Chapter Thirty #2
I chuckled and waved, appreciating his ability to break the ice with jokes. “It’s nice to meet you. Leo talks about you a lot.”
“I’m so sorry, Sophia.” Sutton got up and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. “For you being stuck with us and for the way my sister-in-law welcomed you with a conversation about our sex life. I’m Leo’s mom, Sutton.”
I hugged her back, grateful for such a warm welcome. Connor’s mother had eyed me like I was the enemy throughout our entire relationship. “Really, don’t worry about it,” I said.
Sloane laughed. “If she’s staying here for a few days, she’s going to hear about sex.”
“Seriously?” Adrian stepped forward and offered his hand to me. “I’m Adrian, Leo’s dad. And we truly are sorry about her. She’s the crazy neighbor across the hall who we can’t escape.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I said with a chuckle as I returned his handshake. “I feel right at home already. My dad and stepmom have never cared who is subjected to witnessing their displays of love or listening to them talk about it.”
Sutton laughed and put a gentle hand on my back, guiding me to the two empty seats at the table across from her and Adrian. I glanced at Leo, encouraged by the smile on his face. It wasn’t hard to gather that he liked seeing me be myself with them.
“Plus, my stepfather’s hand is basically glued to my mother’s butt.” I gave Leo a big smile. “In other words, I feel your pain, Leo. Viscerally.”
Sloane laughed. “See, she’s fine. We’re the cool aunts. Sloane”—she gestured to herself—“and Lavi.” She kissed her wife on the cheek.
“Also”—Sloane turned to Adrian—“you two moved into my building, bro. So, complaining about the neighbors seems douchey.”
“Neighbor. Singular.” Adrian pointed his thumb at Lavi. “She’s great. No complaints.” I smiled and looked down at my hands, wishing I had coffee or a drink to fiddle with. Leo had told me his father and Lavi had been best friends since college and their affection for each other seemed clear.
“I told you they’d be a lot.” Leo shook his head and looked down at my suitcase. “I’ll go put this in the spare room for you.”
“Thanks,” I said, unable to hide the smile on my face. “I figured you got your humor and charisma from somewhere,” I teased as he shook his head almost imperceptibly, disappearing down the hall. I watched him until Sloane’s voice pulled me back to the table.
“So, Sophia, did Leo tell you anything about how we do Christmas around here or did he just pick you up on the side of the street and bring you home? Cause we do have a history of that around here too,” Sloane said with a pointed looked at her wife.
Jace laughed and brushed his curls off his forehead. “I wasn’t on the street when she invited me, Mom.” He reached his hand across the table to shake my hand and gave me a big smile. “I’m Jace, Leo’s cousin. And it’s nice to finally meet you.”
I blushed, wondering if he knew more about me and Leo than anyone else in this room.
“You were literally an orphan she brought home, Jace,” Sloane said. “And don’t get me started on Bowser, who I’m pretty sure is the reason Leo stopped believing in Santa.”
“I believed that dog came from Santa until Mom slipped up three years later,” Leo called to us from the other room, laughing.
I pulled my bottom lip between my teeth.
What the hell was happening to me? I was surrounded by his family and still his voice drew me to him. I was desperate to be in his orbit.
I really have it bad for my friend with benefits.
“Hey, I miss my dog. Don’t bring him into this,” Sutton said, looking sad at the memory of their family dog. I’d never had a pet growing up so I couldn’t relate to that, but I could certainly relate to Santa being spoiled by a parent.
I laughed and tucked my hair behind my ears, my eyes landing on Leo as he came back into the room, making a beeline for the seat next to me.
“I stopped believing in Santa because my stepdad slipped up too. Then my mom gave him strict orders not to even use the word Santa around my little sister until she figured it out on her own.”
Leo sat down next to me with a grin on his face as if he was already on the inside of all my family stories. “Yeah, how’d Dave do with that?”
“Not great.” I laughed, unable to take my eyes off him. “Anyway, I called Leo because I knew he would be in the city and I was pretty sure he wouldn’t leave me stranded at the airport,” I said as honestly as possible without screaming “I think we might love each other” at the middle of the table.
“That makes more sense. He’s a last-resort friend,” Sloane said, sipping her hard seltzer, clearly believing my nonchalance. “I’ve been trying to figure out why a girl who looks like you is hanging out with this douche-nozzle.”
“Sloane!” Lavi scolded. “Leo is a nice kid.”
