“My inner caveman wants you naked, no matter the circumstances,” he said.
She reached up to touch that gorgeous face. “You say that. But there was a time when all we did was think about the shitty things that happened to me. And—coincidence—we stopped having sex completely. It’s really no wonder I don’t want to go back to that awful time when you didn’t want me.”
Leo’s eyes went wide. “Hang on a minute, missy. There has never been a day when I didn’t want you.”
Georgia dropped her head onto the cushion and sighed. She ought to be glad that Leo remembered it that way. But the sting of rejection still gnawed at her. “We didn’t fool around for months,” she whispered. “I’d try to kiss you, and after a minute you’d turn away.” It had been the worst feeling in the world. And damn if her eyes didn’t grow damp from the awful memory.
Above her, Leo’s brow furrowed. “Well, no kidding. It wasn’t the right time. But not because I didn’t want to.”
“Well I did.” She hated the gruff, unhappy sound of her own voice.
“Georgia,” he gasped. “What did you expect me to do? I wasn’t going to be like, hey, baby, I know you’re freaked out from being violated, but I’m used to gettin’ it regular.”
She turned to hide her face in the world’s ugliest sofa cushion. It had been a mistake to bring this up.
Leo wasn’t going to let it go, though. “Baby, look at me.”
Slowly, she turned around to find him waiting for her with soft eyes. “It was a long time ago,” she said.
“Yes and no.” He leaned down and kissed her on the nose. “Sometimes when I look at you, it feels like five minutes. But I was just a punk-ass kid back then. I didn’t know what to say to you then. I didn’t know how to ask you about this. I wanted so badly to be a man for you. But I had no clue how to do that.”
Crap, now her eyes were leaking. “You were, though. You were so patient with me, and I didn’t appreciate it. I was afraid that you thought I was gross.”
“No,” he crooned, pulling her close. “God, I was so afraid to say the wrong thing. I was just so fucking scared. So I just stuck to you like glue and prayed for it to just get easier.”
“It didn’t, though. And I got so sick of being scared together, and waiting around for things to get better. It was like we spent two months at a funeral.”
With gentle fingers he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “Is that why you dumped me?”
Was it? “I guess so. I felt ugly and all wrong. You and I weren’t the same anymore. That stung.”
Leo shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”
“Me, too.” She tried to flick her tears away. But they were stubborn.
“I think we could have saved ourselves a lot of pain if we’d talked it through.”
“Because that’s so much fun,” Georgia said with a sniffle.
He chuckled, and she loved hearing it. Laughing is something they hadn’t done that awful spring six years ago. “Let’s never be eighteen again.”
“Deal.” Georgia snuggled closer to him. It was quiet enough to listen to his heartbeat.
“I want you to know that you can tell me the bad stuff, though,” he said eventually. “I don’t scare so easy anymore.”
“Okay.” She was all talked out, though. So she lifted her lips to Leo’s jaw and dropped the gentlest of kisses there. Then she moved up slowly, his stubble teasing her lips. She kissed a path to his ear, nibbling on his earlobe.
Leo purred like a happy cat. He caught her cheek and tugged her into a kiss.
Yes, finally, Georgia inwardly chanted. This. She pulled him down onto her body and tried to put the old disappointments behind her once and for all.
TWENTY-FOUR
Go slow, Leo ordered himself. Georgia had said she was comfortable with this, and he believed her. But now that he’d been given the green light, he was raring to go. They finally had a night together at home—no interruptions. He wanted to make it last.
His girl was done being patient with him, though. Breaking their kiss, she sat up and shed her own top. Then she went for his belt, yanking the end of the strap out of the buckle.
Leo pitched in to help. “You’ll tell me if I do anything you don’t like?”
She put one palm in the center of his chest, and when she looked him in the eye, there was fire there. “I’ve never been afraid of you, and I’m not starting tonight.”
Schwing! He’d always enjoyed getting schooled by Georgia. “Maybe it’s time I got the tour of your bedroom.” He pulled her onto his lap and then stood up.
Startled, Georgia yelped with surprise and then clung to him like a cat. “It’s that one,” she said, pointing.
Whatever. As long as there was a bed. He carried her around the hideous couch and into the dark room beyond.
“Watch out for . . .”
Something collided painfully with his toe. “Oof!”
“. . . My suitcase,” she finished.
Leo nudged the suitcase away and pressed onward. Light reflected from neighboring buildings spilled into her window, illuminating his destination—the bed. He set her down on the edge, and she went immediately to work on his fly. The metallic sound of the zipper made him even harder than he already was. Nobody could ever rile him up like Georgia could. She had always been fearless in bed, and to think that she was so eager to do this after all that had happened made him so fucking happy that he could die.
Soft but determined hands shoved down his jeans and boxers, exposing him to the cool air in the room. Immediately, Georgia grabbed his hips in two hands. Leaning forward, she licked the underside of his cock. “Oh my fucking god,” he panted, wrapping a palm around the back of her head just to ground himself in the dark. She made a soft, happy sound and then engulfed him with her mouth. “Jesus,” he said with a chuckle. “It’s so good the way you take me. First time you ever did that? I knew I was the luckiest guy alive.”
Georgia popped off him with a laugh. “I sure as hell didn’t know what I was doing, then.”
She had known, though. Maybe they didn’t have any technique when they were teenagers, but it hadn’t mattered. She’d cared, and it made all the difference.
Now she slipped a thumb over his sensitive tip, proving she knew exactly what was what. “I remember you were lying on the seat of your truck making noises like the world was ending. Best thing ever.”
Ungggh. It really was.