AllFreeNovel
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My dress is feeling suffocating all of a sudden, too, so I strip out of it as fast as I can before Leo can come back out. But before I can slip my leggings and top on, Leo steps into the room and freezes when he sees me in nothing but my bra and underwear.
I freeze, too. Leo’s mouth drops open before he snaps it shut. It would be funny if I wasn’t standing before him, almost naked. I cover my body with my bundle of clothes.
Leo rakes his eyes over me before averting his gaze. “Uh. Hmm. Ok.” Is he … nervous? I never expected that. “Sorry. I’ll just …” He points at his phone on the nightstand before grabbing it and keeping his back to me. “Just pretend I’m not even here.”
I quickly put my top and pants on. “Ok.” The heat in my cheeks refuses to go away, even after I’m clothed.
Leo turns back around, his eyes giving off an intensity that makes me both want to run away and kiss him again. “So …”
“So …”
We both laugh, diffusing the tension.
“Right.” Leo holds up his phone. “We should probably head out. I don’t think the hotel staff will appreciate us staying past eleven.”
“I guess I’m moving in with you now?” We never had the chance to talk before the wedding about these things.
“Yeah. I mean, I assumed so. I doubt Emilia wants me moving in with her and Marco.”
“Of course.” We both look at each other, neither saying anything.
It’s Leo who breaks the awkwardness. “Shall we?” He holds his hand out toward the door.
“We shall.” Internally, I wince, feeling like a dork.
Leo and I are silent as he drives us to his house. The huge Spanish mansions in his neighborhood are almost too large to comprehend. As we pass a large fig tree, I realize I never thought LA had anything but palm trees. It’s a gorgeous area, almost more than the one I grew up in. New York is so different from this place; they could be two different worlds. I thought I’d be more homesick for New York, but I’m starting to realize maybe LA is the right place for me.
Leo pulls into a huge circular driveway. His house is a legitimate mega-mansion, and my eyes practically bug-out at the sight of it. “Welcome home,” he says.
“Is that weird for you to say?”
He shuts the car off. “Honestly? Yeah, a little. I never thought I’d live with a woman, so …”
Leo takes me inside and shows me around. The house isn’t quite as large as Marco’s, and its layout is simpler, but I still get a little lost as Leo shows me room after room. The final room he takes me to is clearly the master bedroom. It’s decorated in all dark and moody colors, black and dark red. I don’t know how Leo sleeps in here. It’s more like a dungeon than a bedroom.
“Do you like it?” he asks. “I’ve never had any other women complain—” He stops himself, wincing. “Sorry. Shouldn’t have said that.”
“You’ve brought other women here?” Why wouldn’t he?
Leo shrugs, not giving me a clear answer, which makes the answer all the more clear.
I turn to him, pushing the thought of him with other women from my mind and ask, “Are you open to redecorating?”
* * *
My family comesover to say goodbye before heading back to New York. Franco isn’t with them, for which I’m grateful.
Antonio whistles when he steps foot through the door. “Nice place.”
“Don’t even think about moving to LA,” Mom says, ruffling his hair, which he tries to duck away from. “You belong in New York.”
“When I take over after I turn eighteen, I know, I know. I was just saying it’s a nice place.”
Leo chuckles and shakes his hand. “Thanks. Bought it with blood money, but who’s asking.” It takes everyone a moment to realize he’s joking.
Mia gives me a half-hug. “I’ll miss you.” Though I doubt it because she doesn’t even look up from her phone.
After giving the rest of my siblings a goodbye hug—which is just as awkward for me as it is for them—I turn to my mom.
