Still holding his head, she drew his mouth back to hers and slipped her tongue past his lips, trying to convey all the need burning her up inside.
Leo stiffened, then released her and stepped back. “Sorry,” he said between ragged breaths. “I didn’t mean to let things go so far.”
With her entire body clamoring for more of thethings went so far, she sucked air into her lungs. But before she could tell him she was more than happy where things where headed, she heard her front door open with a familiar knock.
“Kaydee? Leo?” her grandfather called from downstairs.
Shoot. She fixed her clothes with jerky movements.
“We’re up here, removing tile,” Leo replied, stepping between her and the doorway as if to block her from her grandfather’s view.
He was sweet, but it wasn’t necessary. Her grandfather wouldn’t bother with the stairs.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. “Is that what they call it these days?”
His lips twitched.
“That explains why no one answered their phones,” her grandfather said. “Ava sent me over to see if you two wanted any dessert.”
“Yeah. Definitely,” she answered her grandfather while holding Leo’s gaze.
She wanted more of his brand of dessert, too. The one he’d halted. But since that moment had passed, she’d have to settle for the food kind. Thankfully, Ava’s baking was as remarkable as the woman.
Her neighbor’s equally remarkable grandson motioned for Kaydee to precede him out the door. It wasn’t hard to see that the apple hadn’t fallen far from the tree.
Now, if only she could see why he’d stopped their embrace.
…
Thanks to Kaydee’s confidence in him, Leo decided not to step down from his supervisor role that week. In her own nonjudgmental way, she made him realize he was putting too much pressure on himself to be perfect. And she was right. No one was, not even Stone. And his buddy certainly didn’t expect Leo to be.
He owed the guys everything but was done being coddled. He hadn’t been a quitter before everything went to shit overseas, and it was time they started counting on him again. Time he gave them a reason to treat him like they had before he was shot and their Ranger buddy Drew was killed.
Every night, when he closed his eyes, he saw his buddy and the little girl who died nearby that day, right down to the last detail. At first, those images and survivor’s guilt had tormented him until he tried to silence the images with the pain meds for his wounds and a constant flow of alcohol. But they only served to make him do stupid things, and the images remained.
It wasn’t until he realized the stress and unnecessary worry he was causing his family and friends that he finally wised the hell up and sought the professional help he desperately needed. Now, after fifteen months of hard work, he was in a much better place in his life…and in his head. He still saw those images every night, because he deliberately brought them to mind. It was his doing. An act of respect, to pay homage and remind himself to live and enjoy life. Something they could no longer do.
So why was he holding back with Kaydee? That was the opposite of living. That was playing it safe.
It was time to put himself out there. To experience life again.
A wave of determination washed over him. It was time to let go. To do more than flirt and steal a few kisses. Time to drop all of his guard and let whatever was going to happen…happen.
“Well now, you look like you just made a decision about something important,” Brick said, walking into the tool barn. The guy carried a tile cutter in one hand as if the damn thing weighed a feather. “And I don’t think it has anything to do with where you’re going to put that jigsaw.”
Leo glanced down at the saw in his hand. Unlike the tool belts and tools they each kept in their trucks, the bigger tools had their own barn for storage and a log to track movement should an emergency arise and a tool be needed in a hurry.
He chuckled. “But itisa tough decision.” He placed the saw down on a shelf, then checked it in on the log.
“Right. Sure it is.” Brick scratched the bridge of his nose with the thumb of his free hand, a smile tugging at his lips. “Ranks right up there with picking out china patterns and table gunners or runners or whatever the hell they’re called.”
Leo grinned. “Ah…Beth has you helping her fill out your registry.”
The wedding was two months away, and no doubt, the most important one of the woman’s career as an event planner.
“Yeah, but she’s putting extra pressure on herself,” Brick said. “Worried it won’t look good for business if she can’t coordinate her own perfect wedding. That’s why I’m not sure I should be helping. Hell, I’m the last person who knows a Hedgewood from Crouquett—”
Leo was pretty sure those names weren’t correct, but it was fruitless to point it out to the clueless man.
