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She let her gaze land on his fly again. Jeez, the man was big. “Yes, I’m curious,” she admitted, tearing her gaze away from him. Looking out the windshield, she noticed a man and woman walking into the restaurant. They were holding hands. Amanda stared as the middle-aged guy held the door for the pretty redhead. When he leaned down and kissed the top of the woman’s head, Amanda sighed. It was such a sweet gesture, so loving. Amanda had had nice relationships with men, but she’d never felt cherished or loved. The pang of jealousy that zipped through her in that moment wasn’t a good feeling. I’ll have that someday, she told herself. In the meantime…
“Promise me one thing, Leo.”
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“Promise me that if we explore this, this…oh whatever it is that’s going on between us, and it doesn’t work out that we’ll still be friends.”
Leo leaned across the seat and cupped her cheek in his palm. “You aren’t going to lose me. No matter what happens in Lake Tahoe, we’ll go right back to arguing over which movie to watch on Friday night the instant we come back. Deal?”
“Deal.” Then she glanced at his lap again and grinned. “Until we get to the exploring part, you might want to think about stock quotes or something equally as boring. Otherwise you’re going to give all the waitresses in there something to gossip about.”
Leo chuckled. “What can I say? That outfit you’re wearing is doing a real number on me, sweets.”
She waved a hand in the air. “Stop it. I want to eat. I’m hungry.”
“Me too,” he grumbled, glancing down at her chest. “That’s half the problem here.”
Amanda’s nipples tingled from the touch of Leo’s gaze. She tried to laugh, to keep things light, but it was forced. Truth was, she didn’t feel like laughing. She felt like doing some of that exploring Leo mentioned.
Waiting until they were in Lake Tahoe was going to be hell.
Chapter Three
Leo reached over the arm separating his seat from Amanda’s and pressed his hand against her jean-covered thigh. The thigh that wouldn’t stop shaking. They’d been in the air for a little more than twenty minutes, and she had yet to relax. “Stop it.”
“Stop what?” Amanda swatted at his hand, but Leo wasn’t about to move away. He liked the feel of her too much. He squeezed. Damn, she had such soft thighs. He wanted to know what they felt like without the jeans. Skin on skin. Christ, why couldn’t he stop thinking of Amanda’s curvy body? Since the moment his lips touched hers in the backroom of her bookstore, Leo had been hard as a rock and ready for action. She intrigued him. That’s all it was. Had to be. They were friends, and he’d never allowed himself to see her as anything else. That kiss had opened a door. One he wasn’t sure he wanted closed.
He let his hand travel up and down, massaging her, attempting to soothe her frazzled nerves. Damn, no one should be this nervous over a family reunion. What the hell were her parents like anyway? He’d never met them face-to-face. For damn sure Amanda’s attitude wasn’t giving him a cozy feeling. “Fidgeting.”
She stilled and took a sip from her ice water. “I wasn’t fidgeting,” she mumbled after swallowing the rest of the cold liquid. Setting the plastic cup back on the tray, she settled back and closed her eyes.
“Was too, but there’s no reason to be nervous. We’ll be there before you know it, sweetheart. Everyone will get to see that you’re head over heels in love. Your mom and dad will stay off your back and we’ll get a nice little break from work.”
She sighed and relaxed a little more. Leo kept his hand on her thigh, loath to break the connection. “I hope you’re right.”
He tsked. “I’m always right. I could’ve sworn you knew that.”
Her eyelids popped open, and she turned to stare up at him. “You weren’t right the time that mouse made its way into my kitchen. You said it wasn’t necessary to kill it. You put it outside and repaired the hole, remember?”
Leo smacked her thigh lig
htly. “You had to bring that up, didn’t you?”
She pointed a finger at him. “It came back and brought friends. I had a heck of time getting rid of those suckers.”
He watched as she smiled at him, as if in triumph. He wasn’t defeated yet though. “Okay, so, besides that one time, I’ve always been right.”
“Name one time and I’ll feel better.”
Amanda crossed her arms over her breasts, drawing his attention to the large globes. Damn, the woman could sure fill out a T-shirt. He cleared his throat and tore his gaze away from the tempting sight.
Leo had to think about it, partly because his mind kept bringing up images of Amanda’s tits, naked. Did she have small pink nipples or large mauve colored tips? Damn, he wanted to find out. He ached to wrap his lips around one and suck while he teased the other. Would she moan for him? Amanda was his best friend and by far the finest woman he knew, and all he wanted to do was strip her naked and spend the entire weekend in bed. He felt like a jerk.
Bringing his mind back to their conversation, he said, “That guy you dated, Jerry something or other. I told you he was a horny ass-wipe and that he only wanted in your pants. I was right. You broke up with him like a week later. Remember?”
“Oh, I’d forgotten about Jerry. Well, not forgotten, exactly. More like blocked him out.” She laughed. “He had so many hands I couldn’t keep up with him.”
Now that he thought about it, Leo had an urge to track Jerry down and kick his ass. A woman didn’t deserve to be treated like a piece of meat. Then again, hadn’t he just been thinking of sucking her breasts? Who the hell was he to judge? He wasn’t any better than Jerry. Damn. Leo forced himself to take his hand off her thigh, putting some distance between them. “So, I win. Which means you have to listen to me when I say all will be fine.”
