Chapter Thirty-Two
Sophia
The sun streamed in the windows of Leo’s bedroom as I took in the sight of him breathing peacefully beside me.
He’d rolled onto his back at some point, one of his arms still underneath me from the way we’d fallen asleep together.
I watched the rise and fall of his chest, appreciating him for just a moment.
I’d never really allowed myself much opportunity to just look at and appreciate him.
After our whispered confessions last night, I let my eyes roam over the body of this man who was mine.
However temporary this evolution of our arrangement was going to be, I wasn’t going to let that stop me from appreciating a single second with him.
I raked my eyes over his abs and his chest, fighting back the desire to wake him up by kissing the flame tattoo just above this hip.
I checked the time on my phone. It was five-thirty.
I should probably sneak back into my room.
Even if we hadn’t had sex, it certainly looked that way since I was dressed in nothing except Leo’s jersey.
I slipped out of bed, careful not to wake him, tiptoed to the door, and gently pulled it open. I stepped into the hallway and faced Leo’s door as I pulled it shut softly. I turned around and startled at the presence of Leo’s dad stepping out of the bathroom across the hall.
His smirk was so close to the one his son often wore that it was immediately disarming. He didn’t look shocked, just amused. “Good morning, Sophia,” he said.
“Good morning, Adrian,” I said, pulling at the hem of the jersey to cover as much of my legs as possible.
Adrian pointed at the guest room, and I followed his gaze to see that the door was wide open, revealing the bed perfectly made and untouched.
“If you’re going to sneak into Leo’s room again tonight you should probably shut your door so it isn’t obviously empty in the morning,” he said. “I’m assuming by the way you’re sneaking out of his room right now, that you were hoping to keep it a secret.”
The heat in my cheeks was instant and intense. I was on the verge of sweating when I managed a reply. “I’m so sorry. I swear, we just slept.”
Adrian raised a hand to stop what was sure to be a panic-induced outburst if I continued. “I don’t need an explanation. You’re both adults.”
“Thank you,” I said, making a beeline for the guest room.
“Sophia?” His voice pulled my attention back to the hallway as I was about to shut the door.
“Yeah?” I asked, looking back at him.
Adrian searched my face for a second before speaking. “My wife rarely wakes up before seven and I think Leo is going to be disappointed you aren’t there when he wakes up, so tomorrow, there’s no need to sneak out quite this early.”
I smiled. “Thank you. I, um, I really care about your son, Adrian.” I gestured to the jersey. “I’m guessing this makes me look like some puck bunny, but I’m not like any of those girls he’s probably brought around before.”
Adrian chuckled softly. “We’ve never met a girl where Leo is concerned, so I’m positive you’re a lot more than that. Can I make you a coffee?”
I nodded. “I’m addicted to the iced vanilla lattes at Ackerson’s. The one Leo made me yesterday tasted just like it.”
“I’ll get one ready for you,” Adrian said before walking away.
I shut the door behind me and grabbed some clothes out of my suitcase before sprinting across the hall for a shower.
By the time I was showered and dressed in a pair of black leggings with a long, red-and-black plaid sweater and a pair of white boots, Adrian was sitting at the kitchen counter with a coffee, scrolling on his phone. An iced latte sat on the counter next to him.
“Thanks, again,” I said, climbing onto the barstool and grabbing the coffee. I sighed; it was perfect. “Do you make the ones at the restaurant?”
“Sometimes,” he said, looking up from his phone. “I work a shift there once in a while. Sutton likes to sit on a barstool and flirt with me when I do. Reminds her of how we fell in love.”
I chuckled. “Your family is so nice. Most of my friends from high school and college have never been able to understand how close I am with my family. But Leo just gets it. It’s really cool to see that he also has parents who are truly in love and a family where he gets to be himself, free of judgement. ”
“His mother and I both wanted to raise him very differently than how we were raised,” Adrian said.
A door opened and we looked down the hall to where Sutton appeared, walking toward us. “Good morning,” she said, smiling at me. “How did you sleep, Sophia? We rarely have anyone in that room. I hope it was comfortable.”
