“Well?” She could feel the heat rising in her skin. The conversation had been mortifying to say the least. And the days following? The way her father and Chaz had looked at her the whole time like she had contracted some kind of disease? That had been nearly unbearable.
Leo glanced around. It was his turn to squirm under her stare. He rubbed the back of his neck then ducked his head. “I get it. I messed up.”
“You’re right,” she snapped cooly. “You did. Do you have any idea what I had to deal with? The things my father had to say?”
He frowned and reached for her. “What did he say?”
She stepped back and yanked her arm from his reach. “Don’t.”
The pain that flickered in his eyes gutted her, but she couldn’t let him get to her. Not when she knew this was the right thing to do. “Kat?—”
“It’s not going to happen, Leo.”
His frown deepened. “What isn’t?”
She opened her mouth but at that very moment the room went dark, the music stopped, and everyone dropped their voices to hushed whispers. Leo didn’t move a muscle. In the faint glow from the large windows, she could see his profile. His eyes were still drilling into her.
“This isn’t a good time. We should talk about this later,” she muttered as she attempted to step around him. But his hand shot out and his fingers wrapped around her upper arm.
“No,” he hissed. “We’re talking about this tonight. You can’t keep avoiding me.”
She glowered at him through the darkness. “You want me to talk?” Her heated whisper might have carried, but at this point, she didn’t care. “Then listen up. You’re right. You royally messed up. The fact that you thought you could just march into my father’s office and make demands?—”
“Demands? I didn’t make demands.”
Kat pulled away from him, ripping her arm out of his grasp. “Semantics. A man like my father doesn’t take kindly to having his time manipulated by someone like you.”
“Someone like me?” he scoffed.
“Shhh,” someone in the crowd hissed.
Kat grimaced. Then she leaned in closer to him and lowered her voice. “My company runs smoothly solely because of the way my father has treated it like a machine. Every department, every position, every employee has a purpose. There are millions of reasons why my father is the best at what he does. Attempting to convince him to bring his company to Montana needed to be handled delicately. And you know what you did? You went in there like you were driving one of those huge hay balers. And you left behind a huge mess.”
“Surprise!” Every voice in the room shouted.
Kat flinched. The lights went on. Music started to play again.
Leo continued to stare at her hard. “I take it he isn’t interested in opening a second location.” This time his voice was flat, unemotional.
“You would be correct.”
All around them the party seemed to shift into high gear. But right here, between them, time stood still. Leo didn’t move. He kept his hands shoved in his pockets as he scrutinized her. She could tell he wanted to ask her a question.
A big question.
He was scared.
He should be.
Kat took a deep breath then exhaled. She was exhausted. All the tension in her body wore on her, physically and mentally. “Leo,” she muttered, “You know what this means, right?”
He shook his head. “No.”
The word wasn’t an answer to her question. It was a declaration.
Leo didn’t want her to tell him what this meant.
Too bad.
