43. Leo
LEO
I’d never be selfish when it came to Eliza, but I would do whatever it took to give her what she needed. Right now, we needed each other. Desperately.
I let the door slam behind us and toed off my shoes before making my way to her bedroom. I slipped my tongue past her lips, swiping it against hers, which got an eager moan out of her. We were all tongues, teeth, moans, and rain.
I tossed her on the bed and kneeled before her, pulling her shoes and socks off first. Then her jeans and the shirt stuck to her skin.
“Most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” I murmured, dipping my head down to press kisses up her calf to her inner thigh.
Eliza used her elbows to prop herself up as she watched my every move, her brown eyes darkening by the second.
When I got to her center and pulled her panties to the side, her breath hitched and body squirmed in anticipation.
“Is this mine?” I asked, pressing my thumb to her clit and rubbing small circles. My cock twitched and strained against my jeans as she tossed her head back with a moan.
I pulled her panties off her toned legs and tossed them to the side. “What else is mine?” My eyes focused on her as I stood up. “Show me.”
Eliza licked her lips, scooting back on the bed and letting her legs fall open. “Everything,” she panted, watching as I grabbed the back of my wet shirt and pulled it off in one smooth motion.
Her eyes trailed my chest, as if she was taking in every detail, just like I was doing to her. I didn’t want to take any curve or dip of her body for granted. I wanted her to know damn well how much I loved her.
“Every part of me is yours.” Eliza reached behind herself, unclasping her bra and tossing it to the side.
She ran her hands along her smooth skin, touching everywhere I wanted my hands to be—her neck, breasts, stomach, hips, and center.
“What are you waiting for?” she asked, eyes wide and looking right at me as she slowly teased her clit.
“Or did you just want to watch tonight? Maybe that’s what we should do if you’re just going to keep me waiting…
” She trailed off with a mischievous smirk.
“Fuck no,” I growled, hastily undoing my belt and pushing my jeans and briefs to the floor.
Eliza’s mouth fell open, eyes dropping to my cock. “I take it back. I need you to fuck me.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said with a smirk, the mattress dipping as I hovered over her.
She reached down, wrapping her hand around me and stroking. A content hum escaped me as I rested my forehead against her shoulder. Even the simple motion of her hand wrapped around me felt fucking fantastic.
I pressed a kiss to her shoulder then worked my way down her chest to her breasts, sucking one of her nipples into my mouth.
Her back arched, and she guided my cock against her entrance, teasing the tip.
“Fuck, Leo,” she gasped and sank into the mattress as I sucked harder.
I moved my mouth to her other breast, repeating the action.
“More,” she moaned. “I need more.”
“What do you need, baby?” I pressed a series of kisses between her breasts up to her neck. “Tell me.”
“I—I need you. I need you inside of me right fucking now.” There was a sexy rasp to her voice, and she wrapped her legs around my waist even tighter.
“I need you, too.” More than she even realized.
Eliza’s eyes found mine. “Good,” she whispered right as I pushed into her. “Fuck!” she cried, her nails digging into my shoulders.
I rocked my hips slowly, giving her time to adjust to my size…and giving myself time, too, because otherwise I would’ve been done within seconds with how good she felt.
“That’s my perfect girl,” I groaned, picking up speed as Eliza’s hands roamed my body. My skin flamed everywhere she touched me, seeking whatever she would give me.
I kissed her slowly, teasing and tasting her while our hips moved quickly, urgently, to make up for the time we’d been apart. Thankfully, it hadn’t been long, but any time without Eliza was too much.
I slipped my hand between us, adding pressure to her clit that had her warning she was close.
“Atta girl,” I praised. “Come for me. Right now. I want to feel you come all over my cock.”
Eliza’s eyes dipped down, watching as I slid inside her and my fingers worked against her. “Yes, Leo,” she panted. “I’m right there.” She then flicked her eyes back to me and uttered words that were my undoing. “Fill me up. I want to feel you.”
How I didn’t finish inside her right then and there, I didn’t know. Likely because I was determined to get her to finish first.
Eliza fisted the sheets, and I felt her flutter around me as pleasure flooded her body. My hips slammed against hers. Her flushed cheeks, puffy lips, and cries of pleasure were more than enough to get me over the edge.
I spilled inside her, resting my forehead against hers as my hips slowed. “I love you,” I said and then repeated it a few extra times for good measure. I pulled out, collapsing on the bed next to her and pulling her into my arms.
“I love you, too.” Eliza had a dazed, carefree smile on her lips aimed right at me. She curled into me and pressed a kiss to my chest.
Before she got too comfortable on me, I got up from bed, walking to the bathroom and grabbing a wash cloth.
I ran it under warm water before returning to the room to find Eliza lying on her side, eyes watching my every move.
I gently moved the warm cloth between her legs and pressed a soft kiss to her lips.
I set the cloth down on the ground before sliding back into bed, and it didn’t take Eliza much time to hook her leg over my hip and rest her head on my shoulder.
“I didn’t realize you saw me first that night or that you were even there,” she said softly, and it didn’t take me long to figure out which night she was talking about. Colin must’ve told her during their conversation.
“I did, and I was.”
She lifted her head and looked at me, her eyes tracing my features.
“I couldn’t keep my eyes off you that night,” I continued.
“You had this passionate energy that radiated off you. It was impossible to ignore. But…” I shook my head.
“I was twenty-nine in a college bar. Hitting on the bartender did not seem like a good look, no matter how much I couldn’t look away. ”
“It wasn’t our time,” Eliza said.
I nodded slowly. “It wasn’t our time.”
“That’s, like, some soulmate shit.”
I nuzzled my face into her neck, my mustache tickling her skin and getting a laugh out of her. “Who’s the hopeless romantic now?”
“Still you,” she uttered between laughs. “You probably couldn’t stop thinking about me after that night,” she teased.
While her tone was joking, I had no shame in admitting the truth. “I really, really couldn’t. I told you that I was drawn from the moment I saw you. I just didn’t tell you when exactly that moment was.”
Eliza pressed her lips to mine in a slow, tender kiss. She pulled back, slight hesitation in her eyes as she spoke. “Before I found you on the roof, I stopped by Lake Ridge,” she said. “Ray mentioned you have a couple of interviews tomorrow?”
I let out a sigh and nodded. “Two restaurants in Chicago.”
“Is that where you want to be? Because if so, we can make it work. We can—”
I cut her off with a kiss. As much as I loved how her mind moved a million miles a minute to try to find a solution that would work for us both, she didn’t need to. The two interviews had been my backup.
“I want to stay,” I told her as I pulled back. “I want to be with you in Golden Falls. Maybe life will take us somewhere else one day, but for now? This sounds pretty damn perfect to me.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive,” I said confidently, without a doubt in my mind.
“What changed your mind about Lake Ridge?” she asked, and when I gave her a look, she laughed and added, “Besides me, obviously.”
I went on to tell Eliza the excitement I’d had over the last few months crafting menus that would appeal to both locals and tourists. How much I enjoyed chatting with the locals and getting to know people in town.
I also told her about my conversation with Wes from a couple of weeks ago and the ideas the two of us had for Lake Ridge.
Ideas that had me more excited about my career than I’d been in years.
Maybe even ever. I felt a new found excitement, passion, and inspiration for cooking, and it was all because of the beautiful woman next to me who had breathed life into my world I hadn’t realized I was missing.
By the time I finished telling her about the ideas for Lake Ridge, Eliza was lying on my chest, and my fingertips brushed along her spine.
“I’m starving,” she sighed. “Can we cook dinner together tonight?”
“Always.”
I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the night—and the rest of my life.