Page 11 of A Chance at Love

Leo

“Why did you kiss me like that?” Whitney hisses. We’re back inside the house and she’s pulled me aside. Shit. She looks like she might cry.

“I was just trying to get them off our backs,” I say. “It didn’t mean anything, Whit. If I wanted to kiss you and mean it, I’d do it when no one’s around.”

I know it makes me sound like an asshole, saying that. But honestly? I’m freaked out about our kiss, too. I broke the promise I made to myself, that I’d wait to kiss Whitney until I knew for sure that she wanted me without hesitation.

But out there by the pool, with her half-naked body filling up my vision, and those incredible hips of hers settled down on my thighs…fuck. I just couldn’t take it anymore.

And now the thing I was afraid of—Whitney pushing me away—is happening.

“Let’s just forget it ever happened,” I mumble. “Trust me. It won’t happen again. It was a mistake.”

Whitney covers her face with her hands and groans. Then she drops her hands and looks up into my eyes again. “I can’t.”

“You can’t what?”

“Forget that kiss.”

I heave out a sigh. “So where does that leave us, then? Do you want to find new partners? Do you want to go home?”

Whitney swallows. “I want you, Leo.”

And this time, when she says it, there’s not an ounce of doubt in her voice. It’s pure, genuine desire. There’s no I want you, but…Nope. It’s just I want you.

“For the last three weeks,” says Whitney, “I’ve been denying my feelings. I’ve been convincing myself that we can’t be together again. But with every day that goes by, I just want you more, Leo. And my reasons for resisting are sounding stupider and stupider.”

I want to kiss her again. I want to pin her up against the wall and tear her swimsuit off and ravish her. But I steady myself. I need to be absolutely sure. “Your reasons being?”

She shrugs. “That we have a past. That it’s an old wound. That it will distract me from winning. But the thing is, I’m distracted by you anyway. And about us having a past…it was a good past. I hated that it had to end.”

“I hated that it had to end, too.”

Whitney and I just look at each other, breathing. The longing in her eyes is so intense that I want to take her here and now, just say fuck it and risk us being interrupted by someone else—even a cameraman.

The things I want to do to her, though…no. We need to go somewhere else.

“Aren’t you going to kiss me, Leo?” Whitney whispers.

“Not here,” I grunt. “Because once I start, I won’t be able to control myself.”

“Take me somewhere else, then,” she says, threading her fingers through mine.

* * *

We break into a one-on-one suite.They haven’t even been introduced on the show yet—but my sister-in-law told me about them, and it doesn’t take a locksmith to fuck with the lock and get in.

“Whoa,” says Whitney, her eyes widening when we step inside. “They didn’t have these on previous seasons.”

“They’re brand new,” I say, kissing her neck. “They’re going to be introduced in week eight.”

“Um…how do you know that?”

Oh, right. Shit. I still haven’t told her about my connection to the show.

I keep kissing her neck. “My sister-in-law is on the production team. She’s the one who talked me into coming onto the show.”

“Oh.” Whitney laughs. “Okay. Anything else you want to tell me?”

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