4th & Girl

The little wizard boy? I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

I mean, he was skirting around some serious Harry Potter sacrilege kind of shit at the moment.

Me: Are you fucking with me right now? Harry Potter is one of the greatest literary creations of our time.

Leo: LOL. There’re books too?

Me: OMG.

Leo: Answer the phone, Gemma.

This time, he didn’t give me any chance for a rebuttal. My phone started vibrating in my hands again, and I immediately hid under the covers.

Shit. He’s pushy.

Against my better judgment, I accepted the damn call and prayed he couldn’t actually see my face through the clouded darkness of my comforter.

Instantly, his face filled the screen, and I couldn’t not smile.

Good God, he was handsome. In other words, not the male version of me right now.

“Gemma?” he said and squinted his eyes. “Are you there?”

“I’m here.”

He chuckled. “Are you in a cave?”

“I’m under my covers.”

He squinted his eyes a little harder, and eventually, a mischievous little smirk eased its way across his lips. “All right, then. I won’t complain about the view.”

It was then that I realized even though Leo couldn’t really make out my face, because of the brightness of the screen and the fact that it was pointed directly toward the lower half of my body, he could easily see everything else. And I mean, everything else.

My braless boobs in my ratty old tank top.

My bare legs.

My lacy underwear.

“I never thought I’d be an admirer of lace with pink polka dots, but yeah, I’m officially a fan.”

So much for not showing him your face, you little floozy.

“Shit.” I groaned and tossed the blankets off my head and sat up with my back against the headboard.

He pouted. “Aw, Gem. I was really enjoying the cave communications.”

“I’m aware.” I snorted. “Looks like now you’re just stuck with Hagrid.”

“Well, I’m no Harry Potter expert, but if this is Hagrid, fuck, he’s beautiful.”

I giggled and blushed at the same time. “Don’t give me your pity compliments, Leonard.”

“The only pity occurring right now is that I’m ten hours away from you.”

“And what would you do if you were closer?”

“I’d get in my car and join my Hagrid in bed.”

I laughed. “And then what would you do?”

Leo quirked a brow. “Well, I’d start by enjoying the up close and personal view,” he said, and a raspy groan escaped his lips. “Yeah, I’d enjoy the fuck out of that view.”

“Then what?” I asked before I could stop the words from leaving my lips.

“Oh, sweet, beautiful, sexy Gemma, how much time do we have?” he asked, and I swear to God, he licked his lips. “Because this conversation might take a while.”

Fuck, I wanted to know. Badly. But I also didn’t want the conversation to head toward phone sex. Alma would call me Virgin Mary for avoiding it, but I wasn’t ready. We were new, and I was attached. Phone sex would complicate things, and when sex started to complicate things, I at least wanted a warm body to cuddle me while I freaked out.

And with the way my body was already starting to react to his words, I didn’t trust myself to stop things before they got too far.

“Nope,” I said. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.”

“You don’t want to know?”

I shook my head. “No way in hell will I let our first sexual encounter be via FaceTime.”

Leo chuckled softly and waggled his brows. “Are you saying we will have a sexual encounter in the near future?”

I rolled my eyes. But I also smiled. “Why exactly did you call me again?”

“Because I wanted to see you,” he said with a grin. “And because I wanted to make sure we were still on for tomorrow night.”

“Yes, we’re still on.”

“Pick you up at seven?”

“I’ll be ready,” I whispered. “Good night, Leonard.”

“Sweet dreams, Gem.”

Sweet dreams? After that call? Yeah, right. I highly doubted there was anything sweet about the dirty, Leo-infused fantasies that were already rolling through my brain.

Gemma’s voice rolled over the words of “Black Velvet” on the stage of Minard’s, a karaoke club I’d found with the help of Teeny Martinez. It was in the bowels of Manhattan, and the walls seemed like they were living, they shimmered with so much filth, but tonight was one of the best times I’d ever had in my life.

Tonight was date number two, and somehow, someway, whenever I was with Gemma, I felt like I was flying.

High off her. High off us. Fucking loving any moment that included time spent with her.

And for the second time, I had the pleasure of hearing her undeniable talent firsthand.

I sat in the crowd, at our little table in the middle of the bar, and she stood onstage with a mic to her lips and her gorgeous crooning filling my ears.

She was always beautiful, even during middle of the night FaceTime calls with messy hair and sleep-rimmed eyes, but when she was onstage, she was at her most breathtaking.