Page 65 of Beautiful Defiance

Talking my boner down again, I grab Leigh by the waist and haul her back on the bed.

With my stuff clasped to her chest, she twists her body and faces me. Pink dots her cheeks, and she is breathing heavy. Dumping the stuff on the bed, she pats the spot in front of her. I have a better idea.

I tuck my hands under her arms and settle her between my outstretched legs. With my back resting on the wall, I nuzzle the curve of her neck and point at the textbooks.

“I’m failing history and leadership. But you already know that.”

“History will be easy. Leadership is something else. You haven’t turned in what’s sinking your grade, a project idea that for phase two, you’ll need to put into action.”

“What’s yours?” I ask.

“I’m not in leadership. My elective is pottery.”

“Like making bowls or a giant heart with your handprint in the middle?”

My smartass comment gets me low laughter from her.

“What’s wrong with my hand on a giant heart?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all,” I say into her hair, the strands soft. She also smells good. Flowers. Roses and lilacs? My mom has a shit ton of them growing in the back of the house. A place that is an explosion of reds, purples, whites, and yellows from spring to late summer. Mom says her flower garden is her sanctuary.

“Leigh, can I ask a personal question about your parents?”

“I thought we were studying?”

“If you don’t want to get personal—”

“Ask away, Seven. I like talking about my parents.”

She misses them, and I’m a bastard for being angry with my parents for their mess of a marriage. Why’d Dad have to get caught with someone who is not my mom in his hotel room?

Has Leigh heard from her friend, the one she stole a three-mil car from? Shit, we have a ton to talk about. I’ve never had so much to talk about with a girl before. It’s weird. A turn on too.

“You said your parents were very in love. Is it because they had date nights? Went on trips all the time? He brought her flowers and chocolates? Went out of his way to do romantic shit for her?”

“They didn’t do much of date nights or taking trips.”

She plays with my pant leg. Grabs and tugs at the denim.

“We didn’t have a lot of money. My dad brought home flowers from the restaurants he worked at. He took them off the tables when he closed. The owners liked my dad and gave him the okay. Romance is them reminiscing about the day they met and those first few weeks of falling madly in love.”

She reaches behind, cradles the back of my head, and tips her face to mine.

“It’s how they stayed in love. They talked all the time. Sometimes into the early hours of morning. They were each other’s best friends.”

“That’s sweet, Leigh. Thank you for telling me. Your parents sound cool. I would’ve loved to meet them were they alive.” Honest-to-God truth.

“They’d like you.”

“Really?”

“Well, yeah, ’cause I find you so utterly annoying.” She rubs her nose on the underside of my jaw and presses her mouth on my skin. “You are. So. Much. So.”

Her soft lips on my skin. Her warm breath. Her sweet scent. Fuck.

“Leigh.”

“Hmm?”

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