Chapter Nineteen
Sophia
Leo sat down next to me just as I took the book I’d planned to read on this trip out of my purse.
I looked at him with a raised eyebrow and spoke in a low voice.
“You know I’ve already agreed to have regular sex with you, Leo.
You don’t have to pretend you want to sit with me for a three-hour bus ride. ”
“Pretend?” he asked, speaking quietly as the corners of his lips dipped. “Has it not yet become clear to you that I like hanging out with you?”
I held back a laugh. There was no way Leo Harrison wanted to hang out with me if we weren’t naked. Yet the look on his face made me think my doubt truly hurt him.
I guess he has made several comments about wanting to be my friend.
The idea that a guy like him—so effortlessly confident, gorgeous, funny, and sweet—would want to hang out with a nerdy, rule-following woman like me for my company alone seemed unlikely. We weren’t exactly compatible on paper.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I guess I just have a hard time understanding why you’d want to spend three hours on a bus with your bookish fuck buddy.”
“Pay attention, Sophia, because I’m only going to say this one more time before your doubts start to piss me off.
I like you. I like spending time with you.
I don’t just want to be your fuck buddy; I want to be your friend.
Spending three hours next to you when I can’t rip your clothes off seems like a great way to focus on our friendship. ”
Shit, he’s serious. Now I’m definitely the asshole.
I sighed. “You have said that, haven’t you?” I pursed my lips to the side and took a sip of the latte he’d made a special effort to get me.
Oh my God, I’m awful. I let my own lack of confidence overshadow his actual words.
“Once or twice,” he said.
“I’m not used to guys like you wanting to be my friend,” I said sheepishly. “I’m sorry for doubting you. I won’t do it again, I promise. Is it super cliché to say it’s not you, it’s me?”
He chuckled and tossed an arm over my shoulders. “Yep, but I’m glad you said it because it clearly needed to be said.”
I leaned my head on his shoulder and smiled.
It was weird that it had taken me until this very moment to believe that Leo wanted to be friends and not just two people who had casual sex so I could write a better book.
And yet, these little touches between us felt completely natural after only two weeks of sleeping together.
I assumed it was a side effect of finally having good sex with someone. We’d been intimate enough that I thought nothing of his arm around me or leaning into him. Especially since it was clear to me that Leo Harrison, of all people, was a post-sex cuddler.
The thought made me smile and I bit my lip to avoid grinning like an idiot.
The other night, Leo had almost fallen asleep with his chin tucked into my neck and his arms around me.
If I hadn’t shifted away to get dressed, I’m pretty sure he would have just passed out.
I’d told Alyssa about it yesterday and she’d given me quite a smirk before telling me that she knew enough about his reputation to promise me that he was not, under any circumstances, a cuddler.
I didn’t argue with her because it had seemed pointless.
I knew the way he drew my body against his after sex, and I was confident he liked cuddling with me.
“And you’re okay with your team seeing us like this?” I asked.
“Like what?” He smirked.
I blushed again. “Like two people who are clearly comfortable with each other.”
“You mean two people who have seen each other naked?” he teased.
“Keep your voice down,” I whispered. “We don’t need to be that obvious.”
He chuckled and lowered his voice. “Yes, I’m okay with whatever they deduce as long as it means I get the next three hours with you.”
I pressed my lips together to suppress the grin threatening to escape.
“Nice article, by the way,” Leo said, changing the topic before my face flushed even more. “I especially liked how massively turned on you are by our groin stretches.”
I pushed against his chest and laughed as I sat back up. “Okay, it was not that obvious.”
“It certainly wasn’t written in code, Soph.” He smirked at me.
“Fine,” I scoffed. “I like when you do those stretches. I can’t help it.”
“Just me?” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Yeah,” I said, sounding surprised even to my own ears. I never watched anyone else during practice or games.
Come to think of it, it’s a wonder I’m even able to adequately cover the games since I’ve spent the first three lusting after Leo.
They say the more sex you have the more you want it, so apparently, I was now a woman who craved sex regularly.
“Well, the point is to get people interested in hockey and going to your games, right?” I asked.
He chuckled. “Yes, that is the point. I think you certainly talked us up.”
My phone dinged with a text message. I looked at it and laughed, shaking my head at the messages from Elena in the group chat.
“Do you need to get that?” Leo asked.
