Free Diamonds Are Forever by India Lee Page A

help me put everything together.”
    “You can’t put all these beautiful gowns on all these other people and wear some other designer, can you?”
    “I’m going to have something for myself, don’t worry,” Gemma replied.  “I’ve just had a lot of other things on my mind lately, between the breakup with Corey and the R-rated thoughts I’ve been having about Damian.”
    “Ha,” Zoe snorted.  “I still find that so funny.”
    “Why?”
    “You make it seem so strange that you’d have R-rated thoughts about someone you’ve already been with,” Zoe shrugged.  “But that man’s body is built something crazy these days so I get it.”
    Gemma eyed Zoe.  “Um,” she bit her lip, helping Zoe out of her gown and preparing a garment bag for it.  “You know that Damian and I have never actually been together like that… right?”
    “What do you mean?” Zoe furrowed her brows at Gemma as she pulled up her jeans.
    “Damian and I dated back in the day, but we’ve never… had sex.”
    Zoe froze mid-zip.  “Wait, what …” she trailed off, looking skyward as she tried to put the pieces of her memory in chronological order.  “Oh, dang.  Because you dated him before that Lucas kid… and Lucas was your first and… holy shit, Gem.”
    “What?”
    “I don’t know why this whole time I just thought you guys had to have done it at some point.”
    “Why does it matter?”
    “Because it’s impossible that you didn’t!” Zoe exclaimed.  “You guys haven’t done anything sexual together? I mean, how far did you two get?”
    “We’ve… kissed.  A lot.  We were in high school and I was a virgin and he was too much of a gentleman to even suggest doing anything else.”
    “ How have you never done anything? With Damian? Do you see what that boy looks like?”
    “We came close during his prom,” Gemma offered.  “We got as far as getting each other undressed and then I chickened out.  And we just slept in the same bed after that and that was it.”
    “Oh my God, the poor boy!” Zoe burst out laughing.  “Oh God , this explains so damned much.  Basically, you’ve given that kid a six-year case of blue balls.”
    “That’s not true,” Gemma argued.  “We were never really like that.  We loved each other, but it was just puppy love that never really became more because I guess it wasn’t supposed to.”
    Zoe ignored her.  “You know what you felt the other day when you were measuring him? Multiply that feeling by however many days is in six years and you’ve got what’s built up in Damian’s poor balls right now.”
    “Oh my God, Zoe, stop! You know Damian’s not like that.  You’re making him sound like some sort of sexually repressed monster right now.”
    “No, he would’ve been a sexually repressed monster if he didn’t decide to quick-fix the problem by banging the Maxim Top 100 these past few years,” Zoe cackled, though her mouth immediately snapped shut when she noticed Gemma’s sudden look of distress.  Her smile quickly faded and she hastily pulled on her shirt, making her way over to give Gemma a tight, apologetic hug.  “Shit.  Girl, you know that was a total joke, right? I don’t actually believe that he’s banged a hundred girls in the past few years.”
    “No, I’m fine.  I mean, he is probably with Azura and who knows how else he’s changed.  He was a little more ‘hands-on’ than usual the other day.  And he took a couple of shots at Corey, so I guess I don’t really know him anymore.”
    Zoe brushed it all off, waving a hand in the air.  “No, they probably really are all a bunch of rumors.  Everyone thought he was dating Aubrey and they turned out to be just friends.  And everyone thought you two were dating for awhile, but you guys are just friends.”
    “Yeah…” Gemma said, trailing off as her lips formed a pout.  Zoe lifted an eyebrow.
    “Do you not want to be just friends anymore?” she asked tentatively.
    “I’m not