Jason cradled Charlie in his arms as he leaned back against the tree and tried to comb the bits of leaves out of her hair with his fingers. "I wish you'd told me," he said.
She sighed and shifted her hips, trying to find a comfortable spot on his lap, and rested her head on his shoulder. "Told you what, Nate?"
Jason closed his eyes and tried to swallow the guilt. He hadn't known. He told himself he wouldn't have if he'd known. They were just supposed to be making out a little. He was trying to get the target to trust him. To lead him to Matheson. She was the one who'd put her hands under his shirt. He'd just followed her lead. She hadn't stopped him when he'd taken off hers. She'd let him touch her, rose up to meet him as his hands and his mouth made their way over her skin. He was never this lucky. He'd even stopped and asked, "Yeah?" as he slid off her pants. She'd nodded, and he'd wondered if this was the best day of his life. He could still hear the little sounds she'd made, feel the hot pants of her breath on his skin and the prick of her fingernails as she'd pulled him closer. She'd made him feel like a man, one who knew what he was doing. God, what had he done?
"That you were a virgin," he said. "If you've saved it this long, you should have saved it for someone special."
"Like those guys in the airplane? Yeah, that would have been special."
"I just wish you'd told me."
She lifted her head, and he stared at her lips to avoid eye contact. They looked a little swollen, darker red than before they'd spent so long kissing, but her sated smile made his pride surge.
"I forgot you didn't know," she said. "Danny, my brother, is the only boy close to my own age in our village. I wasn't so much saving it as lacking options. Then you came along and saved me like some hero in the night. When we met up with you again, it just seemed kind of fated and romantic."
Jason sighed, "Yeah. Romantic. Like Romeo and Juliet."
"Didn't they both die?"
"Yeah," he said, pulling her closer. "But you're not going to. I'm going to do everything I can to take care of you." He knew the promise was likely to cost him, but he intended to keep it. She'd made him feel like a man. She thought he was a hero. He owed it to her to act like one.