AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Everyone has mishaps. You are what you believe, and if you grew up being reminded at every turn that you have bad luck, then—I don’t know—it’s like it’ll manifest itself.”
She turned and stared at me with big eyes. “You think I create my own bad luck?”
“No, but if all you do is focus on the ‘bad’ part of your luck, you don’t realize there’s a good side thrown in there too. Haven’t you noticed some of your ‘bad luck’ leads to good things?”
ChapterThirty-Six
ADDISON
He wasn’t finished. “You getting knocked in the head on the flight to Vegas led you to becoming my seatmate, which led to you meeting Dominic, who offered you a job—which led to us working together. Then your terrible date led me to realize I was jealous and bring you to my house.”
He’d been jealous? He’d never said so. “But that led to me scorching your dangly bits.”
He chuckled. “Taken on their own merit, sure there were mishaps, but overall, it was a sequence of events leading us to where we are now, which is starting a family together. If we hadn’t lost the condom, would we be where we are right now trying for a baby?”
What Leo was saying challenged the way I’d always thought about my curse.
“What you might view as a string of misfortunes turned out to be the very best thing to ever happen to me.”
I was shocked, not only by his take, but by his admission I was the best thing to happen to him. “I am?”
He suddenly pulled the truck over into a parking lot. Once stopped, he unbuckled himself and leaned over. Cupping my face, he kissed my lips softly before pressing his forehead against mine. “When I came back from the war, I wondered what my purpose was. Starting my business and providing jobs for veterans gave me some, but there was a lingering emptiness. And now there’s not.”
My heart threatened to beat out of my chest.
“Deciding to co-parent with you has filled a void I’d never admitted out loud.”
Right. This wasn’t a love declaration. This was me providing him the ability to become a father. I shouldn’t have been disappointed since this had always been the deal. “It’s made me happy too.”
He searched my eyes. “You’d tell me if it didn’t?”
“Of course,” I lied. I was raw from dealing with my parents, and Leo’s assessment of my “bad luck” had thrown me way off-balance. Now wasn’t the time to spill my guts on matters of the heart. I wasn’t even sure what I was feeling yet.
“Ready to go home?”
“Yeah.” As he started on the four-hour drive back to Las Vegas, it occurred to me that the home I pictured was no longer my apartment, but his place.
“Move in with me tomorrow? I don’t want to wait any longer,” Leo rasped against my neck later that night, snuggling with me after sex. “Then we can do this every night and every morning.”
“Okay.” I said it without hesitation.
He propped himself up so he could stare down into my face. “Really?”
“Yeah. I’ll need to pay rent for a couple months to give Mal time to either find a new roommate or move in with Craig, but I’m ready.” We obviously felt deep affection for each other, and our non-relationship was definitely moving forward. Perhaps the more time we spent together, the stronger our bond would become.
“Done. We’ll move you in tomorrow after work.”
ChapterThirty-Seven
LEO
What I’d thought might require an adjustment with Addy moving in had become comfortable in a hurry. It hadn’t even been three weeks, but we were already in a routine. We ate breakfast together, drove into the office together, and every night I made her dinner while we talked about our days.
My steps felt lighter, my purpose felt greater, my moods were better. I found myself smiling for no reason other than I was thinking about her.
But one thing that didn’t change were my nightmares. Nighttime remained the only part of my life which refused to be controlled. If anything, the happier I was during my waking hours, the more my demons tormented me at night.
Thank God Addison didn’t seem to mind the separate bedrooms.
