Lila and Ethan were the picture-perfect freshman couple at St. Augustine's College. They'd met during orientation week, both wide-eyed and nervous, clutching their schedules like lifelines. Lila, with her cascade of honey-blonde hair and soft hazel eyes, had a sweetness about her that made Ethan fall hard and fast. Ethan, lean and boyish with a mop of dark curls, was the kind of guy who still blushed when he held her hand. They bonded over shared values: faith, family, and a promise to save themselves for marriage. It was a pact they'd made early on, sealed with shy smiles and a chaste kiss under the oak trees lining the quad.
Lila loved the idea of being pure for Ethan. She'd grown up in a small town where purity rings and church picnics were the norm, and she'd always dreamed of walking down the aisle in white, her innocence intact for the man she'd spend her life with. Ethan was that man--or so she told herself. He was sweet, attentive, and adorably awkward, the kind of guy who'd write her little notes and leave them in her dorm mailbox. She wanted to be his perfect, innocent girlfriend, the one he'd proudly take home to meet his parents.
But Lila had a secret--a past that simmered beneath her prim cardigans and floral skirts. Before college, back in her senior year of high school, she'd been the girl who knew how to keep certain boys happy without crossing her own moral line.
She'd never gone all the way--never even come close--but her mouth had become a legend among a select group of guys from her hometown. She'd kneel in the back of pickup trucks, in the woods behind the football field, or in the basement of someone's house during a party, her lips working magic while her heart stayed locked away, pure and untouched. It was her loophole: she could indulge her wild side without betraying her promise to her future husband.
When she moved to college, she thought she'd left that part of herself behind. Ethan was her fresh start, her chance to be the good girl she'd always wanted to be. But old habits die hard, and the campus was full of temptation--guys who didn't care about her vows, guys who didn't blush when they looked at her, guys who reminded her of the rush she used to feel.
It started innocently enough. A late-night study session in the library with a junior named Jake, a lacrosse player with broad shoulders and a cocky grin. He'd flirted with her shamelessly, leaning close to point out something in her textbook, his thigh brushing hers under the table. She'd laughed it off, but her pulse had quickened. A week later, she was in his dorm room, telling herself it was just to borrow notes. But then she was on her knees, his hands in her hair, his low groans filling the air as she took him in her mouth. It wasn't Ethan, so it didn't count. She didn't have to stay pure for Jake.
