It made her yearn to have something similar.
While her relationship with her father was strained to say the least, she wanted to say he loved her. He simply didn’t show her in a way she would have liked.
“I get that,” she murmured, allowing her cheek to rest against his chest. “My dad is all I have left. I think that’s why this is so important—beyond the whole needing to find something for me. I think even if I wasn’t so determined to make my career something I could be proud of, I’d want to make sure I made mydad proud however I could. I can’t wait to head back home and show them all what I’m capable of.”
Leo stiffened. His whole body went rigid in a way that made her wonder what she’d said that could have offended him. When she attempted to pull back to look in his eyes and ask exactly that, he held her firmly against him. Both of his hands were splayed against the small of her back. At least they were still swaying to the music that floated around them.
The reception was in a large barn-like structure decorated with rustic touches and floating twinkling lights. It was beautiful and lively. But right now, all she could focus on was the man who didn’t seem too keen on releasing her.
“I think it’s important to have a goal,” Leo rasped.
“I do too,” she hedged, still wondering what had happened.
“Everyone I know seems to have that. They make plans and execute them. Jobs. Family. Futures that are all mapped out. But honestly? I’ve never needed a plan.”
She listened raptly, unable to tear her focus from him.
“I’d be content as long as I had love. A family—people I can count on to have my back and I have theirs. A simple life.” Those last words were a whisper.
Goosebumps made another round on her body. She’d never considered having a life like the one he’d described. Not even her life growing up had beensimple. Her father had worked day in and day out. He’d been so busy he hadn’t made it to half her recitals or performances. He was absent most nights, busy building his empire.
Her mother was the one spending those hours with her and when Kat had been a kid, she’d wondered if her mother had resented her for it. If they hadn’t had a child, would her mother have had the chance to chase her own dreams?
The way Leo described such a life made it sound so enticing.
Heaven.
But that was just it, wasn’t it?
Heaven wasn’t meant for mortals. And Kat would never become like her mother—sacrificing the things she wanted in life for something as fleeting as love.
Leo was the one to pull back when the dance came to an end. His eyes locked with hers, pinning her in her place. For a moment Kat lost all sense of time. She felt for the man before her—the man who wanted for nothing but someone to call his own. She wondered if he understood how hard it was to find someone who wanted the same thing. That in and of itself was no small feat. Then what happened when that special someone was lost? Leo had lost his father. Who was to say a similar tragedy wouldn’t find Leo. Then what would he have?
“You really are beautiful tonight, Princess,” Leo reached up and grazed her jawline with a knuckle. “I don’t think you realize just how special you are.”
Her breath hitched in her chest. Leo’s touch had sparks of electricity skittering along her skin, raising the hairs in their wake. He slanted his head, closing the distance between them. His eyes searched hers.
A question? Permission?
A kiss?
Her lashes fluttered and she lifted her chin.
Tonight, she’d allow herself to be what Leo thought her to be.
She was a princess and at the end of their thirty minutes, he’d take her back to Sagebrush Ranch where she could return to being the business mogul she’d always been.
But for now? She would revel in the fairy tale that Leo seemed intent on spinning.
He spoke of love, of dreams she wasn’t worthy of having for herself.
Dreams she hadn’t known could sound as beautiful as the way he’d painted them for her.
With an exhale, she allowed herself to give in to the possibility of something different.
But only for tonight.
“May I cut in?” A familiar male voice tapped on her shoulder and her eyes flew wide.
