Obsession (22 page)

“This one,” I said with certainty. “This is our dog.”

“Let’s see if she wants to go home with us,” Leo said, and pulled me into his side before kissing the top of my head. “Can we pet her?”

“Of course, she’s a real love hound.”

When Mindy opened the door to the room, the dog suddenly came to life, her butt wiggling so fast she could barely walk as she barreled into me. I sank down to my knees and held her, giving her a good rub down while she sat then covered me in kisses. Leo crouched down behind me, enveloping me in his arms and steadying me while we scratched the pretty dog’s belly and ears, telling her what a good girl she was while she went into ecstasy over all the attention. Mark gave her a few scratches as well, a rare smile breaking out on his face as he told me I’d made a good choice, and pointed out her doggy body language that showed us she was over the moon with happiness at getting attention.

Mindy grew more animated as we talked about the pale gold and brown pit bull, whose name was Honey, and Mindy learned I was familiar with the shelter. Turns out the dog had been raised with a cat, and was very friendly towards them, especially kittens, so Mindy thought introducing Honey to her new friend in a few weeks, after she’d had a chance to settle in, would be a great idea. Tonight, they’d prep the dog for going home with us, give her a bath, microchip her, and give some of the other volunteers a chance to say goodbye to a shelter favorite before we came back and picked her up tomorrow.

I gave Honey a long, big hug and promised her we’d see her tomorrow to take her to her new home, where she’d have the best life, because I knew without a doubt Leo would make sure Honey was always happy.

I was practically vibrating with excitement as we left the shelter, bouncing on my toes as I walked.

A shriek escaped me when Leo swept me into his arms then began to kiss me senseless, his hand winding in my hair and holding me captive as he ravaged my lips. I was glad the business district we were in was almost deserted this time of night, because our kiss was more than borderline indecent. He gripped my ass with both hands and I returned the favor, making out with him like a horny teenager in front of God and everyone. By the time we separated, I was breathing heavy, but still grinning so wide my cheeks hurt.

“This is the best surprise ever.”

“I’m glad,” he murmured, his eyes incredibly tender as he studied me. “You have no idea how good it feels to know you’re happy, to know I’ve made you this way. Your smile is more precious to me than anything.”

“Leo,” I whispered then went in for another kiss, but he dodged my attempt with a chuckle.

“Come on, let’s get you home so I can take care of you properly.”

I flushed, then recalled how uncomfortable I’d been all day. Of course, right now, none of the residual soreness or body aches were there, but I wasn’t used to rough loving and needed to take it slow. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t take him any way I could get him, but I trusted Leo not to hurt me, and part of that trust meant I had to be truthful with him about my body.

“Can we go…careful tonight?”

He helped me into the car and I was glad to see the divider was up between us and Mark. “What do you mean, careful?”

I sighed as he tapped the divider twice before we pulled away from the curb. I buckled up then turned in the lush and totally comfy seat to face Leo. Some of his hair had escaped his rubber band and I tucked it behind his ear, unable to stop myself from basically petting him. He seemed to find my touch fascinating and soon his eyes became heavy-lidded with pleasure as he relaxed.

“I liked everything we did, a lot, but my body isn’t used to such…vigorous activities, and I was very sore today in class. It was uncomfortable and made it hard to concentrate.”

His jaw clenched and I found myself nervously licking my lips as he stared at me like I’d done something wrong. “You were hurting today?”

“Well, yeah.” I tried to laugh it off. “It’s okay, nothing I couldn’t handle. Just forget I said anything.”

“Forget you said anything,” he rumbled. “You want me to forget the fact that I harmed you beyond what you can take?”

“You didn’t harm me! I’m just sore.” I glanced at the partition between us and Mark then lowered my voice. “Really, I liked everything you did to me, and while you were doing it, I swear it was the best thing ever. Just today—well, I’ve never had that much sex in such a short period of time. My previous boyfriends were more of the one-shot-wonder variety than marathon-sex types.”

