20. Casey
Chapter Twenty
CASEY
That morning, I was due to leave early to go into the café. It was still dark when Leo got up with me. “I can drive you in,” he offered.
Fresh from a shower, my hair was damp and my skin still warm. “You don’t have to.”
His brows arched up, his lips twitching at the corners.
“Oh, I don’t have my car.” I smiled sheepishly.
He grinned. “You could walk.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. “I appreciate the ride.”
His gaze sobered. “What is this to you?”
I cleared my throat, my pulse starting to kick up its pace and anxiety spinning in my belly. Emotion crested inside of me.
Before I could answer, he reached for my hand. “I don’t know where this is going, but it’s important to me. You know I have a lot going on with Dora, but this is real for me.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I blinked them away quickly. My heart felt as if it were clapping inside my chest. “It’s real for me too, but what does that mean?”
“I think it means if we both feel this way, we keep seeing each other. We could discuss it with Delaney and tell her the whole story,” he said, his lips twisting to the side with a half-smile.
“Let’s tell her. We might as well.”
His eyes held mine, and heat started to suffuse me while my belly felt tingly. “When I see you at the café, do I pretend we’re friends, or something else?”
Joy, anticipation, and anxiety were bubbling over inside me. “Something else.”
Maybe I didn’t even know what I meant by that, but I didn’t want to sneak around with Leo.