He had boldly declared that this time, he was going to be the one to do it.
Olivia let him work. She didn't tell him all the ways the process would be infinitely easier if he changed his grip on the spatula, adjusted the speed of his wrist, scraped the edges of the bowl sooner, or added the buttercream more carefully.
She was simply grateful.
Grateful he was there. Grateful he wanted to help. Profoundly grateful that, after everything she had survived, she had a man willing to stand beside her, covered in powdered sugar, while she tried to build something beautiful from the ruins of her life.
Tomorrow was the next major divorce hearing. Her lawyer and Leo were confident. They believed they were finally going to bring something forward that would incriminateJames and open the door to formally challenging the financial documents she had unknowingly signed.
Olivia desperately wanted to believe them. But the signature issue still terrified her.
"Damn it," Leo muttered.
Olivia snapped back to the present. Leo was spreading frosting onto the top tier of the cake. He was using too much. The texture was going wrong, the surface becoming lumpy and uneven. He tried to fix one side with the flat edge of the spatula and messed up the other side.
Olivia bit her lip, trying hard not to laugh.
Leo threw his hands up, setting the spatula down with a clatter. "Fine. Show me, smartass. I surrender. This part is impossible."
Olivia laughed out loud and moved around the island to stand in front of him. "You just have to be gentle with it," she teased, picking up the piping bag. She began showing him the correct pressure, the angle, the smooth, sweeping motion required to create a perfect edge.
Leo stepped up right behind her.
He fit his body perfectly against her back so he could look over her shoulder and see what she was doing.
Then, the air in the kitchen shifted. It became something else entirely.
His broad, solid chest was pressed flush against her back. His large hands hovered near her waist. She could feel the steady, rhythmic heat of his breath against the sensitive skin of her neck.
Olivia’s body reacted before her rational mind could talk her out of it.
She became hyper-aware of everything. The intoxicating heat of him behind her. The undeniable strength in his arms.The way his intense focus narrowed on her. The way her own hands, usually so steady with a piping bag, were trembling slightly. The way the kitchen suddenly felt suffocatingly small.
Leo reached around her, placing his large hands over hers to help guide the piping bag.
The frosting was instantly forgotten.
Olivia put the bag down on the counter. She turned around in his arms.
They looked at each other, the tension thick and heavy, vibrating between them.
Then they kissed.
The kiss started with the agonizing tension that had been building between them, but it rapidly escalated into something far more desperate.
Leo’s iron-clad restraint finally began to crack. He groaned, a rough, guttural sound, his hands dropping to grip her hips.
Olivia wanted him. She didn't want him because she was trying to forget James. She didn't want him because she was trying to prove she was desirable. She wanted him because it wasLeo. Because every single time he stopped himself, something deep and wild inside her reached for him. Because she was exhausted from pretending her body had not learned to recognize him as safety, want, and fierce tenderness all at once.
Leo lifted her onto the cool granite counter.
They kept kissing, frantic and hungry. Olivia wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him flush against her. Through the thick denim of her jeans, she could feel how hard he was. She dragged her hips forward, dry-humping him, grinding her center against his erection.
Leo gasped into her mouth, his hands moving feverishly over her waist, her thighs, her back. He reached up, cuppingher breast over her shirt, his thumb brushing over her hardened nipple.
Olivia arched her back with an open, breathless moan. She reached down, grabbing the hem of his dark t-shirt, starting to pull it up over his stomach.
Leo caught her wrists. He pulled back, his chest heaving, his eyes dark and blown wide with raw need.
