The Spia Family Presses On - By Mary Leo Page 0,39

my stairs when I heard, “Any chance we can continue where we left off?” Leo’s voice came from behind and stopped me cold.

I turned to see him standing on my bottom step looking as gorgeous as ever. The motion lights over the garage door cast a sultry glow on his face and hair, making him appear even more male than he normally did. There was always something hypnotic about his face in low lights.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend? A Sharley or Marley or something like that. I can’t always keep up,” I said.

“I did—Marlina—up until about a month ago. She went back to her fiancé. Besides, we were more friends than lovers.”

“Smart girl,” I said.

“Ouch,” he grunted, rubbing his jaw. “But I guess I deserve that.”

I shrugged. “I need a shower.” Oil oozed from my Uggs with each step. I wondered if they were salvageable.

He walked up a couple steps. “I can help with that.”

No doubt he could, more than I wanted to admit. We’d had some of our best sex under running water. “Not tonight. It’s too soon, besides it’s been a really bad day.”

I turned and walked up a few more steps. He followed right behind me. “You know I can make you relax.”

I stepped up on my tiny porch knowing that if he came much closer we would be sharing soap suds. “I can’t do this right now,” I told him, heading for my door, hoping he would get the message and back off.

I was already coming up with excuses to invite him inside my apartment, like I needed to ask him what Dickey was doing on his porch, and why had he lied about it. And more importantly, what had they been arguing about?

“Then why did you kiss me in the barn?” he asked all soft and sultry-like. I could almost taste his kiss.

I turned to face him, oil dripping down my left cheek. “I had a brain freeze. A lapse in sanity. A moment of complete confusion. I don’t know. It just happened. You’re reading too much into it.”

He stepped up on the landing. “I’m reading what you want me to read, that there’s hope for us. I can’t stop thinking about you, Mia.”

“Me, and half the other women who live in this valley.”

He gazed down for a moment then looked into my eyes. That’s when I felt the crack in my resolve, a big fat crack that ran right up the center of my soul.

“You’re right. I was a shit, but I haven’t been serious about another woman since we broke up. The day you walked out, I finally realized what you meant to me, what you mean to me now. I was a fool, Mia. If there’s any chance, any hope . . .”

I kissed him hard on the lips, completely denying all my apprehensions and months of counseling. I wanted him like I’d never wanted him before. As if I’d been swimming under water holding my breath way too long and surfaced, taking in big gulps of life-sustaining oxygen. As if I would die if I was denied another second.

I opened my door and we tumbled in still clinging onto each other, stopping long enough for me to set the lock. The room was dark, illuminated only by the moonlight streaming in through the windows, which gave everything an ethereal glow.

He helped me out of my sweater and bra, and I helped him out of his shirt. He pulled me in tight against his chest. The sensation of his body on my skin only added to the fire that was already burning through me.

Our shoes came off next as we made our way to the bathroom. When I slipped out of my jeans and panties he was busy getting the water temperature just right. I hit the light switch for the shower and a red glow filled the room. I kept a red light bulb in the sconce in the ceiling over the shower because I liked the way it made skin look, all smooth and satiny.

Steam began to fill the room adding to the intensity of the moment. I unfastened the button on his pants and pulled down the zipper. He’d already gone hard, and I held my breath as I waited for him to step out of his pants and underwear.

Now, fully naked we stepped under the hot water and for a moment we stood apart, taking in each other’s bodies. Leo had always liked to get a good, long,