His nostril’s flared and my nervousness increased. “I don’t want to hear about your previous lovers, lacking or not. Do you wish to hear about women I’ve had sex with? Should I tell you how they serviced me, how they compare to you in bed?”

Pain lanced through my heart and I gave him a wounded look. “No.”

“Well, I don’t want to hear about men you fucked either.”

His comment about comparing me was mean and cutting, something I didn’t deserve, but I don’t like fighting so I remained silent, curled against the door of the car. Leo didn’t try to talk to me and by the time we pulled up to his house, I was desperate to get out of the tension-filled space. Before Mark could get to my side, I flung my door open and darted out, anxiety filling me as I tried to decide if I should even stay.

Leo got out of the other side and looked at me over the roof of the car. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t have to be here. I mean, I can go home if you’d like.”

His jaw dropped slightly. “Why would I want you to go?”

Mark discreetly walked away, leaving me alone with Leo in the semi-darkness of the artfully illuminated driveway. “You’re mad at me, so you probably don’t want me around.”

The purpose and strength in his stride distracted me as he came around the side of the Rolls, his mouth tight and annoyed. “Why in the world would you think that?”

I hated how small and scared I sounded when I said, “You were upset with me.”

He took my hands in his own and hunched down a bit so he could look me in the eye, his gaze searching my face. “Is that how it was with your family? When they were mad, they didn’t want to see you?”

Uncomfortable, I tried to pull away, but Leo held me fast. “Kind of. I really don’t want to talk about it, please.”

“Fine, but listen to me. We may get mad at each other, we may fight and yell, rage and scream, but no matter what, you need to know that I don’t want you to go anywhere. Ever.”

“Ever?” I tried to make a joke of it, even though I not so secretly found the thought thrilling. “Isn’t that a little permanent?”

He only smiled then bent to give me a brief but warm kiss. “It is.”

I didn’t know how to respond to him, so I slung my backpack over my shoulder. “What time is it?”

“Close to eleven.”

I muffled a yawn, suddenly tired. “Yikes, I didn’t realize it was so late.”

“Come on, sweetheart, you’ve had a long day.”

“Try a long couple days.” I cuddled into his side as he put his arm around my waist and walked me into the house, the cool air conditioning feeling nice against my skin.

“True.”

When we made it up to the bedroom, I found a very pretty, silky cornflower-blue nightgown with spaghetti straps lying across the bed.

“Is this for me?”

Leo glanced over his shoulder at me as he took off his gold watch and set it on the elegant silvery white dresser made of raw, bleached wood. “I don’t think it’s
my
size.”

Rolling my eyes at him, I picked up the soft fabric, running it through my fingers and thinking of how expensive it felt, then thinking about Joy’s “sugar daddy” comments. “It’s lovely, but Leo, you don’t have to buy me such expensive things.”

He finished unbuttoning his shirt in silence, then took my hand in his and led me back to the bed before sitting on the edge. After pulling me between his legs, he took the nightgown from my hands, his long and skilled fingers stroking my skin as he did. I watched him as he carefully put the silky piece of fabric down, then looked back up at me, his gaze unexpectedly sad.

The need to soothe him had me cupping his cheeks, stroking his neck, and basically petting him. Thankfully Leo seemed to bask in my attention, and my skin tingled when he ran one of his hands up the back of my thigh, to just below the base of my ass.

“Do you want to know what one of the happiest moments in my life was?”

Thrown by his unexpected question, I nodded.

“I told you how we were poor growing up, right?” I nodded, looping my arms around Leo’s neck as he scooped me up onto his lap, cradling me close like a security blanket as he talked. “Well, I started working as soon as I could, doing anything and everything around my neighborhood to make a buck. My hard work paid off and when I was seventeen, I was able to move my mom out of the ghetto and buy us a house.”

“At seventeen?”

“Yep.”

“Doing what?”

“I worked my way up through the Cordova Group. First as a currier of sorts, then an assistant, and finally becoming part of their security team.”

