Unlikely by Sylvie Fox Page B

companionship. Maybe she was just not meant to have a fulfilling sex life with any man. Happily ever after—or happy for now wasn’t for everyone. It was time she acknowledged that and moved on.
    Ryan squatted and scratched the dog behind her ears. Sasha was easy. She wagged her tail and licked his hand in response. Damn dog sold her out.
    “Do you really hate sex?” he asked, looking up at her, his gorgeous face anguished. “I would never have…if I thought you were remotely serious.” He raked his hand through his already mussed golden hair. “It was so good for me. I just want to make you feel as good as I did.”
    Ryan stood and they walked back to the house in silence. She let the dog off the leash and Sasha immediately ran to her water dish, the lapping sounds the only noise in the otherwise quiet house. The room went from darkness to light when Sophie flipped on the sole torchiere lamp. She kept moving through the house, turning on the lights in the dining room and kitchen and the family room. She kicked off her shoes and padded back to the kitchen in her bare feet, her blue toenails peeking out from under her long knit pants.
    “I’m going to make something to eat. Remind me to tell Holly that bagels and sandwiches aren’t enough for hardworking volunteers. You want anything or are you going home?”
    “Sophie, I’m not leaving with things like this.” His voice rang with distress, but when he spoke again his tone was softer. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.”
     
    Ryan pulled himself up onto one of the barstools that abutted the kitchen’s large pass-through, and watched Sophie gather food from the refrigerator. It looked like he was in for breakfast at dinner. He wasn’t complaining.
    “Are you ever going to answer me?” he asked. He stacked his elbows on the cool black granite counter and leaned on his clasped hands. She paused her chopping of tomatoes and peppers, and looked directly at him, her gray eyes coolly assessing him.
    “It’s your lucky day,” she said, quirking one studded eyebrow. “I’ll answer only one, so choose carefully.”
    Ryan thought carefully. There was so much he wanted to know about this complex woman. He was pretty sure that he had a good idea about her real hair color. It had been dark in her bedroom, but not that dark. He didn’t think it was wise to broach the topic of lawyers. There was no reason to give her an excuse not to see him, so he decided to skip that hot button issue for now. What really bothered him was why an attractive, responsive woman like her didn’t enjoy sex. So he took the plunge and asked the hardest question. “What can I do to make sex better for you?” he asked softly. “You were with me when I kissed you. I loved feeling your nipples get hard in my mouth. You got so very wet when I touched you. Why did I lose you? Did I do something you didn’t like?”
    The only indication that Sophie heard him was the very short pause she took while adding grated cheese to the frying eggs. She deftly flipped the omelet over and simultaneously pulled toast from the toaster. A woman’s ability to multitask always amazed him. After she poured them both orange juice and buttered their white toast, she answered him.
    “Nothing,” she said with such finality he thought that was the end of it. She paused for a long time, immobile. “You saw what happened earlier, Ryan. It has always been like that for me. A lot of wine, a lot of awkwardness followed by the huge letdown,” she said quietly. After serving up the eggs, she came around and claimed the stool next to his, avoiding his eyes.
    Ryan put down his fork, his omelet forgotten for a moment. “You’ve never had an orgasm with a man?”
    Sophie stopped eating and shifted on the stool, visibly uncomfortable with the frank discussion. “When I was younger and lost my virginity, it didn’t happen, but I just chalked it up to being young and inexperienced. It never got better,