Don't hurt me, I'm a virgin.

Chapter 16

I press my lips together. "Jeremy, I can't live off you. You've only known me two weeks and to be offering something this big, it's ridiculous. I have to have my own independence; I can't depend on you always. Who's to say that our relationship is going to last? What will I do then when you dump me off?"

"The very thought of dumping you off is atrocious to me. I need you too much to rid of you. I understand your reluctance, baby, I really do," he moves closer, his hands reaching for my face.

"But, I also can't stand the thought of you working your butt of for just meaningless money when I can give you a hundred times more than you receive as a waitress. To me, for you to be working right now is pointless."

I swallow the intensity of his fingers burning on my face. I love him, at this moment I really do.

But he doesn't understand the level of my fears.

We met in the very awkward situation and for him to be doing this now, it's as I'll be living up to the very role I first met him by. Even though I know what he's offering is coming from the heart and not just for sex. I can't help feel this way. And who is to say that whatever infatuation he has with me now will die soon enough for him to rid me of.

I'll be then left with not just nothing like I started with at beginning but a broken heart added to that predicament.

"Please." He pleads with me. "Don't go to work."

"Jeremy I cannot do that."

He sighs, "Okay, let's make a deal."

"You'll keep your current job for the next month--"

I begin to protest but he holds his hand out to stop me.

"During the month you'll decide what you want to do at college, and by the end of the month when you've figured it out, you tell me, then you quit your job and I'll make arrangements for you."

I close my eyes, praying inwardly for divine providence to give me strength of handling this impossible man, this impossibly brilliant, stunning and imperative man that I've fallen in love with.

You have to admit what he's offering isn't that bad; he just wants to protect and take care of you. A part of me says.

"So do you accept?" He probes me with his blue grey eyes that are gleaming with hope.

I take a deep breath. "Okay," I accept not just to him but to myself.

Relief washes over his features and he takes me into an embrace.

I let warmth of his arms wrap around me as I press my face into his chest, inhaling his deeply rich scent.

"Why are you doing this?" I find my voice speaking.

"Because I want to."

"That's not a reason." I object.

"Okay, because I want to fulfill your dreams and wishes, and by doing so, I want it to be less of a pain for you. I want you to achieve academically because I know you are capable of it, you're smart, in fact too smart for your age. Leyla sometimes I have to remind myself that you are just only eighteen."

I breathe in a shaky breath.

"I care about you."

His last sentence tears through my ribs, his words are now penetrating through my heart and the intensity of them has me inwardly bleeding from the impact.

I am unaware of my mouth breathing out these words. "You should stop doing this."

His arms slack from our embrace and they move to my face, his hands drawing my face up.