Free Honor Bound by Samantha Chase

I’ve never done anything to you to deserve that kind of response. If you don’t want to kiss me, then don’t kiss me. Don’t act like I’m pushing myself on a naïve virgin.”
    I wasn’t a virgin, but I was pretty inexperienced with men—since I hadn’t done any dating at all in the last few years. That wasn’t the point, though. The point was that he was acting like I was irrational and unfair when he was a Maxwell.
    He was a Maxwell .
    “Just stay away from me,” I gritted out, wiping my mouth again as I tried to pull myself together. I walked quickly toward the door of the room. “Stay away from me.”
    He didn’t reply, and he didn’t follow me out.
    Maybe he’d gotten the point.
    If only I could get the point too.
    ***
    I went back to Cheryl’s office to do some tedious paperwork and try to get my mind off Sebastian. It didn’t work, and it was almost seven when I finally got home.
    My dad was sitting in front of the television, as usual. There were only two empty beer bottles on the coffee table, so maybe this would be one of his better days. Tyler wasn’t there. He was almost never at home. I knew he went out with his friends. I knew he drank and got into trouble. I hated it, but there was nothing I could do to stop him. Anything I said to him washed off him like water, barely even leaving him damp.
    I gave my dad a greeting, which he grunted in response to. Then I knocked on Rosie’s bedroom.
    When she replied, I opened the door and found her reading on her bed, as usual.
    “How’s it going?” I asked, coming in to sit on the edge of her bed.
    “Fine.” She barely looked up from the book.
    “What are you reading?”
    She lifted the book so I could read the cover. It was evidently a romance novel by an author I wasn’t familiar with. I hoped it was appropriate for her age level.
    “Is it good?” I tried again.
    “It’s okay. Kind of silly.”
    “Silly in what way?”
    “Just the idea that meeting a hot man can totally change your life. It’s like all her problems miraculously get better because this guy falls for her.”
    I thought about that for a minute before I responded, “Yeah. I’m glad you don’t think that’s true.”
    She snorted and lowered the book. “I’m not stupid, you know. It doesn’t matter how hot the guy is. You’re still stuck with the same crap in your life you had before.”
    I was actually astounded by the insight of the remark, however inelegantly it was phrased. I’d always known Rosie was intelligent and good at school—just like me—but she was usually so quiet that I often had no idea what kinds of thoughts she had. “How’d you get to be so smart?”
    She just rolled her eyes.
    “But it might be nice to have a guy anyway,” I said, remembering how I felt when I was her age, desperately wanting a boyfriend but too embarrassed to admit it.
    She rolled her eyes again.
    “Is there anyone you like?”
    “Not really. They’re all stupid athletes or stupid artsy types or stupid assholes.”
    “Surely some of them aren’t stupid.”
    “Maybe.” She glanced away, which made me realize there was a guy in particular she was interested in.
    “Anyone you can think of?”
    “No.”
    That meant she wasn’t going to tell me. I felt kind of disappointed, but not surprised.
    “If you think guys are so great to have,” Rosie added, her expression changing, “then why don’t you have one?”
    I was suddenly uncomfortable in an entirely different way. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, if you think I should have a boyfriend—“
    “I don’t think you should have—“
    She talked on, as if I hadn’t interrupted. “Then why don’t you have one.”
    “You don’t just wake up one day and decide to get a boyfriend, you know.”
    “I know. But you’re really pretty. I’m sure someone would go out with you if you made yourself available.”
    “I don’t have time or interest in going out to clubs and bars and hoping someone will pick me