by L. D. Davis
“This isn’t so bad, right?” Leo asked, passing me a wine cooler.
“It’s actually quite nice.” I smiled.
“I’m glad. I guess I can’t convince you to go water skiing.”
“Don’t push it, Pesciano.”
He grinned mischievously in return. I so didn’t trust that grin.
I’d have to be on my guard with him today.
It had been a week since my arrival in Miami. I saw Leo every day. I worked when he worked or had other business to tend to. I always worked in his house, because something about the beautiful view from his place always got my creativity flowing for that particular project I was working on. If Leo came back while I was still working, he left me alone until I was ready to stop and he never seemed to be bothered by it, no matter how long it took me.
When we weren’t working, we were together, exploring the city, sightseeing, shopping, and relaxing on the beach. We talked all of the time, like we each had a word quota to meet at the end of the day or we’d explode if we didn’t. We chatted about our high school years, about the restaurant and his trials and tribulations when he first opened. We talked about all of the signings I would be doing that year and the other authors I loved and hated. Sometimes we talked about the more serious stuff, like my brother and Mayson’s road to sobriety, and other times our conversations were altogether nonsensical and funny. There were two things we never spoke about though: our controversial past and Leslie.
Leo touched me. A lot. He held my hand when we went anywhere together. If he wasn’t holding my hand, he had an arm around my neck or waist. When we sat on the couch, he liked to sit right next to me, thigh to thigh and his arm draped over my shoulders. Sometimes, he would sit a little further away, but pull my legs into his lap and caress my bare legs while we watched whatever was on the television or chatted. Often, Leo would absently rub the small of my back, or not so absently graze his knuckles over my cheek. He occasionally quickly pressed his lips to mine, and frequently kissed my hair, my cheek, or forehead, but he didn’t try to kiss me kiss me. Sometimes he looked at me like he wanted to, and sometimes I think I wanted him to, but he always refrained. Regardless of how he touched me, the electric vibe between us was strong and growing, crackling and zapping with every touch.
I slept over again, too, more than once, sparking up controversy about paying for a hotel room. Of course, we always ended up in the same bed together, tangled and cuddled. Leo insisted on me moving in with him for the duration of my stay, and I argued over the weirdness of it despite the fact that I spent more time in his house than I did the hotel. The argument came up again on his boat after we ate. He was fishing and I was watching. I didn’t know a thing about fishing. I only knew how to eat fish, and I really love Finding Nemo. Don’t like Jaws.
“So, when we get back to shore later, you’re going to move in with me for a while, right?” he asked casually.
“No,” I answered in a bored tone.
“You’re paying for a room you don’t even stay in!”
“It’s my money,” I argued.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to be wasteful with it. What are you afraid of?” He looked over at me, daring for me to say anything.
“I’m afraid my old best friend will take it very personally if I move in with her ex-boyfriend, even on a temporary and platonic basis.”
“Who said it was platonic?” he scoffed.
“Leo,” I said in warning.
“Okay, I won’t go there,” he said with a serious undertone. “Not now anyway, but for the record...” He moved in very close to me, his lips millimeters from mine. “You don’t have to live with me for me to make you fall in love with me.”
A wicked smile appeared on his lips and he pulled back. I let out a sharp breath.
“You’re terrible,” I scolded.
“But you keep coming back,” he teased. “Anyway, you should consider moving in—on a temporary and possibly platonic basis.”
“I’ll sleep in my room tonight, and for the rest of my stay. Argument over.”
“It’s not over, but I’ll let it go. Want to hold my pole?” He gestured lewdly with the fishing pole.
A few hours later while Leo played with his jet ski, I lounged on the deck with the latest copy of Vogue, looking at clothes I’d never fit in. I found Donya’s face halfway through the magazine. If she were a mean bitch, it would be easy to hate her for her beauty, but she was actually cool and grounded. Even though I didn’t talk to Emmy, I did talk to her best friend. Donya didn’t live too far from my apartment in New Jersey, and I did have lunch with her and Mayson on occasion.
I continued flipping through the magazine, but more often than not, I would find myself surreptitiously peeking over my magazine at Leo. He wore a life jacket, at my unyielding insistence, and of course, his swim trunks, but he was bare-chested under the jacket. I felt my mouth watering a few times and would force my eyes back to Vogue, but it didn’t take long for them to stray again.
Women fell over themselves to get a better look at this man’s perfect body and kissable lips and bedroom eyes. Every time we were on the beach, the poor grown drooling women eyed his bare chest and powerful legs openly, as if he had been put there just for their viewing pleasure. They probably itched to touch him, and there he was, looking all sporty and wet and hot and I couldn’t keep my focus on anything else.
“Hey,” he said a while later after he had put away his toy. He was standing in front of me, still wet, still shirtless, and the life jacket was gone.
He wasn’t really a hairy guy, though I suspected he shaved his chest. The only hair on his torso started just under his belly button and trailed down, down, down, below the piece of cloth covering him. And it was barely covering him. His swimming trunks hung so low that with one mishap, he could spring free. The thought of this entranced me for a moment, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of that beautiful V area until Leo cleared his throat.
