were not much of a catch. One of them used to eat chalk when we were little kids, and I’m not sure he ever stopped. The other guy got kicked in the head by a horse when he was about twelve, and he never was quite the same after that. He moved away. I think he’s in politics now. Then there were a few college guys. One of them liked to brag about being a feminist, but all he meant by that was he expected me to pay for everything. I think he was less about female empowerment and more about being a cheapskate.” I wasn’t going to tell him about Jason. That would simply be too much.
Leo shook his head. “Guys are jerks.”
I smiled. “Some guys are, but you seem pretty nice so far. It makes me very suspicious. So, what’s your secret flaw? Please tell me now and save me some time.” Wife and kids back home, by chance?
Leo laughed. “Hopefully my flaws are pretty standard issue. I drive too fast, I can waste an entire day watching Star Wars movies, I think poop jokes are funny. But I gave up eating chalk a while ago because it tastes terrible, and I’m more than willing to pick up the tab while still believing in equal pay for women.”
“There’s one other flaw you haven’t mentioned. A pretty big one.”
His gaze shuttered for a moment. “Which is?”
“You don’t live here.”
He visibly relaxed, and reached a hand toward me, stroking my arm. “No, I don’t live here, but I’m here now. I can’t offer you forever, Brooke, because I just don’t know where my job will take me, but I’m pretty glad to be here with you tonight. Can’t that be enough? For now?” He set his glass on the table.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly.
“Maybe if we kissed, it would help you decide.” He took my glass and set it next to his.
The ploy was so obvious I had to smile. “You don’t think kissing might just confuse the issue?”
“Not for me.” Now he smiled, too, and my heart gave a little lurch, like that feeling you get when you miss the bottom step and nearly fall. He made it sound so simple, and maybe it was. Maybe I should just let him kiss me and confuse the hell out of me. Maybe I should let him unzip my too-tight dress and remind me of all the ways I was glad to be a woman. Maybe the biggest risk was doing nothing at all.
“I guess a little kissing wouldn’t hurt.”
He sighed, comically, with his whole body, before pulling me closer. “Thank God. If you’d sent me away with no kisses, I’d have to go find that oversexed librarian and see if she was busy tonight.”
I laughed as he pressed his face against my neck, and I felt the warmth of his own laughter caressing my skin. The scruff was the perfect combo of not too scratchy, not too soft. His hand came up to cup my jaw in his palm, and suddenly he was looking into my eyes. His smile faded, and my breath hitched. His thumb traced over my cheek as his gaze traveled down to my mouth and then back up again.
“You really are beautiful, you know,” he whispered, sending shivers along every nerve in my body.
“Am I?” I couldn’t help asking.
“Very, very.” His lips were nearly on mine as he spoke, and I slanted upward, eager to make that final contact. He met me halfway and his kiss melted my resistance, my doubts. I kissed him back, arching and shifting until we were reclining on the sofa. In that moment, I decided Leo Walker was a risk worth taking.
Time lost its meaning as the kisses and caresses continued, and Leo’s motions grew more bold, more insistent, more irresistible. His hand pressed at my waist and moved up slowly, ever so slowly over my breast, the sensations delicious, with my constrictive clothes just adding to the anticipation. My hemline had been nudged a few inches up my thighs, my neckline lowered. His shirt was untucked (I might have done that), and several pillows had been tossed to the floor to give us more access to each other. His back was smooth and warm and taut under my eager fingertips. Everything inside me wanted to explore his body as our legs tangled.
“This dress would look so good on the floor,” he murmured. “Are you sure you want to keep