Page 23 of Jump-Start
“Starling,” he says once he’s close enough for me to hear.
“Champ,” I reply, making him narrow his eyes at me. He studies my face for the briefest moment, then frowns.
“What happened?” Leonard asks, and I furrow my brows.
“What do you mean? Nothing happened,” I reply and start walking away. His hand finds mine before he laces his fingers through my own. He tugs on me hard enough to bring my body back toward him. Surprise fills me from head to toe because he’s never touched me like this, and I’m not sure why I’m not repulsed by it.
“Who was it? What did they do?” he asks, my chest now almost pressing against his. I take my hand back because I don’t like that my body is drawn to him.
“It was you, and what you did was show up here early when you were only supposed to come tomorrow,” I tease, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Leonard keeps his gaze on mine, not impressed or amused by my words.
“Tell me, Starling,” he insists, and it tugs on something inside of me I’d rather ignore.
“Graham and I are getting evicted,” I reply because he would have found out sooner rather than later anyway.
Leonard curses under his breath but keeps his eyes on me. They soften in response to something in my features, and I’m starting to dislike how well he knows me. He even realized something was off the second he saw me, for fuck’s sake.
“How long do you have?” he asks, and I take another step back because his scent, so fresh and soapy and all him, is confusing my senses.
“Three months.” Again, lying or hiding this would be useless. Graham doesn’t keep such things from his family.
“Fucking hell, Chiara,” he says, my name sounding foreign out of his mouth since he hardly ever uses it. Foreign, but beautiful. “Why are you getting evicted? What did the two of you do?” he asks, and I welcome back the familiar anger I feel toward him. It’s a lot more settling than the other sensations my body’s been feeling for him.
“We didn’t do anything,stronzo. They kicked us out because the building was bought by some big corporation,” I spit back and turn to leave. He follows closely behind me.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Starling. I meant what they accused you of doing. I didn’t phrase that properly,” he explains, but I have no more interest in continuing this conversation.
“Yeah, no shit,” I say, my feet bringing me to the veranda door.
“Fuck,” is the last thing I hear him mutter before I step outside.
Benz was greeting everyone, but as soon as she sees her dad, she sprints toward him. He kneels on the ground and wraps his arms around her, looking like he’s finally complete again while she jumps at him, barely able to contain her excitement.
“Chiara!” Ellie calls out, and before I can even process her words, her tiny arms are around my waist.
“Hello, miss sunshine,” I say and offer her the slightest smile.
She takes my hand and pulls me to her dads, begging them to show me a video of her doing her first cartwheel. Apparently, it happened earlier today, and Stu and Jack have never been prouder. This wholesome moment would be perfect if Leonard didn’t almost press his body against mine from behind to look at the phone screen over my shoulder. His hot breath sends a shiver down my spine and heat between my legs. As if drawn to him, I lean back ever so slightly, my back hitting his front. He lets out a confused hum, but his finger moves to the screen so he can restart the video.
“I can’t believe you did a cartwheel, Lizzie,” Leonard says, and I can hear the pride in his tone clear as day. It also doesn’t help that his lips are right next to my ear.
“Have you ever heard of personal space?” I ask him as I turn my head and hand Jack his phone.
Leonard’s eyes are on my lips when he responds with a simple “No.” I roll my eyes at him, bothered because he’s so close, my body is vibrating.
“Can you back up?” His eyes sparkle with amusement.
“No.”God.
“I hate you,” I say quietly, and one of his hands briefly grazes my left hip. My body moves into his touch in response, earning me a smirk from him.
“Tell your body that,” he whispers as his mouth almost brushes mine before stepping away, the loss of his heat leaving me off-balance for a moment.
My eyes shift forward again, going wide when I notice Jack and Stu with dropped jaws and shocked looks all over their faces. Their eyes are fixated on me, clearly trying to process whatever just happened between Leonard and me.Well, shit.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I blurt out and walk over to the table to grab a glass of water.
Compared to the chaos from before, the rest of lunch goes by uneventfully. Everyone gives Graham a small gift, something to remind him of them, and then we all watch the football game together. Leonard and I are on opposite sides of the room, but his gaze burns my skin even from far away. I glare at him in response and mouth the wordsStop staring at me and watch the game. This asshole keeps watching me, shaking his head.
