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He moved off her, dealt with the condom and pulled his jeans up to cover himself before scooping her up into his arms.
‘Where are we going?’
‘My bed. That was just the first course.’
‘Well, if you’re half as good as your chef, I can’t wait for the next five.’
‘You realise you just signed the man’s termination papers,’ he muttered half seriously.
She punched his arm lightly. ‘I did not.’
Leo very nearly stumbled; it felt so nice to actually have someone play with him like this and he realised that he felt happy. The only times he’d ever felt like this had been during those rare times when his mother had been happy and Sasha had been alive.
He knew Lexi Somers was dangerous. Unfortunately, she was also addictive and he was nowhere near finished with her yet.
But after a week he would be. He didn’t doubt that for a second.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
‘STOP hovering. Go join Ty in the pool.’
Lexi released her tense shoulders and scowled down at Leo’s bent head, which was still damp from where he’d been playing with Ty in the water earlier. ‘You’ve been looking at the proposal for half an hour. Haven’t you finished yet?’
‘You’re going to dent my ego, angel, if you think I can rewrite a whole business proposal in half an hour.’
Lexi’s face fell and she tried not to cringe. ‘Is it that bad?’
‘Relax. It’s not bad at all. In fact, if you should ever find yourself out of a job I’d hire you in a heartbeat.’
‘Really?’
‘I don’t say things I don’t mean. From what I can see you’ve done your homework and there’s a definite need in the market. But explain this.’ He pointed to a row of figures in a graph. ‘It looks like you’re charging less than your current business, which seems fine while you build up your clientele, but it never evens out. Even taking into account the different demographic of the new centre, it seems low.’
‘The people using the childcare centre can’t really afford to pay more and there’s a lack of government funding in that zone, which would normally subsidise our income and which we’re hoping will change some way down the track.’
‘You can’t run a business on hope and if you’re not careful you’ll have to prop up this centre with your first, which will jeopardise both.’
‘I know, but if we put our prices up it defeats the purpose of what we’re offering.’
‘Can you cut back on staff?’
Lexi shook her head. ‘I won’t compromise quality of care for economic gain.’
Leo sighed. ‘I always knew you were a soft touch—I just didn’t realise how soft.’
Lexi glanced over at Ty and Carolina, splashing each other in the pool. They had all been playing similarly an hour earlier and Lexi’s heart still felt light at the memory of Leo interacting with his son. He still hadn’t told Ty he was his father and Lexi wondered when he intended to do that, but she had no doubt he would. Not that she should be thinking about that when she should be focused on work.
‘Is it so hopeless, then?’ she said, turning her mind back to business and trying to keep the despondency out of her voice.
Leo glanced at her, his eyes lingering on her mouth for so long she thought he might kiss her and her body started to tingle. Last night had been even more phenomenal than the first and now, even when she thought of Brandon, she couldn’t conjure up one ounce of insecurity.
‘You keep looking at me like that, I’ll drag you back to my lair and not let you out all day,’ he growled softly.
Her look at him!
Lexi’s eyes lifted from his mouth and the world receded. Then Ty squealed and the world returned with a thud.
‘Right.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Pull up a seat. You need a contingency plan.’
