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“I’ll need to study,” I said in a breathy voice more suited for the bedroom than my living room.
He ran his knuckles down my cheeks and I noticed fresh cuts on the back of them. Grabbing his hands, I examined them and they also appeared swollen. Concerned, I looked up to find him watching me with that stupid void expression of his that I hated. His mental walls went up and I couldn’t get a read on him at all. It was like I’d been receiving his signal loud and clear, only to find nothing but static where he’d once been.
“What happened to your hands?” I raised one to my mouth and kissed his poor knuckles.
“Hard workout,” he muttered. “Got carried away while I was fighting.”
I could just picture him in some kind of silky shorts, prowling around a boxing ring, but I didn’t like the way he was so casual about his body suffering abuse. “Well, try to be more careful in the future. Seeing you hurt, it bugs me.”
The connection between us blazed to life as his dark gaze lightened, turned to milk chocolate and filled me with happiness as warmth and happiness encompassed me. “That’s sweet, baby, but don’t worry, I’m fine. Grab your stuff, especially what you need to study. I’ll help you.”
“You’ll help me study?” All kinds of debauched images came to mind and I pressed my legs together to ease the sudden ache.
Chuckling, Leo gave my ass a little smack. “Yes, now go get your things. Don’t bother with clothes. I have plenty for you at the house.”
“Leo, you didn’t have to do that.”
“I know, but I want to. There’s a difference.” He smacked my ass again, “Go.”
Laughing, I rubbed it while giving him a mock glare. “Fine, fine, fine.”
I got my stuff as quickly as I could, using the nice backpack Leo had given me, and by the time I made it back to the living room, Joy and Leo were laughing together like old friends.
For a moment I stood back and watched them, an unwelcome jealousy pinging through me when Leo smiled at Joy. I wondered if he liked a woman built like a porn star, because Joy’s rack was magnificent, the kind of breasts men devoted entire websites to, and her rear-end was equally well rounded, despite her small waist. Insecurity reared its ugly head and I almost went back to my room, but I noticed something that kept me frozen in place.
While Leo was giving her a charming smile, he was playing a part. The man joking with my friend wasn’t the Leo I knew, wasn’t the affectionate and open person I was used to. I mean he was, but there was something that alerted me, made me look closer at his face. It was in his eyes, in the crinkles around them. When he smiled at me they deepened, but when he smiled at Joy they remained almost smooth. His eyes weren’t smiling.
Yes, it was crazy I noticed things like that, but when you’d been raised for most of your life by emotionally unavailable adults, you tend to look where you could for any indication of life. If it wasn’t for my mother’s occasional random flash of anger, I would sometimes wonder if she wasn’t a robot. Leo caught me watching him and my suspicions were reaffirmed when his gaze filled with life and warmth. The change to me was profound, but Joy was oblivious as she nattered on about some class she’d taken with me in high school.
Something in my expression must have alerted him to my unbalanced emotional state because Leo quickly crossed the room and took my backpack, looping it over his shoulder and carrying it for me like a gentleman. Then he held out his hand, as though he knew I needed to connect with him, and I slipped his fingers between my own, instant relief filling me.
My mood lightened and when I turned to look at Joy, my smile was genuine. “I’m off. Text me if you need me.”
She looked between me and Leo, then back at me again, and a grinned. “Bye, it was nice seeing you again, Mr. Brass.”
“And you. By the way, since you were asking earlier—I’m Hannah’s Daddy.”
With that, we left a stuttering Joy, and I burst out laughing as Leo closed the door behind me. “Oh man, you got her good. How much did you hear?”
“Enough.” He smirked at me, but it wasn’t a nice smile. “I take it you told her about our kink?”
Suddenly realizing he might not have been cool with me talking about it, I quickly stuttered out, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”
Sighing, he pulled me into a hug and kissed me into silence before guiding us into the elevator. “Hannah, it’s okay. I was just teasing you. While I hope you’d use discretion, I’m not embarrassed about anything that has to do with you or us. I could give a fuck what other people think, truly, so if you need to talk to your girlfriends, have at it. Just remember, I’m trusting you with this part of myself, and I hope that you wouldn’t talk about our private life to any random person.”
