Page 80 of Last Chance Love

“First of all, if you’re given time to ‘mentally digest’ things, I’ll probably be waiting another five years.”

“Oh, c’mon, Reed, that’s not?—”

“And second, if you tell me, maybe I’ll consider literally jumping you when I get you alone.”

My brow shot up, and I felt my chest tighten. “Excuse me?”

He laughed. “Well, maybe I’d do that anyway, even without you telling me, but it’s a good carrot, right?”

I rubbed my forehead and sighed. “It says something about me that that was enough to distract me from my thoughts and stop worrying so much.”

“Hey, if it works.”

I groaned. “I’m not a teenager, I’m not a teenager, I’m not a teenager.”

He laughed. “C’mon, now you’re just stalling.”

“Oh, I told Mona and Mr. Isaiah I thought Reno and Elliot were ready for the next step.”

“Seriously?”

I gave him the short version of the conversation, not bothering to smooth over the rougher parts. He listened intently, fiddling with a pen, repeatedly bouncing one end on the desk. I wasn’t surprised that by the time I finished telling the story, he was practically grinning.

“Well, well, well, you finally managed to speak up without doubting yourself,” he said with a laugh, pushing up from his chair and leaning toward me. “I’m proud of you.”

“This feels oddly like I’m having a conversation with what a mom or dad should have been like with me growing up,” I said, ignoring the well of pride growing inside me at his words.

He glanced down at the floor where the light was streaming in from the windows behind me and then reached out to grab the back of my head. I grunted in surprise as he pulled me close, kissing me deeply. He didn’t simply linger there to let me enjoy the moment. He parted our lips so his tongue could slide into my mouth and tease me a little before he finally pulled back.

“Still looking at me like a parental figure?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I’m having…not feelings about a parent,” I said, a little dazed and not making sense. “Or at least none that someone should have for a parent.”

“Good,” he said, easing back into his seat. “So, should I take this to mean you’re not freaking out about what we did the other night?”

I stared at him in confusion. “Why would I be freaking out about that?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. You were so unsure about things between us before. I mean, I wasn’t exactly jumping on the bandwagon to ride into town, but…that did not make sense.”

“No,” I agreed with a laugh. “It didn’t, but I know what you mean. It always felt like you were waiting to see what I would do.”

“Sometimes it felt like that, and other times it felt like I was holding back…okay, I was,” he said with a shrug. “I don’t…look, I’m not arguing with the idea of us just going through this and seeing what comes of it, but I also want to know it’s not just meandering. That we’re at least aiming to end up somewhere.”

“You don’t want us just screwing around and then fucking off at some point,” I summarized.

“Exactly,” he said with a smile. “If that’s not in the cards, then I’d prefer we just…not do this, whatever it is, anymore.”

“Alright,” I said, reaching out and setting my hand on his. “Let’s do what we can for now, and keep in mind that we’re hopefully heading somewhere important.”

“That’s good enough. We’ll see,” he said, turning his hand around in mine to squeeze.

“We’ll see,” I agreed, feeling a warm spot grow in my chest.

REED

“Quit worrying,” I said gently, trying to keep my smile contained so Leon wouldn’t notice it, as he did his best to appear like he wasn’t worrying.

“I’m not worrying,” he said as he checked the inventory list in his hand for the fifth time in five minutes. I suspected he was reading each line without comprehending the words and had to keep going back to the list.

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