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“Oh no. My father won’t leave until he inflicts enough pain to get what he wants.”
I smiled, popping a french fry in my mouth. “Then our mission isn’t over.”
Leo’s mouth tugged up in a grin. He focused on the food, picking out a chicken strip and biting off one crispy end. “You scare me sometimes.”
I chuckled. “Good.” After taking another swig of the beer in front of me, I felt compelled to say more. “I’m serious, Leo. We go all the way with it. Okay?”
His eyes found a bit of their sparkle in an instant, and it pressed against my throat. “Thank you,” was all he said in return.
We made it back to Leo’s apartment soon after we finished eating, both of us feeling emotionally exhausted. Leo’s parents were still out, confirmed by Georgie downstairs who said he hadn’t seen them come in yet. Dolly and Swift greeted us at the door with hungry meows, and Leo found their food container empty in the kitchen.
While he worked to refill it, I slipped into his bedroom to start getting ready for bed. I washed my hands three times first—there was no way I was going to let my greasy chicken fingers anywhere near the beautiful fabric until I could be sure they were clean. Just as I finished washing, I heard Leo walk into the bedroom from outside the bathroom door. “I’m going to change out here, if that’s all right?”
“Of course,” I said. “I’ll be in here for a few more minutes.”
After stepping out of my sparkling new heels, I carefully maneuvered myself out of the dress and placed it back on the hanger that was still propped on the door jamb. In nothing but a white strapless bra and matching thong, I looked at myself in the mirror, realizing the diamond necklace still sloped down my neck.
It was . . . breathtaking. I’d never seen myself in anything more beautiful. Thinking about taking it off made me sad, because I never knew when I’d have an opportunity to wear it again. I closed my eyes and remembered what it had felt like when Leo put it on—his warm hands grazing over my skin, sending fire through my body. It had been so obvious that he still wanted more, that his body still yearned for mine the way mine did for him.
It would be so easy to give in. So fucking easy.
But what would happen at the end of the week? I’d already asked Leo to disappear once this week was over and his parents went back to whatever hell they came from. Was I really going to let myself fall deeper in . . . whatever this was? I thought about everything he’d done for me over the last few days and how it was more than anyone else had done for me in years, and I was still holding him at a distance.
Imagine what things could be like if you actually let him in, I thought to myself.
I wasn’t sure I was ready, but I did know one thing: I was determined to making sure Leo knew his worth. Regardless of what might or might not happen between us, if I could use this opportunity to really drive home how important his dreams were, I would do it.
I quickly brushed my teeth before giving myself another once-over in the mirror. My hair was still soft and wavy, falling below my shoulders. My face was so much more naturally beautiful. And my body . . . I didn’t shy away from how confident I felt like this. Exposed and raw. Real.
I wanted to share it with Leo. I wanted to give him a sense of the peace we shared that first night together. So before I could talk myself out of it, I turned the handle and pushed open the door, taking a few steps out into the bedroom.
He was standing on the other side of the room near the lounge he’d been sleeping on all week. His shirt was off, and was bent over, giving me a perfect view of his perfect ass. My eyes roamed the dips and valleys of his back, watching in fascination as the muscles beneath his skin rippled as he pulled on a pair of flannel pajama pants. “Sorry I was just . . .” he began to say, but then he turned around and looked at me through those thick-rimmed glasses I loved so much—he must not have needed the mirror to get his contacts out. I watched as his eyes took me in, from my bare legs and stomach to the white strapless bra, rising up to find the necklace still adorned around my neck. “Mara,” he rasped.
It sounded like a plea.
“I was hoping you could help me take it off,” I managed to say. I’d meant the necklace, but the way his eyes dipped back down to my panties, I wasn’t sure my point had been made. “The necklace,” I clarified on a shaky breath. “I’m scared I might break it.” It was true . . . I was almost petrified to touch it myself.
His gaze jumped back up to meet mine, and he slowly nodded. “Okay.” He gulped, and I tracked the movement of his throat, no longer imprisoned by his collar and bowtie. “Come here.”
I stepped forward, and he met the movement with his own. When I reached him, I turned around and reached up to gather my hair, pulling it over one shoulder. His fingertips whirled over the skin of my shoulders, blazing a burning trail until they reached the clasp of the necklace at the base of my neck. Within seconds, it was undone, and I stepped under his arm to turn back to him. “Thank you.”
He nodded, turning toward his tall dresser where the velvet box was resting. “I grabbed this from the kitchen,” he explained as he gently set the necklace back in, “when I was feeding the cats.”
I smiled at him. “Thank you, Leo. It’s beautiful.” He shut the box and shifted back to me, a lock of his wild hair falling against his eyes. “I think it’s time you got your bed back,” I said.
His eyes shot to the bed and then back to me. “What about you?”
“I’ll sleep there, too. We can behave, can’t we?”
He looked back down at my bra before scrubbing his hand over his face. “Are you sure that’s what you want?” he asked. “You’re probably more comfortable without me.”
I hated the way he second-guessed himself. “I’m sure,” I confirmed. “It’s your bed anyway . . . I’ve been hogging for long enough.”
He grinned for a second before considering. “Okay, I just need to brush my teeth.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
By the time I woke up the next morning, the bed was a furnace from the heat of our bodies. Sleeping next to him had been . . . risky, to say the least. I wasn’t sure either of us slept much as we both continued to fight for our restraint, but more than once I’d awoken to find a heavy leg or warm arm draped over my body.
