But then he responded, “Of course.”
And she inwardly exhaled the pent-up dread. This was Leo. She didn’t need to feel anxious about what he would think of her.
“Are you okay?”
Tears worked their way into her eyes. She didn’t know why exactly. Her crying always made Harrison nervous. He never really knew quite what to do with her, so he usually left her alone.
But what Isabella desperately needed at those times wasn’t to be left alone. But instead, she needed a hug. She needed someone who cared about her enough to be there. To show up. To comfort her.
“I’m fine.” She raised her chin and swiped at a traitorous tear.
“What’s wrong? Did I do something?”
She gave a slight shake of her head, gazing up at him again, staring into his familiar brown eyes. “No, you’re wonderful.” Her voice came out uneven.
He bent down, holding her gaze. “Hey. Talk to me.”
She unhooked her arms from his neck and sat down on the edge of the hearth’s stone ledge, propping a knee up as she stared into the remaining flames in the fireplace.
Leo joined her.
“It’s just, I don’t know. Being back here. With you. Our conversation on the deck this morning.” She pushed her hair away from her face.
“Yeah,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve been wanting to continue that conversation.”
“Me too.” She smiled, wiping her wet cheeks. “Because I gotta admit, I’m a little confused.”
“You’re not the only one.” He winked.
“I just have so many unfinished feelings that clearly never went away.”
He nodded. “I don’t think either of us ever really got that closure thing people are always talking about.”
She looked at him with a soft smile, though she felt so much sadness for both of them. “No. I guess we didn’t.” She studied his face. She didn’t want to forget the angle of his cheekbones, the scruff on his chin, his mesmerizing brown eyes. “I know I had a choice in the matter, and you didn’t,” she said, “but I need you to know that it didn’t make the pain any less or the situation any easier. I thought I would die without you, Leo. It hurt so much, but I thought I was doing the right thing.”
He rested a firm hand on her thigh, sliding it up and down, sending soothing warmth flooding into her. “Hey.” Again, he bent low and caught her gaze. “I’m glad to know that I wasn’t easy to leave. But I’m sorry you went through that. Being alone…it had to have been tough. I had my family. If I had just known.” A sigh left him, and the obvious lingering hurt she’d caused him streaked his beautiful face.
An ache formed in her gut that wouldn’t ease. She had caused his pain—caused the wedge between them.
“You could never be easy to leave.” Tears welled in her eyes again. “I wish I would’ve done things differently. But to be honest, I don’t know if I would have. She was your mom, Leo.”
“I know. I get that…now. And really, you respecting her that much means a lot. A hell of a lot.” He ran his palm down her leg and her fingers itched to touch him. “But I can’t lie and say that I don’t wish you would’ve done things differently.”
“And now that you know everything, what do you think I should’ve done?”
He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know. Maybe given me all the information and let me decide.”
She shook her head. “I couldn’t let you do that. You would’ve had to decide between me and your family. I just couldn’t. I thought it would be easier if I decided for you.”
“Yeah, but that should’ve been my call, Izzy.”
Tears slipped out of her eyes, and she wiped at them quickly.
He leaned into her, pulling her face toward his while his eyes danced back and forth between hers. Her mouth watered, and her breath quickened. With their lips hovering over one another’s, grazing slightly, he confessed in a whisper, “I told you this morning. I would’ve picked you. And I meant it.”
She blinked out more tears and he wiped them away before kissing her. This time, their kiss felt different, more earnest, and without alcohol insisting they needed one another. Instead, the craving was raw and real, and she couldn’t deny it. The desire was like a dull ache in her chest.
Isabella reached her arms around him, pulled him closer, and he kissed her harder and with more fervor. The kiss resembled a hundred of their teenage kisses all wrapped into one gigantic explosion. It felt more grown-up and yet, that familiar childlike nostalgia was still there, lingering. And it only made her want him more. To never stop kissing the Leo she fell in love with all those years ago. He was still in there. And the man he’d become was a highlighted version.
