"Yes," she whispered, rising onto her toes to brush her lips against his. "I would love to."
For years, Leo had loved her in all the spaces she never looked. Now, she was looking right at him. And when she said yes, it felt like the first honest beginning of his life.
***
Olivia
Olivia stood in the dim, quiet intimacy of Leo’s bedroom, her heart hammering a frantic, exhilarated rhythm against her ribs.
She had lit a half-dozen small candles on the dresser and nightstands. The room smelled of cedar and warm vanilla. She adjusted the knot of the silk robe wrapped around her waist, taking a deep, calming breath.
Leo was downstairs on a business call, handling a late delivery issue connected to his greenhouse. It gave her the precious time she needed to prepare.
She was waiting for him in his bedroom because she wanted this to be their first official night together. Not because she felt any pressure. Not because she felt the need to prove anything to herself or to him. She was here because she wanted Leo Maddox like she had never wanted another human being in her entire life.
She thought about the past few months. They had been dating properly.Realdates. Not just late-night crisis management or legal strategy sessions over takeout. Not just recipe testing and quiet comfort. They went on dates where he picked her up at her door, brought her vibrant bouquets from his greenhouse, took her to dimly lit restaurants, and held her hand as they walked through city parks.
He had spent long hours with her at the bakery, sometimes helping box pastries, sometimes sitting quietly at a corner table with his laptop, always managing to make her laugh when she got too intense about her competition prep. He had driven with her to Hendersonville to sit on her parents' porch and drink iced tea.
They had been learning each other in an entirely new way. As strange as it seemed after years of being best friends, there were still so many beautiful, intimate things they hadn'tknown. She learned how he took his coffee black when he was exhausted, but with a splash of cream when he was completely relaxed. He learned what vintage jazz playlists she listened to when she was testing recipes alone. She learned the specific way he went quiet when he was deeply worried but still desperately wanted to seem useful. He learned the exact spots on the back of her neck that instantly soothed her anxiety.
Friendship had been the foundation, but dating had made them strangers in the most breathtaking way—allowing them to finally touch all the parts they had kept carefully hidden for years.
The physical escalation had been a slow, intoxicating burn. She loved experiencing the new, devastating ways he could pleasure her. She vividly remembered the intense heat of his fingers, the absolute devotion of his mouth between her thighs. She remembered the night she had driven him so wild that she made him cum using her breasts, his rough groans vibrating against her skin.
But now, she wanted all of him.
A sudden, sharp spike of insecurity tried to rise in her chest.
She had spent years with the same man. Her body had changed drastically during those years. She had gained weight. She had lost some of it during the worst, most agonizing weeks of the fallout, but that wasn't the healthy kind of weight loss that made a woman feel good. It was the hollow, exhausting result of grief, stress, and starvation.
She knew she didn't look like the flawless women Leo used to date. She was curvier. Her breasts were full, her hips and thighs were fuller, and her body visibly carried the heavy life she had lived.
For a terrifying second, she wondered if he would compare her. She wondered if he would notice every single flaw she ruthlessly criticized in the mirror. She wondered if his intense desire could survive the bare reality of seeing her this clearly in the candlelight.
She closed her eyes and stopped the spiral. SheknewLeo. She knew exactly the kind of man he was. She knew the reverent, consuming way he looked at her when she wore flour-stained sweatpants, and the hungry way he stared at her when she wore a dress.. She trusted him completely. And, more importantly, she was finally starting to deeply trust herself.
She wasn't standing in this bedroom to be judged. She was standing here because shechoseto be.
Footsteps sounded on the hardwood stairs.
Olivia’s heart leaped into her throat. She moved to stand near the foot of the large bed, facing the door. Her silk robe was open just enough to reveal the delicate black lace lingerie underneath, covering her just enough that the moment felt beautifully suspended in time.
The door handle turned. Leo walked in.
He stopped dead in the doorway.
He went completely still. His icy blue eyes moved over her slowly—from her bare feet on the rug, up the curve of her calves, over the black lace of her lingerie, tracing the open edges of the silk robe, until he finally met her eyes.
His reaction was overwhelmingly powerful. He looked stunned. Overwhelmed. He looked like a man who had starved for her for so long that seeing her waiting for him in his bedroom almost physically hurt.
"Liv," he whispered, his voice thick with raw emotion.
Olivia held his burning gaze. She slowly reached up, untied the silk sash, and let the robe slide smoothly from her shoulders. It pooled onto the floor at her feet.
Leo let out a harsh, jagged breath. He crossed the room in four long strides, stopping inches in front of her. He looked down at her face, his eyes searching hers, asking a silent, desperate question.Permission.
Olivia smiled, a soft, confident curve of her lips, and nodded.
