Chapter 22 – Leo #2
“My mouth was between your legs last night. I think I’m okay with sharing a toothbrush.
” A blush burns, but I keep going. “I’ll get you one for here tomorrow.
When you come here tonight, bring some things to keep here for the days you don’t feel like going home after working on the house.
” The nervousness or hesitation leaves her face instantly.
“Really?” I move then, stepping into her space and pulling her into mine before pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
“Let me make this very, very clear, Willa. Last night changed everything for me. I plan on recreating it many, many times, from making you moan out my name to sleeping wrapped around you. So yeah, I want you to keep your things here.”
She smiles then, the full one I love most of all.
“Okay, good,” she whispers then. Two words, so simple, so insignificant, and yet they mean everything to me.
After a moment, she glances over my shoulder to the counter where the plates still sit.
“What’s that?” I grin, remembering my find, then step away and toward the counter to grab both plates.
She follows me as I move to the kitchen table, where I set them down at two catty-corner seats.
“The greatest luxury ever to grace the frozen foods aisle,” I say, then return to the counter where our coffees are, hers made with far too much cream and sugar.
“Oh?” she asks with a laugh, accepting the cup I offer her as we both sit down.
”It’s a toaster strudel. Still never had one?”
There’s a moment where she’s still, then she looks down at the little rectangle on her plate, and she bites her lip before looking up at me, with awe on her face.
“You really remember that?”
Clearly, she still doesn’t understand.
“I remember every single moment I’ve ever spent with you, Willa, but I definitely remember the first time I met you.” She stares at me, awe written across her face, before she shakes her head and looks at the plate again.
“Still haven’t had one. This will be another first,” she whispers, and I sit down.
“I told you, I’m going to give you all of the ones you want, honey.” Her face goes soft, but she doesn’t say anything else, instead picking up the pastry before her and taking a small bite. I watch with anticipation, strangely hoping she enjoys it.
“Okay, I’ve definitely been missing out.”
I grin, then sit back and enjoy her company. We sit for a few minutes, sipping our coffee. I can tell she’s itching to ask something, and though I don’t know exactly what, I do know there is very little unknown in Willa’s life, and that what small amount there is always makes her uneasy.
She confirms my thoughts when she finally breaks the silence. “So…how does this work?”
“Work?” I ask, knowing what she’s asking, but wanting her to say it.
“You and me. I mean...we’re….”
“We’re together, Willa.”
That makes her smile, a look she hides with another small bite and some thoughtful chewing.
“Okay, we’re together. But I’m assuming no one can know?” The decision weighs heavily on me, something I mulled over and over in my mind while she was getting ready, but each time I came to the same conclusion.
“No one in our professional life can know,” I agree.
At first, I thought of telling her we could tell anyone we wholeheartedly trusted, since I’m sure Riggins and the rest of the Atlas Oaks guys will get a kick out of this finally happening, and I know they would never tell a soul if I asked them not to.
Still, I wasn’t sure where Jackie would fall on that spectrum, and I am not ready to have that talk with Willa yet, the talk where I admit that I don’t trust her manager, or her intentions with Willa.
So, for now, I keep things simple. “At least, not for a while.”
“What about outside of our professional life, like here in Holly Ridge? The girls—”
God, I love that. I love that she has this now, a group of women she wants to share things with, because looking back, I know she’s never had that. It’s also very telling that she doesn’t instantly think of Jackie when she thinks of someone to confide something in.
“I’ll talk with the guys; you talk with the girls.
We tell them what we are to each other. We keep PDA low when out and about, but I think we should be okay here.
” She scrunches her nose when I say minimal PDA, and I smile.
“Not non-existent PDA, especially where we’re comfortable, like the Mill, but in places we don’t know everybody, like, say, the home improvement store, I won’t be pinning you to a shelf and making out with you. ”
“Okay,” she agrees. “That makes sense.” I watch as she takes another bite, chewing for a moment before a thought rises in her mind and makes her face sour. My stomach drops as I wait for her next argument.
“My relationship with Chris starts in September,” she reminds me gently, as if I wasn’t the main contact for settling that up. I reach over and push her hair back, forcing her to look at me instead of her nearly empty plate.
“I know.”
“I can’t…I can’t bail on it. Contracts have been signed, and too many people are involved. If we canceled, it would cause way too many headaches, and Jackie would lose her mind if we went off the pre-determined plan.”
I nod, knowing this as well.
I mulled over this this morning before she woke up, and I fell asleep with it on my mind.
