Page 76 of Starting Back
I’d done my best to write off my feelings, despite the way he looked at me every time we were together and how my body hummed in response. I’d tried to dismiss it all as lust and a visceral reaction to the combustible chemistry between us that sizzled from the moment we’d met.
But while the dirty times we had in Florida popped into my head on lonely nights—which were all of them—that was not what I thought about the most when I let my mind drift to those few but amazing days in the Keys.
It was how he’d hung on my every word those first few hours and encouraged me to open up to him in ways friends and family couldn’t. That lost look in his eyes when he’d told me about his past and why he moved around so much made what he’d told me on the fire truck today a huge deal.
He finally wanted to stay.
I played “Crazy for You” on an endless loop when I was alone in my car, reliving that amazing moment when he dropped everything to come back for just one night with me, and how he’d made love to me for hours like I was a treasure he wanted to savor before he had to let me go.
What if that weekend wasn’t just a flash in time like I kept saying it was? What if it was a beginning, and in my efforts to downplay something so rare and wonderful as temporary, I was about to blow it all and would only have my own regrets in the end?
“Oh, hey, Kristina,” Renee drawled, sounding like she’d been at the bar a long time before I’d noticed her. “This is Leo. He’s new here.” She pressed her hand against his chest, and I wanted to swat it away. She let it drop but stayed close.
I envied her for enjoying her post-divorce life while I was still figuring out mine.
But I was sure of one thing, even if it scared the hell out of me.
Leo eyed me as he took a sip from his beer bottle. He wore a simple black T-shirt over jeans, just like the time he’d first caught me staring and then admitted he couldn’t take his eyes off me either.
I sucked in a breath and came up to him, grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him in for a kiss before I lost my nerve. He stiffened for a moment, most likely just as shocked as I was that I was doing this in front of everyone, but after a second, he melted into me, taking my face in his hands and moving his lips gently over mine, going in for more when I inched away.
His lips were just as warm and soft as I remembered and tasted exactly the same, salty and sweet and so damn addictive. I groaned, warm satisfaction bursting in my chest as I savored the craving I tried to forget but could never ignore.
I missed him and I missed this, too much to dwell on whether it made sense.
He slanted his head and brought me flush to his body, deepening the kiss as if we were all alone and not in front of a crowd. The tang of beer hit my tongue as I parted my lips for him, and the vibration of his needy groan shot right to my core.
Time seemed to stop until he backed away with a teasing flick of his tongue against the seam of my lips.
When I opened my eyes, Leo pressed his forehead against mine, a dazed smile ripping across his mouth as he chased his breath.
When I regained a little of my senses, I registered dozens of eyes piercing my back. I met Renee’s perplexed gaze and shrugged.
“Yes, I know Leo.” I smiled at the confused elation in his golden eyes despite my heart thundering in my ears. “Hi.”
“Hi yourself, beautiful.” His voice was low and husky as he inched his hands down my arms, goose bumps trailing his touch.
I backed out of his hold and tapped on the bar.
“Shot of tequila please.” I slapped down a ten-dollar bill. The bartender was younger than me and new enough to know me by face but not by name. He smirked as he picked up the cash, amused, I guessed, at what I’d just done in front of half the town, as he poured the shot and slid it over to me.
I thanked him and gulped it down, the fire blazing through my chest doing nothing to soothe the one between my legs, and headed back to the table without a word.
“Wow,” was all Peyton said as she regarded me with both wonder and caution. “Are you okay?”
“Well, I can’t really feel my legs, but otherwise I’m good.” I chugged the rest of my cider, the burn of the tequila already muted by the adrenaline coursing through my veins.
“Oh my God!” Claudia squealed as she rushed back to the table. “That was amazing. You should have seen the look on that woman’s face. She’s still trying to talk to him, but he’s totally ignoring her and looking this way.”
“I have never seen you do anything like that.” I spied Nicole’s dropped jaw in my periphery but didn’t turn around. “Even during our most drunken days in college.”
I shrugged without lifting my head. While I didn’t regret what I’d just done, I was clueless as to where to go from here.
“Leo must really be something.” Nicole smiled when I finally looked up.
“Or I’m just out of my goddamn mind.”
My hands quivered as I hooked my purse strap over my chair. I was about to let my head plop onto the table when my phone buzzed against my back.
