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I wanted him, and when I set my mind on something, I went for it.
Escape the homestead in the wilderness? Done.
Lose my virginity to two guys at once? Accomplished—but definitely not the smartest decision I’d made.
Get my GED and a decent job? Also checked off my list.
Move to Anchorage from Fairbanks for a better opportunity and perhaps to settle down? The first part of that I’d finished three days earlier, but the second…
I eyed Leo as he used a napkin to wipe the water he’d spewed after my toast. He wasn’t my usual go-to for a night of hopefully hot sex, but all my choices in the past year or so when it came to men hadn’t satisfied in the way I’d dreamed about since devouring romance novels as a teenager.
Thank God for bush pilots who knew the types of books to smuggle in under Mom and Dad’s noses.
Heroines often made rash decisions and got their happily ever afters, and I’d been hell-bent on finding mine like Ciarra had done, even if hers had come by way of a much more conservative approach.
I’d failed time and again, choosing guys who only saw me as a hole rather than a woman to share more with than just bodily fluids. Perhaps I needed to try something new.
Or someone, rather, and from what Ciarra had told me about her jokester friend Leo, he was the perfect specimen. I’d yet to see his goofier side my sister had often spoken of, but maybe I’d just caught him on an off day.
I rather liked his quiet seriousness. It made him mysterious…even more alluring.
Impulsive as always, I came to a decision and immediately set my teeth into it, ready to do whatever it took to obtain what I lusted after.
“Want to get out of here?” I suggested loud enough that Leo would hear me over the once more upbeat music.
Heat swelled in his gaze, but unlike most men who agreed on a sure thing, he hesitated.
I tugged on his arm, and he lowered his head closer like I’d hoped for. “I’m staying at Ciarra and Josh’s apartment, and I just hate the thought of being there all by myself.” I inflicted neediness in my tone—teasing, of course, same as my intentional brush against his still-hard body.
Leo straightened again like he wanted distance between us, but he didn’t walk away or say no. He teetered on the edge of a decision, and I gladly pushed.
“You. Me,” I stated loudly with a smirk, not caring if others around us heard me proposition him. “A bed…”
“Are you always this reckless?” he asked, his forehead furrowing.
I took his frown as disappointment in my character and stepped back, my chin lifting over the same look I’d seen dozens of times from my family. I had expected he was a Goody Two-shoes just like Ciarra with how she’d described him to me in the past, but his question stung.
“Never mind.” Wine in hand, I turned away, regardless of him being a tempting, tasty morsel, ready to find Josh’s friend I’d been dancing with. The one who’d only sported a semi while I’d blatantly ground against him.
“Hey!” A firm yet warm clasp on my bare arm stopped me from moving off.
Tingles raced to my nipples and clit same as Leo’s steady stare had done the entire time I’d been in his arms. My eyes rolled back into my head at the thought of his hands on the rest of my body. I really—really—wanted him beneath me. Or on top of me. Behind me—however the hell I could have him.
“I’m sorry.” I barely made out his words over the blaring music.
I turned to find the dent still on Leo’s forehead, but it lacked the judgement I’d expected as he lowered his head so I could hear him. “I blurted that out of concern, not as a put-down about your character.”
Blinking up at him, I wondered if he was a mind reader.
Of course my thoughts had gone the negative route at his question since that was all my parents ever did: point out my faults, the bad decisions, my inability to make good choices like the rest of my siblings managed to do on a daily basis.
I eyed Leo while he did the same with me, the delicious attraction crackling between us and lifting the hairs on my nape. His thumb caressed the inside of my arm where he still lightly held me, and my knees weakened the same as the walls I protected myself with.
“Ciarra believes I can’t do anything right,” I blurted the truth just as one song morphed into another with less floor-thumping bass.
Leo’s intense gaze didn’t waver. “She must think highly of you—”
I snorted at his words.
