to his mouth to make sure he wasn’t panting or drooling. I am in male fantasy heaven. So why do I feel like hell?
    “Why? You weren’t afraid of me before.”
    What time before? Oh, that. “I was fifteen freakin’ years old then. Now I know what could happen... all the repercussions.” Like coitus too quick it us. Like lawsuit it us. Like morning after it us. He tried but couldn’t help staring at her. She was not super skinny, which seemed to be the trend for women today.
    Instead she was round in all the right places. If I didn’t know it before, I do now—I am a man who favors round.
    “I would be better this time.”
    Whoa, whoa, whoa! Every hair on his body was on an all-points red alert. “I beg your pardon.”
    She put both palms to her face for a second as if she were embarrassed... finally. “Actually, Rene, I don’t recall much about that night, except that I threw up on you afterward.”
    She doesn’t recall... does that mean?... Thank you, Jesus! He barely restrained himself from doing a little Snoopy victory dance in the cramped space.
    “You might not have realized it but that was my first time...”
    You might not have realized it, but it wasn’t your first time.
    “... and I don’t even remember the details.”
    Irepeat: Thank you, Jesus!
    “I must have been awful, though, because you never called me or tried to see me again.”
    All these years I worried about what a bad performance I put on when she never evenremembered it. Should I tell her? Yeah. Will I tell her? Nah. “Don’t lay the blame on me. I never tried to see you because you avoided me after that night.”
    “I was afraid you were going to tell everyone how... uh, inept I was.”
    And I was afraid you were going to tell everyone how inept I was. “That’s old history, Val,” he said magnanimously. Meanwhile Rene was giving himself a mental high five.
    “You don’t strike me as the type of guy who stands around twiddling his thumbs when a reasonably attractive woman does everything but shout, ‘Come and get me.’“
    “Number one, I can’t believe I am standing here carrying on a conversation with a mostly naked woman.”
    “So, take your pants off.”
    Un-be-freak in’-liev-able! “Val!” he said, sounding prissier than she ever had. “I am not taking my pants off.” I hope. “Number two, ‘reasonably attractive’ doesn’t begin to describe just how hot you are.”
    She smiled. “Really? No one has ever called me hot before. Thank you. Have I told you that I haven’t had sex in two years?”
    He groaned at the reminder. There wasn’t a guy in the world who wouldn’t consider that a challenge.
    “Number three, I am not standing around twiddling my thumbs.” Although there are a few body parts I wouldn’t mind twiddling on you.
    “Are we really going to discuss this to death, Rene”?”
    “No, we aren’t. You are going to get up, put the shirt back on, and go back to bed with Tante Lulu.
    Tomorrow you will wake up and thank the stars that you hadn’t made the biggest mistake of your life.” I oughta get a medal for this.
    “Your aunt is snoring like a chain saw in there. Must be all the wine she drank. I’ll never be able to sleep.”
    “Well, you can’t sleep here.” Although I would really, really, really like you to sleep here.
    She smiled again, and he knew it wasn’t sleep she had in mind. That made two of them.
    “Listen, if you’re thinking I’m an acceptable bed partner just because you’ve discovered I have a few college credits, forget about it.”
    “Well, yeah. There is that.”
    Snoots ‘r’ Us.