Last Stand Read Online Free Page B

Ralston’s. Just because I’m male doesn’t mean we’re the same species. But I wasn’t going to admit that to her.
     
    A blush creeps across her cheeks. “I, um, actually thought when you went for your backpack earlier, that you might have a condom in there. Maybe.”
     
    No
.
     
    “But the necklace was okay,” she adds in a rush. “I just thought, after having virtually no time together this summer, and with it being our anniversary, it’d be perfect. I’ve missed you so much.”
     
    “Your parents are upstairs.”
     
    She laughs. “You know they won’t check on us for awhile. Their favorite show’s on, and there’s no way they’re leaving to check on us. We’re focusing on homework, remember?”
     
    What I remember that I’m supposed to be doing my homework instead of my girlfriend.
     
    I reach up with one hand to push her hair back, looping a long strand behind her ear. Man, she looks cute like that, with her hair hanging down on one side of her face and tucked back on the other.
     
    “I really want to, Toby. I think it’s time to take our relationship to the next level, don’t you?”
     
    I know I should make an excuse, like I did in the tent. Say that the timing’s not good since it’s nearly nine p.m. on a Tuesday and I have to get home. Point out that I do
not
have a condom, not in my wallet or backpack or even at home in my nightstand.
     
    Tell her I think she’s too special to lose her virginity on a basement sofa.
     
    A dozen gentle let-downs run through my head, but what do I say? “No.”
     

Chapter Three
    A s soon as the word leaves my mouth, I know I’m screwed, and not in the way Amber originally intended.
     
    Her eyes widen for a moment, like she’s not sure whether I’m kidding around, then fill with tears as she realizes I mean it.
     
    “I don’t believe this,” I think she says. It’s more to herself than to me, so I’m not sure. She shoves at my shoulder, unable to get off me fast enough.
     
    I sit up, grabbing her hand to stop her from leaving the sofa. “It’s not that I don’t want to keep going, Amber. I mean, this is fantastic. I just didn’t think tonight…” I swear, I must be insane. “I’m not ready.”
     
    She glances at my shorts. “All evidence to the contrary. Unless you mean you’re not in love with me enough yet.”
     
    I scoot so one of the pillows from the back of the sofa gives me some cover. “It’s not that, either. Definitely not that.”
     
    I can’t imagine being as into someone as I’m into Amber. Who else in the world would tell her friends that it’s cute when I describe the hand-to-hand combat that occurred during the sea battle marking the final defeat of Blackbeard? Who else would appreciate how much I want to be first chair sax? And I can’t imagine anyone else calling me at exactly midnight on February 28th to wish me a happy birthday, telling me she’s thought of me on this date since she first saw my Leap Day birthday posted on the hall calendar outside my kindergarten classroom and thought it was cool.
     
    I cup her face in my hands, forcing her to look at me, to see how serious I am. “Amber, I love you. I hope you know that.” It’s not like I haven’t told her before.
     
    “Is it…is it a protection issue, then?” she asks.
     
    “I don’t have any.” I can tell from her lift in her expression that she’s about to tell me she does, but I don’t want the discussion to go down that particular road. I let my hands drop into my lap. “But that’s not it, either.”
     
    “A religious thing? I mean, I completely understand if that’s it.” She gives me a lopsided grin. “It didn’t stop Keira from doing it, obviously, but she did tell me she doesn’t believe in abortion, that it’s part of her Catholic upbringing.”
     
    “You talked to Keira about us?” Who asks a guy’s
sister
about this kind of thing?
     
    “No! I stopped in for coffee on my way to work last week and she