Bare skin Quote by Lauren Henderson

““I stop at the touch of his hand on my bare skin, my heart pounding in shock. I turn to look up at him, meeting his blue eyes, half hidden by his black lashes. I swallow hard. “I would not go over to them if I were you,” he says softly. “Why?” I frown, not understanding: Is he saying that Paige and Kendra are cross with me? But they can’t be…I haven’t done anything to them. “They are busy with the boys,” he says, his long fingers still encircling my wrist. “And those boys, they will not be as…” He considers, looking for the right word. “Interested in you,” he finishes. “ What? ” I drag my hand away, furious now. “What’s wrong with me?” I’m burning up with anger, and I wish I hadn’t asked that question: it makes me sound so insecure. Before I can correct myself, however, he’s saying: “Italian boys, in a club in the summer…” He shrugs, smiling. “They like foreign girls. Foreign girls are more facile --more easy. And they look different. It is exciting to be different--not like their sisters. You may be English, eccentrica , but your face, your body--you look like an Italian girl, from the south. With many brothers, who carry big knives. So you are not different, and maybe not easy. They will think they will not get what they want from you.””

— Lauren Henderson