“My turn.” He grinned as he wrapped his left leg over her right thigh with the grace of a dancer. He bent his knee enough to snug his leg behind her, on the pillow. Anna copied the move, which led to their chests touching, followed by an awkward retreat.
“Are you expecting any visitors?” He whipped out his smile again, one hand still supporting her back. Anna shook her head.
“No,” she said, affecting a serious contemplation of her day’s schedule, “although I usually put a do not disturb sign on the door when I’m entertaining gentleman callers.”
“You entertain like this a lot?” he teased.
Anna dropped her gaze. Her bravado dropped with it. She held onto Leo’s elbows and lifted her face. “No, actually, I don’t.”
His hand remained steady and firm. He spread his fingers, rubbed her sacrum, and cupped her chin with his other hand. “I didn’t mean to insinuate anything, Saff. I haven’t done any entertaining for more than a year. Cancer kind of kicked me to the curb, and some things aren’t working the way they used to.”
Anna closed her eyes, reached to steady herself, and stumbled over the words caught at the gate to her vocal chords. She wanted to match Leo’s openness, but her one-on-one-with-a-hot-guy social skills were beyond rusty. They were rusted stuck, with no verbal equivalent of WD-40 in sight, nothing to smooth the way, and she wasn’t even going to think about the packets of personal lubricant in her bedside table drawer.
“After my husband died, I—”
“Saffron, look at me.” Leo’s forefinger supported her chin while the tip of his thumb traced the curve under her lower lip. His eyes held as many shades of brown as the under bark of centuries-old cedar trees. Coastal island life went about its business beyond the walls and windows of her cottage while her breath went shallow.
He brought her face closer until they were cheek to cheek.
“Do you think we could kiss?” he whispered, his words molding into the curve of her temple where it met the round of her cheekbone. “There’s an entire section in the book about kissing, but it’s a few chapters ahead of where we are now.”
“I think we could,” Anna answered, matching her whisper to his. “It’s just that you should know I’m…”
Leo’s hand was there, under her chin, when he brought his lips to meet hers. She let go of the death grip on his elbows and lifted her face. She wanted to hear, or feel, some signal from inside that she was ready for this, that she truly wanted this contact.
Their breath mingled. Leo waited. She waited.
“You’re what, Saffron?” he whispered.
Anna licked her lower lip with the tip of her tongue, a move that separated top from bottom. The barest turn of her face fit her mouth more intimately to Leo’s. She hurried her hands along his arms and over his shoulders until they reached his neck where she could tangle her fingers in his curls and pull him close.
The bridgeless chasm from the other night rose inside her chest and up into her throat, bringing memories of other first kisses. And last kisses. She stepped one foot into the space above the chasm, her bravery met by Leo’s gentle touch.
The hand he kept under her chin went to the back of her head, while his other pressed against her lower back. Anna’s tongue found his mouth, licked his teeth and his lips, taking in his taste and texture like he was coated in the richest, most decadent buttercream frosting she’d ever indulged.
He tasted her in response, adding her chin and jaw to his sampling. Anna’s eyes stayed half open, and when Leo noticed, he grinned mid-kiss and directed his gaze over her cheek, down the side of her neck, and between her breasts with deliberate, searing, slowness.
Slow. Leo kissed slow. His pace conveyed he wasn’t in a rush. She responded by sinking her body into his hands, her curves filling the cup of each palm. Their first kiss ended with a sigh. She relaxed her fisted hands, traced shaking fingertips over the curves of his lips and the rough ends of the scruff along his jawline.
“Saffron.”
“Leo.”
“Could we keep kissing? I’m pretty sure there are a few more positions in the book, and I…” He hesitated, drew away.
“Want to try them all?” she finished.
“Yes, but I should warn you I’m an overachiever. I like to get things right.”
Anna’s body, at least the parts able to communicate, was mostly on the side of yes. The other parts—shy and out of practice—paced the sidelines, playbooks in hand, unsure how to enter the game. She was taking too long to respond.
Leo cupped her face. “Did that feel like I was pushing you?”
“No, not at all. I…” She took a big breath in, let it go, figured out what she wanted to ask. Too many memories in her bedroom. Too many memories throughout the entire house. “Would you mind if we went to your cottage? I think the change would be better for me.”
Leo pressed his forehead to hers. “I didn’t come over here to seduce you, Saff. That’s not what I was thinking.”
But it’s what I was wanting, deep down—very, very deep down. So far down I didn’t know it was on its way up until that kiss, Leo. Please, tell me I’m not alone, that I’m not making this up.
“Okay, maybe I was thinking about sex a little,” he admitted. “But sex isn’t what I’m looking for, not today. When I said I felt comfortable with you, I meant it, but I didn’t mean it in a purely Platonic way.”
Anna tilted her head, flustered. He interlaced his fingers behind her, holding her tight in the circle of his arms. Frustration tinged with the high color of embarrassment flushed across his cheeks.
“Saffron, I’m sorry. Let me see if I can try expressing this without sticking my foot in my mouth.” He looked to
