“What do you want me to say?” Leo muttered. “It’s been a few weeks and you haven’t brought up your plans to move out here.”
“I never said I’d move out here,” she stammered.
That had his eyes narrowing. “Well, what was all that talk about starting another corporate location out here?”
She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Kat clearly didn’t want to argue about this, but they’d both gotten to the point where they had to discuss it or it would fester like an infected wound. “Leo, I’m still going to talk to my father about opening a location out here.”
“What does that mean, exactly? Would you be running it?”
“I don’t know.”
He frowned.
“I want to,” she amended before he could comment. Her eyes locked with his and she reached for his hand, slipping her fingers between his. “And yeah, that would be the ideal outcome. But the fact is, there are too many moving parts. I don’t know if my father would be up for that sort of scenario—at first.”
Leo fought the instinct to panic. Things had been going so well between them. Their plans for the future had been a light at the end of the tunnel. But now Kat was backtracking. “Are you saying you don’t want to move out here, anymore?”
“No, I’m not saying that,” she said quietly. “I’m saying that I don’t…” She blew out a breath. “I don’t want to get your hopes up.”
He held onto her hand tighter. “But they’re your hopes, too, right?”
Emotion shone in her eyes. “Yes,” she rasped.
Leo brought her hand to his lips. “Then that’s all that matters to me.”
She nodded. “I’ll be taking a trip to New York in two weeks. This project won’t be complete so I’ll be coming back, but my dad needs me there for some end of year meetings.”
He nodded absently, his thoughts already running away from him. She’d be going to New York for some meetings. That meant she’d be seeing Chaz.
His lip curled at the thought of the man. It had been too nice having Kat here without the man’s presence hovering over them. He clearly had feelings for Kat. What would happen when she was in New York and Leo couldn’t be there to remind her of what they had? “I want to go with you.”
“What? No.”
“No?” he practically choked on the word. “Why not?”
“It’s not necessary, Leo. You’d be bored. It’s not like you could attend any of those meetings?—”
“But I’d be able to spend time with you when you weren’t working.”
She gave him a pointed look. “I barely have time off when I’m there, Leo. It’s not like it is here. I’m in meetings all day and I’m juggling so much. I practically fall into bed the second I get home.”
His jaw clenched. He wanted to believe her. What she said made sense. But his insecurities were rearing their ugly heads. Was she trying to put distance between them? Didn’t he mean enough to her? Even one hour a day in each other’s presence would be better than nothing at all, right?
“Leo,” she cooed. “It’s going to be fine. I’ll make sure to schedule a meeting with my dad about building a location out here. I’ll give him all the reasons it’s a smart plan for business. Then when I get back, we can talk about how it went. Besides, you’d only be a distraction if you were there.”
He wasn’t proud of the reaction her words instilled in him. Leo smirked and pulled her body flush with his, not caring who might witness their interaction. He’d gotten the feeling that everyone suspected they were more anyway. Heck, even Jane had given himthe lookwhen he’d asked where Kat was the other day. Leo brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah?” he whispered. “And what kind of distraction would that be?”
Her quick inhale of breath had his stomach knotting deliciously. Dang, he loved how he affected her. Kat sighed and her body all but melted into him. “I think you know.”
“But I want you to tell me,” he whispered next to her ear before he nibbled on her lobe.
She gasped. “Leo…” There was a tinge of warning in her tone, but more than that was the desire he’d gotten used to lately.
“What?”
Kat pulled back and stared at him. “I promise we’ll talk about this after I discuss it with my father, okay?” She pressed a palm to his cheek. “Don’t worry.”
Easier said than done.
