If she thought sticking around to see Leo would help, she would, but she was a realist. It was best to leave. He needed to come to his own conclusion about them. No sense in trying to tip the scale her way.
“Of course.” The woman stopped as they reached the front door. “Speaking of next time, are you both good with keeping the clinic on the last Sunday of every month?
She glanced at Fi, who nodded. “That works.”
Coming here every month was going to kill her if Leo decided he didn’t want to be a part of her life…or the baby’s, but she’d do it for the veterans. And maybe Leo would remain scarce like today, although his absence didn’t alleviate the ache pressing against her chest.
Was it always going to feel like that?
Kaydee blinked back her stupid tears again, opened the door, and gasped.
Leo…
Looking exactly how she loved—badass and sexy—he stood on the porch, leaning against a post, with a dozen roses in one hand, a bag in the other, and a look in his eyes that said she was the most important thing in the world to him.
Fi removed the case from Kaydee’s hand and said something, but Kaydee didn’t catch it. Her heart was smashing into her ribs with swift, erratic beats that thundered in her ears.
He’s here. Actually here.
But her brain wasn’t, because she couldn’t seem to remember how to move. She kind of just stood there and blinked at him and his Ranger buddies standing in the driveway behind him. They had his back. That thought managed to flash through her mind, and she blinked again. Dammit.
“I’m so sorry, Kaydee,” Leo said, his tone deep and warm with emotion as he stepped toward her. “Sorry for being an ass,” he said. “I shouldn’t have walked away from you yesterday. Shouldn’t have let you think you don’t matter to me, because you do. So damn much. If you can find it in you to give me another chance, I swear I’ll never leave you again.”
A familiar sensation returned to swarm her chest. Hope. Kaydee fought an inner battle on whether to allow it to blossom or die. Did she dare take another chance? Did she dare believe him?
Leo stopped in front of her and offered two red roses. “I hope you can forgive me,” he said, but before she could find her voice and reply, he handed her two more. “These are for believing in me…even though I didn’t and was a stupid ass.”
She choked out a half laugh, half sob.
“Damn straight,” Brick said, and the crowd chuckled.
Two more roses made it into her grasp. “These are for being the sweet, caring woman I don’t deserve. And these are for wanting me anyway,” he said, handing her two more.
By now, her hands were shaking, and she had to keep blinking and swallowing to fight the burning in her eyes and throat.
“Oh, that was a good one,” Fi muttered while Jovy sighed dreamily behind her.
“I wish you could see yourself the way I do,” he said. “The way you donate your time to others. Sacrifice for your family. Step out of your comfort zone so a couple of amorous octogenarians can have an all-nighter.”
“Thank you, honey,” Ava said.
Kaydee blinked and focused on his grandmother standing next to her smiling grandfather in the crowd. Her heart swelled, and she met Leo’s smiling gaze. “You fetched them?”
“Yes.” His smile broadened. “It wouldn’t be right to profess my love for you without them here.”
Love?
Her grip on emotions slipped, and hope exploded to life inside her, interfering with her ability to draw a breath. “You love me?” she whispered.
“God, yeah, I love you.” His voice was low but fierce as he handed her two more roses. “That’s what these are for. Because I love you. I love everything about you. The way you put yourself out there for me, even though it means straying into uncharted territory. The way you look at me. God, I love that. And the way you saved me.”
She frowned. “You didn’t need saving, Leo.”
He’d done that all on his own. He was the one who’d turned it all around. Found the courage to ask for help. Made himself happy. And she was so damn proud of him for doing that.
“Yes, Ididneed saving,” he said. “From myself. You made me realize thatIwasn’t toxic. Holding on to my past was.”
Oh God…he got it. He finally got it.
