Page 41 of Enticing the Fixer

“Smitten, where does it hurt?” He sucks my bottom lip between his teeth, and the walls of sex convulse.

Chapter Eighteen

Leo

As I follow her up the stairs, I feel pulled in two different directions. I’m not looking for a relationship, or I wasn’t looking for a relationship. I went along with Jax’s crazy ‘get a girl to like you with no money scheme’ because I was tired of the fakeness of Vegas. But I had no intention of collecting.

I was going to come to the Midwest and reconnect with my brother. And lick the still-open wound of getting fucked over by Rebecca.

The other direction? Do I even want to find out? I’m following her like she’s the key to all my problems. Is she the key or another dead end?

She settles on the sofa and looks up at me. Her eyes hold the same look of unease that I feel. “I don’t do this. Not only do I not do one-night stands unless I’m drunk. I don’t date either. I don’t have time. Before my dad died, I was swamped with work, and now I have board members who think I’m screwing everything up and want me to sell the company.”

There it is again. Her vulnerability and strength. I can’t walk away from her. A lesser woman would have folded by now, but her willingness to share her innermost thoughts is drawing me in like a moth to a flame.

I set the tray on the coffee table and lower down next to her, lacing our fingers together. The apartment is cozy and quiet. The dining room table is oversized, and the sofa and two recliners occupy most of the connected living room.

“I don’t do this either. Or I wasn’t planning to do this again. I had a girlfriend several months ago, but we broke up. It was messy, but I wasn’t heartbroken. I’m not even sure I can be fully vulnerable and open in a relationship.”

“I appreciate your honesty.” She withdraws her hand and clasps them together on her lap.

“I’m not…. I wasn’t looking for a relationship.” I grab her hand again because not touching her makes me feel antsy. Maybe I wasn’t looking for one, but I can’t turn and walk the other way. I rub my thumb over her skin. “But I feel a connection with you that I’ve never experienced before, and I would like to see where this goes.”

She gnaws on her bottom lip. “I don’t have much time.”

“Luckily, I work for you.”

One corner of her mouth rises. “You’re too young.”

“I make up for it with my skills.”

She arches her eyebrows as the central air kicks on, blowing a strand of her hair away from her face. I tuck it back behind her ear and rest my arm over her shoulders, drawing her closer to my side.

When she settles in next to me, peace settles over me. I wasn’t looking, but I found it. She could be ‘the one.’ And I wasn’t even looking for her.

“You have tattoos and piercings, and I don’t.”

“You can get one.” Any reason she has for blowing me off, I’m intent on eradicating.

“A tattoo?”

“I know a guy.”

“Of course you do.” She smiles and lays her head on my chest.

“He’s a great guy and a fabulous tattoo artist. He’s done all my work.”

She traces her index finger over the lines of the horseman on my bicep. “He’s very good.” She quits for several seconds. “I got married when I was twenty-four.”

“The guy with the kid.”

“Yes.” Her head barely moves as she nods. “We met in college and dated for several months. At the time, he was a business major like me. When we got married, we had everything all figured out.”

“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No. I want to. I was going to work for my father, and he would get a job downtown. That lasted six months. Then he decided he hated the business world and worked at a gym. He said the rat race wasn’t for him, but I hoped it would work out. It had to. My parents divorced when I was five months old, and my mom ghosted us. I wasn’t going to be my parents.”

“I admire your determination and strength. Many people would have moved on at the first sign of trouble. I should know. I’ve done it more times than I can count.” I wrap my arms around her and inhale the scent of her shampoo. Touching her seems to cure every wrong that’s ever happened in my life.

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