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His frown was infinitesimal, and he suppressed it quickly. “I can’t talk about it.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t want to. Not with you.”
Hurt seared her. Hurt that she’d trusted him so much, that he’d encouraged that. Hurt that she’d leaned on him in a crisis. And that he didn’t trust her enough to share his story with her.
“Not with anyone. I’m still…working it out.”
“Why can’t I help you?” Her eyes were beseeching. “I can’t do all this,” she gestured to the table at which they’d sat with the lawyers. “I don’t have money, or expertise, but I can listen. I’m really good at that.”
He winced. “This isn’t about you.” His voice was gentle. “If I tell you, it will be here,” he gestured from his chest to hers. “It will mean our relationship stops being an escape, and I just want to escape a while longer.”
She tried to ignore the tenderness in the centre of her chest.
“When I go back to Italy, I will face the music. For now, if you want to help, keep helping me to forget.”
No, she wanted to scream. That wasn’t okay. It wasn’t good enough. She wanted him to let her in. She wanted to understand all of him. It lodged like a stone in her throat to imagine that he’d be out of her life in a matter of days, and she’d not ever know this facet of him. That he would have helped her so generously and she wouldn’t have been able to do the same for him.
Then again, maybe he was right, and letting him just enjoy this was the best way to help him? It seemed a lot like running away to Skye, and from what she knew of Leandro that surprised her, but who was she to argue?
“Okay.” She tried to flatten out her ambivalence. “Let’s go have dinner.”
He dropped his hands from her face, caught one of hers in his and lifted it to his lips. “Thank you.”
She found it was easy to smile at him, and she kept smiling all night.
He couldn’t believe how close he’d come to telling her about his family. The confession had been right there, the words stuck to the roof of his mouth and rumbling with wanting to be spoken. I just found out I’m adopted.
He’d been so tempted to bare his soul to her, to let her try to fix him, to heal him, but how could she? The wound that had been inflicted on him by his parents’ dishonesty wasn’t going anywhere.
He’d been lied to his whole life, and Leandro couldn’t forgive that. He couldn’t forget it.
Anger stirred in his veins, a dark anger that threatened to consume him. But then he looked across at Skye’s sleeping form and calmness spread through his veins.
She was his escape.
He hadn’t realized just how much that would come to matter. How much she would succeed in pushing the darkness from his life when they were together. This had been about a distraction at first, and it was definitely that. Their chemistry was something else. But it was more now too. She was some kind of a talisman of hope, her bagliore was like glitter that had been bombed throughout his soul, tiny little fragments of sparkle existing inside of him because of her.
He would be leaving Manhattan next week, but until then, he wanted her here, like this. In his apartment, where he could know she was safe and selfishly, where she could keep him distracted. He’d somehow created the perfect setup for her, anyway, with the ideal nanny for her daughter. It would be easy to make this work.
And so, thinking only of the best way to move the pieces to achieve what he wanted, he picked up his laptop and typed out a quick email to his assistant, satisfied once it was sent that he’d pulled the levers necessary to give them the maximum time together. And then, he slipped into bed beside Skye, cradling her warm, soft body back against his, breathing in her sweet vanilla fragrance until he fell asleep.
“You did what?” She screeched, then quickly lowered her voice.
Leandro’s nostrils flared, his indignation clear. “I organized for you to have some time off. Yet perhaps you misunderstood, as you are acting as though I just arranged for the slaughter of every kitten in Manhattan.”
Out on the terrace of his penthouse, she nonetheless looked around to assure herself that Harper wasn’t nearby. She wasn’t. Jane was getting her dressed for an outing to the park.
“You don’t get to organize my schedule, Leandro. I have a job. A job I need.”
“Your job is at my hotel. It was the easiest thing in the world for my PA to remove you from the roster.”
Skye groaned. “I’m sure it was, but what the actual hell?”
“What is the problem?”
He was being obtuse, and it was infuriating. “Are you kidding me?”