“What about school?”

“I’m a drop-out, baby girl. Left after my freshman year and never looked back.”

I stared at him, thrown by the idea that someone so rich, so successful, never even completed high school. My parents may have pretty much sucked in the nurturing department, but they made sure I went to school and got good grades. It was probably so I could be self-sufficient after they cut me out of their lives when I graduated high school, but I’d still been raised to believe that if you didn’t go to college, your life would be shit. And only stupid people dropped out of high school, the kind who would spend the rest of their lives asking if you’d like to large-size that meal, or became petty criminals.

But Leo…he’d beaten unbelievable odds to get where he was today, and I couldn’t help but feel that warmth inside of me increase tenfold as I gazed up at him with admiration. “You’re incredible.”

He seemed surprised, then he caressed my cheek, sending pleasurable sensations washing through my body in a powerful wave. “Why? ’Cause I gave my mom a fucking heart attack when I dropped out?”

“I’m sure you did, but to see you come so far, to have overcome so many obstacles—it’s a little intimidating.”

“You’re intimidating,” he said with complete sincerity. “You have no idea how you affect me, how much power you have over me, and what I’d be willing to do to keep you.”

Instead of scaring me, his intense words thrilled me and I smiled. “You say the sweetest things.”

The rich sound of his laughter soared through me, lifting my spirits and sending little bubbles of delight through me. “I’ve never heard that before. Now where was I?”

“You, being the overachieving super genius that you are, bought your mom a house at the same age I was babysitting to save up for concert tickets.”

He kissed my nose, then continued, “I wanted it to be a surprise, so I took her for a drive one Sunday. She loved to do that, go for long car rides on nice days and see the world. My mom had this shitty little camera, but she took thousands of pictures with that thing. So she was busy snapping away, singing along to the radio, when I pulled up to our new place. It was in an older neighborhood in Tucson on the south side, and it was only a three-bedroom ranch with a nice yard, but when I took her up to the front door and handed her the keys…”

There was a hitch in his voice, in his body, in his entire being, as if he’d been dealt a deep blow. I didn’t say anything, or even move, sensing that he was fighting himself, battling the tears that wanted to fall. Whenever I thought of my sister, all these years later, when she’s been dead longer than she’d been alive, my nose still burned and my throat wanted to close. So I got what Leo was going through and I gave him as much space as I could to get himself together.

A few moments passed then Leo cleared his throat and adjusted his hold on me, loosening it a bit so he could look at me while he spoke. “You should have heard her shriek, Hannah. It was so loud, a couple of the new neighbors came out, no doubt wondering who the crazy woman doing a touch-down dance in the front yard of an empty house was, and if they should call the police. I was laughing so hard I nearly pissed myself as she celebrated, but when she finally calmed down, she began to cry. Not bad tears, you know, happy ones. She told me how proud of me she was, how much she loved me, and I felt about a hundred feet tall.” His grew deeper, rougher, and I stared into his eyes as he bared his soul to me. “That’s the way I feel when I’m able to give you something nice, something you’ve always wanted but thought you’d never have. It makes me feel a hundred feet tall.”

Unlike Leo, I couldn’t fight off the tears spilling down my cheeks. “I…Leo, that’s…thank you. Thank you for sharing that part of your past with me, and thank you for all the beautiful things you’ve given me and all the wonderful things you’ve done. No one has ever spoiled me like this, ever, and it’s an amazing feeling to know that someone cares. Not that buying me stuff equals affection, I like to think I’m not that shallow, but I’ve never had nice things, so I appreciate it. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I appreciate you, Leo.”

Before I knew it, I was on my back on the bed, his face buried against my neck as his firm lips kissed the spot behind my ear and chills raced down my spine. The bed was so, so soft beneath me but Leo’s kisses were even softer, ghosting over my skin as he slowly began to undress me. I swore every time he touched me it was the best feeling ever, but tonight his caress was different. The passion was still there, but it burned deeper, hotter.