Page 19 of Don't Look Back

“Let go of me,” she laughs, trying to push away from me.

“You’re the one falling for me. I didn’t do anything.” I bat my eyelashes at her like I'm innocent.

“Yeah, sure you didn’t.” She rolls her eyes and pushes away from me again, this time I don’t stop her. “I'm going to get changed, then I’ll meet you in the living room.”

“Do you need help getting changed?”

“Absolutely not.” She laughs even harder.

“Are we going to have a shirtless party? I could really get behind that idea.” I grin.

“No! Get out of my room! Go pick something to watch!” She shoves me towards the door, but it’s not hard enough to do anything.

I chuckle as I head towards the living room and take a seat on the couch. I'm exhausted. It was a long day at work and while I’d love to go home and go to bed, I just want to spend a little more time with Leslie.

I'm just pressing play on a movie when Leslie steps into view. Her hair is tied into a messy bun on the top of her head. She’s wearing a pair of tight-fitting shorts that are barely covering anything, and knee-high socks. She has an off the shoulder sweatshirt and her bare shoulder ispeeking out, making my mouth go dry. She’s somehow sexy and adorable at the same time.

“Damn, thank goodness you work at the elementary school and not the high school.” I lick my lips and watch her carefully.

“Stop,” she groans. “You don’t need to pretend to find me attractive.” She drops onto the cushion next to me and stares at the TV.

“I'm not pretending anything, you’re absolutely beautiful, Leslie. I don’t know who made you feel like you aren’t, but they’re wrong.”

I want to kiss her. I want to show her exactly how attracted I am to her, but I don’t want to scare her away again. Obviously, I freaked her out when I tried to kiss her earlier and I'm not going to do it again. Not yet.

“I don’t know about that,” she whispers, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Come over here and keep me warm.” I hold out my arm, ignoring her comment. It doesn’t matter what I say, the only way for me to convince her to listen is to prove how I feel about her, not to use words.

“You could just put on a shirt.”

“I could, but where would be the fun in that?” I roll my eyes like that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.

Leslie curls into my side and tucks her legs up under her. She lays her head on my shoulder and her eyes slowly close a few seconds later. I wonder how long it’s going to be before she falls asleep. It doesn’t matter though. If she drifts off, I’ll either carry her to bed, or I’ll stay here on the couch and sleep with her in my arms. Either option seems amazing to me.

Chapter 12

Leslie

My eyes snap open as a shrill ringer fills the air. I frown as I frantically glance around the living room, trying to figure out where the noise is coming from.

“Dammit. Sorry,” a deep voice grumbles and shifts under me.

I freeze for a moment, forgetting Colton was here when I fell asleep last night. I blow out a long breath and try to calm down. This is stupid, I shouldn’t be freaking out. Jimmy doesn’t know where I am and until I know for sure he’s found me, I shouldn’t get anxious about it. There’s no reason for me to think he’s found Maple Springs or me.

“Hello?... Yeah… Ok, I’ll be there in a few minutes. I just need to find a shirt.” He sits up and glances around the room like his shirt is going to magically appear in front of him.

‘Do you want me to get you one?’I mouth the words to him, trying to keep quiet in case he doesn’t want the person on the other end of the line to hear me.

“That would be great. Thanks.”

I disappear down the hallway, going in search of a shirt that might fit him. There’s no way one of my normal shirts will fit him, but I'm pretty sure Sophia left one of Uncle Wes’s shirts here the last time she was here.

I rifle through my drawer and find what I'm looking for sitting at the bottom of the pile. I shake it out and frown at the wrinkles. I hate giving him something this wrinkled, but I doubt he cares.

“Hey, sorry about that. A call came in for an accident and it sounds big. I want to go help Pecker get a handle on it. He’s newer to this town and doesn’t know the layout as well. I don’t want him to have to cover the accident by himself.” Colton grips the back of his neck and I can tell he doesn’t want to leave.

“It’s fine. Don’t worry about leaving.” I glance at my watch and wince. “It’s three o’clock in the morning. You should’ve left hours ago.”

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