A Good Little Girl Like You (A Sample)

Alice would never hesitate at a moment like this.

O.E. must have sensed her unease. He held his hands

out to the side. "Don't worry. Can't kiss tonight. And no sex

either."

Relief that they weren't jumping into bed was followed

immediately by disappointment that they weren't jumping

into bed. "No sex tonight?"

O.E. spelled it out. "Not while mouth like this. Wait till

week from Tuesday. Then, who knows?"

That's not the way it works. Since when did a guy need

to open his mouth during sex? Even grunts could be done

through a wired jaw. His ban didn't make sense. "Why? So

you can talk me into it?"

"Not talk. Other things." He took her hand. "You're

special. Don't want first time to be like this. I want you. But

want to do it right."

She was relieved. Yet with the sexual tension gone, she

suddenly longed for it. The thought of making love to him

appealed more than ever, and his insistence on doing it

right made it seem exquisite. "Wow, O.E. That's kind of

romantic."

He smiled. "We'll still have fun. Watch Oz movies,

snuggle. Okay, Rebecca?" He spoke her three-syllable name

carefully, taking extra effort to speak it clearly. She had a

sudden epiphany.

This has gone on long enough. The time had come to let

go of her rigid rules, for his sake, and perhaps even hers.

"O.E. I must be going crazy, but I'm willing to let you

shorten my name. I can see how hard it is for you to say

'Rebecca,' so I'm going to let you use a nickname."

His eyes widened. "You don't mind?"

"I guess not. I'll even let you choose. Just not Becky."

O.E. paused for a bit, his head tilted to the side. "How

about Bec?"

"B-E-C-K?"

"Shorter: B-E-C. Fits you."

Rebecca laughed. "Sure, go ahead. Just for you."

He smiled. "Thank you, Bec." Shockingly, the nickname

didn't hurt at all.

Now why didn't I do that before? Letting him use a

nickname somehow brought him even closer to her. She

stared at his face and felt that familiar thrill. Those lips,

reminding her of what they could do; those gray,

shimmering eyes, promising her everything. She roamed

over his muscled torso, flexing under a thin shirt, and

realized that she had never been with a man who was this

well built. Her sister had assured her that the ugly goose

would never get a man even half this handsome, but those

long-ago words held no threat anymore. Too bad she had to

wait nine more days before anything else could happen.