“Okay,” he said. “I believe you.”

Nora pulled her shirt back on and buttoned it. She turned off the lamp and lay down again. For a few minutes they lay in silence together.

“You stopped him because Zach was there?”

Nora opened her eyes. Wesley was looking at her. She ran her hands through his tousled blond hair.

“No. I stopped him because I promised you I would.”

Wesley took her hand from his hair and held it.

“You did?”

Nora squeezed his hand and met his eyes. “Yeah, I did. Wes, I can’t lose you.” Reaching out, she laid her hand on Wesley’s chest over his heart. She leaned forward and kissed Wesley on the forehead. She wanted so desperately to lower her head and kiss his lips. But she remembered Søren’s warnings. She wanted to believe she could be trusted around Wesley.

Wesley rolled over on his side so she could no longer see his face. She tried to settle in and let herself fall asleep. But Wesley’s body was so close, so warm and so inviting. Just to tease him, she reached out and ran a finger down the center of his back from his neck to his hip.

“Nora, did you already forget the ‘behave yourself’ rule?”

“Just returning the favor,” she said. “You touched my back. I get to touch yours.” Nora ran her finger up his back to his neck again. She delighted in the little shivers she instigated with every pass. “Why are you still a virgin, Wes?”

He’s waiting for you to grow up. Nora heard Søren’s voice in her head and pushed it away.

“Are you seriously asking me that?” Wesley grabbed a pillow and pulled it tight to his chest.

“I’m very seriously asking you that. I want to know.”

“Well, I’m a Christian and—”

“I’m a Christian, too. And I’m not a virgin. Then again, I’m a bad Christian.”

“You’re not a bad Christian,” Wesley said. “You’re just doing the best you can.”

“That’s very gracious of you.” Nora grinned at the back of his head. “But you’re avoiding the question. Are you really waiting until your wedding night?”

“Not necessarily.”

Nora flicked him on his back.

“What do you mean ‘not necessarily’? That’s not very devout of you.”

“I’m not a fundamentalist, you know. I’m a biochemistry major. I do believe that evolution and global warming are real. I just think God’s real, too, and He wants us to be, I don’t know, honorable with each other.”

“Honorable…that’s a very good word. So when do you plan on honoring some lucky girl with your virginity?”

“Nora, this isn’t a very comfortable topic of conversation.”

“Wes, we talk about sex all the time.”

“No, you talk about sex all the time. I live with you and am forced to listen to it.”

Nora flicked him again. “Come on. Tell me. I want to know.”

“All right, fine. If you’ll stop flicking me.”

Nora started lightly massaging Wesley’s neck and shoulders. She thought it would help with his tension but his muscles seemed to get more rigid the more she touched him.

Wesley exhaled slowly.

“I just want to wait until I know it’ll mean as much to her as it does to me. As much as it means to me, this might take a while.”

Nora stopped rubbing Wesley’s neck and instead began slowly caressing his back with her fingertips.

“Remember, I was still a virgin when I was your age. I was twenty before Søren and I made love the first time.”

“Were you glad you waited so long?”

“It wasn’t my choice to wait. It was his. I was ready and willing much younger than that. But I’m glad that it mattered as much to him as it did to me. I think you’ll make some girl very happy one of these days. For your sake I hope she’s waited for you, too.”

“I don’t.”

“You don’t want to be with another virgin?” she asked, utterly shocked.

“No way. I’d like at least one of us to know what we’re doing.”

“It’s not that hard to figure out, I promise. You just kiss her,” she said, dropping a kiss on the center of Wesley’s back, “anywhere and everywhere you want to kiss her and touch her anywhere and everywhere you want to touch her. And when she’s wet and ready you spread her legs open wide and slowly push inside her and—”

“Stop, Nor.” She could hear the strain in his voice.

“I’m sorry. Sometimes I forget I’m not in one of my own books.”

“It’s okay,” he said a little breathlessly. He curled up around the pillow and pulled his legs into his chest. “It’s just…you’re… I’m…”

“Turned on? I know you are. Your accent gets thicker when you get—”

“Nora, please.”

“You can tell me, Wes.”

“Yes,” he confessed. “Very. I’m sorry. Just give me a few minutes to think about my dead grandmother and I’ll be okay.”

“Can I help you?”

“I don’t think so. You never met my dead grandmother.”

Nora laughed. “That’s not what I was thinking. Here, just relax. Best thing to do is just get it out of your system.” She put her hand on his side.