“You’re too good for me. I plan on being in Bronze Bay for a long time and I don’t want to leave a bad taste in anyone’s mouth. Sometimes it’s for the best to do things the way you’re supposed to do them. The right way.”
“Who is giving these rules to go by here? Who exactly told you how it’s supposed to be?” Malena sasses, her brown eyes challenging me, but her smirk telling me she’s enjoying the banter.
“Rules. Ah, me? I’m doling those out,” I reply, removing my hands from my pockets and clasping them behind my back. “If you’re amenable, of course.”
“Such a gentleman,” she says, stepping closer. “Tell me about the rules, Leif.”
I swallow down any remaining hesitation about diving into something I’m unfamiliar with and go for it. “We have rules in life, right? We have laws and guidelines, traffic rules, and common courtesy—all to keep us a highly functioning society,” I say.
She nods but looks somewhat confused, her lips pressed into a firm line. She makes a noise to signal for me to go on. “If we give whatever is between us rules, it would make sense that it would be highly functioning as well.”
“But I don’t get a say in said rules?” she asks, turning back to glance at the baby monitor on the table. “That doesn’t seem fair,” she finishes.
“They’re up for debate. It can be a team effort. I’ll tell you the ones that I’ve been thinking about and you can tell me if you agree with them.”
“You’ve been thinking about relationship rules? That is so weird! How would you know if I’d even agree?”
I shrug, a gesture that catches her eye. “I didn’t, but I’m persuasive when I want something.”
Malena rolls her eyes and steps back into a stance that tells me she’s waiting for my almighty knowledge. “Go on. Hit me with it. What do you got?”
I’m able to formulate multiple plans in a short amount of time because of my chosen career path. It’s one of the skills that translates perfectly outside of work. I’m an expert decision maker. Malena makes me feel like I’m a little out of my league, but I’m going for it. “One,” I say. “We must use two forms of birth control.” A slight pink rises to her cheeks at the unstated mention of sex.
She nods once, blinking rapidly. “Good one. I agree. Next.”
“You can never leave stuff at my place,” I say. My sisters. My family. I don’t want questions, or have to give answers laced with lies.
She narrows her eyes. “And you can’t leave stuff at my house. In the spirit of keeping things even.”
“Deal,” I reply. “Number three.” I shift to the side and have to remind myself to keep my hands to myself. “You can’t meet my family.”
Malena scoffs. “So, it’s not like a real, real relationship then?”
I shake my head. “That one was for you. I figured you don’t want strings attached, but there has to be some commitment if we aren’t going to see other people at the same time, which we’re not. Meeting my family would be too…much.” Will she accept this reasoning?
“Your sisters?” she jumps. Of course she’s heard about the dynamic duo. Of course. “Fine. I agree with that.” Malena looks a little less enchanted with my rules and with me at the mention of number three. But I made a vow to myself that I wouldn’t get any woman entangled with my parents or sisters until I was sure it was going somewhere. God knows how long that will take to figure out. “Even if it does feel a little like we are doing the one-night stand thing,” she adds.
“I would have fucked you on the beach the night I met you if I wanted a one-night stand, Malena. This is just a way to keep things less complicated. You said it yourself, relationships are complicated in a small town. Isn’t simplicity what you want?”Say no. Tell me you want me and only me.The realization that I’m desperately seeking her approval makes my head swim and my stomach flip. I don’t need her approval. I don’t need her.I want her.
She folds her arms across her chest as a trail of goosebumps wash over her exposed skin. “If you say so, Leif. I never would have fucked you on the beach. Just so we’re clear about that. Go on. What’s the next rule? I’m intrigued.”
“But you would have taken me home and fucked me here?” I ask, stepping forward to close the distance between our bodies because I can’t stand it. I need to taste her breaths. “Like you asked. Remember?” Reaching out, a tentative move, I let a couple fingers glide down her side ending at those fucking exposed bikini bottom strings. “Right?” My gaze rises from her tight body up to her face. “Malena,” I add. Her eyes look sleepy, and her resolve is faltering.
“Yes,” she answers.
“Why?”
The chemistry between us crackles. There’s a current of desire laced with need exiting my body and entering hers. “There’s something about you,” she says, voice low. “I know it will be…good between us.”
“Good?” I pick up on her word usage. “It will just be good?” There are a million words I could use to describe what being with Malena would feel like. Good isn’t one of them.
“You know what I mean,” she says, looking down at my hand, the one stroking her soft skin. My hardon is raging out of control as I let my other hand wander to the other side of her waist. My fingers can almost touch on her back when I hold the smallest part of her stomach.
Shaking my head. “I don’t know what you mean. Explain,” I order, raising a brow in challenge. Malena looks at me, eyes wide, lips parted, and I know something resembling truth is coming, and I crave it.
Licking her perfect fucking lips, she says, “There’s something about you that makes me…want you. Do you feel that way about me?” I want her because she’s a walking billboard of everything I’m subconsciously drawn to. I have a type. Most men do, it is almost as if I didn’t know what I was looking for until I saw her. Malena doesn’t fit into my usual hook-up box. Her brown hair and realness isn’t my typical attraction du jour. The bottle blondes from my past don’t hold a candle to Malena’s beauty. The attraction to her was immediate and all-consuming.
I meet her eyes instead of watching her skin react to my touch. “It’s why I’m here right now,” I reply honestly, a time I should have lied. “There’s something about you that I can’t turn away from. I want you to be mine.” An understatement, I hope she realizes as her own gaze darts down to the front of my shorts and all that she’s creating.