I was thankful for my sunglasses as I forced a smile and peeled my eyes away from his lower body.
“Hey,” I said, my voice too high and a bit squeaky.
“Whatcha lookin’ at?” he asked quietly.
“Vogue.” I held the magazine up higher to shield my face from his gaze.
He plucked the magazine from my fingers and tossed it on a little table. Before I could object, he leaned over me and put his hands on the arms of my chair, trapping me. His face was incredibly close to mine. Water from his hair and chest dripped onto my cleavage.
“What were you looking at again?” he challenged quietly.
“Umm...Vogue?” I answered, not as sure as I was before.
He pulled my sunglasses off of my face and let them fall to my lap.
“You know, you look pretty sexy sitting here looking at...Vogue,” he said, his voice dripping with sexiness.
I pulled on my swim skirt, trying to cover my fat thighs. I did not feel sexy. I felt like an elephant in a tutu.
Leo’s hand reached out and grabbed mine.
“Don’t cover up,” he said firmly. He released my hand, but his lingered on my thigh.
“Leo,” I started, breathlessly. I didn’t know what I was going to say, but I knew if he kissed me, I wouldn’t stop him. I may have even thrown him to the deck floor and taken advantage of him. Just as his lips brushed mine, one of the guys called to him.
Reluctantly, he stood up and went to go talk to him. I took advantage of this opportunity and escaped from the chair. I found the other crewmember, Tim, I think his name was, and spent the trip back to the shore with him at the helm, asking stupid questions.
The brief car ride back to Leo’s house before sunset was awkwardly quiet. He kept looking over at me, but I didn’t acknowledge it. He knew I had practically run away from him earlier, and he was disappointed. I further disappointed him when I told him I would be sleeping in my hotel room.
“I told you I was going to,” I said as I walked around, gathering a few of my thing
s.
“I’m just starting to get used to you being here,” he argued.
“Well, you shouldn’t. I’m not going to be in Miami that much longer.”
“Which is why you should spend as much time as possible here with me,” he said with a grin, but I knew he really meant it.
“Leo, seriously, can I have just one night to myself?”
“Are you tired of me?” He sounded genuinely hurt.
“No, of course not! I’m just…I’m tired and I have all of this dialogue in my head and I have some other stuff to take care of.”
He thought about it for a moment and then relented. “I understand. I have some business to tend to tomorrow, but I want to see you in the evening.”
It was a statement, not a question. Perhaps a polite command.
“Sure. Okay.” I nodded.
He walked me to my rental car, carrying my stuff for me. After dumping it in the backseat, he wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace.
“Don’t run away or anything,” he whispered into my hair.
“I promise I won’t.” But I was so very tempted.
Leo texted me the following afternoon and told me to go back to my hotel, pack up, and check out. Just like that.
Go back to your hotel, pack up, and check out.
I had stared at my phone for a good two minutes, giving him a stink eye he couldn’t see.
I said I’m not moving in! I responded, followed by Jackass.
No more than a minute passed by before Leo replied.
Pack up. Check out. I’m taking you away for a couple of days. Stop pretending that when I boss you around that it doesn’t make you all hot and wet.
I don’t know why I gasped in surprise, but before I could say something back, insulting his manhood and his mother, he shot me a final text.
Please. I promise you I’m not trying to trick you into moving in. Just trust me.
I did trust him, even if I didn’t always trust what could happen between us. I had no idea where he wanted to take me; it couldn’t have been too far. His friend Wess’ bachelor party was Friday night, but I did as Leo requested and returned to my hotel to pack.
He knocked on my door before I could even finish packing. He hadn’t given me any timeline, so I kind of took my time.
“Are you ready?” he asked as he stepped into the room. He looked at my bed and the array of clothes on it and the half-packed suitcases. He gave me a disappointed look.
“You didn’t say what time to be ready,” I said as I hastily began to fold clothes.
“I talked to you four hours ago,” he said incredulously. “How long does it take to fold your clothes and put them in the suitcase?”
I put a fist on my hip, unmindful to the fact that I was wrinkling a shirt in my hand. “I was working! And I had to come back here and get my dirty clothes and take them back to your house and wash them and then come back here and fold them, and I have stuff everywhere! Look in my bathroom.”
Leo started to object, but I threw the shirt in a suitcase and grabbed the front of his shirt. I pulled him to the bathroom and with a sweep of my arm I showed him all of the health and beauty products I had spread out on the counter: a hair brush, ponytails holders, pins, clips, tweezers, razors, fingernail clippers, tampons, nail polish, deodorant, nail polish remover, an array of eye shadows, lipsticks, and lip glosses, foundation, cotton balls, and more. I am not a high maintenance girl, but being prepared for any situation is imperative.
Leo stared at all of the stuff with an open mouth.
“When did you become such a messy person?” he asked in disbelief.
“I’m not,” I sighed. “But give me some credit. I spend most of my hours at your place. I’m not here to clean up. Besides, it’s not messy, it’s just a lot of stuff.”
