My stomach flips. Butterflies. The look. He’s miserably sick and he’s capable of turning me to putty with just a look. Sighing, I grab the soup, walk it over carefully, and slide it to him. I keep a safe distance away. Not because I’m afraid of the flu. “It’s good. I had some earlier,” I say.
He takes a bite, keeping his eyes on mine. It’s sensual and utterly deprecating that he can eat soup and make it look like a sexual act. “Stop looking at me like that,” I say, finally speaking the feelings I’ve had since the second he walked back into my life. “It’s not fair or appropriate or a bunch of other things I can’t remember right now.”
He smiles around the spoon. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he says, in Spanish, voice a little smoother now. “I’m just a man eating soup in his underwear while a beautiful woman watches.” I blow hair out of my face.
Ignoring his perfect pronunciation, I pour him a glass of the ginger ale and put the bottle in the fridge. It’s also clean. Stocked with several things I didn’t expect him to have. I sit down at the chair opposite him and fold my hands. “I’ll keep you company for a little while. Do you have laundry you need me to start? Dry? Fold?” That was the mess I saw when I first walked in. Glancing over his shoulder, I eye the offending disaster.
“That’s okay. I’d rather have you here so I can see you. I’ve missed you.”
“You’ve missed our Spanish lessons,” I correct.
“Yeah,” he says, pressing his lips together. “That’s it.”
“Leo. The flu is fucking with your mind.” I shift in my seat.
He eats another big bite and watches me while he chews. “Or it made me speak the truth. Pick your poison. Which will it be, ladies and gentlemen?”
My face heats. “Thanks for talking to Adam. He didn’t even bat an eyelash when I told him I was coming to visit you. You must have told him what an upstanding man you were. That he had nothing to fear with regards to me?”
“Touché. You’re hard as nails tonight.”
I sigh. “I talked to my mom on the way over. She always puts life into perspective for me. It sucks.”
“Don’t let the authority get you down.”
“You are in the Navy. You literally work for the authority. Do you have a raging fever?”
“Not the kind Tylenol helps.” He picks up the bowl and drinks the broth until there isn’t a slurp left.
“I don’t even know what that means, Callaway. Can I do anything before I leave?” I eye the clothing one more time as I stand from the table. “It will take me ten minutes.”
“I need more than ten minutes,” Leo coos.
“Holy shit. Okay. Well, with that, I’m going to get on out of here. See you in Spanish class when you get back. Next week, maybe? Never?”
Leo stands. Running a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry. I’m just joking with you.”
I shake my head, hands on my hips. “No. Not like that. Not when I’m self-conscious about being your friend in the first place. As a married woman. Don’t make it weird. I want to be around you. I don’t know what that means, but I know what you’re talking about isn’t going to happen.”Right now.Mentally, I scold myself and close my eyes. I walk into the living area and begin picking up clothing. Jeans, uniform undershirts, random socks, a pair of women’s white lace panties. I swallow hard and toss everything into a basket sitting on the sofa. I feel like I might be sick.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Kid. I’m not in my right mind. I took the nighttime medicine during the day because it’s stronger, and I’m just attracted to you, and I guess I’ve lost my fucking filter, and you’re so fucking beautiful.” He sighs, dragging both hands down his face. There’s a pair of plaid sleep pants on his coffee table. I toss them at his face.
“Put those on. You’re going to get sicker,” I bark, acid creeping into my tone. “You’re attracted to a lot of women. I’m nothing special.” Attraction.Are you attracted to him?My mother’s words float around in my head. Friendship is impossible if attraction is involved. Isn’t that what she said? He’s just sick. Maybe even horny. He doesn’t want me like that. Not the real kind of want. The keeping kind. Another woman has been over here recently.
“What makes you say that?” he says, stepping into his pants like a good patient.
The panties on your floor.I shrug. “You’re a man. You are attracted to every woman with female anatomy. It’s science.”
“Adam is attracted to every woman with tits and a pussy? It’s science.”
That stops me cold in my tracks. “No.”
“Oh, okay. There’s, ah, stipulations to that theory, then?”
“I thought you were medicine drunk? Are we going to debate theory?”
Leo falls onto the sofa in one big movement, like standing was too much of an energy drain. He’s still really sick. “I want you to see me like you see him, love me like you love him,” Leo says, closing his eyes.
I stop breathing. I stop moving. I pause mid step. “What?”
