Frayed Silk(54)

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.