Free Lust and Lies 04 - Pretty Maids in a Row by Marilyn Campbell Page B

what it represented.
    When Jerry had handed it to her, it had a pink ribbon around its neck with a small card attached. It read, I love Holly, and so does the big guy next to me. That was the night they progressed to making out in a prone position with Jerry's hips pressed against her own. He left no doubt that he wanted more than kisses and touching her breasts through her clothes.
    She was not so foolish as to let his sincere pleading alter her good sense. Saying he loved her more than any girl he'd ever known, wanted her so bad he ached, needed her desperately, were not the words she waited to hear, even though she believed that when he said them, he meant them.
    Two nights ago he finally spoke of the future, their future, and what it would be like if they were married and didn't have to part because it was time to say good night. He still had a year and a half before graduation. It seemed like such a long time away. He pushed a little harder after that discussion and Holly had let him unhook her bra and fondle her bare breasts beneath her sweater, mainly to let him know it had made a difference to hear him make a commitment to her, but again, she stopped him from going further.
    He had raised his voice to her for the first time, questioning how true her love really was and complaining that she couldn't feel the same way as he did or she would want to share the ultimate experience with him. She realized just how angry he had been when he had gone to last night's fraternity party without her. But he had called this morning and apologized, and asked to take her to a movie to make up.
    His talk of marriage and how very far away graduation was helped make up her mind. She would give up her plans to finish college; she had never really decided what she wanted to do anyway. Tonight she would tell him about her money—the fund that would enable their dream to come to fruition right away.
    For the first time, something positive would come out of the tragic deaths of her brother and sister. Their parents had bought life insurance endowment policies on each child at birth with the intention of using the proceeds for college. When death benefits were paid instead, the money was placed in a trust fund for Holly.
    She was really quite wealthy and could support Jerry until he graduated and got picked up by a professional team. There would be time enough in the future, after their babies were out of diapers, for her to finish her education if she wished to.
    She was not going to send him away again with a telltale bulge in his jeans.
    Holly heard his knock at her door and made one last appearance check in the mirror. The fact that Jerry saw through the exterior to the woman inside proved how special he was.
    For someone who had said they were going to make up, Jerry seemed awfully quiet. Holly figured he was probably still a little embarrassed about some of the things he had said to her the other night and decided it would be best not to talk about it at all. Instead, when they got back to her apartment, she would show him that he had been wrong about the depth of her love.
    Needing an injection of courage, when they stopped by the fraternity house after the movie, Holly indulged in several glasses of wine, something she'd never done before. On the way to her apartment, Jerry was slightly more talkative, but his conversation centered on the team's chances of winning the championship that season. With her head buzzing from the wine and preoccupied with building up her nerve, Holly barely heard what he was saying anyway.
    At her apartment door, she put her key into the lock and was about to turn it when he stopped her.
    "Wait a minute," Jerry said, as he brought her hand up to his lips for a quick kiss on her fingertips. "There's something I heard about in psych class that I want to try. You'll have to really trust me for this to work. Can you do that?"
    She laughed at how serious he looked. "Of course I trust you, you know that." He let