Frayed Silk(66)

I pull my hair out of the neckline of the dress. “Oh, the jeans.”

Backing up, he grabs them as well as my damp dress and jacket before leading me out to the registers. The brunette raises a brow at us as Leo hands the clothes and tags over, looking like she’s about to say something before he hands her his Amex plus a hundred-dollar tip. That has her smiling, putting my damp clothes into a separate bag and even saying that she hopes to see us again. I bite my tongue, linking my arm through Leo’s as we walk out of the store and head toward the food court.

He doesn’t ask what I want—he never does—but he knows what I don’t like to eat. We end up getting wraps and sitting in the back of the food court, trying to avoid the noise. I rub my foot over his leg, raising his pants a little as I unwrap mine from the paper.

“So you’re not still mad?” I ask my bottle of water.

“Look at me, Lia.”

My eyes lift, and I study the hardness of his beautifully sculpted face, watching the way it softens while he looks at me.

“I’m fucking furious. But just give me time because I can understand why you did it. Doesn’t mean I like it or that I think it was fair to me.”

I nod. “It wasn’t. But a goodbye is just that … a goodbye.” I drop my wrap and grab his hand. “It needed to happen. Because I want you. I’ve only ever wanted you.”

He stares at our hands for a heartbeat. “Promise me.” He raises his eyes when I don’t answer him. “Promise me that you’d never even consider doing something like that again.”

“You know I won’t,” I whisper brokenly.

He nods. “Yeah. But I still want to hear it.” Tugging on my hand until my face meets his over the table, he whispers, “Promise me.”

“I promise.” My eyelids flutter as I stare into his eyes. “You and me, Leo. Just you and me.”

His breath leaves him on a ragged exhale, his shoulders slumping as his lips take mine in a sweet, short kiss before we finish our lunch.

The rain finally stops as we’re driving back through the city. We pull up just outside his building, and I jump out, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and dragging my nails along his neck. He growls deep in his throat, leaning down to suck my bottom lip into his mouth. My arms move from his neck, skating down his shoulders to dive underneath his suit jacket and smooth over the hard ridges of his abs to his chest. He groans, his tongue tangling with mine while my hands climb back up to his shoulders. Muscles twitch as I tuck my hands underneath the sleeves of his jacket and try to pull him further into my body. “Shit.” He pulls his mouth away. “Jesus Christ, you’ll make me come in my pants like I’m a damn teenager again.” He nuzzles his nose into my cheek.

“Crap, maybe we can—”

He cuts me off, kissing me firmly. “Don’t worry about me. Just be ready and waiting when those kids of ours go to bed tonight.” He kisses my forehead and steps back onto the sidewalk. I smile, trying to calm my racing heart as he points a finger at the car behind me, telling me without words that he’s not leaving until he watches me drive off.

Spinning around, I climb in, readjust my seat, and turn the car on. Looking out the window I find him with his hands in his pant pockets, his hair even messier than usual, and a small grin on his face. And with just that one tiny smile, I know. I know that whatever comes our way, we’ll be ready and willing to take it on.

Together.





I walk to the front door, opening it up for Lola, Trey, and Sophie to come inside. “Hey.” Trey kisses my cheek and takes off after Sophie who’s run off into the house in search of the kids. I close the door and turn to Lola who hands me a bottle of champagne. “Oh, yum. Thank you,” I say as I give her a hug.

“How’re things going?” she asks.

It’s been a little over a week since I went to see Leo at work and things have only gotten better. “Good.” I give her a genuine smile. “I think I need a holiday from all the make-up sex, though.” I fan myself, and Lola laughs.

“You’ve got loads of time to make up for, so saddle up, sweetheart.” She nudges me as we walk down the hallway.

Don’t I know it. We had a pretty healthy sex life before everything took a turn for the worse. It’s Leo, after all. The man used to need a fix at least once a day—which you’d never catch me complaining about. But now, I kind of miss having a full night’s sleep as some nights, he wakes me up in the most amazing of ways—which I love—but shit, the lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me. I don’t know how it’s not affecting him. Not to mention if he lets me sleep through the night then he’ll likely wake me up early in the morning for it before he leaves for work.

“Any news on the lady of horror?” Lola asks quietly as I tuck the champagne into the fridge.

I shake my head. “Not really, no. Leo doesn’t seem to have anything to share on it either.” Though, I think that’s on purpose. He seems happy and back to his old self, but he hasn’t said much about it since our weekend alone. I still wish he’d agree to go see someone. The way he wants to shove it to the back of his mind like it’s something he can lock away and ignore worries me.

“He’ll be okay,” Lola says, looking out the kitchen window to where the guys are talking on the back deck. “He looks … like that light has come back into his eyes.”