me. I wasn’t sure what to think…I didn’t hate it, but it was…”
“Fast?” he asked wryly.
“A little. It hurt. I didn’t bleed or anything, but there was a lot of pressure and stretching.” She ducked her head. “I couldn’t figure out where everything went and I wasn’t comfortable asking questions.”
Dev had never made love with a virgin, but he would guess her complete lack of experience would complicate an already difficult situation.
“Next time it will be better,” he told her, refusing to picture the moment with Noelle. “As men get older, they learn a few things.”
“Like?”
He shifted, not sure he wanted to get into this with her. Talking about sex made it too easy to imagine making love with her. He did his best to shut down that part of his brain. Unfortunately his body refused to cooperate.
“It takes longer.”
She made a face. “And that’s a good thing?”
He laughed. “Okay, let me start at the beginning. Once the need for volume fades a little, most men start to get interested in pleasing their partners. There are things a man can do to make a woman excited and passionate about the experience. Once that happens, then yes, lasting longer is a good thing.”
She didn’t look convinced. She opened her mouth, then closed it.
The smart move would be to end the conversation now…before he got too interested. But he liked Noelle too much to shut her down.
“If you can’t ask me, who are you going to ask?” He shrugged. “What do you want to know?”
She looked at him. “So women do really have orgasms?” she asked, as color climbed up her cheeks.
“Sure. There are different ways of making that happen.”
He had a sudden and powerful image of Noelle naked, her knees bent, legs pulled back as he kissed her intimately, his tongue swirling around the very heart of her arousal. He wanted to cross the kitchen, strip off her clothes and touch every part of her. He wanted to taste her and feel her quiver beneath him as she experienced her very first climax.
“How do you know it’s happening?” she asked.
This was the strangest conversation he’d ever had. “If you have to ask, it didn’t happen.”
Despite her obvious embarrassment, she smiled. “That’s not very helpful.” She sighed. “I’ll have to take your word for all this. I don’t want to say anything bad about Jimmy, but that one night wasn’t very thrilling. Given the choice, I’d never do that again. But if it could be different…”
He felt blood swelling in his groin at the thought of showing her the possibilities.
“You’ve been with a lot of women,” she said.
A dangerous statement, he thought as he remained carefully quiet.
“Did they all like the sex part?”
“Yes.”
“You can be sure?”
“Good question and my male ego says yes. To the best of my knowledge, they all did.”
“So you can tell when a woman, uh…” The blush had returned, more fiery than ever.
“There are…physical manifestations.”
She looked startled. “You can feel that with your…” She cleared her throat. “You can feel that?”
“Sometimes.”
He didn’t want to get into the fact that they were easier to feel with his fingers than his erection. That comment would only lead to a discussion on what his fingers would be doing inside of her.
“Maybe you could get a book or something,” he said, wishing he could think of a good way to change the subject. If they kept this topic up much longer, she was going to notice his arousal and God knows what questions would follow then.
Noelle was far more curious than he’d realized. With his luck, she would want to see and touch and then they’d been in real trouble.
“I don’t think I could go into a bookstore and buy something like that,” she said.
“That’s why we have the Internet.” He paused. “Okay, then. I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.” He hurried from the kitchen and wondered how long it had been since he’d felt such a need for a woman, and if a cold shower would be any help at all.
“So,” Crissy said with a grin. “You’re married. How’s that going?”
Noelle laughed, which was a mistake because three stitches slipped off her needles and when she tried to put them back, she pulled out half a row.
“Good,” she said. “I mean, we’re adjusting. Dev is great. He’s really considerate and sweet. He didn’t know it was my birthday and when he found out, he bought me a laptop.”
Rachel sighed. “I really like that in a man. Someone who respects a good appliance. So romantic.”
“I thought it was a great gift,” Noelle said defensively. “I can really use it at college and the one he picked is small and lightweight and has wireless Internet. This isn’t a regular marriage. I didn’t expect a romantic gift.”
Rachel raised her eyebrows as she looked at Crissy. “She seems to be very protective of the new Mr. Noelle.”
“I noticed that,” Crissy said. “Interesting.”
Noelle knew they were only teasing. “You’re just jealous.”
“A little,” Rachel said. “Although last year one of my students brought me a baby white mouse for my birthday. It was very touching.”
Crissy laughed. “I would have run screaming from the room, but that’s just moi.” She looked back at Noelle. “You’re really doing okay? No weirdness?”
“The entire situation is weird. Dev is really great, but we don’t know each other. I’m not sure what he expects from me or even what I expect from him. So far we’re being very polite.”
“Good manners are always helpful,” Crissy offered. “I’m in favor of them.”
“Well, he knows plenty. We’re both trying. He even suggested I talk to a grief counselor about Jimmy if I thought I should.” She put down her project and leaned forward. “I told him I was fine. The thing is, I don’t feel like I need one. I missed Jimmy a lot at first, and I felt horrible after he died, but I’m not spending much time missing him.” Not really any time, she thought glumly. “Is that natural? Am I an awful person?”
Rachel looked at her. “For the sake of humor, I want to say ‘yes,’ but as your friend, I’ll tell the truth. Of course not. You feel what you feel. You guys didn’t
