Page 21 of Flawed Revenge

“Even track me down.”

Nodding her agreement, she didn't want to hurt him, not now that she’d heard the whole truth about why he’d done what he did, but still it was true. It was only desperation that had brought her here. Not a desire to reconnect with her former fiancé.

There was a rare vulnerability on Leo’s face as he watched her. “Do you think … that you might ever be able to forgive me for what I did? For what I broke between us?”

Forgive? Maybe.

Trust? That one was harder.

“I understand now. I'm not as angry because I believe that you believed you were making the best choice you could in the moment. What you went through … I'm simultaneously furious someone did that to you, and devastated for all you suffered. I won't ever stop you from being part of Ariella’s life, she already loves you. But if you're asking if there can ever be anything between us again, then the answer is I just don’t know.”

Chapter

Seven

March 15th

2:39 P.M.

It wasn't a no.

That was what Lion was holding onto.

The anger seemed to have bled out of Kate, and he was fairly positive she no longer hated him now that she knew the truth. But in its place was an awkwardness that hadn't been there before.

Things had never been awkward between them. Not a single time since they met when she was five, and he was eleven. The age gap had meant they weren't friends exactly, more like he’d seen her as another little sister. He’d played with her and his sister sometimes, but more often than not, the girls played together, and he played with his own friends.

As they’d gotten older, he’d noticed that she had a crush on him, but she’d still been a kid in his mind. He’d liked her, sure, she was a good kid, and one who was sweet and funny, pleasant to spend time around. But there had been nothing sexual there on his end.

It wasn't until the summer after she graduated high school, when he returned from a deployment to find her dozing by the side of his family’s pool, dressed in a white bikini that was little more than scraps of material that barely covered everything, that things had changed. That was the first time he’d seen her as an adult, as a woman.

Over a decade later, and he still remembered the groan he’d given as he’d immediately hardened at the sight of her laid out before him like a treat he couldn’t wait to devour. Her eyes had blinked open in surprise and then heated when she saw him standing there. Her tongue had peeped out, run along her bottom lip like an invitation, much the same way it had this morning. And like this morning, he hadn't been able to resist.

One kiss, that was all they’d shared before he realized that if he took things any further, he could be ruining his relationship with his sister, and Kate’s friendship with his sister as well. So he’d found strength he didn't think he possessed and pulled back. She’d been surprised and upset until he explained he wasn't going to have sex with her and then walk away. That would be crazy and could ruin their relationships with the people they loved.

When he’d sat his sister down and told her he was unexpectedly attracted to her best friend, he’d expected her to be shocked, angry maybe, and tell him to stay away. Instead, Lily had just rolled her eyes and told him it was about time he noticed her friend, and that maybe now she’d get to stop hearing from Kate how badly she wished something would happen between them.

Permission granted, he’d asked Kate out on a date, nothing more than kissing had happened on it, or any of the other dozen dates they’d gone on that summer. Instead, they talked, laughed, got to know one another as two adults rather than a kid and her best friend’s older brother.

Each day, he’d fallen a little harder, and over the next six months, that had turned into love. Their first time together had been amazing, and a month later he’d proposed, knowing with a certainty that settled comfortably inside him, that this was the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Now, as he turned his head to watch Kate and Ariella stroll into the kitchen after she’d gone to get their daughter up from a nap, he realized nothing had changed for him. He wanted her as badly as he had that day by the pool and every day since. As badly as he had when he’d shattered her heart into a thousand pieces and then walked away and left her to pick them up all on her own.

Kate still wanted him too. That was obvious from the way her gaze found his, then just as quickly skittered away again. From the way her cheeks pinked, and that tongue of hers trailed along her lip.

Damn.

That was like a beacon calling him in.

But he couldn’t go to her, couldn’t kiss her like he wanted to, because right now she wasn't his.

The news he’d given her this morning was overwhelming, especially having it all dumped on her at once while already dealing with a sick and dying child. It was no wonder she needed time to process, and he was also going to have to admit that she might never get to a place where she wanted to rekindle their past relationship. They had been a couple for ten months, apart for ten years. The math was not in his favor.

“Daddy,” Ariella exclaimed, rushing over to wrap her thin arms around his waist.

“Hey, Ari-Bear. Did you have a good nap?”

“Mmhmm,” she agreed. “But now I'm starving.”