Chapter 19
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It had been a couple weeks since Kat had gone ice skating with Leo. And since that night, Leo had taken her on several more dates. They’d started spending most of their free time with each other.
And Kat couldn’t complain.
Being with Leo? There was nothing she would rather do.
“It’s really laughable,” Kat grinned as she met Jane’s eyes over her coffee mug.
“I don’t know. Seems to me like it was bound to happen.” Jane snickered when she caught sight of Kat’s surprised expression. “Think about it, Kat. The two of you spend so much time together. You were bound to become friends.”
At that, Kat nearly choked. They’d kept their relationship a secret for the most part.
Only Sonya knew about how close they’d gotten.
Jane might have some suspicions seeing as she was overseeing the therapy center charity.
It was her baby and there was no way she wouldn’t be paying attention to the people involved in her project.
If Kat were in her place, she would know everything going on between her employees.
Granted, Kat was a partner of sorts. And Leo was simply a liaison to Sagebrush Ranch, but still. Kat knew that a budding romance between people who worked for her could get messy. That was what HR was for.
“Earth to Kat,” Jane sang.
Kat jumped, her eyes focusing on Jane. “What?”
“Where did you go?” Jane laughed. “I lost you there for a moment.”
Smiling, praying that she could keep her blush in check, Kat shrugged. “Just thinking. Sorry. I’m a little distracted.” By a certain cowboy.
Jane tilted her head, her eyes shining. “You and Leo have been getting pretty close. Are you sure it’s nothing more than friendship?”
“Of course,” Kat chirped a little too quickly. “You know me. I don’t belong in a place like this. Rocky Ridge is great—wonderful—but it’s not the city. Life runs too slow out here.”
The woman before her hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose so. But to be honest, I like the slow. It’s… peaceful.”
She wasn’t wrong. Kat knew that better than anyone. But the problem was, she thrived on the hustle and bustle of her job in the city. She needed the excitement.
Jane’s voice tugged her from her thoughts once again. “Honestly, I could see you here.”
“What?” Kat laughed. “You’re joking.”
Her friend shook her head. “Nope. I could see you finding a chaotic job out here. You know, having the best of both worlds. I get that you need the excitement that your job offers. But you seem to enjoy the simple things, too.” The way she said it made Kat think about Leo.
She’d be lying if she told herself that a part of her didn’t want to stay.
Kat looked away. She couldn’t meet Jane’s eyes when she murmured, “Nah. If I moved to a place like this? I’d give myself one year before I went stir-crazy.”
“Are you sure? We all need balance to be happy.”
Balance. Ha. What a concept. Her mother had aspirations. She’d wanted to be a wife, a mother, and a dancer. She’d had to make her sacrifice. Where was her balance? Her father had made his decision and he chose his career. There was no balance for people like Kat.
But looking at Jane, Kat could tell the woman wouldn’t agree with her. So she shrugged. “Maybe.” It was the most noncommittal thing she could have said. Thankfully, it had been enough to get Jane off her back.
They continued talking over their coffee for another twenty minutes before Jane motioned to the door for them to head back to the ranch. The coffee date had been a nice reprieve. But now Kat wanted only one thing.
She wanted to see Leo.
Kat darted behind the side of the barn and clasped a hand around her mouth. Her heart galloped harder than it should have at catching sight of Leo and it wasn’t all due to what she was about to do.
In her other hand, she held the most perfect snowball.
The last deep conversation she’d had with Leo had been all about her childhood and how she’d missed out on so much growing up.
She hadn’t been ice skating. She didn’t participate in sports.
She’d been so focused on being the best daughter she could to make her father proud that she didn’t even hang out with friends.
She’d been a machine even as a kid.
Now? Leo was starting to bring out the playful side of her that she hadn’t known existed and it had all started with that date to the frozen pond.
Leo’s boots crunched in the snow, drawing closer to her. He’d just exited the building. Making an educated guess on where he’d be heading to next, she prepared herself to lie in wait. All she needed was for him to get close enough and she’d lob the snow right at him.
A giggle threatened to bubble up in her chest. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea, but it was too late for her to back out now. Once Kat Jerris made a decision, she stuck with it.