“Our nephew is a fuckboy, Lav,” Sloane said. An unstoppable chuckle burst out of my chest. Their teasing was all so affectionate, it really did feel like being at home.
“Hey, I’m a reformed fuckboy,” Leo said proudly, glancing quickly at me.
“He’s right. I haven’t seen him sneaking out of rooms on campus in his boxers in a long time,” I said with an evil smirk.
Leo shook his head at me like he wanted to give it right back, but he restrained himself. Looking at his family, he stood up. “Okay, do not ask, everyone. I’m not elaborating.”
I caught Jace looking between us with amusement. Based on his expression, he knows more than what the rest of the family has been told.
“You want an iced latte?” Leo asked me, turning my attention back to him. “My mom’s got some ridiculous machine over there Dad got her a few years ago. It can do just about anything.”
“That would be great,” I said, already wondering if they had all the things at home that they had at the café. Kennedy could make her iced mochas and my iced vanilla lattes at home just as well as she could at the cafés. “Do you have—”
“Vanilla?” Leo cut me off with a smug smile, already moving to the kitchen. “Wouldn’t have offered one at all if I couldn’t make it the way you like it. Even have the same syrup they use at Ackerson’s.”
I smiled, my heart wanting me to drag him off and confess everything immediately. Instead, I said, “Thanks,” and turned back to his family. Lavi had a questioning look on her face, but I suspected she wouldn’t be the one to call us out.
“Can we go back? Do you mean to tell me you finally stopped fucking around?” Sloane asked, projecting her voice toward where Leo had started working on my latte in the kitchen.
“Was bound to happen eventually,” he said, giving nothing away.
“He finally screwed the wrong guy’s girlfriend, didn’t he?” Sloane asked quietly, leaning toward me.
My eyes found Leo, the guy who knew how I liked my coffee, cared for me after the worst night of my life, and kept telling me in his own casual way how important I was to him.
I did my best to answer without lying until he was ready to tell them the truth about us. “He never told me his reasons,” I said.
“Sloane, let it go,” Adrian said, as if he was trying to cover for us. “Sophia, please help yourself to food. You should make yourself at home while you’re here.”
“Thank you,” I said, trying to pay attention to them again and shift the focus from Leo.
I stood up to make a plate of food with the snacks on the table.
“I really appreciate you letting me crash at the last minute. I was hoping Leo would take me to the dorms because the rideshares were backed up for hours. But Leo insisted you’d be okay with me coming here.
It’ll only be for a few days, I’m going to try to get a flight out after Christmas. ”
“These four would never have let him take you back to the dorms to be alone on Christmas Eve,” Jace said. “Did Leo tell you how much notice they all got before I showed up?”
I shook my head, sitting back down with my full plate.
“Zero minutes. They weren’t kidding about the street thing. My mother just brought home a fifteen-year-old orphan for Christmas and convinced everyone to keep me. With you, they at least got an hour’s notice, and no one’s offered to adopt you yet.”
I couldn’t stop my jaw from dropping. Leo had told me about Jace being adopted when he was a teenager, but he hadn’t shared that nugget of information. “Is that a joke?”
“Nope.” Leo laughed, returning to the table with my iced latte. He handed it to me before stealing food off my plate while he talked. “One minute I was playing video games with my dad, and the next, I had a new cousin.”
Damn hungry hockey players. I’d learned that if I couldn’t finish my dinner on the bus, there were always several guys willing to fight each other for my scraps. They were like animals.
I shook my head. “Wow, I thought my family had some interesting stories to tell, but so far there’s some real inspiration here.”
Leo smiled at me adoringly, as if he had no idea how not to blow our cover. “Sophia is a writer. That’s how we met. She interviewed me for a piece about the hockey team.”
“Are you planning to be a journalist?” Lavi asked.
“No.” I took a sip of the latte, which was just as good as the one at Ackerson’s, and swatted at Leo’s wrist as I caught him trying to steal my food again. “I’m an English major. I want to write novels, actually. Mostly romance. I think I get the creative writing bug from my dad.”
“Is your dad a writer too?” Sutton asked.
“Yep, he’s written three romance novels. The third one comes out soon, I think. I stopped reading after the first one.” I shuddered.
“That bad?” Sloane laughed.
“Do you have a desire to read about your parents’ sex life?” I asked, between bites of food.
Sloane gagged. “Gross. No. Can you imagine?” she asked, looking at Adrian.
“I wouldn’t make it through the first on-page kiss,” Adrian said. “Better yet, I’d just never open it.”