As strange as it seemed, he could see Kat fulfilling that desire within him. They might have started off at each other’s throats but now?
He muttered a curse under his breath and pulled back from the door. He didn’t make it two steps before he heard the quiet snick of the knob releasing the door from where it had rested. Leo couldn’t remember the last time he’d been so nervous. If he turned around now, he didn’t know what he’d see and if there was even a small chance that she’d turn him away, he wasn’t sure he could handle it.
“It didn’t mean anything, Leo,” she whispered.
Leo could have laughed her off and accepted the way she wanted to take this conversation. He could have flashed her a cocky grin and accepted that he’d lost this round. But something within him refused to go down without putting up a fight.
Slowly, he turned to face her. The nervous expression she wore seemed to shift, taking on so many different emotions he couldn’t keep up with them. There was a fire in her eyes that said she wanted him to prove her wrong. There was a healthy dose of fear as he strode toward her, but the fact she was willing to lift her chin and stare at him head-on proved just how amazing she was.
When Kat wore her heels, she was tall enough to reach his nose. But right now, she was only in a pair of thick socks, and she came to just below his chin. She pressed her lips into a thin line, not breaking eye-contact as she spoke. It was clear she fought the tremble in her voice, but he knew her well enough to hear the way it slightly wavered. “We were both dealing with the high of the fight. It w-was adrenaline.”
He lifted a brow. “Adrenaline,” Leo muttered flatly.
Kat nodded, the movement sharp and reminded him just how well she was at putting on a show when she was in a boardroom. But they weren’t at her offices, and this was not a business meeting.
Leo reached up to palm her chin and let his thumb trail across her lower lip, tugging away from where she had pulled it between her teeth. Her breathing stuttered and he couldn’t help the knowing grin that tugged at his lips. “Liar,” he rasped.
She could have pulled away from him then. She could have swatted him away. But the truth was sitting between them like a purple elephant. It was impossible to ignore and she knew it. “I’m n-not?—”
“Don’t kid yourself, Kat,” he murmured, edging closer to her, his hand moving from her chin to around the back of her neck. Leo’s head canted slightly, forcing her to meet his gaze even though it appeared that was the last thing she wanted. “That kiss meant more than either of us expected. And you want to know what I think?”
“What?” Kat rasped, her warm breath fanning his face. He could feel her trembling beneath his touch and his grin widened.
“I think you’re just scared. You’re scared that if you let whatever it is between us blossom, that you’ll lose a piece of yourself.” Hadn’t that been something she’d said? She wasn’t willing to give up her dreams for anything.
She closed her eyes then for a brief moment before she exhaled a shuddering breath. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Oh, but that’s where you’re wrong,” he mused.
Kat’s eyes opened and she pinned him with an unmovable stare before she scoffed. “What do you think’s going to happen, Leo? That we’ll fall deeply in love with each other, and we’ll get a happily ever after? Let me ask you something. Would you ever consider moving to New York permanently?”
The look of disgust that curled his lips couldn’t have been helped and yet that was exactly what she’d been waiting for. He’d given her the ammunition to win her side of the argument.
“See? And I’m not willing to move here. We’re two different breeds, Leo. You can’t just drop a lion into the ocean and expect it to grow gills.”
This woman.
He smirked at her. “You think I’m a lion, huh?”
She rolled her eyes and stepped away from his touch. “Absolutely not. In that scenario, I’m the lion.”
Leo hated the distance she put between them but rather than follow her into her room, he rested his arm against the door frame and stared down at her allowing her to see just how amused he was by her ridiculous statement. “No, I’m the lion. And I’ll tell you why. Nothing and no one could have drawn me in but a siren.”
Her mouth fell open as she gaped at him.
He let out a low whistle. “I never thought I’d see the day when Kat Jerris was speechless,” he chuckled.
Kat only sputtered. “Whatever, we’re not talking about lions and fish?—”
“Sirens,” he corrected.
She gave him an incredulous look and ignored his statement. “We’re talking about the fact that I don’t belong here and you don’t belong in New York. This—this infatuation, it doesn’t mean?—”
There would be no getting through to her. And right about now, he was desperate enough to get her to cross the line she’d drawn in the sand that he would say anything. “It’s not infatuation, Kat,” he murmured, catching her off guard. “I… have… feelings.”
Her eyes narrowed and for a second there, he expected her to argue with him and tell him that there was no way he had developed any form of affection for her. But she didn’t. “Well, that was really dumb.”
Leo laughed. “Don’t I know it.”
