No more.
Leo couldn’t see the future, much as he wished he could, but he could control the now. He could treat Izzy with the respect Harrison so obviously didn’t know how to give. The respect Leo hadn’t known how to give.
Until now.
He could make love to her for days if that’s what she wanted. He so hoped that’s what she wanted. Or he could give her space. Whatever made this easier on her.
Isabella moved across the bed to sit next to him, clutching her phone to her chest. “Leo,” she sighed. “I’m sorry. I wish you hadn’t seen those.”
“Maybe I should go.” He stood, hands on his hips, searching the floor for his clothing.
She scrambled off the bed, taking his hand in hers. “Please don’t.”
With her hair messy and her lips swollen, she was more than enticing. He wanted to sweep her up in his arms and yank her back down on the bed with him. But he was not making decisions on impulse. He needed to let her call the shots. To show him what she wanted. What she needed.
“Things are…complicated,” she said.
He sighed and tugged the phone from her grasp, returning it to the nightstand. “It’s okay. I know you have a life, Izzy. I don’t expect you to walk away from everything just because…” He glanced at the bed, then met her eyes again. “But I’m not ready to let him just have you either. If you aren’t sure about me, I want to try to make you sure.” He took her hand, kissed her fingertips. “Ten years is a long time. I don’t want a lifetime to pass knowing that I didn’t at least try for the one thing I want most in this world.”
Her gaze traveled up the length of him, lingering and taking him in, and his stomach clenched. Her brown eyes darkened, and she said, “Then make me sure.”
Her lips curved devilishly, and she dragged him back to the bed. He not only went with her willingly, but eagerly.
God help him.
It was midnight, and snow was falling outside her window. He was falling, too. With every kiss, every touch, every new taste of her, he felt himself tumbling into Isabella’s universe all over again.
He took her until his arms wouldn’t hold him anymore, then she led the way, planting images of her ecstasy in his mind that he prayed would never leave.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Isabella
On day five,Isabella opened her eyes to the sun peering through the sheer curtains, glowing against the mauve-colored carpet, giving it an orangish hue. As a teenager, Isabella loved to wake up slowly, take in the sights of her room as it awoke with her. Her bedroom had been one of her favorite places while growing up. She spent plenty of time perched at the window seat, daydreaming about her future, traveling, and story ideas.
But today, as she woke lazily, she realized too late that she wasn’t alone. Next to her lay a very hard body. A very naked, mouth-watering, tempting body.
Leo. In her childhood bedroom.
She reached for her phone on the nightstand—8:55 a.m.
She’d slept late.Crap.
With only an unfair moment to take in the view of Leo’s bare, solid chest, Isabella shoved him in the arm. “Leo, wake up! We fell asleep.”
He jolted awake, then zoned in on her face, a sleepy smile spreading on his lips. “Good morning,” he said, all husky and sexy.
“Not good morning, Leo. You can’t be here.”
There was a knock on the door. Isabella’s heart jumped. She put a finger to Leo’s lips, giving him a look of warning.
“Izzy?” Dad called from the other side of the door. “It’s almost nine o’clock. You feeling alright?”
Isabella leapt out of the bed, naked as the day was long, yanking on Leo’s arm. “Hurry, get up!” she hissed quietly. Then hollered over her shoulder, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
She wrapped up in a blanket and raced around the room searching for Leo’s clothes as he hopped around yanking on his jeans.
“Are you sure? What’s all that noise?” Dad asked through the door.
