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Ugh. I’m frozen on the spot not knowing what to do when Casper opens the door and I can tell that the quiet coming from inside the office is forced. Like they don’t want anyone hearing what they’re discussing.
“Princess?” he asks, his eyes wide because I’m still rendered speechless. Chuckling, he hollers, “Numbers boy!”
Numbers boy?
Leo opens the door wide and I get a glimpse inside. My father’s desk is still in the middle of the room, Christopher and Freddie are sitting around it with Dad and Casper joins them. The mahogany wall on the left is covered in papers with a whiteboard beside it with so many numbers my eyes cross.
“Hey.” Leo closes the door behind him and looks at me, surprised. “You okay?”
“Yes. I think. Yes.”
“You think yes?” He comes closer.
Before he thinks I’m any more of an idiot I hold up his coffee with the big, fat YES facing him. “Yes!”
A soft smile filters through his features as he takes the cup from me and leans down, he tips my chin up with his free hand and ghosts my lips with his.
He breathes in so deeply that I’m sure he’s going to inhale me into his lungs, and then he licks across the seam of my lips once. Twice. And again, until I’m panting, and my brain goes to mush, my legs to jelly.
The kiss he presses onto them is soft and full of reverence. It’s unlike any kiss he’s given me so far. So sweet.
“I’m taking you out tonight.” He says as he pulls away with a smile. “I’ll come find you when we’re done here.”
Biting his lip, he brushes my hair back before kissing my forehead. Hard. So hard that I think I’ll have the stamp of his lips on it.
“Yay!” We both turn to the end of the hall where Arabella is standing with her hands balled at her chin, excitement crinkling her face.
Goofy smiling at his coffee cup, Leo turns and heads back into the office.
I want to keep doing that. I want to keep making him smile.
Chapter 21
Leo
Francis ends our impromptu meeting, Casper and Freddie are already half way out of the door and I’m still trying to make sense of the numbers in front of me. I’m still logged on to the Fairfax Capital interface. Freddie managed to clone my father’s account and whilst I’m trying to trace the dodgy movements Francis and I have listed. We’re also looking out for any new activity.
But there’s been nothing. Zilch. Since the night of Walter Gladstone’s birthday there’s been fuck all.
“Leo, son, take a break.” Francis gets up from the chair beside mine. “It’s been a stressful twenty-four hours. Take some time, clear your head. Recoup and we’ll regroup on Monday.”
“A-ha.” I murmur, only half listening.
“Torch has another payment coming next week. I’m going to need you to take care of it. Charles and Harry need this one to be well and truly buried, if the Russians get wind that the government is messing with them… After last night we’re not taking any chances.”
“Last night isn’t happening again.”
“I have Wayne on it, but your stunt this morning… Son, Cassie is smart, you give her a nugget and she’ll find the mine.”
“She needed to understand the severity of the danger she’s in, and now she does.” Looking up at him, I hold his hard gaze. He’s still pissed at me, and he can stay angry because regardless of all the threats he can spew at me. Regardless of all the ways he can berate me in front of all the other guys. I am right. I did what needed to be done.
“Don’t forget the payment,” he says turning for the door.
“Oka…”
Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.
“I know why we can’t trace the money. It’s been staring us in the face.”