Contemplating what would happen if, now that Willa and I were making a go of it, despite her current career expectations and responsibilities. I laid out a dozen different options, and each time, I came up with the same answer: I will never get in the way of her career.
“Absolutely. If you back out at this point, there would be too high a chance of rumors flying or the truth slipping out, ruining a decade of brand building.” I don’t miss the slight twinge of irritation that moves across her face with those words, but it’s gone almost as quick as I see it.
“The media is forgiving with you, but if everyone finds out all of your relationships have been fake to trick people into becoming invested in you, it would be an uphill battle.”
She nods, a hint of relief on her face as she realizes I’m not going to fight her on that.
I wonder for a moment if there have been others over the years who couldn’t see past her obligations, her drive, her career, but the thought of any other man with Willa sours my stomach, so I brush it off as quickly as it comes.
“I’m going to have to date Chris for six months,” she says.
I reach out when I notice her nervousness, grabbing her hand and twining my fingers with hers.
For a single, unhinged moment, my eyes linger on her ring finger, always empty, the one line she’s always held.
Once, two years ago, Jackie suggested a fake marriage or engagement, but Willa instantly shot that down, one of the only times I’ve seen her say no to something Jackie suggested.
“If I ever get married one day,” she said, her voice strong, “It will be for real. I’ll never fake that, Jackie.” Jackie was unhappy, but she must have seen the fire in her eyes that I spotted, and never mentioned it again. But I never forgot the way she said if I ever instead of I will never.
“I know,” I say. “And during that time, we’ll have to be even more careful, because there’s a pretty solid cheating clause in those contracts.
I’d say that unless you’re in Holly Ridge, there's absolutely no PDA, even if it will certainly kill me to be in the same room as you and not even touch you, but we can figure that out when the time comes.”
Her brows furrow.
“So we’re going to…stay together?”
My head jerks back in confusion.
“What?”
“I can’t….” Her cheeks flare with a blush. “I can’t expect you to just hold tight for me for six months, Leo. Longer, once we calculate a rational breakup time. I—”
“Six months in the grand scheme of a lifetime with you doesn’t really matter to me, honey,” I say, the words spilling without even thinking, but once they leave my lips, I don’t have any regret, even if her eyes go wide with surprise.
“I can’t tell the future, but I know that I’ve spent eight years regretting not taking that jump with you.
Eight years regretting suggesting you fake date Riggins, which in turn meant I spent eight years watching you be with men who didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you, much less date you.
Much less kiss you. It’s only been one night, but for me, it’s been eight years and then two weeks of being tempted by you, of realizing it’s always been you, of realizing you’ve always been perfect for me.
I work a lot. That’s been an issue for women in the past, but I like knowing you won’t hold it against me, just as I will never hold it against you.
I understand it’s not just a job for you: it’s who you are, to your core.
I would never try to tell you how to navigate that.
” I reach up with both hands, combing her hair back and holding her face in my hands before bending to press my lips to her knuckles.
“Plus, it’s not just your work getting in the way; my contract with Perfect Image has about a year more on it. ”
“Okay…” she says, hesitantly.
“It’s not just your relationship with Chris; we’re going to have to wait out.
It‘s my contract.” Her brows furrow deeper, but she waits for me to explain.
“My contract with Perfect Image has a little over a year left on it. There’s a non-fraternization clause: I can’t be with anyone who is my client, or it’s grounds for termination. ”
“So you’d be leaving Perfect Image because of me?” she asks, and I can hear the unwarranted guilt in her words, so quickly I shake my head and clarify.
“No. I’ve been planning to leave once my contract is up for a while.
I want to start my own small boutique firm.
” She widens her eyes with surprise. “I’m not happy there.
I hate working with Jefferson, and our styles are far too different.
” She nods, probably already knowing that herself.
“I’d leave now, but if I quit or I’m fired with merit, I can’t represent any of my current clients until their term expires, which would mean they all—Atlas Oaks, Harper, and even you—would have to work with Jefferson or someone else until that period expires, and not for nothing, everyone in this industry is a piece of shit. ”
She nods, ideas and thoughts moving through her mind before finally nodding.
“Okay,” she finally says, some decision made up already. “Okay, so a year? A year and then we can be open?”
I nod, never mind what she’s going to think, but she smiles. “I can handle a year of being secret if it means at the end, I get you.”
And that time, when I kiss her, it ends with her moaning my name as I seat her on the edge of the kitchen counter and show her just how grateful I am we’re on the same page.