Leo dragged two hands over his face. “Okay, look, go finish packing all of your…” He gestured impatiently toward the bedroom. “Your clothes and shoes and I’ll pack up all of this…” He gestured with irritation at my health and beauty products.
Oh god, he was going to touch my tampons. But then the alternative was him touching my underwear.
I gave him a small nod and handed him the bag I used to tote all of the stuff before hurrying out to go pack up the rest of my things.
Twenty minutes later, we were sliding into his car and fastening our seatbelts.
“Are you going to tell me where you are taking me?” I questioned.
He grinned. “Nope. Just relax, Tabs,” he said gently and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “Do you trust me?”
I nodded.
“Prove it with a kiss,” Leo said with quiet impishness.
I shook my head at the audacity of his request, but I leaned across the middle console anyway and gave him a lightning fast peck on the lips.
Once I surrendered myself to the circumstances, I was able to relax and enjoy his company. We talked and joked for most of the trip. I was so comfortable with looking at his profile, I didn’t pay too much attention to the road at all. I still had no idea where we were going, though I had tried to get it out of him a few times. All I knew for sure was that we were driving north. It wasn’t until we were in Orlando, driving into Disney World that I snapped to attention.
I gaped at him. “Disney?” I whispered.
“Yeah. I guess the element of surprise doesn’t work well here,” he said sheepishly.
“This is unbelievable,” I whispered, staring out of the window. It was dark at that time, the parks were either already closed or closing, but I stared anyway as I tried not to cry.
“You didn’t get to go with the class when we went for our senior trip,” Leo explained softly. “And you said you still haven’t gone because you wanted to share the experience with someone you could have fun with, be a kid with, and maybe I am being presumptuous, but I think I am a great candidate.”
I had skipped the senior class trip to Disney because I couldn’t afford to pay for it on my own and I had refused to ask my parents for anything more than necessities. Leo had seemed saddened by the fact that I still had not gone all of these years later, but I never expected him to take me there himself. I was overwhelmed with emotion, and it was so stupid. It was just Disney World, but wow…it was Disney World and no one had ever done anything as nice as that for me before.
I was very quiet as Leo navigated us to our hotel, and throughout the check-in process. Silently, I visually explored our suite, noting that there was only one big bed. After snuggling with him more than once, it shouldn’t have fazed me, but I had strange emotions when I looked at the bed.
As soon as the concierge left the room, I hugged Leo fiercely.
“Whoa!” he laughed, hugging me back. “If this is what I get for bringing you to the hotel, what will you be like when we go to Magic Kingdom tomorrow?”
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“You’re welcome, sweetheart,” he whispered back and planted one soft kiss on my neck.
We left soon after that for a late dinner. Around two in the morning, we returned to the room. I had consumed a few too many drinks. I was very chatty and half of what I was saying was nonsense. I was super excited, like a little kid—a drunk little kid—but Leo was exhausted. I forgot that he worked several hours before we left on our road trip. He collapsed onto the bed after kicking his shoes off, fully clothed. I rambled on as I thoughtlessly changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top in front of him. When I got into bed, Leo folded me into his arms and closed his eyes as I continued to babble. After a few minutes, he put a finger to my lips.
“Sshhh,” he whispered. “If you don’t shut up, I will be forced to take drastic measures.”
“What kind of drastic measures?” I asked curiously.
“I’m not sure if you really want to know,” he said on the edge of sleep.
“What will you do?” I pressed teasingly. “Put tape over my mouth? Make me eat something gross?”
Suddenly I found myself
flat on my back and Leo’s face was only about two inches from mine. His body was solid and firmly pressed against me.
“Hmm. I guess I have to shut you up manually,” he whispered.
His lips had touched mine for only a second before he pulled back. He smiled teasingly, in a way that made my toes curl, and then touched his lips to mine again, but a few seconds longer that time. The next kiss was longer, but still only lasted a few seconds.
He laughed lightly and then lay back down beside me, pulling me to him so my head rested on his chest.
“Now I know how to shut you up.”
I didn’t answer, proving him right. Sleep came grudgingly, but when it did, I dreamed of Leo’s soft, sexy lips.
People weren’t kidding when they said Disney was a magical place. I was so excited; I thought I was going to pee myself. Leo never told me I was being childish, never told me I couldn’t do or have something and indulged my every whim. We watched every parade and every show and met every character that was available. We stayed out in the parks from morning until long after sunset, and I was too tired at the end of each night to test Leo again with my talking. Every night, I snuggled up close to him and listened to the sound of his beating heart and steady breathing and always fell asleep happy and smiling.
Frequently during our trip, I would find Leo watching me with a thoughtful smile. I asked him halfway through our first day why he kept looking at me like that, and his response was simple and brought on my own smile.
“I love seeing you happy,” he had said.
I knew Disney wasn’t cheap. I tried to pay for my own souvenirs and offered Leo some money to cover the trip, but he had waved me off. I wasn’t a helpless damsel in financial distress, and by the second day, I was beginning to feel weird about him paying for everything. Even when we were in Miami, I never had to spend my own money. Leo bought all of our meals and paid for anything that we did together.