Holding the snowball ready, she strained her ears.
The crunching had stopped. In fact, she couldn’t hear anything.
It was like the world held its breath. Alarm bells rang in her head as she inched closer to the edge of her hiding place and peered around.
Maybe Leo had gone back inside the barn?
Or she’d miscalculated and he’d gone the other way?
Leo was nowhere in sight when she peeked around the building.
There were too many boot prints in the snow for her to successfully decipher which ones could possibly be his.
Slowly, she inched even farther out into the open.
If he was back in the barn, she’d just have to wait a little longer. But if he’d gone somewhere else?
One step in front of the other.
Heart pounding wildly.
Breathing erratic and shallow.
She’d never been this nervous in her entire life. Not even when she’d had her first meeting with one of her father’s most important clients.
A pair of arms wrapped around her middle and lifted her off the ground.
The snowball fell from her hand, and she squealed with surprise and maybe a little terror.
The uptick of her racing heart only increased as Leo’s low, sensual voice murmured behind her ear.
“Were you going to throw that snowball at me, Princess?”
She gasped, squirming in his hold as soon as her feet were returned to the ground. “What snowball?”
He chuckled. His hold on her relaxed only enough for her to turn around in his arms. At some point, he’d dragged her back so they were shielded from any curious gazes. She only vaguely noticed the way he backed her up against the side of the barn until she felt the firm structure there.
Leo released her then, palms against the barn on either side of her head, caging her in. He stared down at her, his eyes twinkling with mischief. “The snowball you dropped.”
She’d been trained not to show her cards.
Her father had taught her how to keep her expression blank so no one could read her weaknesses or her plans for her next move.
And yet, when she was with Leo, she couldn’t help but give herself away.
Her eyes darted to where she’d been standing moments ago and right there was a distinct snowball cracked into a couple pieces.
A blush crawled up her neck and settled in her face before she flicked her eyes back to Leo. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she whispered, her voice shaky.
His closeness was doing things to her that she wasn’t at all prepared for.
Usually, she could keep her cool as long as she psyched herself up for it.
But with her failed attempt to start a snowball fight with Leo, combined with being cornered by the most handsome cowboy on the premises, she was nowhere near controlled enough and he was likely seeing through every form of defense she’d honed over the last decade.
“Liar,” he murmured, his lips close to her ear.
Kat sucked in a gasp and closed her eyes as he trailed his nose along her jawline.
“I think you were getting ready to throw that snowball as soon as I got close enough.”
She bit her lower lip, her eyes opening when he pulled back far enough to meet her gaze.
“That wasn’t very hospitable of you, now was it, Princess?”
Stifling another giggle, she shook her head. “You’re paranoid.” Her voice wasn’t nearly as confident as she’d needed it to be.
Leo cocked his head to the side. “You don’t want to start a snowball fight with me, Princess.” His eyes lowered to her mouth and he slanted his face even closer. They were a hair’s breadth apart.
“Why not?” she whispered breathlessly, her attention now on his lips as well.
“Because you’d lose.”
She could barely hear his voice over the roaring of her pulse in her ears.
What was he doing to her? This wasn’t the Leo she’d met in the summer—the Leo who couldn’t stand to be around her.
No, this Leo was another breed entirely.
He was a rare kind of man who could get past her defenses.
He was the kind of man who could really see her for who she was. He was perfect for her.
Leo’s intentions were made perfectly clear when his eyes flicked to meet hers. He was going to kiss her, right here, right now.
What he didn’t know was that she’d had a backup plan.
She just needed to gather the strength to pull away from his intoxicating presence.
Before his lips met hers, Kat ducked down.
It was harder than she’d expected seeing as Leo’s large frame truly did cage her against the building.
But she managed to scramble onto her hands and knees.
The position gave her the chance to grab a handful of snow, and while it wouldn’t be enough for a snowball, it would do the trick.
Kat jumped up, spun around, and clapped her gloved hand, snow and all, against his cheek. She rubbed in the frozen flakes with a raucous laugh before sprinting away. There was no chance she would be sticking around for Leo to retaliate no matter how much she wanted to see his shocked expression.
He’d been the one to tell her she needed to enjoy life. He’d insisted that there needed to be a balance.