Stretching my arms up over my head, I feel a delicious ache between my legs. A smile curves my lips as I remember the orgasms Leo drew out of me yesterday morning. Rolling over, my heart stills in my chest as I find no sign of him. His side of the bed is unmade and cool when I rub my palm over it. I sit up, looking around the room and listening for any sign of him. Taking a deep breath, I tell myself to calm down as I remember everything that we talked about yesterday and last night.
He’s back. He’s come back to me.
Throwing the covers off my legs, I make my way to the bathroom, doing my business and then brushing my teeth. Looking in the mirror as I brush the tangles out of my hair, I see something. The change written all over my face. The light surrounding my brown eyes as I apply a bit of mascara. The pink tinge to my cheeks as I decide to ditch putting some powder on today. And the redness to my lips from kissing Leo’s. Smiling to myself, I put my stuff away in the cupboard before heading back into the room and dressing in a pair of black leggings and a long sleeved, red cotton dress.
Walking downstairs, I head into the kitchen and busy myself with getting everything ready to make pancakes before hearing something clang in the garage. Frowning, I go check to see if Leo’s in there.
“Leo?” I call as I walk into the doorway of the garage.
He’s over by the wall on the other side of my car. He turns around at the sound of my voice, a putty applicator in his hand. “Hey, woke up early and thought I’d fix this before the kids get home.”
Indeed, he has. The holes have all been patched up, except for one. He turns back around, finishing the last one while I stand against the doorjamb and watch. He’s still in his pajama pants, a white t-shirt hugging his upper body tightly.
“I was going to call someone,” I finally blurt out.
He steps back, eyeing the wall before bending to put the lid back on the tub then checking his hands as he straightens. He looks over at me. “Yeah, I’d rather not have to explain why I lost my shit and destroyed my own garage to a complete stranger.”
Ouch. My brows tug in, and I decide to go finish making breakfast. His hand grabs mine from behind, stopping me in the doorway to the kitchen then tugging me into his chest. He kisses my head, resting his cheek on it as he wraps his arms around me. “Sorry, beautiful.” He sighs. “But really, it’s okay. I didn’t mind doing it myself.”
“Breakfast?” I mumble into his chest, pushing away slightly.
“Sure.” He releases me with a soft smile.
We eat at the island again, and it almost feels like it used to, only better. I stuff a piece of pancake into his mouth when he pulls me into his lap, giggling as he smears syrup on my nose and then leans in to lick it off. “Delicious,” he murmurs. His eyes turn from playful to heated, taking my lips with his and rendering my mind empty of everything but him. I suck the syrup from his lips while his hands make their way underneath my dress. I pull away, breathing heavily and kiss him on the nose before climbing off his lap and finishing my pancake as I start to clean up.
Walking up behind me at the sink, he whispers, “Where do you think you’re going?” His arms wrap around my waist, melding me into his hard body. He’s hard and poking my lower back through his pants.
“Leo, I’m still recovering from yesterday.” I grab a plate and rinse it, putting it on the dish rack to go in the dishwasher.
He groans into my ear. “Later then.” Kissing my jaw, he releases me with a smack on my ass. He opens the dishwasher, loading the plates and cutlery inside. So many questions blaze a trail through my mind as I finish wiping down the counter, but I bite my lip, not sure whether to push or not. His hands fall to my hips, and he spins me around, crowding me into the counter behind me. He gently untucks my lip with his finger, staring at me intently.
“What’s wrong?” His eyes flick back and forth between mine.
He can still read me then, despite how long it’s been since we’ve communicated as we once used to. Sighing, I put the wipe down and reach up to brush my finger over the crease between his brows. It smooths out at my touch, but still, he waits.
“About what I said, last night with Charlie and how you asked if he should talk to someone …” His eyes widen a fraction, and he rears back a bit. Okay, he knows where I’m going with this then, but I continue anyway. “Do you think that maybe you should talk to someone? That it might help?”
He snorts, running a hand through his hair. “A professional?”
I nod.
“Yeah, no,” he says. “I don’t think it’d help.” He leans in again, bracing his arms behind me on the counter and smirking. “Besides, I think I only ever needed you. I just wish I’d realized that months ago.”
My brows furrow as I stare at his chest.
He tilts my head back up. “What?”
“I just think that maybe you should try it. Just a few times and see if it helps. What she did, what happened to you … it’s pretty fucking messed up, Leo. You’re allowed to acknowledge that.”
His blue eyes narrow, and he snaps, “Don’t you think I know that? Christ, it felt like a joke, like I couldn’t treat it as anything other than a sick fucking joke.”
I hold his gaze, my heart clenching tightly in my chest.
