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When he finally emerged, his face was clearer. He stopped at the edge of the bed to look down at me. Rather than argue with me, he attempted to compromise. “If you want to work, work at the marina to start, and when school begins, I’d like for Shane to take you to class and back. These are just suggestions, sweetness, you don’t—if it’s not enough, I’ll think of something else…”
When I didn’t answer straight away, he let out a tired sigh. “I don’t know who sent those men, but I’m getting closer to finding out. I know I sound controlling, I know it feels like I’m trapping you and keeping some sick eye on you, Skye, but…” His face fell, and an expression I’d rarely seen emerged. “I’m scared, alright? That’s the damn truth. I’m terrified, and you make me… vulnerable.”
He tensed after that admission, shoving his hands in the pockets of his lounge pants. He turned to pace away from me, his shoulders tense. I had always understood that Leo viewed emotions like weaknesses, but until then, I’d never known just how hard it was for him to open up like this.
I sat up and stared at his muscled back as he stopped before the bedroom door, peering down at his feet. His body language was all wrong. Gone was the confident man. He seemed suddenly boyish, young, still figuring himself out.
I felt foolish for pushing too hard. This was a reasonable compromise. Yet I felt like I lost something pivotal. Gone was my old life, and I’d taken it for granted.
I frowned, trying to understand my emotions because at the same time I was aware Leo was trying to protect me. “Okay,” I relented with a nod. “I’ll work at the marina, and Shane will take me places when you can’t, but when you find out the threat and…take care of it, I want my freedom back.”
Leo sounded bothered. “I’m not trying to take away your freedom, Skye. I’m just trying to protect you.”
“Maybe I poorly worded that,” I replied apologetically, scooting to the edge of the bed to peer closely at him. “I only mean…I want this to be temporary.”
Leo strode to me in a hurry. He took my hands and squeezed them tight. He hovered over me, his eyes searching mine. “This will be temporary. I promise.”
My body relaxed, and I smiled sweetly at him, feeling my heart pound at the softness in his blue eyes. “Thank you, Leo.”
He embraced me, hugging me tightly against his stomach. He bent down, buried his face in my hair and muttered, “Anything for you, Skye. Anything.”
When Leo went soft and held me like this, I was reminded of all that we were. His heart was big, his affections for me laid out bare. I knew by his touch, by his need to be around me, that Leo wanted me desperately.
I wanted him, too.
I felt his fierce possessiveness of me in the way he held me. His breaths quickened, and before I could think, I pulled away to look up at him and he had looked down to meet my gaze. His movements were slow as he bumped his forehead to mine, brushing his lips tenderly along the seam of my mouth. I immediately responded to his touch, feeling heat in my cheeks. My hands splayed against his bare chest as he kissed gently. He languidly stroked my tongue against his, until I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see past my own desire to taste him.
He made a soft noise at the back of his throat, and before I knew it, I was on my back and he was over me. His kiss grew deeper, longer, his tongue gently caressing mine—
While Hunter threw fire at our kiss until it was a giant fireball, Leo stoked the flame until it was a roaring fire. Such contrasts in my men in the way they touched me. Both methods knocked me perilously into them.
Leo’s hands slid down my body, his touch hot and slow. My legs fell open, and I felt the weight of him settle between them. Achingly pleasant. He ground his pelvis against my core, and I felt that sharp spark run through me. Tingly. Warm. So good.
“Leo,” I panted, body flush with desire.
I remembered what it was like to be taken by him. How full he made me feel. How doting he was to pleasure me.
His kiss was deep, thorough. He was so fucking good at making me come apart. He stroked his tongue along mine, his sounds deep, needy.
Any more of this and we would not be able to stop. My heart was beating in my ears, and there he went again, sucking at my tongue, and fuck, it feltso good,so right—
I wanted to come against him. I wanted to run my hands down his back, pull his pants down to grip his ass; I wanted to taste him, and let him take me the way he yearned. I wanted to feel him deep inside me—
But I couldn’t do it, and it hurt like a gaping wound that I couldn’t let go for him. Something held me back. Some unexplained emotion flitting along the edges of my being.
I pulled away, shivering against him, feeling conflicted tears form behind my eyes. Leo went still over me, his thundering heart battering against my chest.
“Skye,” he whispered, skirting his lips across my cheek. “Don’t be sad.”
I was sad because I wanted to touch him, but I needed Hunter to know about it. I needed him to be okay about it. I wanted them to like each other again, and for everything to be the way it was.
They had given me permission to touch them both whenever I desired it, but it wasn’t that simple. The more days that passed since that cabin and that declaration, the more it felt like it wasn’t okay to do just that. I needed that reminder, that reassurance—that permission from both sides.
But Hunter and Leo were keeping a distance from one another, and as a result, it felt as though boundaries had been erected, and I—
I didn’t know what to do.
“Please talk to him,” I begged, breath caught in my throat. “Please, Leo.”
