Page 111 of Starting Back
He heaved a loud sigh and stood, shaking his head as he knelt down in front of me.
“I want to be close to where the woman I love is. That’s you. I may have come for them, but I’m staying for you. You’re the love of my life, the love I never thought existed until it came to see me at the bar. I took it for granted that you knew, and I should have told you a very long time ago. I’m so sorry if that created any doubt.” He took my hands in his and brought them to his mouth. “You are everything to me. I. Am. Staying. For. You. Am I getting through yet?”
I swallowed, trying to will back the tears that escaped down my cheek. “Then why does your condo look like a hotel room? Like you don’t plan to stay?”
“I will grant you, I didn’t fix up the condo like I said I would, because when I’m there, I just want to be here. This, with you and the girls—thisis home. My condo is where I sleep when I can’t see you. I’d rather be with you than waste time hanging up a picture there.”
“So I panicked for no reason?” I squeaked out, wiping my wet cheeks with the back of my hand as a laugh bubbled out through my sobs.
He cocked his head to the side, the corner of his mouth curving up.
“More or less, but I should have told you I loved you rather than assume that you knew. I’ve never been in love before, so I guess even at forty-one, I’m pretty clueless about a few things. But you are the one thing I’ve always been sure about. Even if it’s been like five minutes and you haven’t said it back.”
He arched a brow, tapping his finger on my knee.
“I love you so much it frightens me. And apparently makes me act like an emotional mess. I’ve always been afraid that you’re too wonderful to keep.”
“Well, you need to stop doing that, because I belong to you.” He slid his hand under my hips and lifted me off the couch and onto his lap. “My home is wherever you are, mi corazón.” He brushed my lips, painting kisses across my jaw and down my neck. “Because you’re my heart. How long do we have until the girls get up?”
“Chloe still has a couple of hours… Ah, right there.” He dove into my neck, biting at the sensitive skin behind my ear after I lolled my head to the side. “Emma was up late watching TV, so we may have another hour or so. Do you want to have kids?”
He stilled and lifted his head.
“That was an odd segue. Are you trying to tell me something?”
“No, not that.” I searched his gaze for relief or disappointment, but all I saw was confusion. “I don’t want any more kids, but we never talked about if you do. I don’t know if you want to miss out because—”
He pressed his finger against my lips.
“Are you asking if I want to give up the woman I love for an imaginary baby I may or may not want to have?” He stroked his hand up and down my back as his shoulders shook with a chuckle.
“Here is another looming question that has basically the same answer. I wantyou. And with you, I already have kids. So, it’s a non-question type of question. Now”—he draped his hand behind my neck and yanked me closer with his other arm—“before I take you upstairs, lock the door, and sink as deep inside you as I can until a kid wakes up, is there anything else we need to talk about?”
“No,” I whispered, too overwhelmed by the cascade of emotions to find my voice.
He smiled and pressed his lips to mine, soft and gentle until he traced the seam of my lips with his tongue. My mouth opened with a relieved groan, all the panic and doubt I’d tortured myself with pouring out and into that kiss. He loved me and he was staying—for me. From the moment I met Leo, I’d doubted that he was real or that I was enough to make someone want to change his life just to be with me.
I’d managed to push it to the back of my mind, but all it took was a second of uncertainty to make me question it all again.
Leo fell back onto the carpet as the kiss caught fire. We rolled back and forth as I pawed at his shirt and his hands slipped inside my jogging pants.
“Please, baby,” Leo pleaded as I kissed down his neck. “We need a locked door for what I’m about to do to you.” He swatted my hip. “Up.”
I laughed and stood, turning to head upstairs when he lifted me up and put me over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I grasped the back of his jacket as he climbed the stairs, adjusting me in his arms at the top.
“Cutting down on noise, one set of footsteps.” He plopped me on the bed and locked the door behind him.
“Are you crazy—”
My words trailed off when he peeled off his jacket and shirt. He was too perfect in so many ways. I’d memorized every sinew of muscle and line of ink with my hands and mouth, yet the sight of him stole the air from my lungs every single time.
Great loves came in their own time, and I knew without a doubt that Leo was mine.
“Instead of staring,” he said, a wicked grin stretching his mouth as he hooked his thumbs into the waistband of my sweats, “off.”
I lifted my shirt over my head as he slid my pants down my legs.
