Revelation: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series) by Rebecca Lynn Page A

consciousness when her defenses were down, which had been all too often lately.
    It was during the latter years of high school that she pulled away from romantic relationships with guys.  She hadn’t intended to.  With her pubescent hormones pumping, she remembered her junior year when she’d had a desperate crush on Stephen O’Malley.  When he’d asked her to his senior prom, she’d said yes immediately and continued to go out with him a handful of times after that.  They’d fooled around and she’d allowed him to touch her in places she’d never let another guy touch her before. 
    Although she had been prepared to give him her virginity, they’d never ended up having sex.  After the fourth or fifth date his personality had altered slightly and he’d pressured her one too many times.  The last time they were together he’d hinted that her friend Taylor had wanted what she’d gotten, that she probably just got scared of pregnancy or something after it happened which is why she’d cried to the police.  Knowing that was the farthest thing from the truth, Emily had called him every name in the book and had ended it right then and there with him.
    But it broke her sweet naïve adolescent heart.
    The curve they took catapulted her back into the present, causing her to grip Mike tighter around the waist.  She subtly let her fingers wander over his shirt to feel the washboard abs underneath.  His stomach jumped and she smiled wickedly, pressing her front into his back.  She was sure he could feel her nipples.  He took his hand off one of the handle bars and squeezed his hand into hers briefly then set it back on the handle.
    If his stomach had been covered in Braille, her fingers would have read, “Touch me.  Memorize every glorious line.  Enjoy.”  That was what Detective Michael Callahan exuded.  Fun, humor, no commitment.  Just a good time.
    Could she ever be that good time?  Just have a fling with him?  What if the reason why she sucked in bed was because she hadn’t been with the right guy?  Scott certainly hadn’t encouraged her to let loose. 
    At the middle of her time in law school, she’d met Scott in one of her classes.  He was nice enough, knew how to charm a woman and she’d remembered when he had first shown interest that the realization struck her that she didn’t want to die a virgin.  Right then, she’d decided he was just as good a guy as any to give it up to.
    Now she wondered if maybe her lack of prowess in the bedroom was because Scott had just been a giant dick.  Figuratively speaking of course, because it certainly wasn’t literal in his case.  Not that she had anyone to compare him to, she thought dryly.
    She had been studious and disciplined in school, very rarely dating in her college days.  When she did, she never allowed it to get too far into the physical.  She just didn’t trust men easily and somehow she knew one needed trust for a real relationship to work.  She knew it stemmed from what happened to Taylor initially and then later with her high school crush, because she adored her male cousins, her uncle, her father…but in general, she thought most men were only interested in one thing and that always left her feeling empty and deflated.
    However for some reason, when she thought of Mike thinking of her in that way, it gave her feelings that were the complete opposite of how she’d ever felt toward other men. Because in a strange way , she believed deep in her bones that Mike did respect her even in the midst of his antics.  He had that way about him that showed he genuinely liked people, that he was a good man.
    That didn’t make him any less of a flirt though.
    She was startled from her musings when he began to slow the bike down to a little patch off to the side and then brought it to a stop.  While the bike idled, he turned his head and yelled through the helmet, “Where do you live?  It’s Upper West Side, right?”
    She nodded and yelled