Page 46 of Risk It All
For the rest of the party, and long after I’d gotten home, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Leo. About his hot touch, how his lips parted, howclosehe’d been. The text I sent him was the second stupidest thing I’d done that night.
Me
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what almost happened. I’m in Golden Falls if you want to catch up whenever you’re back in town.
And the third stupidest was how defeated I felt when I didn’t get a response.
It shouldn’t have mattered—it wouldn’t have led to anything. He was going to Portland, and I was moving back to Golden Falls.
I’d just gotten out of a relationship and had no interest jumping back into one—ever.
16
LEO
Her questionand the silence that followed hung heavy between us, our minds likely going back to that moment three years ago.
I knew mine had.
I’d replayed our near-kiss more times than I could count. And the amount of times I’d reread her text and typed out a response only to delete it was embarrassing. I was taking that number with me to the grave.
What if I’d kissed her three years ago? Would anything have changed? Would I have just been her rebound from my brother?
Or wouldeverythinghave changed?
Those questions had always been there, but tonight—right now—they were especially present.
Eliza had always been so close and yet just out of reach.
It was how it should stay. Her flirting with someone tonight shouldn’t have bothered me.
Right?
Except it did, because I wanted her to flirt withmethat way.
While for the last three weeks Eliza and I had been pushing a line that we shouldn’t cross, things still felt safe.
Now? It felt like the thread was unraveling faster than I could control.
And I liked to have control. It felt safe.
But when had safe gotten me anywhere?
“Eliza,” I warned, my voice deep and low. Maybe she’d heed the warning.
Her chest continued to rise and fall with each short breath, rain drops sliding down her skin. She scraped her teeth along her full bottom lip.
“I asked you a question.” Her voice was a mix of confident and breathy. “You asked me something, and I answered.”
I watched, entranced, as the thin column of her throat bobbed as she swallowed.
“Don’t you think you should be polite and answer my question in return?” she asked.
Polite? There was nothingpoliteabout the things I wanted to do to this woman. What I wanted to say to her. Where I wanted my mouth on her. My hands.
Everywhereif she would let me.
“What was your question, again?”
