shook his head. "There's nowhere I'd rather be tonight than in your arms. I hope you're going to stay."
She nodded. "There's nowhere I'd rather be, either."
" Excellent." He leaned back and smiled. "So start talking. You promised to tell me anything I wanted to know."
She raised her hands and dropped them again. "Okay, whatever. Yes, I was born and raised a stuffy and repressed young woman in Hartford, Connecticut. The first chance I got to experience anything was in college, and I guess you could say I went a little nuts. I tried to do it all."
" Where did you go to college?"
She shook her head. "Back east. Doesn't matter."
" I want to know," he insisted. "You promised."
" Okay, Harvard."
Rob 's eyes grew wide and he leaned forward. "You went to Harvard?"
She shrugged. "I told you, it was no big deal. I didn't graduate. I only stayed two years."
" What was your major?"
She smiled slyly. "Pre-law."
He laughed and stomped his foot on the porch. "Oh my God! No wonder Kansas University sounded like small potatoes to you."
She chuckled and shook her head, one last time. "Really, it was no big deal. I spent more time learning things from my roommate than I did from the professors. She offered courses in Watermelon Shooters and Sloe Gin Fizzes."
" Oh my God," Rob repeated. "So this roommate was a girl?"
" Yep." Maddie nodded. "Zoey. She taught me lots of things. Lots and lots of things."
" Tell me three."
" What?"
" Tell me three things Zoey taught you in college. And make them good things, not like how to braid your hair."
" Actually, Zoey did teach me how to do the French braid. It's a nice style, don't you think?"
He shook his head. "We're not talking about your hair right now. We'll save that little fetish of mine for later. Three things."
Maddie looked him over and decided to tell him some stuff. Test the waters again, so to speak. "Okay. First, she taught me how to roll a joint."
" Useful. I'd ask you to demonstrate, but I gave up pot when Sophie was born. Go on."
" Second, she taught me how to, shall we say, pleasure a man with my mouth."
He choked on that one and took a sip of her tea because his was empty. "Even more useful. We may have to test that one out. Do I want to know how she taught you that little trick? Please tell me it was with a carrot."
" We started with a carrot, and I graduated to her boyfriend, who did not mind being used as a test dummy for even one moment."
Rob 's face tightened. "That makes me kind of sad."
She shrugged. "I told you, there was a lot of pot and booze involved. I probably don't remember most of it."
He hesitated. "Can I ask you, were you ever tested—"
She j umped in before he could finish. "Absolutely. Many times. I'm clean as a whistle. I would never do that to you, or to Sophie." Cute that he's worried about sexually transmitted diseases after we had sex.
" Thank you. I'm clean too, just so you know. I believe you have one more thing to tell me."
" I don't know. That last one creeped you out."
" A little. I care about you. I want to protect you. And the thought of you stoned in some gang-banger-orgy makes me sick. And angry."
" They're probably some of Wall Street's best and brightest right now. We all grow up, baby. Besides, there were never any orgies. There was one brief foray into lesbianism."
He grinned. "Do I hear a number three coming on?"
" Yeah, okay. We had some pretty good lesbian sex. Zoey knew how to pleasure a woman."
" Oh, really?" He moved from his chair and on to hers. Wrapping himself around her, he whispered in her ear, "Any pointers you want to give me?"
" You don't need any pointers, other than the lovely one you already have. Let me put it this way. I was a lousy lesbian. I have needs only a man can fulfill."
Running his hands over her, he teased, "Are you sure? Anything you want to tell me will be taken under serious advisement."
"Good grief , no! You're the perfect man, babe."
He squeezed her face in his hands. "You are