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“How much do your female counterparts get paid?”
“More than they used to, now that I’m their boss.”
I adjust my glasses back up my nose. With the clamminess of the cold, they keep slipping, and fussing with them helps settle my nerves as I get back to the question at hand. “You don’t look old enough to be retired.”
A shadow flits over his face, pinching his boy-like grin. “I’m not, I just got promoted.”
“I meant that you don’t look old enough to be retired from rugby, and it’s not like you’re out of shape, either.” I glance up and down his body, trying to add some nonchalance to my curiosity. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable but getting to know each other is a two-way street. Besides, he likes to push me, too.
“It was the right time for me,” he says. From the set of his face, it’s obvious there’s more to it. “Life changes, and sometimes your passions change with it.”
“Nothing is forever,” I say, hiding the grimace the pang of my words causes behind my drink. My statement is a reminder that as nice as it is, what we have is temporary. I have no business getting attached to him when we’re not going to see each other again after this weekend.
“I just turned thirty-four,” he tells me after a beat. “I’m a Sagittarius.”
“Makes sense. You’re into sports, and given you’re in trading, I’d say you’re a risk-taker.”
“Don’t forget I’m an audacious flirt,” he quotes me, bringing his face back to mine and nudging the tip of my nose with his. “What about you?”
“Oh, you know, I’m your typical Leo.”
“Definitely.” He smirks. “You’re sweet but hella feisty and stubborn.”
His warm lips brush mine, a little rough from the cold, yet masterful as they roll over mine. Slow at first, but the instant my lips part, his tongue licks mine. A gut-deep urgency overtakes our kiss as his hand grips my jaw tightly and he pulls me closer. A throaty groan vibrates between us when I mould my hand to his face and kiss him back with the same visceral hunger.
I follow Leif’s lead, putting my drink down beside his on the small table to the side of us. My heart is hammering in my ribs as he moves me to straddle his lap.
There’s a warning in the ache building in my bones. A caution in the desperation burning through my veins that this is all too good to be true. However, the voice that wins out is the one begging for more.
“I can give you a piggyback,” Leif offers as we walk along the riverside to the chain bridge.
The snow isn’t getting any heavier. However, the air is getting chillier by the minute, so it’s just as well that he’s got his arm draped over my shoulders, keeping me glued to him as he shows me the last landmark of the day, and we get to know some lighter trivia about each other.
“I’m not sure where to go from here,” I say in response to his last answer to my question about his favourite movies.
“Come on, Cassidy, don’t be judgy.” He pauses beside a street vendor and buys a steaming hot chimney cake. We carry on crossing the bridge, with him feeding me a small bite of the fresh cinnamon-sugared dough. “The Waterboy is a great film. It’s unapologetically funny, and there aren’t any hidden agendas and politics behind it, unlike Justice League.”
“Who says I watch it for the politics? Maybe I enjoy Henry Cavill and Ben Affleck in spandex.”
A wide grin cuts his face. “Maybe I’ll get myself some tights for the party tomorrow.”
“If hung Henry can pull it off…”
“Hung Henry?” Leif bursts out laughing.
Every time he laughs at something I say or do, my belly flutters, and everything inside me squeezes tightly with a satisfied thrill. “It’s what Sunita calls him ever since she saw a photo of him with his dick imprint halfway down his thigh.”
“Is that why you dig superheroes?” he asks, feeding me another bite of the chimney cake.
I shake my head while I chew and then swallow. “I love comics and graphic novels in general. Peanuts was the first one I got into. You know, Snoopy and Charlie Brown?”
“Yeah. Did you like Beano?”
“Umm…” He’s going to think I’m a no fun party pooper. “It wasn’t really my kind of humour. I found it really over the top and stupid, so I never got into it. Sailor Moon was more my wavelength.”
“They were hot,” he tells me with a nod of approval.
Of course, he’d fancy them. “You’re such a guy.”
