With uncertainty stirring in my veins, I climbed from the car and followed Cannon inside.

It was still early evening, too early to feign being tired and go to bed, so the only thing I could do was accept Cannon’s invitation to have a glass of wine.

I excused myself to change, exchanging my fancy dress and heels for yoga pants and a T-shirt. Then I rejoined Cannon in the living room. He’d shrugged off his jacket, which now hung on the back of a dining chair. His white dress shirt was unbuttoned at the throat, and the sleeves had been rolled up on his forearms.

“Tonight was fun, huh?” he asked, stretching out his lanky frame on my small sofa, loosening his tie.

I accepted the glass of wine he offered and sat down in the armchair next to him. Fancy galas weren’t generally my thing, but it was nice to change it up once in a while. “I hadn’t been to that museum since my sixth-grade field trip. It’s so pretty there.” The stone building with its massive pillars out front stood like a beautiful reminder of the city’s history.

“Allie really wants you to sign up for that dating thing,” he said, appraising me. “Are you going to?”

I was sure I was reading more into his sudden interest than was actually there, but the question still triggered a swarm of butterflies inside me. I took another sip of wine to buy myself a few more seconds.

The truth was, I did want to find a good man. And the chances of finding my Mr. Right on a dating app were slim. But maybe that was okay. Maybe a Mr. Fun-for-Now would be nice too. A few decent orgasms wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. I hadn’t had sex in well over a year, and according to Allie, that wasn’t normal for a woman in her twenties. Maybe I just wasn’t as bold and liberated as she was. But why couldn’t I be? What was holding me back? Why couldn’t I grab life by the balls and live, take my pleasure as I saw fit?

Pushing all that aside, I was much more interested in finding out about Cannon. “I dunno, probably not. What about you? Any interest in dating?”

His expression turned serious, and I wondered if I’d struck a nerve. He couldn’t be hung up on Allie’s warning, could he? He was a grown man and could date whoever he wanted to.

After a pause he said, “My past has dictated that I live by a strict set of rules when it comes to sex. It only happens once, and no exchanging names or numbers.”

I rolled my eyes. “How romantic of you.”

“You don’t approve?”

“Spoken like a true manwhore.”

“It has nothing to do with being a manwhore; I can promise you that. My number is actually fairly low. Healthy, but low.”

“What’s the point then?” I took another sip of wine, enthralled by his deep, low tone.

“In my experience, women turn into crazed creatures after sex.”

I huffed. “Crazed? What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He made it sound as though we were nothing more than delicate hormonal messes who lost their minds at the thought of mating.

“I have a long and storied history with this. Trust me.”

“Beginning with?”

“You want to know about my first time?” He grinned and I nodded. Shaking his head, he set his glass down on the table. “I was sixteen when I lost my virginity. Amanda was two grades older, but I’d known her for years.”

Was he talking about Amanda McDuff? She’d lived down the street from Allie and Cannon growing up. I could only assume that the blond, blue-eyed cheerleader was who he meant.

“She was nice, normal, friendly. Not a care in the world. I knew she’d fucked Tommy Lester after homecoming the week before. So I casually asked her if she’d like to be my first.”

Real smooth. I smirked.

“She said yes and we did the deed.”

“And then?”

He looked down at his hands. “She tried to commit suicide two days later.”

Jesus. I winced.

“Yeah. And while the situations haven’t all been that severe, they’ve been close. From near strangers who profess their love after a quickie, to stalkers, to one who handcuffed herself to my bed, let’s just say I’ve not been lucky after getting lucky.”

“Is your dick cursed with black magic or something?”

He shrugged, dragging his eyes up to meet mine. “No, just eight inches long. I also have wicked stamina . . . and an advanced understanding of female anatomy.”

My insides clenched violently. Fuck.

Now it was his turn to smirk. “You having a problem there?”

I spread my hands in a who me? gesture, my wine sloshing a little in its glass. “Jeez, Cannon. I’m sorry, I’m just a little fucking thrown off here. You’re Allie’s kid brother.”

His smile was devilish. “We’re both adults now, Paige. There’s no reason we can’t discuss sex without it turning weird. Besides, you’re the one who brought it up.”

I grumbled, but couldn’t argue. That much was true. “So, what happened after that?”

“I tried another tactic. For a while last year, I temporarily swore off sex.”

“All of it?”

“Well, I’m no saint. Oral was still on the menu. But the actual act of penetration was not.”

I made a noise of surprise. Was he serious or just trying to get a rise out of me?

“Turns out women get pretty angry when you refuse to fuck any part of them except their mouths. Even if I offered to return the favor, they took it as a personal insult.”