Page 48 of Jump-Start
“Correction. One kiss and you will be on your knees, begging me to be yours,” she replies before grabbing her plate and walking into the kitchen to start cleaning up while I stare after her, speechless.
She’s right. One kiss and I’ll be addicted. One touch of our lips and I will be hers in every way I could give myself to her. One connection between our mouths and I will become undone by the taste of her.
There is no doubt in my mind, which is why I have to stay the fuck away from her.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
chiara
It’s been a month since my first race weekend with Leonard. We haven’t spoken about our moments in France once, but we’ve spent so much time together, I wish I’d be sick of him by now. Instead, we made plans today to visit his parents together. We’ve been growing closer too, and, at the same time, we’re keeping each other at arm’s length. It doesn’t matter that we do almost everything together, we’re still bickering like we always are; nothing’s changed in that department. Not that I’d want it to either. In our own way, Leonard and I work well with each other, and I wouldn’t want it to be any different. Well, maybe only in one aspect. He’s been walking around half-naked in the apartment, and I’m so fucking hot all the time, not even my vibrator has been satisfying me properly.
Having sex with him is still a horrible idea, even if I now know Graham wouldn’t be upset with us. Leonard is still my boss for the rest of the season, and I can’t risk it for one night of fun. That’s all it would be because I know he’d fuck me well, better than anyone else I’ve ever been with, but it could never last longer than one night. It’s all we’d need to get it out of our systems too.
I try my best to focus on my feet as the damp grass in the Ticks’ backyard envelops them. The summer sun is warm on my skin, and I make sure my step isn’t too fast for Rena. She asked me to walk around with her for a little, which I know is taking a lot out of her. Although her leg has been healing well, it causes her pain. She winces every few minutes, but when I ask her if she’d like to sit down, she shakes her head and holds tighter onto my arm.
“Have you found any investors yet?” Rena asks after a few more minutes of silence, and I stare at the ground with sadness bubbling up in my chest.
“I’ve met plenty, but they all pretend to be interested when they’re not. I’ve contacted several of them afterward to discuss business, but they’ve all ignored me so far,” I explain, trying to keep my voice even so it doesn’t reveal how upset I am.
I’ve been unlucky in finding someone who believes in my ability to produce a breathtaking immersive art exhibit. I’ve already made half of one, but I’m not ready for anyone to see it yet. Leonard tried to get me to show him what I created, but I chickened out at the last second and pretended the software crashed. He didn’t believe me, and I couldn’t blame him either. I acted like he’d caught me doing something incriminating.
“It’s alright, darling, you will find someone. Leonard is determined to help you. Actually, I’m pretty sure if he thought you’d let him, he’d invest in your idea himself,” Rena says, and I stop walking, forcing her to take a brief break too.
“I’d never let him do that,” I reply, and she raises her hands in the air, looking for my face. I step into her touch, causing her lips to pull into a soft smile.
“He knows. Why do you think he’s trying so desperately to find someone else for you?” she asks, and I close my eyes at the motherly warmth radiating off her. “How are you doing otherwise, luv?” she asks, and I fight back the tears.
I miss Mamma a lot. Rena is like a second mother to me. I mean, how could she not be? She has been there for me since I was four years old, but I miss my favorite person in the world. I miss her smile and happiness. We speak on the phone almost every day, but I haven’t seen her in over a month. There is so much going on right now, I’d love nothing more than to have her give me a hug and assure me everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.
“I’m doing alright. Your son is keeping me very busy by bossing me around,” I joke, and Rena lets out a small laugh.
“Bring me to my chair, please,” she says, and we walk over to where her spot is at the table. I pull it out for her, my eyes meeting Leonard’s at the opposite side of the table.
The way he looks at me nowadays is so different from the way he looked at me not even six months ago. There is warmth and longing in his gaze, which makes no sense to me. Yes, we’ve been growing closer and might not want to strangle each other anymore, but we’re far from being two people who can’t live without one another. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. The worst part of it all is, I’m convinced my expression has softened in the same way his has.
“Thank you,” Rena says, and I force my head back into the moment.
“You’re welcome,” I add as I settle in the seat next to Leonard’s. Ellie is across from me with Stu on one side of her and Jack on the other.
“Is there a race this weekend?” Ellie asks after a while of the family chatting about random things like politics and the new Marvel movie coming out tomorrow.
“Not this weekend, Liz,” Leonard replies, and I do my best not to look at himagain. People are going to start assuming there is something going on between us if I’m incapable of keeping my eyes off him.
“Hey, what do you think about sending me a ticket to come to the race next weekend?” Graham says, and I stare at the laptop screen where Andrew is video calling my best friend so he can have dinner with us even from far away.
“You want to come?” Leonard asks, a hint of excitement lacing his words. He misses his brother probably as much as I miss my best friend.
“Yeah! I want to see Chiara,” Graham says, and I lean into the frame of the camera to blow him a kiss. He catches it and places it on his lips, bringing a small smile to mine.
“So, you wouldn’t come for me?” Leonard asks, but I see nothing but amusement in his gaze.
“Of course not. The race is an excuse to see my best friend,” he replies, and I shake my head.
“You do realize I’d be paying for it, right?” the Formula One champion reminds his brother, and I allow my eyes to get stuck on his handsome face for several moments too long.
Eventually, he catches me staring, but instead of frowning at me, he lifts his thumb to my cheek and briefly swipes across it.
“Eyelash,” he explains because my body went tense in response to feeling his touch after almost an entire month of him not coming anywhere close to me.
