Page 51 of His Reckless Freshman

And it’s not like she’s out to do that to me.

She just wants my help. She wants me to teach her how to make her body sing. She’s not asking me to fall for her or become her boyfriend. And it’s not like I’m super attracted to her.

This would be a purely transactional thing, so I can’t even get hurt.

But she could.

I mean, if I don’t help her, then she could, because she might go to someone else with this request. Some asshole who will take advantage of this opportunity and not take care of her.

Shit, if I don’t say yes, she could get really hurt. For that reason alone, I should be agreeing to this absurd proposal.

“You know, I’ve heard that… Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I’m even saying this, but what if I… hired someone? To… you know? Show me?” She pauses, and all I can do is look at her. She looks back, then starts shaking her head, her nose wrinkling. “No, ew, that’s so wrong, right?” She huffs and shakes her head. “I should just do it the way I’ve been told—wait until my wedding night and figure this out with my new husband. But…” She slumps with a sigh. “I don’t know. I don’t even know if I’ll ever find someone who can love me with all of my quirks and weirdo ways.” Her expression crumples. “You’ve probably noticed this already, but I’m not exactly cool.”

My lips twitch.

“I’m not the girl the guys go after, you know? It could take forever for me to find the one, and… I…” She rubs her forehead, getting all flustered. “It’d just be nice to go into my next encounter—if I ever get one again—not feeling completely out of my depth. Because if I do ever get married, I can’t exactly say to my husband, ‘By the way, we’ll never be having sex because I don’t like it.’ That’ll crush the poor man, right? I mean… right? I want to be prepared for my wedding night. Is that so bad?”

I give her a pained smile and shake my head, because it’s not bad.

Her expression crumples all over again. Blowing out a breath, she looks all things hopeless, and I suddenly can’t stop myself.

“I’ll help you.”

What?

What the actual fuck did you just say?

She pings up straight, her bright eyes large with disbelief until I nod.

What?

Why are you nodding? Stop nodding!

But there my head goes, up and down, up and down, like I have zero control over it.

“You sure?”

I nod again.

Seriously, dude. Stop!

“That’s amazing. Thank you.” She reaches out and touches my hand, her long fingers skimming over mine for a brief moment before she’s diving into her bag and pulling out a pen and notepad.

“When? Where? Oh my gosh, this is so weird, right? Are you sure you don’t mind?” She doesn’t even give me a chance before she continues talking—this ball of nervous excitement. “We’ll have to swear to secrecy. Should I write up a contract that we both sign? Like some kind of nondisclosure agreement? Or is that too formal? I don’t want to lock you into anything. Let’s just call them tutoring sessions. If anyone asks, I’ll tell them you’re my tutor. But I won’t pay you, because then that will feel like you’re my escort or something. Is that okay? I can pay you if you really want me to. I mean, you’ll be doing me this huge favor and⁠—”

“Jolie.” I gently put a stop to her fast-paced rambling. “It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone, and you are definitely not paying me. I’ll just show you a few things so that when you decide you’re ready to date someone or whatever, you’ll know what to expect.”

Still feels weird, even when you word it like it makes sense.

She nods.

“I’ll find somewhere private we can meet up.”

She nods again, gripping her pen before starting to nibble the end of it.

“I’ll text you, okay?”

“Okay.”