Chapter 10
Shandra plopped down on the couch and took a deep breath. The day was long, but it was good. Now that her walls were down, it was obvious to anyone with eyes and a brain just how well she and Leo complemented each other. They laughed at the same things. When she went left, he went right, but they always came together. It was like a dance.
Even when dealing with Amina, who had a blast driving around the backyard in her new pink car. They seemed to be connected in all things. Their day had been full of fun—like a true family day, even if they never left the grounds of the house.
Several times during the day, Leo had to step away from her and Amina to meet with his men or take a call. Usually from Tristan. He never mentioned anything, but she knew it had to do with her. His eyes would cut in her direction as she listened to whoever was speaking. She wanted to ask what was happening, but she waited. If there was something he needed to tell her, he would. The last thing he would do was put Amina in danger, so if there was something she needed to know that would keep her safe, Leo would tell her. She trusted him. To keep her safe. To keep her daughter safe. So, she let it go. If he had to handle some business every once in a while, then that was fine by her.
In an effort to relax, she closed her eyes and stretched her neck to get the kinks out. Leo had poured her a glass of wine and told her to relax as he read Amina a story and put her to bed. Shandra was thankful for the help. It reminded her of all the other times when she was at Camille’s house and Leo would hover outside the door as she put Amina to bed. He never overstepped, but he was always there.
If Amina called out to him, he would be by her side in a split second. When she wanted a story from her Leo the Lion, he was never too busy and never denied her request. He’d been acting as a father figure all this time. She had just been too blind and too stubborn to see what was happening right in front of her.
She opened her eyes and looked around the large room, wondering what it would be like to live here with Leo. It was a big house, and although he only used a small part of the space, with a small child around, there would be a lot more clutter. Then again, she heard him very clearly when he said he wanted to have more babies with her.
Just the thought of being pregnant with his child was enough to make her heart beat faster. But she also couldn’t think of anything that would make her happier. Had she been falling in love with Leo this entire time?
With every interaction between them, her feelings built and grew. When he would leave her home after dinner or after a weekend at the Lucarelli compound, it tore her apart. At the time, she wasn’t ready to confront the mix of emotions he brought out in her.
Without a doubt, he was the one for her. There was no one else who could make her feel this way. Pampered. Respected. Loved. It was enough to make her cry.
Leo walked into the room, and her eyes immediately went to his large, muscled frame. Even in his relaxed weekend gear, the man was imposing. Yet, he could also be gentle and sweet to a little girl who looked up to him and loved him. He could also be a very sexy distraction to a tired mother who needed to feel desired.
“She’s sleeping. She tried to get a second story out of me, but I put my foot down.” He sat on the couch next to her.
Shandra didn’t buy it for one minute. “What did you promise her?” She noticed his guilty side glance and almost burst out laughing.
“I promised her we’d have pizza tomorrow. And I said we would both read her a story tomorrow night.” Leo smiled at her surprised expression. “I needed to get back to you, but I also couldn’t disappoint her. So, I had to make a deal.”
“Man, you should know better by now. That little girl has you wrapped around her little pinky. You can’t always give her everything she wants. I’m surprised you didn’t give in and read her two stories tonight.” His cheeks bloomed with red, and she couldn’t hold it in anymore. “You didn’t. Leo! Even after you told her she would get pizza and two stories tomorrow night?”
“Well, you didn’t see her. She had those sad eyes when I tried to walk out. Then she said I was the best storyteller ever. That no one tells stories like I do. However, she asked me not to tell you. Said it would hurt your feelings. How could I not read her another short… very short story?”
Now this was too damn funny. This big, dangerous man could be brought to his knees and changed to a big old teddy bear by a small five-year-old child. “You’re such a sucker.”
He shook his head in defeat. “Yeah, I know. But for you and Amina, I’ll be a sucker any day.” Reaching out to Shandra, he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her body over so that she was sitting on his lap. Her new favorite spot.
“Leo, you have to stop manhandling me,” she groused, but secretly loved every moment of him touching her so gently. Knowing that he wanted her close to him made it all worth it.
“No. I’ll never stop. I want to be close to you as much as I can. We have an entire year to get caught up on. Plus, I think you owe me.”
Her head snapped back. “For what?”
A smile lifted his lips, which should have made him look innocent. All it did was make him look even more devilishly handsome. “For making us wait to be together. For not giving us a chance. For delaying what we could have. And most importantly, for keeping your pussy from me. Do you know how many nights I stayed awake wishing you were in bed next to me? There were so many mornings I’d wake up with a rock-hard dick from dreaming about you.”
Shandra would not apologize for all that. But she also knew her man had been suffering. All that was going to end tonight. She lifted one hand and ran her fingers through the dark strands. “Well, you don’t have to wait anymore. I’m glad I’m here with you.”
“I am too.”
His hand came up to cup her face, bringing it to his. “I don’t want to let you go. You are mine, Shandra. No matter what has come before or what will happen after tonight, nothing will ever come between us. I won’t push you to move in with me immediately, but it will happen soon. These next few days will give us time to truly get to know each other. I want to know what keeps you up at night. What you do when no one’s around and the music is playing? Do you like bubble baths? What spot on your body is most sensitive to touch? Because I plan to touch, lick, and enjoy every inch of your beautiful brown skin. You becoming my wife is the only thing I need in my life right now. You are my future wife. Amina is my daughter. Fuck anything and anyone who tries to come between us.”
Who knew Leo could pull out such sweet words? To Shandra, it felt as if he were saying wedding vows to her. For a moment, she questioned how fast things were moving. Just over a week ago, they had never even kissed. Half the time when he was around, she was tongue-tied and couldn’t get a word out, or caustic and snappy, to hide the fact that she was falling hard for him. “Well, how can I resist you after that?”
