Vulnerable [Suncoast Society] (Suncoast Society #29)(17)

Keith, Noel, and Scott were, sort of, friends. As was Jesse.

And he usually didn’t get to spend time with any of them.

She didn’t need to know he’d only met Jesse for the first time the night before.

Once they were at their table and Laurel was busy checking items off the order pad, he felt his phone buzz.

He pulled it out and spotted a text from Jesse.

Looking forward to tomorrow night. :)

His heart raced, pounding.

No, he’d never felt like this when dating Eva. Not even when he’d thought he was madly in love with her.

Not for any other woman he’d ever dated, either.

Leo replied.

Me too.

They’d just put their order in when Jesse responded.

:)

Fortunately, at that point Laurel was too busy going through her iPad and pictures she’d taken last Saturday at Mote to notice him checking his phone.

No, he wasn’t going to delude himself into thinking he’d just met the love of his life.

What he had now, however, was hope that feeling like this about Jesse meant even if things eventually didn’t work out between the two of them, he could find someone else to feel this way about.

A feeling he’d never felt before, about anyone.

It reaffirmed his convictions that this—the divorce—had been the right decision after all.

It also gave him a reason to stand strong tomorrow in the face of whatever tactics Eva might try to use on him to get him to stay.

Determination to see this through to the very likely bitter end.





He sent the leftovers inside with Laurel for her to put them in the fridge there. If he was coming over early in the morning anyway, he could have breakfast with her, leftover sushi, like they did when she stayed with him.

He knew Eva couldn’t afford a lawn service and he needed to leave a little cushion in his own budget. Besides, mowing the lawn kept Eva reasonably happy and gave him more time to spend with Laurel.

It wasn’t a sacrifice.

After hugging Laurel goodnight, he thought he might make a clean escape when Eva spoke up. “If you wanted, after you go out with your friends tomorrow, you could come back here.”

He prayed she didn’t hear his sigh. He’d still held out a little hope that maybe he’d been wrong about Eva’s motivations for tomorrow.

“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he said. “That would be really confusing for Laurel, don’t you think?” He tried to channel the counselor, things she’d told them. “I don’t want her to get her hopes up like that just to hurt her again.”

Left unsaid, that he knew it was more Eva’s hopes he’d be getting up.

He held his breath until she finally nodded. He thought maybe he’d escaped this encounter—barely—unscathed.

“You’re right,” she quietly said. She turned to go, then stopped. “Just for the record, I’ve never had anyone stay overnight, except you that time.”

She slipped inside and closed the door before he could respond.

Dammit.

Tomorrow there would likely be an icy chill in the air as Winter Storm Eva set up shop until she finally got it out of her system.

He chastised himself for the uncharitable thoughts. Yes, she had issues of her own. Plenty of them.

Which was why he was doing his best to be patient with her.

That was okay. Laurel already had expectations of him being there for most of the day, he’d get to spend time with his daughter, and he could do his laundry without having to babysit it or worrying about it disappearing from the washers or dryers.

He’d take the win.





Jesse laid in bed, wide awake and slowly stroking his hard cock. He couldn’t get Leo’s gorgeous blue eyes out of his mind.

And Leo’s body. How he’d had to look up to say goodnight to him when he’d left Keith’s house.

Imagining how it’d feel to have those arms wrapped around him.

Or Leo holding onto his head and f*cking his mouth.

Yes, he’d even rubbed one out in the shower that morning before work. Practically unheard of for him at that time of morning.

All night long, he’d dreamed about Leo and things he wanted to teach the man to do to him.

Quit getting your hopes and expectations up. You don’t even know for sure he’ll like BDSM once he gets into it. Or he might turn out to be a total douche. You only spent a couple of hours with him last night.

But what great hours they’d been. They had a lot in common in terms of movies, music, even books.

His hand encircled the base of his cock, his other reaching down and lightly squeezing his balls as he stroked his shaft. At the top of each stroke he slicked pre-cum around the head and down again, slowly building himself up, playing out a fantasy in his mind.

Him naked, except for a leather collar and leather cuffs around his wrists and ankles. Bent over the end of the bed, his ankles and wrists tied, keeping him spread-eagle.

The feel of Leo’s fingers slowly probing his ass, working lube inside him, getting his ass ready to accept Leo’s cock.

An ass that had already been spanked until his flesh was red and tender, stinging and sore, which would make the sensation of Leo’s thighs rubbing against his as he f*cked him feel that much better.

Being taken, used…