Page 80 of Rookie Move
“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 beingviolated, 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. “Youwere, 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!”
