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“¿Qué?” He sat down abruptly on the bench and started to rip off his gloves and wraps, frustration backing every movement in his hands. He didn’t feel like listening to whatever lecture his old man was about to lay on him.
“Don’t give up,” his father said simply. Everyone knew that Mateo Diaz was a man of few words, but Leo was at a loss for what the hell he meant by that.
“I didn’t.” Leo’s reply felt more like a question. “You’re just better at defense than I am. You won fair and square.”
His father grinned. “That’s nice to hear, but I’m talking about your girl.”
“She’s not my—”
“Don’t play that with me. She may not be your girl, pero quieres que lo sea.” You want her to be. Leo couldn’t argue with that, but it still didn’t change any of the facts he had stated earlier for why it wouldn’t work. As if he could read his mind, his father continued. “All those reasons you listed aren’t good enough. Nada podría evitar que amara a tu mamá.”
“Pero mamá también te ama,” Leo argued. It didn’t matter if he loved Piper to the ends of the earth, reason be damned. His father seemed to forget that it took two people to make a relationship, and Piper vehemently hating him was a problem. “Piper has made it very clear that she doesn’t like me, papá. I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that I do like her.” Leo emphasized the word “like” so his father would understand. This weird infatuation he had with Piper had to be temporary. It wasn’t love. There was no way he had flipped the script so drastically from hate to love. How could he love someone who still did so many things he hated? He wasn’t about to change his personality to better fit what she was looking for. He wasn’t going to change his mind about the way he lived his life.
“I saw the way she looked at you. It might have been just lust, but I doubt it.” His father folded his hands in his lap with an air of confidence that said he knew exactly what had happened at the hotel.
“Porfa, I don’t want ‘the talk’ again. It was bad enough the first time.” Leo groaned and refused to make eye contact.
His father chuckled. “I won’t tell your mother, or she’ll threaten to call the priest again. Between you and me, though, we all like Piper.”
“Yeah, she’s…” Leo waved his hand around in an all-encompassing gesture to signify everything he couldn’t put words to. “She’s also infuriating.”
“Compromise is a beautiful thing, mijo. You could learn a thing or two from her. And she could learn some things from you. Don’t give up so easily.” With that, his father rose from his seat and winked at him before heading to the locker room.
Leo offhandedly wondered what his father had been like when he was younger. Playful and bright-eyed like Alvaro? Or maybe reserved and shy like Marcos? Something told Leo his father had been more bull-headed like him but had softened as he got older. Compromise seemed to be woven into the fabric of Mateo’s being. Not that he would give up easily in a fight, but that wisdom had changed him at his core. Like he knew exactly what was worth fighting for and what didn’t need to be fought at all. Leo wanted that. Wanted to know when he could lay down his arms without displacing his values. Wanted to know if Piper was someone he should fight for instead of fight against. When was it time to pull a Kat Stratford from 10 Things I Hate About You and dramatically declare that the worst part about hating her was that he didn’t?
Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.
Thirty-Seven
PIPER
“This is so much better than Folgers.” Leo was practically chugging the coffee Piper had gotten him as he pulled out of the Roaster’s Republic parking lot. He hadn’t even questioned it when he assumed the driver’s position, and Piper was more than happy to be the passenger princess.
“And the caramel drizzle Harper suggested that you were so adamant you didn’t need?” Piper asked.
“Delicious. I can admit when I’m wrong. I want that shit in my veins.” He licked his lips, and she followed the motion of his tongue.
It was nearly impossible to stop thinking about all the things Leo’s wicked mouth was capable of. Piper’s entire coffee plan had utterly failed to stifle the sexual tension, at least on her end. She had thought starting their day in a public area would start them off strong. It was a truce of sorts. Or a “we hooked up and we can’t do it again, so here’s a consolation coffee” idea that utterly failed the moment Leo wrapped his soft lips around the rim of his lid and sucked, like he’d done all over her body.
“What should we listen to today? My aunt has me hooked on a serial killer podcast,” Piper suggested.
“We could compromise and listen to the score of The Shining?” Leo asked.
Piper looked at him to confirm he was legitimately serious and found he was. “Ew! No. Why?”
Leo frowned. “What’s the difference between listening to that and a serial killer podcast?”
“One is listening to a story about people who got murdered and the hunt to track them down. The other one makes me feel like I’m the one who’s about to be murdered.”
“I feel like out of the two of us, you’re more likely to be a murderer.”
“How do you figure?”
“You have that depraved look about you.” Leo was obviously trying to keep a straight face, but his mouth hitched up on one side, threatening to unravel. Making the grump crack a smile always made her feel like she’d been given some kind of award. “Plus, all the really depraved serial killers we make movies about are all white.”
“They’re also men,” Piper noted. “When you get into that field, will you make me a serial killer movie about a woman just absolutely slaughtering a bunch of people? You can make her Latina and bilingual, too. Maybe a revenge plot? That would be badass.”
“Tri,” he said.