“No,” I said. “It’s just my sister. She’s responding to messages in the family group chat.” I looked at my watch. “It’s almost midnight at home so she’s also probably texting from her bedroom even though she could just walk down the hall to yell at her dad.”
I laughed and held the phone between us for him to see. “Here, it’s probably better if you just read it yourself.”
Dave: Group poll time. Who thinks Laura and I could get away with banging on a job site?
Kennedy: I am positively floored that you haven’t already done that.
Aunt Kat: Same. And I vote for trying it. Laura, are you against this suggestion?
Mom: Not against it so much as doubtful that we could get away with it.
Kennedy: Sounds like a perfect idea for you, freaky exhibitionist.
Dave: That’s what I said. I’m proposing we give it a go tomorrow.
Elena: Dad! This isn’t the adults-only group chat. Soph and I are in this one. Rename them tonight or I’m OUT!
Elena: You know what? Forget it. See ya.
Elena has left the group chat.
Leo laughed and I lowered the phone back to my lap. “Okay, let’s see how I do at identifying all the players because so far I’ve only gotten info about your family in bits and pieces.”
I turned to face him. “Oh, this is fun. Do I get to quiz you?” I grinned.
Leo’s face lit up. “Fuck, I want to kiss you right now. You’re adorable when you turn into a little nerd.”
I pushed his shoulder and laughed. “I’m not a nerd. Quizzes are fun.”
“Spoken like a true nerd.”
“Fine, I won’t quiz you.”
“You won’t need to because I’m going to rock this. So, Laura must be your mom?”
I nodded.
“And I know Kennedy is your stepmom. Dave must be your stepdad?”
“Yep.”
“Aunt Kat seems self-explanatory, who is she related to?”
“She’s married to Kennedy’s brother. The Navy SEAL. His name is Eric.”
“Okay, I’m following.” He nodded, looking proud of himself. “So, Elena is your younger sister. Explain to me why your stepdad is texting you all about fucking your mom?”
I burst out laughing. It probably sounded ridiculous if you didn’t know us.
“Okay, in his defense that’s just how the adults are with each other.
I told you before, they’re super close. Elena and I were subjected to that little text exchange because there is a family group chat which includes us, and one that doesn’t.
Dave refuses to name them, so all he sees in his contact list is a string of names and he messes it up—a lot. ”
Leo laughed.
“This is not the first time Elena has left the family group chat. She left last year but got mad when I had information before her, so she came back. She’ll be back again. I think Dave just avoids renaming the chats to torture her. It’s their love language.”
“He sounds fun. You have a good relationship with him too?”
“Yeah, with all of them. My family is everything to me, Leo,” I said. “I know that’s probably a nerdy thing to say, but I love two things in this world: writing and them. Three if you count Oahu itself.”
“That’s not nerdy, Hawaii. It’s nice. I’m really close with my family too, so I get it.” He smiled. “Tell me all about them. You made a joke about being conceived via whiskey and grief?”
I snorted. “Yep. But if I tell you my whole life story, there will be a quiz.”
“I’d expect nothing less, Professor Grimes.”
“Ew.” I cringed. “My dad is an English professor, remember? If that was supposed to be sexy, it didn’t work.”
“Alright, hurry up. Tell me the story and quiz me before I fuck up again,” he said.
I sighed and launched into the saga, starting at the beginning.
“My parents were friends in high school. My dad and Kennedy were a couple and my mom used to date Kennedy’s twin brother, Brandon.
He died by suicide around the time they graduated college, and they all made a lot of bad choices in their grief.
Kennedy and Dad broke up for a brief period, during which he got my mom pregnant.
When Kennedy found out, that news, combined with the grief over her brother’s death and the two miscarriages she’d already experienced, drove her away from everyone for three years.
She left Hawaii and now says it’s her biggest regret in life.
Eventually, she returned home and she and Dad couldn’t stay apart.
He’d been in love with her, waiting for her to come back the whole time.
He never loved my mom romantically, but they’d become good friends raising me together.
Then Mom met Dave, and we’ve all been one big happy family ever since. ”
“Wow. Sounds like one hell of a story.”
“Yep, and that’s why my dad has written three books about it.”
“Text me the books. I’m going to read them.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You’re going to read three romance novels?”
“If it gives me a better understanding of you and something you love this much, yes,” he said sincerely.
