The one who kissed me like he remembered every second of us.
The one who made my whole body hum with want.
I flopped onto my back and stared at the ceiling, cheeks burning.
“Seriously,” I whispered to myself, “can I just have ONE night without Leo invading my brain?”
But my body was still warm from him.
Still buzzing.
Still aching with that confusing, maddening mixture of hatred and longing and everything in between.
I pressed a hand to my chest.
And admitted, at least silently, what I refused to say out loud?—
I wasn’t over him.
Not even close.
The saddle felt foreign beneath me, and the horse even more so.
“Loosen your legs,” Shani called from the rail, “You’re riding, not squeezing a watermelon.”
I laughed, breathless, trying not to topple off the tall gray gelding. The air smelled like leather and hay, and I’d just startedgetting the hang of trotting when I caught the flicker of black near the barn.
Leo.
Dark shirt. Wind-tossed hair. Walked like he owned the ground under his boots.
He wasn’t supposed to be here.
“What the—” I whispered under my breath, heart slamming sideways. I dismounted faster than I probably should’ve, muttering something to Shani about a break before vanishing behind the stalls. He followed. Of course he did.
I barely made it into the musty old tack room before I felt the heat of him fill the space.
The air was thick with dust and the rich scent of worn leather, but all I could smell was him. Spice and sweat and temptation.
He didn’t say anything right away. Just looked at me with those eyes, the storm already brewing. His jaw clenched. Then his hand was on my face, tilting my chin up like he’d done a hundred times before—like no time had passed at all.
His lips hovered a breath away, so close I could feel the heat radiating off his skin. His voice broke on a groan.
“Gitanilla…”he whispered like a vow. “I miss you.”
F-me, I missed him too.
But I twisted out of his grasp like he burned me. Backed up until my spine hit the wooden wall behind me.
“Don’t,” I breathed, my voice shaking. “I can’t give you my heart again, Leo.”
His eyes darkened. A muscle ticked in his jaw.
Then he stepped closer, real slow, until there was nothing but air and regret between us.
“That’s funny,” he murmured, voice low and rough, “I don’t remember ever giving it back.”
My breath caught.
