“Sorta. I kept choosing guys who weren’t boyfriend material, but I stopped trying to make them my boyfriend. I stayed in control. I missed that feeling of intimacy, believing I could trust someone. But it was better that way. Easier.”

“Why’d you stop?”

“Sleeping around?”

“Yeah.”

“It doesn’t bother you?”

“I don’t like thinking about you with other guys.”

She chews on her bottom lip. Her blue-green eyes flare with concern.

“But, no, I don’t care that you used to sleep around. It doesn’t matter how many people you’ve been with before.”

“It’s not that many.”

“It could be a thousand or one. Wouldn’t matter to me either way.”

“Really?”

“Really.” I know her well enough to know she’s telling the truth. Those guys didn’t matter to her. They had her body, yeah, but they never had her head or her heart.

And the ones who did, who manipulated that younger, more trusting version of Leighton—

If I ever meet any of them, I’ll punch their douchebag faces.

“That’s incredibly evolved of you,” she says.

“Learned from you.”

She shakes her head. “No. I’m not there. I get sick thinking about you and Penny.”

“Still?”

“Yeah.” She finishes her last bite. Pushes her plate away. “But I’m getting better. Thinking about it less.”

“Me too.”

She pushes herself to her feet. “I want to shower. But I have to do my hair first. And I don’t want to waste our time together.”

“I’ll help.”

She raises a brow. “I don’t know.”

“You think I’m not capable.”

She moves closer. Reaches down to run three fingers through my locks. “Tell me these are natural.”

“Natural?”

“That you’re not doing at home perms?”

“At home whats?”

“Perms!” She makes that ugh noise. “Men have it so easy. No makeup. No chemical treatments. No high heels.”

“You don’t need any of that shit. You look fucking amazing right now.”

Tags: Crystal Kaswell Inked Hearts Romance
Source: readsnovelonline.net