Free First Time: Penny's Story (First Time (Penny) Book 1) by Abigail Barnette Page A

dove my hand into his hair and resisted the
temptation to push him down to my neck, my collarbone, my—
    “ Excuse me!”
    The voice was so loud and sharp, I reacted on
reflex, jerking away from Ian as he leaned up on his elbow. The
women with their babies were staring at us like they’d just seen us
slaughter a goat right in front of them. I couldn’t look them in
the eye, so I pretended to fix my hair.
    “ Excuse you,” Ian replied.
“The lady and I were occupied.”
    “ Maybe you shouldn’t be
occupied with that in public.”
    I snuck a peek at the woman.
She was wearing yoga pants and a tank top that said serenity on it. She needed
to get back to whatever yoga studio that was, pronto, because she
had clearly lost her Namaste.
    Knowing Ian’s love of and proficiency with
obscenity, I wondered if he was going to fly off the handle or
something. It seemed unlikely, for as chill as he was, but this
lady was being super rude. So it surprised me when all he came up
with was, “Maybe you should mind your own business.”
    I chanced a look at the women. They were both
packing up their things.
    Then one of them said, “You’re old enough to
be her father. You should be ashamed of yourself.”
    I could get objecting to someone making out
in front of you—even though there was an entire park full of other
people they could have gawked at instead of us. But I didn’t
understand making such a cruel remark. It had to have embarrassed
Ian terribly. And if he was embarrassed…
    Would he be too embarrassed to go out with
me, again?
    And that was it. That’s what made me snap,
“Take your ugly babies and fuck off.”
    The moment it came out of my mouth, I hated
myself. I recognized the tone of my voice, and it was the immature,
stupid girl from Pennsylvania, being cruel just because she
could.
    If Ian hadn’t been embarrassed before, he
probably definitely was now.
    The women took off fast, while Ian sat there
in stunned silence until he managed to choke out a “well”.
    I covered my face with my hands. “I am…so
sorry, that was totally inappropriate and immature.”
    “ Well, you didn’t have to
insult their babies. That was a bit over the top.”
    My heart plummeted so fast I imagined it
shattering on the ground. But Ian reached out and skimmed the backs
of his fingers down my arm, and his touch assured me we were still
getting along.
    So did his next words. “But if this is
something…ah. I know we just met, and this is our second date, but
I’m hoping there will be more in the future. And if there are,
people are going to comment on the age difference.”
    His touch gave me goose bumps, so I rubbed my
arms. “I know. And I know people will be rude, because people are
people. But I like you, Ian. I want to go out with you, again.” I
laughed. “I want to make out with you again.”
    “ Well, I’m not going to turn
you down,” he said hoarsely, and cleared his throat. “And I like
you, too. Just so we’re even on that score.”
    I looked down at the blanket and over at the
teenagers who were trying to watch us in the wake of our verbal
altercation. “Look, I ruined our picnic—”
    “ They ruined our picnic,” he
corrected me. “And it’s not ruined. We can still have a good time
here.”
    “ Yeah, we could do that.” I
cocked my head. “Or…we could go to my place and do that make-out
thing I just mentioned.”
    His eyebrows went up. Way up. “What happened
to going slow?”
    “ I didn’t say you were going
to get to round all the bases.” I hadn’t kissed Brad until our
third date. Hot and heavy making out? I hadn’t even wanted to for a couple
months. When I had done it, it had been because I’d felt I’d owed
him something. I didn’t owe Ian anything. But I really wanted to
give something to him.
    Not that . I still had no idea about that .
    He scratched the back of his neck and looked
away from me. “I’m tempted. I’m sorely tempted. But you said you
wanted to go slow. And I