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“What about school?”
“I’m a drop-out, baby girl. Left after my freshman year and never looked back.”
I stared at him, thrown by the idea that someone so rich, so successful, never even completed high school. My parents may have pretty much sucked in the nurturing department, but they made sure I went to school and got good grades. It was probably so I could be self-sufficient after they cut me out of their lives when I graduated high school, but I’d still been raised to believe that if you didn’t go to college, your life would be shit. And only stupid people dropped out of high school, the kind who would spend the rest of their lives asking if you’d like to large-size that meal, or became petty criminals.
But Leo…he’d beaten unbelievable odds to get where he was today, and I couldn’t help but feel that warmth inside of me increase tenfold as I gazed up at him with admiration. “You’re incredible.”
He seemed surprised, then he caressed my cheek, sending pleasurable sensations washing through my body in a powerful wave. “Why? ’Cause I gave my mom a fucking heart attack when I dropped out?”
“I’m sure you did, but to see you come so far, to have overcome so many obstacles—it’s a little intimidating.”
“You’re intimidating,” he said with complete sincerity. “You have no idea how you affect me, how much power you have over me, and what I’d be willing to do to keep you.”
Instead of scaring me, his intense words thrilled me and I smiled. “You say the sweetest things.”
The rich sound of his laughter soared through me, lifting my spirits and sending little bubbles of delight through me. “I’ve never heard that before. Now where was I?”
“You, being the overachieving super genius that you are, bought your mom a house at the same age I was babysitting to save up for concert tickets.”
He kissed my nose, then continued, “I wanted it to be a surprise, so I took her for a drive one Sunday. She loved to do that, go for long car rides on nice days and see the world. My mom had this shitty little camera, but she took thousands of pictures with that thing. So she was busy snapping away, singing along to the radio, when I pulled up to our new place. It was in an older neighborhood in Tucson on the south side, and it was only a three-bedroom ranch with a nice yard, but when I took her up to the front door and handed her the keys…”
There was a hitch in his voice, in his body, in his entire being, as if he’d been dealt a deep blow. I didn’t say anything, or even move, sensing that he was fighting himself, battling the tears that wanted to fall. Whenever I thought of my sister, all these years later, when she’s been dead longer than she’d been alive, my nose still burned and my throat wanted to close. So I got what Leo was going through and I gave him as much space as I could to get himself together.
A few moments passed then Leo cleared his throat and adjusted his hold on me, loosening it a bit so he could look at me while he spoke. “You should have heard her shriek, Hannah. It was so loud, a couple of the new neighbors came out, no doubt wondering who the crazy woman doing a touch-down dance in the front yard of an empty house was, and if they should call the police. I was laughing so hard I nearly pissed myself as she celebrated, but when she finally calmed down, she began to cry. Not bad tears, you know, happy ones. She told me how proud of me she was, how much she loved me, and I felt about a hundred feet tall.” His grew deeper, rougher, and I stared into his eyes as he bared his soul to me. “That’s the way I feel when I’m able to give you something nice, something you’ve always wanted but thought you’d never have. It makes me feel a hundred feet tall.”
Unlike Leo, I couldn’t fight off the tears spilling down my cheeks. “I…Leo, that’s…thank you. Thank you for sharing that part of your past with me, and thank you for all the beautiful things you’ve given me and all the wonderful things you’ve done. No one has ever spoiled me like this, ever, and it’s an amazing feeling to know that someone cares. Not that buying me stuff equals affection, I like to think I’m not that shallow, but I’ve never had nice things, so I appreciate it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I appreciate you, Leo.”
Before I knew it, I was on my back on the bed, his face buried against my neck as his firm lips kissed the spot behind my ear and chills raced down my spine. The bed was so, so soft beneath me but Leo’s kisses were even softer, ghosting over my skin as he slowly began to undress me. I swore every time he touched me it was the best feeling ever, but tonight his caress was different. The passion was still there, but it burned deeper, hotter.