Adrian pressed his lips together, suppressing a smirk and glanced at me out of the side of his eye.
“Mhm,” I mumbled, raising my latte up to hide behind the glass before I turned red as a tomato again.
“Morning, Princess.” Adrian stood up to kiss his wife.
He made her a latte while she sat down in the seat next to me, talking about their typical Christmas Day and complimenting my outfit. “I didn’t have much time when I found out you were coming, but I did order some things for you that were dropped off last night. I hope I got your style right.”
Adrian chuckled. “You always do,” he said as he set a hot latte in front of her. “She also ordered eggnog and eggnog-flavored syrup in case you were serious about that latte. Though I’m with Leo—it sounds pretty gross.”
I could have cried again at the effort they were going through to make me feel welcome on such short notice.
“You didn’t have to do all that, but I really appreciate it,” I said, just as the door to Leo’s room opened and he came out wearing a pair of gray sweatpants sitting low on his hips and nothing else.
I forced my eyes to stay on his face so his parents couldn’t see the lust on mine.
“Morning, Hawaii.” He stopped and grabbed my shoulder, pulling me against him in a side hug as he kissed the top of my head. I blushed again. We hadn’t discussed what we were telling his parents now, but this seemed way past our friends explanation.
I slowly looked between the two of them who both stood watching us with eyebrows raised as Leo appeared not to notice and made his way to the coffee, pouring a cup from the pot.
Sutton finally broke the silence. “Can we stop pretending that you’re just friends now? Because you’re clearly past that.”
Leo turned to his mother with his coffee in both hands, smirking. “You didn’t even make it one day without making it a thing.”
“Well, come on!” she said, looking to Adrian for backup. He said nothing, just smirked at her. “Don’t leave me hanging, Ad. I’m not the only one who sees this.”
“I’m in love with your son,” I blurted in a rush of panic.
Sutton beamed at me, though it was unclear if that was because it meant she was right or because she was happy for Leo.
Leo snorted and choked on his coffee. “Damn, Hawaii. You don’t know how to play it cool at all, do you?”
“Obviously not.” I put my head in my hands and leaned forward on the counter. “Oh, God, this is embarrassing.”
The front door opened, and I lifted my head to see Leo’s aunts walking in with Jace, all of whom had arms full of presents.
“Merry Christmas!” Sloane yelled, eyes roaming over us. “What’s going on?” she asked obviously picking up on the weird vibe.
“Sophia was just telling everyone that she’s in love with me.” Leo smirked at me, taking another slow sip of his coffee.
I groaned and glared at him, contemplating ways to torture him.
He chuckled. “If it’s cool with all of you, we’ll stop pretending we’re just friends now. Because I’m in love with her too.”
“Finally,” Jace said with a sigh as he walked by.
“Cool,” Sloane said, shrugging as she went to the living room.
Sutton stood up and hugged my shoulders before following them.
“Congrats,” Lavi said as she made her way to Adrian, the two of them talking quietly in the kitchen.
Leo walked toward me, a grin on his face so large and arrogant, I was tempted to smack him. “I hate you,” I said, smiling.
He pulled his barstool next to mine and sat facing me with his legs caging mine. “Merry Christmas, Hawaii.”
He leaned forward to kiss me and my body relaxed against his as I held on to his knees for balance. He pulled me off the stool and sat me on his lap.
I giggled. “What are you doing? We still have to be somewhat under control around people.”
“Nah,” he said, gently parting my lips with his tongue as one hand cupped me behind the ear. “They’re not paying attention. Plus, we’re young and in love. They expect us to be little PDA monsters.”
I laughed and kissed him again before pressing back to look down at his chest. “Can you at least put clothes on so I can keep our PDA PG?”
He smirked and lifted his hips slightly, just enough for me to feel his erection against my ass. “PG-13.”
I wiggled slightly and laughed, whispering in his ear. “Fine. But only because I can’t say no when you ask with your dick.”
He laughed and stood up, putting me back on my own bar stool. He adjusted himself discretely and took off for his room, while I peeked into the living room and caught a glimpse of a family in Boston that seemed just as great as my family in Oahu.
