He adjusted his seat on the saddle and his ornery horse decided to take advantage of the slack in the reins. Gavin pulled Duchess to a stop with a firm tug and a sharp warning.
“That’s it,” Ben encouraged. “If she gets it in her head to lead, you show her who’s boss right quick.”
Again, Gavin understood his brother wasn’t just referring to horses.
Chapter Fifteen
Needing fortification, courage, balls—whatever, Rielle tossed back half the lemon-drop martini. “I need some advice.”
“I hope it’s not medical advice, because Doctor Monroe is not in tonight,” Joely said.
“It’s personal. And slightly embarrassing.”
“Embarrassing? Interesting.” Joely sipped from her martini glass, shrewd eyes focused completely on Rielle. “Spill it.”
She blurted out, “I had sex with Gavin Daniels.”
“Girlfriend, are you serious?” Joely grinned and lifted her glass for a toast. “That is awesome!”
“Except it wasn’t.”
“It wasn’t awesome? Explain that. In detail.”
Her cheeks flamed. “Long story short. Thursday night Gavin had a party for the McKays. I freaked out and hid in my former bedroom. Gavin found me and tried to calm me down. So we’re out on the balcony and he’s touching me and the next thing I know, he hoisted me against the wall and f**ked me.”
“And this is bad…how?”
Rielle angled across the table. “It was fast.”
“For you? Or him?”
“For both of us. I had an orgasm within about fifteen seconds and I was so embarrassed about it I didn’t make a sound. Then afterward, I realized I hadn’t touched him at all. I just set my hands on his shoulders and let him f**k me.”
“Sweets, I gotta ask this. Did Gavin notice you didn’t participate very much?”
“That’s what I’m worried about. We haven’t seen each other since. And we live together so I’m pretty sure he’s avoiding me because I proved to be a lousy lay.” She finished her martini and slid the empty to the edge of the table. “Or worse, he immediately figured out how little sexual experience I’ve had.”
Joely held up her hand. “Hold on. Back up. Tell me how it played out from the time Gavin found you in his bedroom.”
As Rielle relayed the events, she remembered how awesome that buzz of sexual anticipation felt. How much she liked having Gavin’s hands on her. His mouth on her. And how wet he’d made her in such a short amount of time. She sent Joely a panicked look.
But Joely was deep in thought. Then she smiled. “Okay. Let me put on my stethoscope for a bit. Hot, spontaneous sex isn’t the norm for you. Let’s talk about your sexual history.”
God. No. This was exactly what Rielle was trying to avoid.
Wrong. This is exactly what you need.
Joely squeezed her hand. “Hey. It’s me. I’m thankful for our friendship, Ree, and I’d be the last person to pass judgment on you. I want to help, ’cause, sugar, I think you need it.”
She blew out a slow breath. “Sexual history. Right. I got pregnant at sixteen the first time I had sex. The guy…” Rielle closed her eyes. She couldn’t even remember what he looked like. That guilt ate at her, this disconnect with the man who was the father of her child.
Cool fingers wrapped her fingers around the stem of a martini glass. “Drink this. It’ll help.”
Rielle opened her eyes and smiled. “Thanks.”
“Take your time. We can get hammered tonight because I have designated drivers on call.”
Not the first time Joely had mentioned that. After a minute, Rielle said, “You know I was raised by hippie parents with the live-off-the-land, make-our-own-way, screw-the-man attitude.”
“That sounds familiar. Wouldn’t it be hysterical if your hippie parents knew my hippie parents? Or had spent time in the same peace, free-love and no nukes commune?”
“That’d be a total trip, man.”
Joely laughed. “Keep going. We’ll compare notes later.”
“Our doors were open for anyone who would work for food and shelter—very much a commune-like vibe.” She allowed a small smirk. “Rumors flew that my folks grew pot on their funky little piece of land in McKay country. Untrue. They’d grown it in California, and surprisingly, they had a profitable business. My mother, the smarter of my parents because she hadn’t smoked all the profits and the product, sold their operation. We moved here when I was eight. They didn’t believe in formal education so I was home schooled. None of the transients who crashed with us had kids, so I grew up isolated, from kids my own age and society in general.” Feeling like a freak, she looked at Joely. “Was it like that for you?”
“No. I lived in a commune where all kids were raised by the community. We called everyone mother and father. I had thirty siblings. We were dressed the same. We didn’t even sleep in the same bed every night, lest we get attached to material objects. I had nothing of my own; everything was shared. But they did at least educate us, which allowed me to get the hell out.” Sadness passed through her eyes. “But enough about that. This is about you. Keep talking.”
Rielle hoped someday Joely would fill in the blanks of her life before she became Doctor Monroe. “Given that history you can imagine how a sixteen-year-old-girl, starved for attention, and just discovering sexuality, would react when an older guy started paying attention to me. Talking to me. Listening to me. Touching me. I craved that touch because my parents were unaffectionate.”
“With each other too?”
“Yes. They had an open relationship. I remember seeing Mom sleeping on the couch when Dad was in their bedroom with someone else. Same with my dad sleeping on the couch when Mom was having a meeting with some dude in their bedroom.”
“At least it was equal opportunity ‘meetings’ for them.”
“True.” She smiled. “You’d think I’d have picked up the basics on sex, but I was so damn naïve. When ‘John’—” she made air quotes, “—kissed me and touched me and told me it was okay, it was natural, I believed him. But the night he came into my room and took my virginity? There wasn’t sweet words or kisses or anything but the smell of pot smoke clinging to his clothes as he crawled on top of me.” Rielle felt Joely’s piercing stare, but she needed to get through this part to get to the heart of the matter. “I ended up pregnant. I had no idea I was pregnant until about the fifth month and I kept feeling all this stuff going on inside me and I’d put on weight. My mother figured it out. Four months later I gave birth to Rory, at home, with some whacked-out midwife and my mother in attendance.”