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Leo cleared his throat, pulling gently on my arm to tuck me back into his side. It was an immense relief. “Girlfriend,” he corrected, sounding more confident than he had mere moments ago. “Mara is my girlfriend.”
Christine’s eyes widened as they snapped to me. “Oh, how lovely.”
Leo smiled before pressing another kiss into my hair. I’d worn enough makeup to hide the bruising around my temple, but worried slightly that Leo might accidentally ruin it with how much he was kissing me there. “Right, okay, let’s get you both settled in and then we can sit for dinner, yes?”
Alaric nodded. “Sounds great, we’re starved.”
Leo showed his parents to their room on the opposite side of the apartment where a small hallway led to two additional bedrooms and a bathroom, and while they got settled in, I headed straight for the kitchen to pour myself a large glass of the wine Leo’d used to cook with. I would need it if I was going to have to sit through an entire dinner like this—it was one thing to pick up on the fact that his mother didn’t like me, but it was another to have to deal with it while pretending to be in love with her son.
“Mara,” Leo scolded in a low voice. “What are you doing?” I turned to find his narrowed eyes fixed on the glass of merlot in my hand.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I took a large gulp of the deep red liquid.
I thought Leo was going to swat the whole glass out of my hand with how quickly he reached forward to take it from me. “It looks like you’re trying to drink alcohol when you still have a fucking concussion!” His voice was low but full of frustration.
My eyes rolled dramatically. “Oh my god, I think I would know if I was still in the throes of a concussion, Leopold.” But his eyes only narrowed further.
“Is that wine?” his mother asked as she rounded into the kitchen, no longer donned in her obnoxious fur coat. She looked at the glass in Leo’s hand with desperate longing.
Leo’s expression morphed into one of easy confidence. “Yes,” he confirmed with a small smile. “We have merlot and pinot noir currently breathing, and a few bottles of chardonnay and riesling in the wine cooler. What would you prefer to drink tonight?”
“Pinot noir sounds wonderful, please, dear.”
Leo nodded, pulling a clean glass from the cupboard and heading across the kitchen, where two decanters of red wine were resting on the counter. “How was the flight?” Leo asked as his father joined us from the bedroom. He still wore his suit, as if this might all just be a business meeting.
“Ah.” Alaric shrugged as his hands dipped into the pockets of his slacks, an air of haughtiness heavy around him. “We took the company plane, so it was comfortable enough.”
“Long flights are always a little hard on your father’s knees,” Christine said, looking grateful as Leo handed her the glass of wine.
“Oh, stop, Christine.” His brow wrinkled. “My knees are fine.”
I made myself busy with stirring the carrots and potatoes.
“You know,” Alaric continued, “we did meet an incredible young man in the executive lounge before we all boarded our planes. He’s a rising star in the acquisitions and mergers world, and can you believe he was on his way out to Denver, too? We talked about having dinner together one night this week—he’d be a great person for you to connect with, Leo.”
Leo hummed, and I could feel the annoyance that radiated from him. “Can I get you something to drink, Dad? Scotch, perhaps?” Leo asked, changing the subject.
“That sounds fine,” he responded.
“Okay. While I work on that, why don’t you both take a seat at the dining room table and Mara and I will follow shortly with the food.”
“You don’t have a server?” Christine asked, looking around the kitchen as if someone might suddenly materialize to serve our dinner. I had to hold back a scoff.
“Uh, no, Mom. I don’t keep full-time staff here. But we don’t mind, do we, honey?”
I felt the weight of everyone’s gaze slide to where I was still stirring the vegetables. “Not at all,” I managed. Alaric and Christine hesitated for only a moment before making their way to the table Leo had set earlier while he headed for the bar just off the living room to pour his father a drink. When he returned, he set the lowball glass on the island before grabbing the towel to pull the lamb out of the oven, and I poured the vegetables from the pot into a beautiful ceramic bowl with a matching serving spoon. “You doing okay?” I whispered to Leo as he transferred the lamb to a large platter with tongs.
He shrugged. “Just hoping to get through a nice enough dinner, and then we can all recuse ourselves to opposite ends of this apartment.”
I reached up to press a hand to his bicep, feeling his taut muscles beneath the sweater he wore. “We’ve got this, okay?” I encouraged. “And tomorrow, you better believe you’re going to pay for taking my wine away and making me do this without any liquid courage.”
Leo huffed out a quiet laugh, the skin around his bright blue eyes crinkling with amusement. It felt good to see a real smile on his face. “Thank you,” he said softly. “And . . . I’m sorry I’ve already kissed you twice in front of them, but I was panicking, and I just went for it. I can stop that if you want me to . . . We never really talked about what’s okay and what’s not, so maybe we broach that subject when we get the chance at a private conversation?”
This time, it was my own real smile that grew at the way he rambled. “Don’t be sorry,” I said, leaning into his arm a little more before letting my hand drop. It was obvious how affected and nervous he was—I hated thinking it had to do with his parents of all people. I picked up the bowl of vegetables and looked back at him. “And don’t stop.”
Chapter Seventeen
I woke early the next morning. The city beyond Leo’s bedroom window was illuminated only by streetlights and a nearly full moon that shone brightly in the sky. It would be a couple of hours before the sun rose, but as tempting as it was to pull the warm comforter high over my shoulder and try to drift back to sleep, I knew I was awake for the day. Pushing myself up to a sitting position from the center of the bed, I peered over at the chaise lounge in the corner of the room to find Leo still dead asleep, Swift and Dolly curled between his legs.
