“Kat—” he started.
“I’m s-sorry,” she chattered. Was it the cold? Or was it those feelings that swirled inside her? Probably the latter.
“Kat,” he said more firmly.
She didn’t pause to look at him as she ran toward the house. They would have to talk about this. She knew they would. But, just like any other important meeting, she wasn’t going to go into it unprepared. She needed to figure out what came next before she could speak to him face-to-face.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Leo couldn’t move.
Had that just happened?
A quiet curse escaped his raspy throat and he turned around, digging both hands into his hair before facing the house where Kat had just disappeared. He should have been shocked by her reaction to his kiss. Or at least he should be feeling guilty. He had stolen that kiss after all. It didn’t matter that she’d most definitely kissed him back.
She was scared.
But, scared of what?
More often than not, Leo had been having a hard time sleeping. With Kat in the room right beside him, he’d taken to going to bed long after she’d fallen asleep mostly so he wasn’t tempted to knock on her door and talk.
What he wouldn’t give to recreate the night they’d shared in that cabin. He couldn’t stop thinking about how it had felt to just talk with someone. Granted, he wasn’t much of a chatter box. Andsomething told him that Kat felt the same. She spoke more in board meetings than she did to the general human being. Even their dinners were quiet.
Maybe that was how she’d been raised.
But this? That kiss? She couldn’t just expect him to let this stand without any conversation or context, could she? They had to talk about it. Was it a one-off? Was she open to something more?
And why on earth did that thought get his blood pumping?
Another curse managed to burst from his lips when he realized he couldn’t just stay out here in the cold and wish for her to come back. Kat needed the upper hand. He’d learned that much over the last month. Normally, he’d allow it.Normally, he’d welcome it just so she wouldn’t become the pain his backside she had a propensity for.
Unlucky for her, he wasn’t willing to take on that mindset. They were going to work this out right here and right now. Thankfully, his mother had just left on a trip to Billings with his aunt and the house was completely empty.
Except for a certain little princess who might just need to be rescued from her own spiraling thoughts.
Leo strode into the quiet house and paused. His ears strained for any sound of movement. When he heard none, he headed for the stairs and took them two at a time.
All his courage dissipated like fog on a spring morning when the sun finally made its appearance. He couldn’t hear her in her room, but the door was shut so he knew she’d be in there. The bathroom door was open and there was no other space for her to hide.
Shifting closer, he took a deep, settling breath, then lifted his fist and pounded on the door. “Kat,” he barked. “We need to talk.”
The sound of scuffling on the other side of the door followed by a distinct thud had his lips quirking upward in a smile. Her voice right beside the wood only confirmed that she’d thrown herself against the door in some ridiculous attempt to keep him at bay. “I don’t think there’s anything to talk about right now.”
Leo snorted. “You and I have very different opinions on what constitutes needing to be discussed.”
She sighed. “Yeah, okay. We’ll talk. Just not right now.” Her voice was quiet—timid even. He’d never heard her sound so unsure.
“Sorry, Princess, but you and I both know that’s not a good idea.”
Her mirthless laugh only made him want to smile wider.
“You can’t tell me you don’t feel it,” he murmured, resting a palm against the door followed by his forehead. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to relive that moment of pleasure they’d shared out in the snow when nothing else in the world mattered. That kiss had felt like nothing he’d ever experienced in his lifetime, and he got the distinct impression he might not be able to find something similar to it with anyone else.
He waited, holding his breath for her response. Leo could practically taste the electricity in the air, the way she clung to his words like they were breath itself. Or maybe that was just him.
No, he refused to believe that. There had been too much between them for him to accept otherwise. Leo shut his eyes, beginning to realize that she wasn’t going to give him what he so desperatelywanted. He could still taste her on his lips, feel the warmth of her body, hear the gasps of surprise when he’d crowded her.
If he could turn back the clock, he’d revisit that moment and hit the pause button. Was that crazy? Probably. Up until this moment he could admit that he believed in love but that he’d been skeptical he’d ever find it.
