Page 53 of Willowbrooke
Despite my best efforts to quell my feelings, I had fallen for Leo so quickly, and so hard, I was worried about the damage it would cause if things didn’t work out. I didn’tthink I’d ever get over Leo if he rejected me.
As promised, Leo returned in the evening with takeout, but was mum on where he’d been all day.
“Did you get a chance to talk to William?” I asked, wondering why he wasn’t sharing his whereabouts, when he was normally an open book with me.
Leo shook his head. “I’ll tell you after dinner—I want to hear about your day,” he changed the subject.
Annoyed, but knowing he’d be good on his word, I ran through the short list of fixes Danny and I had located upstairs, wanting to wrap everything up before flooring work began on the first level in another week.
After we finished eating, Leo took our dishes to the kitchen and returned with refilled glasses of wine and a manilla envelope tucked under one arm.
I followed him closely as he handed me my glass, then removed the envelope from his hold. He slid a pen across the coffee table along with it.
“What’s in there?” I asked.
Leo leaned back into the couch and took a drink of wine before replying, “It’s an updated contract for you.”
He tried to hide a smile, but I had pierced the veil of many of his tells since we’d admitted our feelings for one another.
I set my glass down and took the envelope, slowly opening it and pulling the paperclipped pages from it. “What does it say?” I flipped through the papers, but wanted to hear it fromhim.
“You’ll be contractually hired by the trust to conduct the renovations and redesign. As an employee of the trust, multiple people will have to sign off on any changes to your employment status,” he answered.
“Which means…?”
“I alone have no power to remove you from the project, if you sign that document. The trust will be your client, not me. Your pay will come directly from the trust, not me. I will no longer be your direct boss or hold any controlling influence over your tenure working on the house.” His grin was wide as he took another sip of his wine.
Once I signed that document, there would be nothing between us. Nothing to stop me from pursuing him. No fears of repercussions on the project. There would always be the threat of gossip in the circles his family ran in, but I knew he’d protect me as well as he could. And even if things went south, I’d always have Willowbrooke on my resume, a fair start to my career with or without his help or influence.
I should have reviewed the document, asked Mina if her lawyer boyfriend could make sure I was protected enough, but I didn’t care—I trusted Leo had my best interest at heart. Without looking at it, I signed on the dotted line and pushed the papers back across the coffee table toward Leo.
“What if I still want you to be the boss?” I teased playfully.
“That can be arranged,” Leo replied coyly, taking a final pull of his wine and setting the empty glass on the coffeetable, before slowly leaning forward and taking my half-full glass from me, his fingers grazing mine. He placed it next to his.
I watched, frozen, as Leo slowly moved toward me. Then without warning, he was on me. One hand weaved through my hair, pulling me to him, as he teased my mouth open with his. The other snaked around my waist, holding me close as he pushed me back into the couch, settling between my legs, which I instinctively wrapped around his hips, silently pleading for him to come closer.
His searing, maddening kiss was undoing me. Heat pooled low, a coil wound tightly, every nerve ending in my body responding eagerly to his touch. Before, exchanges like this had always had an expiration date—a boundary that couldn’t be crossed, but it was gone now.
I made quick work of unbuttoning his shirt. Only one more layer stood between me and his skin. I was lost to his ministrations as his mouth found purchase at every nook and cranny available to him.
A low and heady moan stifled the air, and Leo chuckled against me as I realized the sound had come from me. Unaware of the passage of time, Leo and I could have been kissing for seconds, minutes, or hours, but when he drew back, I protested.
Leo only smiled conspiratorially as he ran his hands along my bare thighs. I had changed into a pajama shirt and shorts before dinner. He gently tugged my legs from around hiships, which garnered another moan of disapproval from me.
“Leo…” I pleaded—for what, I’m still not certain.
His hands on the crook of my knees, Leo repositioned himself lower. My breath hitched when his fingers slid up to my hips, hooking themselves onto the edge of my shorts and panties at the same time. He glanced up at me briefly, giving me the opportunity to stop him, but I was too enraptured in what would come next to do anything but try to slow my panting.
Dragging the fabric down my legs, over my knees, and then off me completely, he discarded them on the floor. Leo pulled me toward him so my back was lying flat on the couch, before hooking my knees over his shoulders, as he lay on his stomach. A moment later, I felt his warm breath caressing me, just before his mouth found my core.
I bucked at the sensation, and Leo stilled, clamping one hand tightly around my leg, while using the other to accompany the attention of his tongue against me. I was immediately lost in the dance, unable to focus on anything but my building climax.
Daring to watch, I let my eyes slide toward him, and I found his darkened gaze locked on mine, challenging me, proud of his victory, claiming what he wanted without abandon.
“Fuck…” I hissed, as one of his fingers easily slid into me, shortly matched by a second, dragging against me from the inside, while Leo’s mouth slowly moved closer to the spot he knew would finish us both. And when he made it there, it only took a split second for the coil to snap. My body trembled beneath him, and he continued his movements, wanting to extend my pleasure as far as it would stretch.
Leo slowed at the same pace as my breathing, finally withdrawing from me, and his cocky grin, now seemingly permanently affixed to his face, had me briefly questioning why he had just done what he had…and why I’d let him.
