“I’m nothing like him,” Leo snapped.
Kat folded her legs and turned to face him. “Think about it. Love? The real stuff? It’s not as common as romance novels want us to believe. It’s not something that lasts. Love is one of those things that makes a person soft. It steals away from the goals people have for their future.”
“You can’t possibly think that,” Leo blurted.
“Why? Again, just because I’m female doesn’t mean I believe in that sort of thing. I’ve spent my entire life with one goal in mind. My career is something that will make a difference in the world. It’s a better use of my time.”
He studied her, waited for her to laugh out loud and tell him he was gullible. But she didn’t. There wasn’t a twitch or a tell that made him believe she wasn’t speaking anything but the truth.
“What?” she demanded. “You feel differently? Are you going to tell me that I have an obligation to have children and raise smart, capable adults to keep the world going?”
“No—”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
He shook his head, realizing for the first time that his perspective must not be as common as he thought. “I… feel sorry for you.”
Kat’s bark of laughter shattered the quiet. “What? Why?”
He scooted a little closer to her. They were facing each other now, nearly knee-to-knee. “Love? It’s…” Leo attempted to come up with the right words but came up short. How could hedescribe what he believed without sounding like he had gone crazy? “It’s… magic.”
She arched a brow. “Magic.” Her voice was flat, void of any emotion.
Leo nodded. “Yes, it’s magic. Love is finding someone who cares about you unconditionally. It’s finding the part of you that went missing when your soul came into being. Your family? They love you because of blood, you know? They have to. They might not like you all the time, but they’d miss you if you were gone. Your children? They love you because you brought them into the world. They depend on you. There’s a connection there that can’t be severed much like the rest of your family.
“But the person you fall in love with? They chose you. Out of the billions of people in the world, they picked you to hold their heart. They trusted you to lift them up and pull them through the darkness. They stand by you and support you in every dream you might have.” Leo could feel the heat of embarrassment over his declaration as it crept up the back of his neck. He’d never voiced his opinion of love to anyone. Not to his mother and certainly not to his brother. Reese had found love. Deep down, Leo knew this. It had crushed his older brother to leave town with the hope that Serenity would wait for him. And Leo hoped that they’d manage to make it work.
As for Leo? He wasn’t sure if he’d find what his parents had or what Reese had found. He had hope, but that was about it.
Kat’s brows furrowed and she stared off to the side for a moment as she seemed to consider his words. When her focus flitted back to his face, she let out a quiet giggle. “Who knew that the rough-around-the-edges cowboy in front of me could be such a romantic?”
He scowled. “You’re such a hypocrite.” With that, he turned away from her.
She let out another snort of amusement. “I’m not laughingatyou, Leo. I’m surprised is all. How does that make me a hypocrite?”
He shot her another dark look. “You sit there, telling me that as a woman you’re judged for wanting a career above all else.”
Kat sobered immediately, seeming to understand where he was going with this. “And you’re a man who believes in true love.”
He shrugged.
“Sorry,” she whispered, “you’re totally right.”
Leo shifted, not daring to look in her direction again. Why was he hurt? Certainly not because she was surprised by his confession.
Nope, it wasn’t that at all.
Something told him, his frustration stemmed from something deeper. He didn’t like the idea that Kat didn’t believe in love.
And maybe that had more to do with the way he’d felt when he’d found her shaking on the forest floor than anything else. His heart seemed to thrum a little faster, agreeing with that sentiment.
Well, shoot.
Was he actually starting to care for Kat Jerris?
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Heat burnedat Kat’s back. Something heavy was draped over her waist. Her lids refused to open, and every muscle of her body seemed to ache. Her head pounded as if she’d gotten black-out drunk, but that didn’t make sense because she didn’t like to drink.
