Leo(A Sign of Love Novel)(55)

He adds another finger and picks up the pace, rubbing and thrusting rhythmically now. I moan loudly, and breath out, "Yes."

Leo moans too and then the only sounds in the room are my panting breaths and the slick noises of his fingers pumping in and out of me.

"Come for me, Evie," he growls. And just like that, my body tenses and I arch up off the couch, intense waves of ecstasy flowing through me. I cry out his name and hear his zipper and then he is flipping me over and his hands are on my hips as he drags me up so that my ass is in the air and he plunges into my dripping sex on one loud moan. I'm not sure if it's his or mine or both.

Up on his knees behind me, he begins thrusting his hips, moaning my name again and again and I answer him, "Leo, Leo, Leo." My brain is cloudy with passion but somewhere at the back of my mind, I understand that even though we have made love dozens of times, we are reuniting here and now as Evie and Leo and I want to cry with the intensity of it.

He continues to thrust rhythmically, holding my hips steady so that he can pound into me and it's primal and almost rough, his cock hitting my cervix with every drive. I feel another orgasm building in my core as I listen to the rhythmic sound of his thighs slapping against my ass.

His breathing becomes labored as he continues to pant out my name, his thrusts becoming harder and faster, the scent of our combined sex filling the room.

He reaches around my hip and presses his finger to my clit and I spiral straight into another climax, throwing my head back and thrusting my ass back to meet his thrusting cock. He growls and moans and his strokes become slower as he glides in and out of me leisurely, drawing out his own orgasm.

He stops and lays his head against my back as our breathing slows.

We stay this way for long minutes, until my legs give out and I start sinking to the couch. He pulls out and catches me around the waist, turning me over. We cling to each other. He is leaned slightly to the side of me so that I can take his weight. Finally as our breathing returns to normal, he sits up, pulling me with him and placing me back on his lap again. He leans back against the couch and takes my face in his hands, looking deeply into my eyes. "I love you, Evie," he says quietly. "Whatever you think about what I'm about to tell you, you have to know that. I've always loved you. I've never stopped. Not for one second in eight years."

I nod at him, closing my eyes against the tears that threaten again. "Let me go clean up and then we'll talk, okay?"

He nods, pulling the zipper closed on his jeans and leaning forward on his thighs.

I pull on my sweater and go into the bathroom to clean up. When I get back, I sit on the couch next to Leo. He's still sitting with his elbows on his thighs, his head down, but as I sit, he sits back. He doesn't look at me for a minute and then, "I guess the best place to start is my arrival in San Diego."





CHAPTER 27



"Okay, but first, why did you change your name?"

He sighs, "Lauren asked me if it would help me to get a new start if I started going by my middle name, and of course, my new last name. I said no at first, but after that first week, I agreed. I wanted to become someone else - truthfully, I wanted to escape myself. Of course, a name change can't do that, but it seemed like a start at the time. I registered for school as Jake Madsen and no one has called me Leo until now."

I nod. I can't pretend I don't understand this. At many times during my life, if someone had offered me the chance to become someone other than Evie Cruise, it would have been a very tempting offer.

"You have to know that when I left you here, I meant every word I said up on that roof that night. I meant it to my soul. I knew there would never be anyone else for me, and I was right. There never has been." He looks at me searchingly.

"You told me there were lots of women, Leo," I whisper, turning my head away from him to gaze out the window for a minute. I can't lie, it hurts now that I know who he really is.

"None of them meant anything to me. Not one. Not even close. I'm not proud of that, in fact, I'm ashamed of it. But it was never anyone except you. I was f*cked up, Evie. But I've never loved anyone except you. You have to believe that, even if you don't understand."

He sighs, dropping his head. When he looks back up, he says, "I arrived in San Diego on a Sunday night. On Monday morning, I started my letter to you. I wrote a little bit on Tuesday, and on Wednesday. I intended to write to you every day of the week until Friday and then put the letter in the mail on Saturday. I stopped writing on Thursday."

"Why? What happened on Thursday," I ask quietly, looking back at him but almost afraid to know.

He's silent for a minute and then, "On Thursday afternoon, I was down in the finished basement trying to learn how to play pool. We had this big pool table with red felt and … Anyway, I was just messing around. My new dad, Phil, was at work. My new mom, Lauren, as you know… he pauses, grimacing a little… she came down wearing this little nightie thing. I was uncomfortable but I had never really had any kind of normal home life. I thought maybe that was what moms did, walk around in their bed clothes. Or at least that's what I tried to tell myself."

My eyes are wide now because I'm pretty sure I know what's coming and I don't know if I want to hear him say the words.

"She poured herself a drink and then she poured me one too and I took it, even though all kinds of warning bells were going off now. I just didn't know what to do.