Free Purity by Jackson Pearce Page B

wowed. Damn the girls who wear these thin little shirts as real clothing, desensitizing the male population! I inhale and pull the camisole off.
    Daniel has seen my bra before, even had his hands under it, but we never got so far as actually removing it. To be honest, the prospect of it is a little frightening. I bite my lip and try to quell my nerves, then lie back down to kiss him again. Finally, the Cheetos smell has dissipated. Daniel moves to pull his shirt off, displaying a level of pale skin that rivals any white powder makeup he has in his collection.
    Stop being a bitch, Shelby. You dated him. You put him at the top of the list.
I press my boobs against his chest. He shudders, but I take it as a good sign and kiss him again. Halfway there, I tell myself.
    “Whoa,” he exhales, grinning. “It’s been a while….”
    “It has,” I say. Should I take off more clothing? Probably. I lean forward and kiss him again, and while I do, I unbutton my pants. I try to think sexy thoughts.
    Daniel seems both bewildered and thrilled that I’m removing my pants, and before I can do much else he unbuttons his own, revealing boxers with shamrocks all over them. I look away. Not quite ready for clover underwear, I don’t think.
    We kiss again, but God, I’m ready to stop kissing and just get this over with. Simple act, it’s just sex, it’s no big deal. Daniel grabs one of my boobs the way someone might catch a baseball. Jonas would probably point and laugh at Daniel’s ineptitude; I pretend to like it and reach into my pocket for a condom before twisting out of my jeans entirely.
    “What are you doing?” Daniel asks under his breath as he grabs my other boob. Sexy, man. Way sexy. I smile in what I hope is a seductive fashion and hold up the purple condom wrapper. Grape-flavored, apparently.
    Daniel’s face falls. “Wait, what?”
    “Come on,” I whisper, slinking one of my legs around him. I press the condom into his hand.
    “Wait, Shelby,” Daniel says, his voice loud and filled with surprise. “I can’t have sex with you.”
    My mouth drops and my breath escapes. He doesn’t want me. What’s wrong with him? What’s wrong with
me
?
    I jerk away from him, and he falls to the floor in surprise.
    “Wait—look, sorry, but—”
    “What?” I drop the condom. “I’m good enough for second base, but not a home run?”
    “Jesus Christ, don’t go all crazy. I just don’t want to have sex.”
    “Why not?” I snarl as I stand up and button my pants, trying not to look at the happy rainbows on my underwear.
    “I don’t know,” Daniel mumbles as he grabs his shirt off the futon. “God help me if you got pregnant. My mom would kill me.”
    “Hence the condom!”
    “I don’t know, I just… no. Come on, we can make out, maybe even do some other new things….”
    “No,” I say flatly. Boob squeezing and Cheetos aren’t going to get me out of being a thirty-five-year-old virgin, thank you very much. “You know, it’s not that big a deal, Daniel. It’s just sex.”
    Daniel looks taken aback for a moment; then angry surprise sweeps over his face like a wave. “So what are you, some kind of slut now?”
    “Not hardly,” I growl. I grab my purse and leave the condom lying on the floor, where I genuinely hope his mom finds it. I storm out of his room, down the stairs, and toward the front door. I feel stupid, silly, embarrassed, like a failure. I knew this was crazy but—
    “Wait!” he yells from upstairs. I freeze. Did he change his mind? “You forgot your DVD.” He appears at the bottom of the stairs with the case but doesn’t hand it over. “What was this really about, Shelby? You break up with me because you don’t like my hobbies, then come over for the first time in ages and want me to have sex with you?”
    I sigh. I never explained the Promises to Daniel, and I’m not about to now, much less explain the LOVIN plan. Instead, I settle on, “I just was hoping to lose my virginity finally.