We were all sitting in the living room, talking and laughing as Leo’s parents and aunts filled me in on many years of their Christmas shenanigans, including the year they visited Oahu and may have casually bumped into my family.
Most of that story had centered around Sloane’s deep phobia of flying and the subsequent eleven-hour flight—which had been hilarious to listen to them recap.
I was sipping on the eggnog latte that Leo had made after insisting I get the recipe from Kennedy.
I’d asked her during the first of the three video calls I’d had with my family today, during each of which, Leo slowly meandered into another room as if he was staying scarce until I asked him not to.
I was sad not to be with my family, but they’d been just a phone call away and Leo’s family was so welcoming and fun that it had felt like home in a different way, helping to fill the absence I felt being an ocean away from home.
A lull in conversation made the music in the background stand out.
Sloane had put on a Christmas playlist hours ago after complaining about Sutton’s pop playlist containing NSYNC and Kelly Clarkson.
I’d enjoyed them both, but Sloane’s was full of rock bands that I loved, and a Halestorm Christmas song was playing now.
“I love this playlist,” I said to Sloane who was in Lavi’s lap in a chair close to the tree.
Leo smiled at me from his spot on the couch, pressed up against my side. “I thought you would.”
Jace sat on the other side of Leo, eyeing us like we were a sexual timebomb about to go off. He’s not wrong. Being unable to rip each other’s clothes off on our first day as a real couple had been torturous. I was definitely sneaking into his room again tonight—and not just for his kickass cuddles.
“You like rock music, Sophia?” Sloane narrowed her eyes at me. “How long have you two been a thing, again?”
“Baby, let it go,” Lavi said.
“I agree with your wife,” Adrian said from where he and Sutton sat opposite them on a smaller couch, his arm around Sutton’s shoulders.
“Yeah, I love rock music. Leo and I actually went to see M?neskin together a couple months ago,” I said, smiling at him. “They’re one of my favorites.”
“You don’t say,” Sloane said, raising her eyebrows at Leo pointedly.
“Let it go, Sloane,” Lavi said again.
“What?” I asked, looking between them and Leo. “Am I missing something?”
“Leo, do you want to tell your friend where you got that ticket?” Sloane asked.
Leo sighed. “I was supposed to go with my aunt. She bought the tickets for me to go with her. I took hers and gave it to you.”
I gasped. “What?” I turned to Sloane. “I’m so sorry, I had no idea.”
“Mhm.” She shook her head at Leo. “Did you even really win a bet, or did you just want to impress your girl?”
My cheeks flushed as I thought about the bet he’d won.
“Yes, I really won a bet,” he said. “But I obviously didn’t take the ticket just to get laid like I said. I was desperate to spend time with her outside the bedroom.”
“Oh my God.” I dropped my head to his shoulder. “I thought you bought the tickets for us or already had them. I’m so sorry, Sloane.”
“Don’t be,” she said with a kind smile. “I’m not upset. I just like giving him a hard time for ditching me.”
I lifted my head and looked at Leo. “You should have just gotten us tickets to something else.”
His eyes widened. “Once you thought it might be M?neskin, there was no taking you to see anything else. You were thrilled, Soph. I’ve been addicted to your smile far too long to pass up the one I knew you’d have that night.”
Sloane held up the Shinedown tickets Leo had printed and given her for Christmas. “How do you feel about Shinedown?”
“Love them,” I said.
“Well, fuck me. I’m not going to this one either. You might as well just take them now.” She held them out toward me, but Lavi took her hand and pressed it back to her lap.
I smiled sadly. “It’s okay. They’re not coming until June. I won’t be here to steal them from you this time.”
Leo’s arm around my waist tightened and even from the corner of my eye I could see the crushed expression on his face.
Apparently, if we were going to do this, we were also going to suffer through the semi-frequent, harsh reminders of the future death of this relationship.
I hoped we both got better at ignoring the suffocating disappointment I felt at the moment.
Sutton gently changed the topic, asking Jace a question about the BU hockey charity event in a way that had me convinced she could see our heartbreak and wanted to spare us.