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My eyes flickered to where Leon stood, watching. “You know why,” I grated, trying to lower my voice, even though he was less than two feet away from me and he would hear no matter how quietly I spoke.
“I’m not taking them,” Bella repeated. And her wide eyes welled. “I want Mom to make them.”
It was the tremble of her dimpled chin that got me. Yeah, she was an asshole, but this time, I understood why she was acting out. It wasn’t about the cupcakes. And I couldn’t bear the sight of her upset. She acted so tough that sometimes I forgot she was still just a kid and had so much to deal with.
I sighed and crouched down in front of her, resting a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll make some more. I’ll keep making them until they look like Mom’s, ‘kay? I’ll make the best cupcakes you’ve ever seen.”
Bella nodded her head with a small smile. Then her gaze jerked up, and she glanced around with a start, as if she’d just realized she’d lowered the veil and exposed the little girl still lurking inside of her. She stomped from the kitchen with a muted growl.
Blowing out a long breath, I straightened, running my fingers through my hair as I let my head fall back on my shoulders. God, my head was pounding, and the thought of baking yet another batch of cupcakes was enough to make me want to stick it in the oven. But I’d do it.
As I lowered my head, my gaze connected with Leon’s, and I froze at the expression on his face. Soft, blue eyes watched me with quiet consideration, a tenderness that sucked the air from my lungs.
Without looking away, he murmured quietly, “Not quite as heartless as you’d like everyone to believe, are you, Snow Queen?”
With my heart punching my ribs, I choked on my next breath and shook my head. “Don’t look too hard, Bradshaw—you’ll start seeing things that aren’t really there.”
His head slowly drifted side to side, eyes never leaving mine. “Maybe I’ll just find all the things you’re trying to hide.”
I swallowed, a thick rope of emotion closing around my throat.
Without waiting for a response, he offered the briefest of smiles, his voice gruff when he said, “You or your mom need anything, you know where I am.”
As liquid warmth flooded my chest, I couldn’t unglue my feet from the floor when he turned and let himself out the front door.
I couldn’t do anything but stare after him, my heart racing, as I realized he was making me reconsider everything I thought I knew about him.
TWENTY-THREE
LISS
I parked up outside of Beat’s and shouldered my way through the throng of bodies lining the sidewalk. Good ol’ Beatty had lifted the ban he’d imposed on school kids and agreed to let the unruly youth of Claremont back in his diner over the summer. Place was heaving. Sitting in a booth window, in what was clearly the perfect location for her to sit and watch me coming, was Riley Mason.
The burgers wouldn’t be the only thing getting grilled this afternoon. Great.
Her light eyebrows were already pitched halfway up her head before my ass hit the padded booth seat, questions lit in her vibrant green eyes.
“Finally came up for air, did you?” I muttered, a lame attempt at deflection I knew wouldn’t fly. I grabbed a laminated menu and held it open in front of my face.
Riley snatched it away less than a second later.
“Oh no, you frickin’ don’t, lady!” Ri muttered, placing it down and aiming a pointed look at me from across the table. “You had sex with Leon Bradshaw?”
“Uh… yeah, that.”
Her head shook. “Yeah… that. Best friends for almost ten years and you don’t tell me when you have sex for the first time! And with Leon! What the hell gives, Alissa Gertrude?”
My mouth fell open. She middle-fucking-named me?
“You didn’t!”
She nodded, eyes wide. “Oh, yeah, I did. I went there, Gert. You deserve it and you know it!”
Tipping my head to the side, I tossed my hands out then let them fall back into my lap with a shrug. “I’m sorry?”
“Yeah? Well, don’t be. Just start talking and fill me in on what the hell happened! You slept with Leon Bradshaw? When? How?”
I pursed my lips and hiked up a shoulder. “Same way everyone does it, I assume. Insert tab a into slot b—”
