“You okay?” she asked, her hand warm on his face.
He blinked his eyes open and frowned. He hadn’t realized she’d been watching him. Damn. Exactly what had she seen? And it didn’t matter that he’d had his eyes closed. The woman saw through every last one of his barriers, past each of his layers, right into what was left of his heart and soul.
“Yeah.” He blew out a breath. “Just a long day at work.”
She stepped back but held on to his arm. “Do you want to come in?”
Hell yeah. So bad.
“No.” He shook his head, trying to keep her welfare first. “Can’t. Gram’s expecting me for dinner, then I have to get back to the ranch.”
Not really. There wasn’t anything pressing going on there. No. The problem was here. He needed to keep his distance from her. At least until he figured his shit out.
Concern darkened her eyes. “Is everything okay there?”
“Yeah,” he lied through his teeth, although technically, the ranchwasfine. Work was the problem.
“You sure?” She stepped back out onto the porch, right in front of him again, and cupped his face. “What aren’t you telling me? Maybe I can help?”
Blame it on exhaustion, or his need to bask in the warmth of her gaze, or maybe it was because she had superpowers and sucked the smart from his brain. Because before he knew it, he opened up and gave her a brief overview about the countertop, only telling her the wrong one was delivered. Of course, he left out the part about him being bad luck, and that he was considering resigning his supervisory position after the job was done.
“That’s terrible, Leo.” A deep frown marred her brow. “I’m sorry.”
He stiffened. Not as sorry as him. But he was going to clean up his own mess. Stone did enough of that shit for him in the past. No more.
The exhaustion he felt suddenly appeared in her eyes, and she yawned. Twice.
“Sorry,” she mumbled through the smile she covered with her hand.
He smiled, too. “It’s okay,” he said, lightly grasping her upper arms as he pressed his lips to her forehead. “Go back inside. I have to get going, anyway.”
Regret and something he couldn’t quite read flashed through her eyes until she blinked, then only warmth remained. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you on Friday.”
This time regret flickered through him. He shook his head and told her about Tucker and the group therapy session.
“Hey, don’t apologize for helping someone.” She set a palm on his chest. “I think that’s great. And that you’re amazing.”
Christ. He didn’t feel amazing…except where her palm covered his heart…the one she owned. And because it felt so damn good, he grasped that hand, brought her palm to his lips, then kissed it before releasing her. “No. That’d be you. You’re the amazing one.”
She chuckled. “Then let’s agree to disagree.”
“Okay.” Without much thought, he laughed, too.
“Don’t worry about your grandmother on Friday,” she said. “I’ll take her to bingo with my grandfather. You know they like to ride together anyway.”
He blew out a breath. “Thanks.” Then gave her another quick kiss on the forehead, because if he went anywhere near her mouth again, not only was he going inside, he’d never leave. “Good night, Kaydee,” he said, before turning her around and gently pushing her into the house.
“Good night,” she mumbled through another yawn.
He waited until she shut the door, then headed across the street. Seeing her was probably a mistake, but right now, he didn’t care. He needed it. Needed to see her. Needed to not hurt her today. He still wasn’t sure about the future.
Even though he’d had a shit day, he entered his grandmother’s house with a pleasant expression on his face. Even managed to eat and hold a normal conversation with her, too.
Of course, she was way too sharp for his own good, and called him out on. “Don’t do it.”
“Do what?”
“Walk away from that sweet girl.”