“Sorry,” he says quietly. “Really, though, I just want to move on and forget about it. And for the first time in months, I feel like I can finally do that. With you.” His teeth sink into his bottom lip. Giving him a small smile, I refrain from saying anything more right now. It’s still so fresh, so new for me, that I don’t know where to tread. But I do know that I don’t like it. The way he blatantly refuses to even think about talking to someone. Because while being together again and loving each other how we used to might go a long way in healing him, I know it might not be enough.
“Let’s go for a drive. I want to take you out for lunch.” He kisses my nose and walks out of the kitchen. I stare down at the floor for a moment, wondering if I should be doing anything else. But I guess, other than just being here, supporting him, and taking it day by day, there’s not much else that I can do.
We pull up outside the small Italian restaurant at the plaza, and I wait as Leo rounds the car to open my door for me. He grabs my hand to help me out with a mischievous smile pulling at his lips.
“What?” I ask as he closes the door. He pushes me back against his car, leaning down to peck my lips. But a peck quickly turns into his tongue rubbing against mine. My arms wrap around his waist and any soreness between my thighs evaporates as heat engulfs me.
He pulls back, framing my face with his hands. “So fucking addictive. I don’t know how I survived for so damn long without it.”
I laugh. “My mouth?”
He beams down at me, his white teeth blinding in the midday sunlight. “You. All of you.”
“Oh,” I breathe.
“It feels surreal. As if this past year has been a nightmare, and I’m just now waking up.”
I’ve never wanted to inflict bodily harm on someone the way I want to with Fiona. God, just thinking her name has my vision hazing over with red. What a crazy fucking bitch.
“Hey.” He arches a brow at me. “What is it?”
“I want to kill her. She’s made us lose so much time,” I whisper.
He frowns. “Yeah, she has. But that’s partly my fault and the way I’ve handled it.”
I shake my head. “Will you report her?”
That has him rearing back. “Why?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do. Attractive woman or not, she deserves to pay for what she’s done to you. And others, too.” I straighten from the car.
He glances around briefly. “Dylan has probably already put things in motion in order to gain full custody of their kids.”
“But won’t you need to—”
He cuts me off. “Lia, please. Let’s just drop it for now, yeah?”
He grabs my hand, and I reluctantly let him lead me up the curb and inside the restaurant where Margo, the manager greets us with a smile. “Hey, you two, it’s been a while. The usual?” she asks as we take our seats across from each other. We both nod eagerly, and she brings us our drinks before taking our order to the kitchen.
“I wonder if the kids have been behaving,” I think out loud.
Leo snickers, his hand fiddling with my fingers and my wedding ring. “They’re probably giving Robert hell.” Robert is his mom’s butler, and he hates children. But he’s loyal to the Vandellens. He’s been working for them since Leo was born, so he puts up with them. I smirk just thinking about what they’re up to.
As if thinking the same, Leo asks, “Remember that time Greta tried to get him to pat the frog she found in the backyard?”
I burst out laughing. “Yes.”
He chuckles. “She cried because he called it a slimy disease-ridden enemy of the garden. Then she told him it was just a little old frog …”
I continue for him, “And he said it was a toad, didn’t he?”
He nods. “Then she said that the only toad she could see was him.” We both laugh quietly at the memory of his mother laughing and telling Robert that Greta had a point and to leave the poor thing alone.
Our food arrives, and I dig into my carbonara right away. Leo does the same with his spaghetti and meatballs. We eat in silence for a little while, but it’s not uncomfortable. It’s perfect, and makes me realize how much I’ve missed this. Just being with him. I think it would kill me if he ever took this away from me again. But I’m determined not to let that happen. I’ll fight harder next time, love harder, and make sure he knows that whatever he’s going through, he’s not alone. That I’m not going anywhere.
That afternoon, I’m quickly cleaning up and putting the kids uniforms away, ready for school tomorrow while Leo returns some calls he’s ignored over the weekend in his office. My phone rings from the kitchen, and I hurry downstairs to grab it, in case it’s my mom or Taylor. They should be back any minute now. But it’s not them; it’s Lola. I hesitate for a moment before deciding to answer. “Hello?”
“Jesus Christ, you have so much to tell me, it’s not even funny,” she hisses into my ear.
I cringe, not knowing whether she knows or not, therefore not knowing what to say. “I do?” I settle on.
She laughs. “Oh no, you don’t. Fiona, what the ever-loving hell?” she screeches.
I pull the phone away, rubbing at my ear before putting it back. Okay, so she knows.
“How’d you find out?”
“I overheard Trey talking with Dylan about it on the phone earlier. Shit, it all makes so much sense now.”
Well, I’m glad she thinks so. “Shit. He doesn’t want anyone to know, Lo.”
