First Time: Ian's Story (First Time (Ian) Book 1) by Abigail Barnette

haven’t found anyone yet that I wanted to have sex with. I’m
not super religious, or waiting for marriage or anything. I’ll just
know when it’s the right guy.” She shrugged. “If you can’t handle
that in a relationship, I understand. That’s where my ex-boyfriend
went. I think he saw himself as being able to conquer my
virginity.”
    “ He sounds like a shitty
boyfriend,” I said without thinking. Especially since I wasn’t sure
how I felt about the idea of a celibate dating arrangement. I’d
never had to consider the importance of sex. It had always been a
given that I would be having it with the person I was dating. “I’m
sorry, that was uncalled for.”
    “ No, you’re right. He was a
shitty boyfriend. It just took me a while to see it.” She held up
her hands. “So, now you know what I mean about ‘going slow’. Like I
said, there won’t be any hard feelings if—”
    If? That was a big if . On one hand, I liked
sex quite a lot. But on the other, I hadn’t had sex since before
Gena left, so I’d managed to survive four months without it. I
hadn’t even been interested, probably because of the crushing
depression I’d fallen into after she’d moved out. And,
hypothetically, if I had a third hand, if it was between me walking
away and not seeing Penny again, or staying and not having sex for
a bit longer…the choice was a lot easier to make than I’d expected.
“Well, I don’t know if you noticed last Sunday, but I’m a Catholic.
Not having pre-marital sex is something we’re supposed to be very
good at.”
    “ Oh.” Her eyebrows shot up.
“I kind of assumed that would be a date-ender. It has been in the
past.”
    “ Nah. I said I was fine with
slow. I wasn’t expecting to have sex with you any time soon,
anyway.” I took another drink of water. Talking about sex with
Penny—even in the context of not having sex with her—made my mouth go dry from
nerves. I was like a teenager again, but in all of the shy, awkward
ways and with none of the physical benefits.
    “ Good. Glad we’re on the
same page.” She looked down at her phone with a little smirk. “But,
just so you know, I give great hand jobs, so there’s that to look
forward to.”
    I choked and dribbled water down the front
of my shirt. “Jesus!” I coughed. “Give a man some warning.”
    She laughed. “Let’s go onto the next one,
since you just mentioned it. We’re not supposed to bring up
religion.”
    “ Technically you brought it
up, by running into me in the park on Sunday. So, are you
religious? ‘Not religious but spiritual’? Are you a
druid?”
    “ No. I wanted to be a druid,
but I just couldn’t get past the human sacrifice.” She reached into
the bag and brought out a nectarine. “I’m not religious. Or
spiritual. I wasn’t raised in a religious family, so it never
occurred to me to pick up a faith. I went to bible camp with my
best friend when we were in high school, but it didn’t change
anything. But I am very superstitious.”
    “ That’s fair. At least
you’re not a godless Protestant,” I said, and when she gave me a
puzzled look, I added, “Catholic joke.”
    “ Right, because of Henry the
Eighth,” she said, in the sort of polite way someone dismisses a
joke they don’t get. She shined the nectarine on her skirt like it
was an apple. I watched her bring the fruit to her mouth,
captivated by those pretty pink lips sucking away the juice as she
took a bite.
    “ Sure, yeah.” I cleared my
throat. “Are there any more items on the list we haven’t
covered?”
    “ Pets.” She shrugged. “It
says guys don’t like hearing about our cats on first dates. That’s
rude. It’s not like every woman who has a cat is a cat
lady.”
    “ I have a cat, and I’m not a
cat lady. Of course, I’m not a woman, either.” Maybe this was why
it said not to talk about pets on a first date. I couldn’t have
been the only man in the world who owned a cat of his own free
will, but I was