Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Kat stole another look at Leo. It had been a couple weeks since he’d joined them for dinner regularly.
She hadn’t questioned it when he’d stopped coming.
Sonya had assured her that sometimes Leo and Reese, her other son, would get so caught up with their work that they’d come in late to eat what she saved them in the fridge.
At the time, Kat had been… relieved. She’d not wanted to interact with Leo when tensions were so high. Especially leading up to that day in the cabin.
But then that night had changed everything. She couldn’t stop thinking about the connection they’d made when they’d been out there.
Coupled with the things he made her feel at the wedding?
It was a safe assessment that she was slowly but surely losing her grasp on the reality she’d come here to live. Now, with him standing mere feet from her chopping the vegetables that she’d purchased, it was almost too easy to pretend that they had something more.
Ridiculous as it was, she found herself wondering what life would be like if she didn’t have the upbringing she’d been blessed with. What if she’d been born into a place like Rocky Ridge? Would she have still been so driven that she wouldn’t allow a man to dictate the sort of life she would lead?
Kat wanted to think so, but right about now? She couldn’t be sure.
Leo hummed to himself as he chopped. His long-sleeved shirt was rolled up to the middle of his forearms. His large, capable hands wielded that knife like he could have been a chef in another life.
He stilled his work and his eyes slowly lifted until they collided with hers. He stared at her unabashed as his humming fell to nothing. The only thing she heard was the racing of her own heart as she was forced to come face to face with a terrible new reality.
She was attracted to him.
More than that, she might even be developing feelings for him.
During the tail-end of their outing, he’d tugged her into a shop where they sold all sorts of horse-related items. She’d thought he needed to pick up something for the ranch, but then he’d taken her down an aisle and thrusted a pair of beautiful riding boots toward her.
She’d insisted that she didn’t need them—heck, she even tried to tell him if she wanted them she would purchase them herself.
He’d refused.
Leo had forced her to try them on then he’d insisted on paying for them.
When they were heading out the door,she was tempted to turn around and return the blasted things.
He’d warned her not to even consider it because he’d be taking her riding again and this time they wouldn’t be getting stuck in a cabin for the night however much he might like the idea.
Those very boots were currently propped up against the wall in her bedroom upstairs.
Leo arched a brow as he cleared his throat, and she was ripped back to the here and now. The way he was looking at her. It made her wonder if he was beginning to feel the same things she was feeling for him.
No matter how much she told herself that he wasn’t, she couldn’t be entirely sure.
“Yum. Something smells delicious!”
Kat jumped and turned back to the pan on the stove where she currently stirred the tomato sauce. She’d added a slew of spices to the mixture. It was her mother’s special combination of flavor that couldn’t be replicated in any commercial form.
Her face was likely all too similar to the shade of red she currently stirred.
Footsteps padded through the kitchen and Kat forced herself to relax.
There was a very real chance that Sonya had caught her staring at Leo and Kat couldn’t decide if she was more embarrassed by the fact that she got caught or that she was doing it in the first place.
“Need anything else?” Leo’s low rumble came directly behind her ear and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
Why did he have to affect her like that?
No one—not even Chaz—had managed to do such a thing to her.
She couldn’t recall a single time in her life when a man had made her second guess her feelings about anything.
“N-no.” She stammered. “I’m all g-good here.” She squeezed her eyes shut.
“I could use your help getting some firewood, Leo,” Sonya called from the back door.
Kat didn’t have to look back to know the second that Leo had left her side.
The lack of heat was more than enough to tell her when he’d moved even a few inches away.
She swallowed hard, reminding herself that nothing was wrong.
Just because she was staring to have feelings for the guy meant nothing.
At least it didn’t until she overheard the voices from the back door that had been left ajar.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, mom.”
“Ha. You can deny all you want, son, but I saw the way the two of you were looking at each other. There’s something there and the sooner you admit it to yourself, the happier you’ll be.”
Leo groaned. “While I appreciate your incessant need to meddle in my love life, I’m perfectly capable of finding a woman all on my own.”
There was a lull of silence then the creak of the door as someone opened it. Kat could feel his stare on her back the second he entered the house, but she chose to remain focused on the saucepan.
If his mother saw it, that had to mean something, right? Did Kat want it to mean something?
She was beginning to lean toward the idea more and more with each passing minute, no matter how irresponsible it might seem.
There was a strange sort of glow out of Kat’s window when she woke the following morning. Sleep hadn’t come easy last night so the fact that she’d woken up before the sun was a feat all on its own.
She groaned, rubbing at her tired eyes before peering at the window again. That glow was most definitely not the sun rising on the horizon. Nope, this was something else entirely.
Glowing red numbers told her it wasn’t even six in the morning yet and she groaned again before rolling onto her side. Still, that strange light seemed to call to her. With a frustrated tossing of her comforter, she headed toward the window.
Then the widest smile crossed her face when she drank in the sight of the first snowfall of winter.
Back home, snow didn’t dump on the ground like this in the early days of October. Kat wasn’t sure if the snow came earlier here regularly or if this was a fluke. At the moment, she didn’t care one bit.
Her eyes caught sight of a familiar figure tugging his coat around his body as he took a couple steps into the snow. He stared off in one direction, but she wasn’t sure what he was looking for. Then he glanced up at her window.
Kat jumped back with a gasp before realizing that he probably couldn’t even see her with how dark it was in the bedroom.
When she inched closer to the window, she found Leo was still standing within view.
