Page 79 of Rookie Move
“You won’t.” She went in for another kiss, but he caught her cheek in his palm.
“Iloveyou. And we are going to haveso much sex. On, like, every surface of this apartment. But I’m asking for a little guidance, here.”
For a few moments, Georgia just basked in that sentence.I love you. He’d said the thing that she was reluctant to admit. It just popped out of his mouth, the words easy and kind. She’d also enjoyed theso much sexpart, too.
She did not, however, want to talk about her attack or her subsequent sexual history. The first thing was a libido killer, and the second was just embarrassing.
With a groan, she put her forehead against his. “I’m asking you not to bring that up. Because talking about it with you is...”The only thing I’ll admit to being afraid of. “...not fun.”
“I’m sure that’s true.” His thumb swept across her cheek, which felt divine. If only he’d stop talking. “But you never actually told me what happened to you in Florida. There’s a lot I don’t know.”
“In Florida we lost to Tampa.”
“Georgia,” he chided softly. “Please.”
Her temper flared. Her heart stamped its impatient foot and asked,Didn’t I just ask you not to go there?“Please?” she squeaked. “I’ll show youplease. Please don’t make me talk about this right now. Why would you want to?” The only reason she and Leo were fooling around again after all these years was because the ugly past had finally faded. Bringing it up again was just going to put them both right back to that unhappy place—holding hands on the sofa in her father’s den, watching sports on TV and feeling sorry for each other.
That’s where true love went to die.
“Baby, it’s necessary,” he whispered, his brown eyes sincere. And sincerely infuriating.
“The hell it is!”
Leo leaned back against the sofa, his brow furrowed. “Look, I really don’t want to fight.” He squeezed his beautiful eyes shut and then opened them again. “I wasn’t asking you to rehash the blow by blow. All I asked was whether it was difficult for you now.”
Well, damn.Point Leo. Though his question was another can of worms. “Did I make it look difficult the other morning in Phoenix?”
His chest bounced with a quick laugh. “No, baby. But you were in control then. See...” He tucked her head against his collarbone, lowering his lips to her ear. Then he began to whisper. “I have big plans for you.” His breath tickled her ear. “I need to know if I can strip off your clothes and push you down on the bed and have my way with you. I want to feel you underneath me when I make you come.”
Every nerve in Georgia’s body quivered. “So let’s practice that. I’m free now.”
His hands slid around to her ass and squeezed. “Okay. But you didn’t answer my question.” He grabbed her waist and rolled onto his side, so they were face to face on the sofa. “So help me out here.”
Grrrr. “Leo, you may be a ninja, and that’s hot and everything.” He grinned. “But I’m not a fearful person,and I don’t see why we have to rehash our recent sex lives. I don’t particularly want to hear about yours. And there’s nothing to hear about mine. Absolutely nothing, okay? And thanks for making me say that.”
His brown eyes widened. “You can’t mean...”
She banged her head back into the couch cushion and groaned. “So what if I didn’t have sex for six years? It’s probably not even a world record. I wasn’t terrified, okay? It just... there wasn’t anyone I wanted to go there with.”
Leo didn’t say anything for a minute. But he lifted her hand and kissed her palm. “I’m sorry to pry.”
“Your inner caveman likes my answer, though.” She gave his ankle a little kick. “Admit it.”
He rolled over on top of her, his big eyes looking down at her, his gorgeous shoulders in full view. “My inner caveman?”
“Yeah,” she breathed, her tummy quivering at the gorgeous view of his bare, muscular shoulders hovering over her. “Don’t deny that a little part of your fragile male ego is beating on its chest right now.” He gave a snort, and his beautiful eyes crinkled with humor. Maybe she’d only had sex with one man in her life, and some people would consider that pathetic. It wasn’t, though. She knew she’d been spoiled in the best possible way. The man lying on top of her right now was the MVP. No question.
“My inner caveman wants you naked, no matter the circumstances,” he said.
She reached up to touch that gorgeous face. “Yousaythat. 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 hasneverbeen 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 foolaround formonths,” 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.
