Coming Home

“Oh, you are so full of shit,” she said, and she heard him chuckle.

“That question is a death trap. If the number is too high, I’m sleazy. If it’s too low, then there’s something wrong with me. And since not everyone’s standards for what’s too high and too low are the same, and I have no idea what yours are, I’m going with pass.”

“Fine,” she pouted. “Your turn.”

“Well, since you brought out the big guns, how old were you when you lost your virginity?”

“Sixteen,” she answered. “There, see? I told you that, even though it might cause you to draw certain conclusions about me. And I mean, we already established that you’re a judger.”

“Oh my God with your judger bullshit.” He laughed, and Leah smiled just as she heard him lay on the horn and mumble, “Stupid motherfucker.”

“Everything alright over there?”

“We’re about to pass the accident, and this fucking moron rode the shoulder all the way up here, and now he’s trying to squeeze in. He almost clipped me. Fucking asshole.”

Leah sighed. “I’m going to get you a swear jar.”

“A swear jar?”

“Yep. Every time you curse, you have to put money in it.”

“Okay,” he laughed. “And how would that stop me from cursing again?”

“Because once it’s full, you have to take all that money and buy me something pretty.”

Da

Butterflies burst through her stomach as a pleasant tingling prickled its way over her skin.

“Your turn,” he said casually.

“Oh…okay,” she said, trying to pull her thoughts back together. “Um…what would you say your best quality is?”

“I’m loyal,” he answered without missing a beat, and Leah closed her eyes.

He couldn’t have answered more perfectly if he tried.

And she was pretty sure he was telling the truth. He knew nothing of her past with Scott, nothing about her hang-ups and fears regarding relationships, so it wasn’t as though he was just trying to appeal to that. Plus, she’d seen the proof of it herself, the way he took care of Catherine, who wasn’t even his family. Not to mention the fact that he had just spent over twenty-four hours helping out a friend in need.

“My turn,” he said, and she could tell by his tone of voice that it wasn’t going to bode well for her. “Where’s the weirdest place you’ve had sex?”

“Oh God.” She laughed nervously. “Pass, pass, pass.”

“Really?” He clucked his tongue. “Shame on you.”

“Shame on me?”

“Don’t you realize you’re saying more by using your pass than if you actually told me the place?”

She sighed. “You’re so a

“All kidding aside,” he said, “my imagination is probably much worse than your reality, so leaving that question up to me to piece together probably isn’t the wisest move.”

“I’ll take my chances.”

Da

“Moving on,” Leah said with a laugh, nibbling on her thumbnail before she blurted out her next question. “When was the last time you had sex?”

“Damn,” he said after a moment. “You give it as good as you get it, huh?”

“You started it,” she said, trying to sound playful, but the truth was, it had taken every ounce of courage she had to ask that question. She knew it would tell her a lot, and she wasn’t necessarily sure she wanted to know what it would reveal.

“Shit,” she heard him say under his breath before he inhaled deeply. “Pass.”

Leah felt her stomach drop a little, but she forced a smile, trying to keep it light.

“Wow, really? Are you sure you want to do that? You’re out after this.”

“Yes, I’m fully aware,” he said. “Still pass.”

“Okay then, have it your way,” she said airily, but the entire time, her mind was racing, wondering what his reason could be for not wanting to answer. Maybe it had been a while for him and he felt embarrassed telling her that. Of course, he had no way of knowing that she hadn’t had sex in nearly two years, and that his dry spell was probably a drop in the bucket by comparison.

That is, if this were even about a dry spell.

There was also the distinct possibility that he was currently sleeping with someone, or a few someones, and didn’t want her to know that. And unfortunately, of the two options, taking into consideration his personality and his looks, the latter was the more likely scenario.

“Okay, my turn,” he said. “Do you have any piercings or tattoos?”

“I have a tattoo,” Leah said, still trying to shake off her disappointment.

“Seriously? I never would have thought that. Where?”

“On the back of my neck.”

“What is it?” he asked.

“A spiral triskele. Long story,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t push it further than that.

“Wow. I gotta say though, I love that.”

“What, the triskele?”

“No, I have no idea what that is,” he said with a laugh. “I mean when a girl has a tattoo in a secret place.”

“Oh,” she said. “Well, it’s not really a secret place.”

“I think it is. Unless you wear your hair up all the time, only people close to you would ever get to see it. I feel like the back of a woman’s neck is an extremely intimate place.”

Seriously, goddamn him.

Why, why, why did he have to refuse to answer her last question and then follow it up with that? Almost like he knew how to suck her right back in. Leah started to consider the possibility that he was reading from some type of handbook.

And the title of it might as well have been How to Reduce Leah to a Besotted, Quivering Pile of Easy.

“Your turn,” he prompted when several seconds had passed and she hadn’t said anything.

Leah inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. No more silly questions. She needed to start figuring him out.

“What’s the one thing you’ve done in your life that you regret the most?” she asked.

“Pass.”

Her eyes flipped open as the corner of her mouth lifted in a smile. “You can’t pass. You don’t have any more.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said curtly, and Leah’s stomach dropped for the second time.

She recognized this tone.

“Look, I gotta go,” he said. “I just pulled onto my street and I have to find a spot.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Thanks for keeping me awake, though. I appreciate it. Good night, Leah.”

He hung up before she could even respond.

Leah took the phone away from her ear and stared at it for a second before she threw her head back and groaned loudly.

Being with him, talking to him, was the emotional equivalent of bungee jumping. There was the freedom, the adrenaline, the exhilaration of the fall, only to have it come to an abrupt halt, roughly yanking her back in the direction from which she came.

Leah reached up and rubbed her eyes roughly with the heels of her hands.

He could be really sweet sometimes, but he was so goddamn capricious. And he was fu

But far more frustrating to her than any of those things was the fact that even though he’d thrown her for a loop yet again, she was completely captivated by him.

Da

His pulse quickened when he saw her name next to the notification, and he eagerly opened the text.

I’ll be at The Rabbit Hole tonight. You should come out if you’re not busy.

He stared at her message for a moment before he cleared the screen and slid the phone back in his pocket.