After an eternity of tightening and squeezing, he released her left leg and moved on to the right one, repeating the whole delicious process. Oh God, she needed to get a grip. This wasn’t seduction, it was trying on shoes. Still, her knees were trembling when he finally stood and held out his hands to pull her to her feet.
“Walk up and down the aisle for me,” he commanded.
She swallowed hard and did as he instructed, striding down the space and back, feeling self-conscious the whole time that Leo was watching her.
“How do they feel?”
She looked down at the tips of the blue boots. “Good, I think.” Her voice sounded thready, and she did a little spin to try to find her equilibrium.
“No pinching? No rubbing? They should have a little give to accommodate your feet swelling by the end of the day.”
“I don’t think so.” She turned away from him to take another stroll, swinging her hips a bit as she walked, trying to get the shoes to move with her. When she glanced over her shoulder, Leo wasn’t watching her feet. His narrowed eyes were pinned to her butt, the expression on his face almost pained.
She suddenly wasn’t so grateful for this pencil skirt. It always made her feel confident, which was why she’d worn it for the big informational meeting, but the way Leo was staring at her right now, it didn’t look like he appreciated every curve and bump of her ass on display under the tight green material.
She whipped around and walked double time back to the bench. “I like them.” She started yanking at the laces to get them off, determined to joke herself into a better mood. “So what’s next? Wedges with rhinestones? Maybe something with a chunky heel and a strap?”
He snorted. “Now youdosound like one of those college kids.”
“Why do I get a sense that that isn’t a compliment?” She tucked the shoes back into the box and set it on her lap.
“Because it isn’t,” he said shortly.
There was another topic she’d like to know a little more about.
“So when William said you ‘educated them,’ he really did just mean about footwear?” She was playing with fire even bringing it up, but that remark had annoyingly lodged itself in her brain.
Leo snorted. “Definitely. Even if they all hadn’t been too young for me, Reggie would’ve had my balls.”
The name rang a bell. “Reggie. The guy who took over for William?” she asked. “Why would he care what you did with the volunteers?”
“Reggie’s a woman.” His eyes didn’t quite meet hers as he said it, and just like William figuring out that she and Leo had history, she swiftly put some things together about Reggie.
“Oh,” she said inanely.
Reggie, who’d surprised Leo by not quitting POR after he left.
Reggie, who undoubtedly didn’t need help picking out clothes for hiking.
Reggie, who probably didn’t breathe a sigh of relief that the store carried extended sizes.
Faith was comfortable in her body most days, but it smarted like hell to jump to the highly reasonable conclusion that Leo’s last girlfriend, the one who was leading groups of hikers through the Amazonian rainforest right now, was physically everything she wasn’t—at least, not anymore. And she’d bet Leo’s face didn’t contort when he looked at Reggiein a tight skirt.
He’d been quiet while she was having her existential freak-out, and he ducked his head now to peer at her. “Everything good?”
She pasted a big, bright smile onto her face and chirped, “Of course!” because setting fire to every wretched piece of tan-colored clothing in this store would be preferable to letting a single drop of insecurity show right now. “Is this all then?”
“Backpack next,” he said, towing her to a different section of the store where he made her slide frightening complicated packs on and off, then left her all flustered as he clipped and tightened straps around her chest and hips. Unlike their shoe encounter, his touch was impersonal and businesslike, and she was left with the sense that this was how he’d have handled those college girls. Reggie though… she bet he wasn’t nearly as brisk with her.
“Now are we done?” If her voice sounded a little desperate, it was. God, she needed to move past that. But the whole excursion was turning into a reminder that she and Leo lived in different worlds. She was an idiot for trying to force herself into his.
“One more thing.” He led her one aisle over to where a bunch of ski pole-looking things lined the racks.
“What are those?”
“Hiking poles.” He tucked the clothes and boots into the backpack he’d selected for her and set them aside, then scanned the rows before choosing three different poles and handing one to her. “This might work for someone your height. Plus it’s purple. You like purple, right?”
“I don’t understand.” She held the pole limply in one hand. “Why do I need this?”