I laughed and texted him the first two titles. His phone vibrated in his pocket. “The third isn’t out yet.”
“Thank you,” he said with a smug smile. “Just to make sure I pass the quiz later, I’d like to confirm—Elena is your mom’s daughter with Dave and your dad and Kennedy have the twin boys?”
I nodded. “Ian and Isaac. They’re only nine. Dad and Kennedy had a lot of fertility challenges.”
“Got it.” He tapped his temple like he was committing it all to memory. “Do I officially know more about you than anyone outside your family?”
“Is that your goal?”
He shrugged. “It would be a pretty cool byproduct of this budding friendship.”
I smiled. “You know more about my family than I’ve ever shared with someone I’m also having sex with. Conner never knew the backstory, just the players. Does that work for you?”
“I’ll take it.” He pulled a protein bar out of the backpack at his feet and ripped it open. “Okay, my turn.”
I settled back in under his arm as he told me about how his parents met at Harrison’s Bar and Pub when his mom, Sutton, came to Boston to find a man her grandmother had loved during World War II.
That man turned out to be the grandfather of Leo’s dad, Adrian, and the tragic love story of his great-grandparents ended up leading to the very successful romance of his parents.
Leo had even been named after a great-uncle who had died tragically at the age of eight because his parents wanted to honor their origin story.
“That’s why I got this.” Leo pointed to the infinity symbol on his arm.
“My great-grandparents spent their whole lives grieving the love they’d lost during the war.
Their loss brought my parents together and the love between my parents is so strong that I’ve always known what love looks like.
But the story that brought them together is also the reason I don’t date.
I’ll never settle for a relationship that isn’t the real deal because I’ve heard how it feels to live without that, especially after losing it. ”
I searched his face, surprised by his confession. Waiting until something was worth pursuing without a doubt was an interesting way to approach love. I was intrigued.
“Hey, Cap!” Devon called from the back of the bus. “We need your help talking through this play.”
Leo turned around to look at him. “Later.”
“It’s okay,” I said quietly as he faced front. I tapped the book in my lap. “I was going to read anyway.”
He smirked at the cover of a shirtless man, Fabio-style. “What’s your book about?”
My cheeks warmed as I looked down. “It’s an erotic romance. I’m trying to do research.”
“By reading erotica on a bus of insanely hot hockey guys?” he teased. “You’re setting yourself up for a whole lot of unquenched arousal. Unless you were planning to sneak into my room tonight.” He winked.
“Why would I sneak into your room when I’m the one with my own room and you have to share with one of your stinky teammates?”
“Two of my stinky teammates.”
“Even better. You can sneak into my room.”
“Well, that’s an offer I can’t refuse, Hawaii. So”—he tapped the book—“got any ideas from this for us to try out? Because I can’t imagine you should just assume what you read in there is any good. We should test it out.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be sure to make us a list.”
“Come on, Leo!” Devon yelled.
“Christ,” he grumbled.
“Just go, really. I promise our budding friendship will not diminish in your absence.”
He grinned. “Okay. But if you find any good ideas in there, text me. That way I have time to think about how to rock your world.”
I chuckled. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
“You know, as playful and charming as I am, I’m generally pretty serious when I speak.”
“Alright, here goes.” I picked up my phone and started typing.
Me: He made her come through nipple stimulation alone.
Me: Sounds like a crock of shit.
Leo laughed into his phone.
Leo: Challenge accepted.
He kissed me on the cheek before jumping up and landing a few rows back in the seat next to Devon.
“Why are you sitting with the reporter?” I overheard Devon ask in a loud voice.
“Because she’s better company than you. So, what the fuck do you want?” Leo asked, clearly pretending to be annoyed.
I smiled into my phone and responded to my family group chat, already containing new messages.
Uncle Eric: Does Elena leaving mean I can also get out of this chat? And the other one?
Dad: No, they’re all ridiculous except for Sophia and I need you here to point that out to them. Your role in this group chat is critical.
Uncle Eric: Great.
Me: Thanks, Dad. Elena will be back by the end of the week. And Dave, seriously, if you want to get away with something, don’t tell this family.
Dave: You really are the smart one.
I was pretty sure the smart one wouldn’t be sitting on a bus full of hockey guys with butterflies in her stomach from the way her fuck buddy seemed so bothered by being pulled away from her. Because that would mean I’d gotten myself into a very dumb situation that would only end in disappointment.