Page 43 of Willowbrooke
I said nothing, unable to feign ignorance or give some half-assed excuse.
“Or maybe you weren’t in the mood for coffee?” He sighed, slowly approaching me.
I nodded, agreeing with him.
“Liar.” He sulked.
I gulped. I didn’t know what to do to diffuse the situation. I didn’t even know what I wanted anymore.
That was another lie. I knew what I wanted. I wanted Leo. But it was too risky.
“We need to talk about last night,” he said calmly, trying to gauge my reaction.
“It can’t happen again,” I replied instinctively, unsure of the words as they passed my lips.
“Why?” Leo’s voice cracked, his brow furrowed. He continued to move toward me with slow, even steps.
“This job—it’s too important to me. You’re my boss—you sign my paychecks,” I managed.
“I’d never take this project from you.” He shook his head defensively. “Whatever happens between us—I wouldn’t do that to you.”
I watched him, mere steps away.
“But thereissomething between us—I know you feel it too.” His tone was pleading. He needed me to validate that he wasn’t alone in feeling the way he did.
I remained silent, unable to confirm or deny. I knew ifI spoke, my voice would betray me. My thundering heart might have already tipped him off if he could hear it beating out of my chest like I could.
“If I wasn’t—if there wasn’t…would things be different?” Leo needed to know if the job was the only thing standing between us.
Was he falling for me, like I had already fallen for him?
I felt like he couldn’t let me go, but he didn’t know how to move forward. I understood that he didn’t want to hurt me.
I looked up at him to find he had closed the distance between us and was standing directly in front of me. My eyes pleaded with him.
Of course there was something between us, but I couldn’t admit it—not out loud. If I did, there’d be no going back.
But maybe I was already too far gone. Was I in denial?
“It’s different for women—you know how quickly gossip spreads in your circles. I’ll get a reputation for sleeping with clients,” I argued, though it was pointless. But there was a part of me that had concern over both the short- and long-term potential for my career if we took things too far and they didn’t work out, or even if they did…people would talk.
“But we haven’t even slept together yet,” Leo argued.
“Yet…?” The word hung between us like an albatross.
Unable to hold himself back anymore, Leo leaned toward me, wrapping his arm around my waist, stopping just far enough from my lips that I had to move forward to consent…which I did.
Pressed against the bookcase, I was helpless to deny him.
“Penny, I want you,” he whispered against my skin, running his lips over the nape of my neck, then my jaw, then finally returning to my lips.
I was lost in him.
“I’ll do anything,” he breathed against me.
In a brief moment of sanity, I gently pushed him away.
Leo stopped immediately; he studied my face. “Pen…”