“Baby, that’s the whole plan.”
Leo captured her lips with his. A moan released from his throat as he dove in. Their tongues twisted sensually against each other. He wanted more of her. Needed to be inside her. His hands grabbed her tight, not allowing her to pull back or separate from him. He needed her touch more than he needed air to breathe.
When he could wait no longer, he pulled back and looked at the woman who was finally in his arms after all this time. His eyes lustfully took in her beautiful face, roaming slowly down to her pebbled nipples that pressed against the thin cotton of her T-shirt. He could feel the flesh pressing into his chest.
“Shandra,” a soft moan escaped his throat. His cock stiffened in response, and within seconds, he quickly closed the space between them, pulling her body firmly against his. Their eyes locked in a heated gaze, and the air became dense with sensuality. Unable to resist, Leo leaned in and devoured Shandra’s lips, kissing her as if he’d never see her again. As if she’d walk out his door and disappear from his life.
The softness of her full lips sent shivers down his body, and their tongues swirled around in a passionate dance. His heart was beating so fast it felt as if it would burst out of his chest. His hands move up her shirt with tortuous accuracy. The touch of his calloused hands, rough yet gentle, provoked a high-pitched moan of pleasure from the dark-skinned beauty. The rock-hard bulge in his workout pants stiffened even more. Leo had been with a lot of women over the years, but he had never known pleasure like this before.
Not wanting to stop, but needing air, he broke away from her kiss, panting as he pressed his forehead against hers.
“Are you ready for me, baby?” Leo asked, even though he could feel the desperation wafting off her. With every pull of his hair as she grasped his head… every moan… every whimper, sent him to the edge. Even the look in her eyes was almost his undoing. How had he waited so long to claim her? To tell her how he truly felt? So much time had been wasted when they could have been loving and fucking and living their life together this whole time.
She nodded and smiled. “Yes. I want you so much right now. I need to feel your release inside me. It’s time for me to be yours, Leo.”
“Damn, girl. You make me weak as well. Do you know that? I feel like I need to conquer the world to protect you.”
Leo had a way of making Shandra feel as if she were the only woman in the world.
“Don’t you want to practice making a baby with me?” Her eyes focused on his as she said the words, and his dick twitched and ached in his pants.
Leo knew he was probably leaking but didn’t care. He growled as he imagined her legs spread wide and her hot, pretty pussy glistening with arousal. “Fuck me,” he hissed.
Shandra giggled at the sound, her own arousal increasing every second she sat on his lap with his thick rod pressing against her. “I predict you’ll be saying that a lot more soon enough.”
Unable to control his raging lust, Leo swept Shandra up into his arms, cradling her to his chest as he lifted himself from the couch. “Wrap your legs around my waist.” The bedroom was almost too far away in the large house, but he wanted their first time together to be comfortable. And what better place than the room she would share with him in the near future? He never broke a sweat while he carried her throughout the house.
This turned Shandra on even more. Her man was fit as hell, and she was excited about what would happen in the bedroom. The man’s stamina had to be on level one thousand. Once they made it to the bedroom, he placed her on top of the bed and looked down at her. Quickly pulling his shirt over his head, he smiled when her fingers trailed over his chest. “Like what you see?”
Yes, he was cocky as hell, but he had reason to be.
“Yes, I do,” she admitted. She didn’t even try to play coy. Shandra knew Leo was fine under those suits, but damn, she had no idea. He had the Italian flag draped over a cross tattooed on his chest. She wanted to lick his skin—taste him—but didn’t want to distract him from his mission.
Leo pulled Shandra’s T-shirt up over her head and watched the mounds of her breasts as they bounced free. “Damn, baby,” he murmured at the sight, not realizing she wasn’t wearing a bra. How could he have missed that?
Leo growled, a deep, throaty noise of desire as he closed his mouth over one sensitive breast. At the touch of his warm mouth and wet tongue on her sensitive flesh, Shandra moaned deeply. Her eyes closed as she focused on the pleasure of his tongue flicking over her nipple, coaxing it to tighten even harder. She was overcome with sensation. Her channel clenched, the slickness seeping into her panties.
His hand covered the other breast, his thumb and forefinger rubbing that nipple, twisting it slightly, and making her gasp in surprise. Her hips moved instinctively as she squirmed beneath his touch. Freeing one leg, she wrapped it over his hip as his belly rubbed at the apex of her legs. They both moved in a rhythm as old as time, as their fever for each other increased.
He lingered for a while, lavishing kisses and gentle nibbles on her sensitive breasts. He then slid further down her belly, leaving a trail of moist kisses that led down to her navel. He reached underneath her, lifting her hips off the bed as he began pulling her leggings and underwear down her body. With every inch of bared skin, desire smoldered in his forest-green gaze. The color deepened the more his need for her increased.
Once she was fully naked in front of him, he couldn’t help but lean down to worship her body even more. Leo kissed his way up the length of one smooth leg, trailing the tip of his tongue along the inside of her thigh and making her tremble.
Shandra’s back arched off the bed, and she twirled her hips desperately as he kissed and licked the inside of her other thigh up to her weeping entrance. He looked up at her from his place between her thighs. He smiled as she writhed with passion for him. Her jaw had fallen slack and her chest heaved with exertion.
When she sensed that he had grown still, she lifted her head and looked down at him. “Stop torturing me, Leo. Please don’t make me wait.”
He smirked at her with that crooked, devilish smile that made her stomach flutter with need.