Lola huffs. “As if I’d tell anyone. Trey’s been acting weird, so I hid around the corner and listened in when he disappeared on the phone for too long. I cornered him after and demanded that he explain or I’d think he was having an affair.” That has me laughing as I imagine her doing exactly that.
“Anyway,” she says. “How’re you handling it all? God, it makes me sick.”
Taking a seat at the island, I idly trail my finger over the marble countertop. “I don’t know. I’m glad I know even if I want to go to her house and kick her ass.” She laughs. “But he’s …” I glance behind me, making sure Leo is still in his office. When I don’t hear anything, I continue, “It’s like a switch has flipped, and he’s back to being the same old Leo.”
“That’s good, though, right?”
Sighing, I answer, “Yes and no. I mean, I’m happy. So damn happy and relieved. But a few rounds of hot sex and some deep conversations with me won’t miraculously fix things.”
“We’ll get to those juicy details later, but what do you mean? You think he needs some help?”
“Yeah, I do,” I say. “I know he’s a guy, and being the way he is you can only imagine how much he doesn’t want anyone to know. He sees it as more of an embarrassment. A weakness, I guess. But something terrible happened to him, and he knows that; he’s just hoping it’ll fade away. That I’m enough to finally help him through it.”
She hums into my ear. “That’s tough, Lia. I don’t know. I’m happy things are looking up for you both, but I see what you mean.” Resting my elbows on the counter, I lean my head on a fist and stare out the back window, watching the breeze stir some leaves from the tree before they float slowly to the ground. “Just see how he does. I think that after everything that’s happened, not only with that crazy bitch, but with the both of you, you might be onto something, though.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” I agree. The front door opens, and I hear the kids race down the hallway. “Gotta go; the kids are home. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
We hang up and I turn around, jumping down from the stool and sweeping Greta into a hug when she runs into the kitchen.
“Grandma Tay got me a Furby! It snores!” She pulls away, shoving it into my chest. Lifting the pink ball of fluff into the air, I almost drop it when it moves and mumbles something to me. Leo grins, walking into the kitchen with Charlie hanging over his shoulder. “What’s that freaky sounding thing?”
“A Furby. It’s so annoying,” Charlie grumbles when Leo sets him down. I gather him into my chest for a hug, kissing his messy head of hair. “Were you guys good?” I ask.
He steps away but leaves an arm around my waist as my mom enters the room. “Yes. They were fantastic.” She stops beside me, pinching my cheek. “Looks like this weekend did you some good.” She winks, and I flush when I see Leo grinning at me as he stands by the kitchen sink, holding the Furby while Greta animatedly explains everything it does to him.
“Where’s your robot?” Taylor asks, coming into the kitchen and kissing my cheek before looking down at Charlie.
“Oh, shoot! I left it in the car.” He races off to get it.
“You got him that robot?” I look over at Taylor who shrugs, turning the coffee machine on and grabbing some mugs out of the cupboard.
“He wouldn’t stop talking about it, so it was the fastest way to get him to shut up about it, really.” She laughs.
Leo scowls at her. “Is that why you spoiled me as a child?”
She pats his cheek, smiling widely at him. “You always were a quick study, my dear boy.” He continues to scowl while I laugh. My mom takes my hand, leading Greta and me into the living room.
“How was Robert?” I take a seat next to Greta, who’s fiddling with her little ball of pink noise. My mom grins evilly. “Oh, my God. You should’ve seen how fast he ran away from Greta and that Furby.”
Leo takes a seat beside me. “Let me guess; he thought it was a sign of the apocalypse?”
My mom laughs, pointing at him. “How’d you guess?” She shakes her head. “Anyway, we’ll take them again next month for the weekend before Taylor drags me off to Australia. Most fun I’ve had in ages. It was even better than watching Taylor dance drunk on a cruise ship with a bunch of men half her age.”
I glance at Leo, who blanches at hearing that. Laughing, I pat his arm. “You’re going to Australia?” I ask.
My mom rolls her eyes as if traveling the world is such a chore. “Yes. Taylor wants to see that huge rock and a wombat.” Leo scrapes a hand over his stubble, trying to hide his smile.
“But you can see wombats here in the zoo,” Charlie informs Taylor who’s now bringing coffees into the room and placing them on the coffee table.
“It’s not the same.” She waves her hand at him. “You’ll see. I’ll take a video and send it to you.”
“You mean you’ll make me send it. And what on earth for? They don’t do anything. And finding one in the wild might just get your hand bitten off if you approach it.”
“Says who?” Taylor frowns. “They’re adorable, so cute and fat.”
I zone out, looking up at Leo who drapes an arm over my shoulder, melding me into his side. He shakes his head with a quiet laugh, kissing my head. And when I look over at Charlie, whose robot is lying on the couch next to him forgotten, he’s got a tiny smile on his face as he looks at us.