Page 20 of Starting Back
Me:Good, actually.
Leo:Why is a good night’s sleep a surprise?
What a loaded question that was. There were a lot of reasons why I never had a full night of sleep. The main one, I supposed, was my brain not giving me a reprieve from the turbulent thoughts in my head about the present that would bleed into fears for the future. I’d fixate on what we’d done to the girls by splitting up, even though, for us, there was no other right choice, what Chloe was really going through since Colin left and was holding back from me, and if Emma having only fuzzy memories of two parents living together under the same roof was a good thing or a bad thing.
On weak nights when I’d feel really sorry for myself, I’d fall into a pity spiral. My kids were my life and I had no regrets, but I’d watched my brother fall in love after a horrible divorce, and I couldn’t help but want that. I never entertained it as any kind of real possibility. And when I would allow myself to daydream about it, the guilt over the complications that could arise from even thinking about it would overpower any whimsical feelings about what could be.
What happened between Leo and me surpassed my most indulgent fantasies, and making them a reality in such a public place should have made me take some kind of pause then or in the cold light of the early morning after, but the regrets still hadn’t come.
I was sated on a level I wasn’t ready to face but couldn’t deny. I’d slept so well that for the first few minutes after I woke, I’d forgotten where I was.
Me:Too many to list. I guess the night wore me out.
Or he did, and the stirring in my belly had me up for more.
Leo:I slept like a baby too, but I was up early.
Me:Firefighter’s occupational hazard?
Leo:Sometimes. But today, the reason was a woman I couldn’t stop thinking about and couldn’t wait to see again.
A smile blossomed across my face as my cheeks heated.
Me:You’ve been on my mind too. Mostly because I only half believe you’re real. This wasn’t the vacation I was expecting.
Leo:I’m going to make sure you have a hell of a vacation. Pack a bathing suit. I’ll come to get you at 10.
I wasn’t sure I could handle more of a vacation than last night.
EIGHT
LEO
When I’d left Kristina at her door last night, I had to almost pry myself away from her. From her lips, her body, and those goddamn sounds she made when she came. I fell into a deep sleep when I arrived back home, but I dreamed of her all night long, starting with what else would have happened by the pool if we weren’t interrupted.
I’d always believed that instant connection was bullshit, but I had no other explanation for us—for this. I’d only known her for an afternoon, not counting how long I’d tracked her by the pool from the beginning of my shift. But aside from being gorgeous, she was warm and sweet, with a guarded edge that I’d managed to get around from that first conversation. Even with a blush bleeding into her cheeks when she’d fumbled her words that first time, she owned who she was, and that was sexy as hell.
It all made me want more of her, even though she’d be on a plane back to New York in a few days, back to her kids and her real life that I was pretty sure didn’t have room for whatever we were doing right now.
If I hadn’t met her last night, I probably would have headed to the station to pick up an extra shift or asked Jimmy if I could help out around the resort. I didn’t do well with time on my hands and was just as clueless as anyone else why I didn’t take a damn full day off once in a while.
Over the past year, something had made me restless. I always had to be doing something and didn’t know what to do with any time alone.
One of the guys at the firehouse suggested I was lonely, and while I laughed him off and hated to admit it, he was right. I’d been a nomad for more years than I wanted to recall, my five years in Florida the longest I’d spent anywhere after I’d left my aunt and uncle’s house.
I was overdue for a visit back home to see my aunt and uncle. While I tried to visit often, I never stayed longer than a couple of days at a time. I loved them and they were the only parents I’d had for most of my life, but visits home brought back old and painful memories.
The odd pull to this woman wasn’t just me trying to fill the empty hours. From the moment my eyes opened, all I wanted to do was come back here. I almost asked if we could start the day earlier, but while being with me was something Kristina agreed to, she still seemed hesitant. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her off for the little time I’d get with her.
“Hold on a second,” Kristina said before opening the door to her suite. She cradled her cell phone in the crook of her shoulder as she waved me in.
“Your kids?” I mouthed to her as I stepped inside.
She wore a black sundress that stopped midthigh, treating me to a perfect view of those legs. The sight of her collarbone along the strapless neckline made my cock twitch, triggering the memory of dragging my tongue over it as her head fell back, her wet body quivering under my hands and mouth.
I cleared my throat and rubbed the back of my neck to calm the fuck down.
Get it together, Reyes.