He held a steaming cup of something. Why wasn’t he drinking it inside or on the porch?
Why stand in the snow at the foot of the stairs?
It didn’t matter, because in the next second a giddiness fell over her like the pounding of a rainstorm.
She scrambled to pull on a pair of jeans, a sweater, and her boots before she yanked her coat from the hook on the back of the door.
She thundered down the stairs only to grimace at the bottom praying that she didn’t wake Sonya.
She was about to head out the back of the house where she’d seen Leo but then thought better of it and scuttled toward the front door where she painstakingly opened it and slipped into the early morning frosted air.
The cold nipped at her cheeks and before she considered all the consequences of her decisions, she stooped down to scoop a ball of snow into her hands.
The ice bit at her skin. She should have found some gloves before racing out here to act like a child who had never seen snow before. Oh well. She wouldn’t be out here long.
Soft snow didn’t crunch at her feet—at least not yet. But it was wet enough to stick together in her hands. She tiptoed around the side of the house, breathing out a puff of air in relief when she found Leo still standing contemplatively a few steps from the house.
A wicked grin spread across her face, and she pulled back her hand before launching the ball of snow right at him.
Disgruntled, surprised curses slipped from Leo’s lips when the snow exploded against the side of his head. He whirled around, fire in his gaze. Those two burning orbs landed on her and what should have been a glower meant to freeze her to the spot only had her doubling over in peals of laughter.
Until he tossed the mug in his hand and prowled toward her.
Kat yelped with a surprised laugh before she took off running. In her haste to escape, she scooped another decent amount of snow in her hand before careening around the side of the house. She backed up against the siding, breathing deeply and hearing his thrashing footsteps as he chased her down.
The second he rounded the corner, she shoved the snow into his face with another squeal of laughter. Kat caught a brief glance of him wiping the snow from his face with a growl before she took off running around the back of the house again.
It felt like a blizzard had erupted in her chest complete with swirling snowflakes and brash winds. She wouldn’t have been able to slow her racing heart if she tried—not that she wanted to. The exhilaration and adrenaline were far too addicting.
She got another ball of snow ready and leaned against the house, her eyes trained on the corner where she knew he’d be arriving any second. The seconds ticked by. Her heart still refused to slow. He’d gotten wise to her. She could already see it. He’d probably wait for her to come looking for him.
Well, she wasn’t that dumb. He was more than likely pressed against the house just around that corner and she wasn’t going to be the target of their little war.
When was the last time she’d smiled this much? She couldn’t remember.
The longer she waited, the more anxious she became. Had she hurt his feelings? Was he actually mad at her?
That thought had her pushing away from the wall and inching closer to the corner of the house. Shoot, if she upset him, then the truce they’d formed might as well have never happened at all.
Step after step, she drifted closer. Her ears strained to hear any sign of him but all she heard was her own thundering heart and the sound of her ragged breathing. At the edge of the house, she leaned forward and peeked.
Nothing.
Great.
Kat straightened just as a body collided with hers. Hands wrapped around her waist, taking her down in a strange sort of tuck and roll. She screamed with surprise. Leo’s dark chuckle was the only thing to make her eyes fly wide open.
And there he was. Hovering over her small frame. His hands clutched at her wrists, pinning them into the snow above her head. There was a maniacal glint in his eyes—heated and full of… desire?
Cold seeped into her back but it was nothing to the inferno of Leo’s presence.
He was breathing heavy now. Their chests rising and falling as they took each other in.
Leo released her hands before he raised one to her face.
It was warmer than her chilled skin and the change in temperature sent shivers coursing through her body.
The tension between them that had been pulled taut at the beginning of the summer had only seemed to coil tighter and tighter with each interaction they had with one another. Leo rubbed a thumb along her cheekbone, his eyes sweeping from her eyes to her lips.
As if against her will, Kat’s own hands framed his face. She stared into his hooded eyes. There were so many emotions bursting to life within her like different colored fireworks. There had been a time when she couldn’t stand him—when she would have done anything to steer clear of him.
But something had inexplicably changed.
“Leo…” she whispered. That single word was the only thing that escaped past her chilled lips before he captured them with his own.
His kiss was hot, searing, and breath stealing.
The way he could make the world completely disappear with a single touch was—magic.
There was no other way to describe it. There was no such thing as pain or cold;disappointment or fear.
He took it away all with a brush of his lips against hers.
He stole anything negative that stood even a chance of surviving his light.
Kat melted into his kiss, clinging to him, demanding more. Her fingers dug into his hair and she tugged him closer wanting to disappear in this euphoria he offered. How was it that this man could feel like a stranger while at the same time make her feel utterly seen?
None of it made any sense.
Somewhere in the recesses of her mind she recognized the sound of a door slamming shut. And just like that, reality crashed into her. Eyes flew wide and she realized what she was doing. She was kissing Leo Chambers. In the snow.
Kat gasped, breaking the kiss. Leo pulled back, his eyes looking just as dazed as she felt. Concern flickered in his gaze briefly before she half-heartedly shoved him away from her. With trembling limbs, she scrambled to her feet.
“Kat—” he started.
“I’m s-sorry,” she chattered. Was it the cold? Or was it those feelings that swirled inside her? Probably the latter.
“Kat,” he said more firmly.
She didn’t pause to look at him as she ran toward the house. They would have to talk about this. She knew they would. But, just like any other important meeting, she wasn’t going to go into it unprepared. She needed to figure out what came next before she could speak to him face-to-face.