Fight or Flight(100)
Something about the interest in his eyes made me exclaim, “I’m no longer looking for just sex. You should know that.”
Leo, thankfully, laughed good-naturedly at my embarrassing too-much-information declaration. “Well, I just thought we’d walk and eat and talk. If that’s okay?”
I blushed and nodded as he fell into step beside me. “How have you been?”
“Good.” He bit into his sandwich and waited to speak until he’d eaten the bite. “After we discussed the whole casual relationship thing, I decided it was the right move for me and I’ve just been … you know … having fun.”
I grinned. In other words, he was slutting himself up all over Boston. “Having fun. Right.”
“Obviously, things have changed for you.”
Despite my weird announcement to him, I really didn’t want to explain it to Leo. “I decided casual relationships aren’t for me after all.”
“I knew it was too good to be true.” He chuckled.
“What do you mean?”
Leo shrugged as if it was obvious. “You’re the kind of woman a man marries. You’re not the kind of woman he casually sleeps with.”
“Can I ask what the hell that means?”
“There are women you want to marry and women you just want to have sex with.”
“What’s the difference between them?”
If he heard the agitation and growing annoyance in my voice, he pretended not to notice. “Smart, successful, witty, and beautiful and doesn’t need your money. You know, if she falls in love with you, she’s actually fallen in love with you and not the kind of lifestyle you can provide for her. Dumb or pretends to be dumb because she thinks it makes you feel like more of a man, focused a lot on her looks, and not interested in anything but stroking your ego and other sensitive manly areas, then she’s just a casual sex partner.”
“You know, before you said all that I was actually feeling pretty good about being your best buddy.” I scowled at him.
“What?” He shrugged before wolfing down the last of his sandwich.
“That’s chauvinistic crap.”
Leo wiped his mouth with his napkin and gestured to a bench on our right. I reluctantly followed him, hoping he was going to save himself. We settled onto the bench and I continued to nibble at my tuna melt, waiting for a response.
“It’s not crap. I wish it were. But there are a lot of women out there like that in my experience. Some guys see her as the marrying kind because that’s all they want. Someone to stroke their ego, etc. But men like me, if we’re smart, we learn from that lesson and move on.”
Understanding dawned. “Your first wife?”
“Interested in nothing but my family money.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, well, now I know better. If I’d done it the right way the first time, the thought of marriage wouldn’t make my balls jump back up inside my body.”
I’d just taken a sip of my iced tea and it promptly exploded out of my mouth in my shocked amusement. Leo threw his head back in a rich, deep laughter, and I coughed and laughed along with him. As our hilarity faded to gentle mirth, Leo handed me a clean napkin so I could wipe the iced tea off my chin.
It was as we were sharing a smile that I felt the burn on the side of my face.
I knew that sensation.
Tense, I followed it, and my breath stuttered at the sight of Caleb standing in the middle of the path. I didn’t have to wonder how long he’d been there, because the furious glower on his face told me it was long enough to have witnessed my camaraderie with Leo.
“Caleb.” My voice came out in a surprised croak. I cleared it and stood up, sensing Leo stand too. He shifted his body, almost protectively, close to mine. “Uh, what are you doing here?”
“Stella told me you take your lunch in the gardens when the weather is nice.”
Damn Stella.
His glacial stare suddenly fixed on Leo.
“Uh … this is my friend Leo. Leo this is my … this is Caleb.”
Caleb’s nostrils flared at the introduction and I cursed myself for forgetting that I’d told him Leo was the guy I was going to date when I thought he wasn’t returning from Scotland.
“Nice to meet you.” Leo stepped forward and stuck out his hand.
Caleb stared at his hand like it was a piece of dung.
I winced.
Leo, however, cool as you please, just dropped his hand. “Or not.” He shrugged, like he didn’t care, and I decided I liked him all the more for it.
“We need tae talk,” Caleb said. I knew it was directed at me, but he was still staring at Leo like he wanted to rip his head off.
I shouldn’t have cared.
But I did.
I felt a smug, soothing satisfaction that I could still make him jealous. It meant he cared. And although it didn’t change what he’d done, it was a small kind of balm to my pain.
“Leo.” I turned to my companion with an apologetic smile. “I should …” I gestured to Caleb. “But it was really nice to see you again.”
“Let’s do lunch. Properly.” He leaned down to kiss my cheek and whispered so only I could hear, “Best bud.” When he pulled back, he winked at me and I knew that all he was asking for was friendship. However, he was deliberately provoking Caleb.