Page 81 of Last Chance Love

“Sure, and how many times are you going to check that list before you realize you’re not even reading it?” I asked with a snort.

“I’m just trying to be thorough.”

“Leon, you don’t have to bethatthorough. They’re cleaning supplies and a few odds and ends.”

“I still don’t want anything to be misplaced.”

“The only thing anyone could make out of anything here is mustard gas, which is great for whoever’s stupid enough not to pay attention to the Do Not Mix list posted everywhere.”

“I’m not worried about people making bombs or whatever,” he said with a huff as if the very idea that someone here would do something like that was offensive. Hewasparticularly protective of the guys, especially his guys, so that tracked. “I just want to make sure.”

“Uh-huh,” I said as I finished my sheet for the inventory and set my clipboard down.

“I mean it.”

“I’m sure.”

“Reed.”

“You know what I just remembered?” I asked him lightly, looking at him as he bent down to grab a box from the bottom shelf of the cramped shed we were in. Thankfully, this one was temperature-controlled because of the household chemicals stored in it, so we weren’t sweating ourselves into misery while we worked in close quarters.

“Knowing your love of going down memory lane, I have no idea,” he said, grunting as he pulled the box out. I was momentarily distracted by the sight of his ass in the jeans he’d put on and the slip of skin as his shirt rode up, showing the first few inches of his lower back.

It was amazing how just a couple of weeks of reigniting things between us was enough to bring me back to the same state of mind I’d been in when we were first together. We were different people, fully grown adults who had experienced the world thoroughly, having victories and miserable failures along the way. At the same time, it was difficult not to feel like a horny teenager when I was around him, especially when it was just the two of us.

“You remember Ian’s first day of middle school?” I asked, not surprised when he stopped for a moment. It might have been years since his brother’s death, but I knew the memory and the loss still needled at him. I was still wary of bringing up his brothers, but I didn’t think I’d be doing him any favors by repeatedly avoiding the subject.

“Sort of,” he said, his face pinched as he picked up the box and looked it over, glancing at the list in his hand. “I remember he was nervous about the whole thing.”

That made me laugh. “Seriously?”

“What?” he asked, looking up in confusion.

“Youwere the nervous one. He was the one worried that you were going to have an overload while he went to school,” I said with a chuckle.

His brow somehow managed to tighten even further. “No he wasn’t.”

“Are you kidding me? Of course he was. He was excited to go to middle school,” I told him, then remembered. “Oh, right. He never?—”

Leon put the clipboard down, staring at me intensely. “He never what?”

I sighed. “I forgot, he never told you. He was really excited about the whole thing but felt bad because you were so worried about it because you didn’t have such a great time when you went.”

“Middle school is hell on earth,” he grunted, eyeing me sourly. “Except forsomepeople, that is.”

I smirked. “And Ian.”

“Yeah, he did end up having a pretty good time.”

“He talked to me the night before.”

“What? When?”

“He called me. It was shortly after you left. He’d called looking for you. At the time, I remember thinking he was looking for you because he was worried about his first day and wanted you there for the night like you insisted you would be.”

“I left your house early to spend the night with him.”

I smiled, remembering Ian’s relief when I told him Leon had left and would probably be home soon. I’d thought it had been another confirmation of Ian’s nerves until he was assured his brother wasn’t around to overhear.

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