AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My lips part, like they know what to say…
“Kiss her!”
The shout splits us apart.
Aunt Aida’s laughing at the mistletoe over our heads. She’s had too much to drink. Or maybe not—she kind of behaves the same either way.
“Kiss her,” she teases Leo, her expression mischievous and taunting.
And in that moment, when I look up into Leo’s face, I think,Oh my god, he’s actually going to do it…Right here, with everyone watching…
The dining room disappears.
Leo’s eyes are all I see, gazing into mine…
His full lips part. He dips his head…
And drops a kiss on my forehead.
The kind of kiss you’d give to a little sister. Or a cousin you’ve known all your life.
Humiliation sweeps down, a red, boiling curtain. I hear Marshall’s hoot, and I’d give everything I own to punch him in the jaw.
But then he might see tears on my face. Or Leo might see something much worse.
All I can do is turn and run.
Leo finds me an hour later,long after the ice has entered my soul. I’ve been sitting out in the gazebo, punishing myself for being that fucking pathetic.
He takes off his jacket and wraps it around my shoulders. “Tell me you haven’t been sitting out here the whole time.”
“I haven’t.” The lie comes out easy. Scary easy, considering I never lie to Leo.
“Good.” His face melts with relief.
Oh my god. He can’t tell. I always thought he’d be able to tell if I lied to him.
“You’re cold, though…” Leo puts his warm palms on the outside of my frozen arms and rubs vigorously.
“You’ve got a fat lip.”
He touches the place where his lower lip is split, right down the center. “Oh yeah. I beat the shit out of Marshall.”
My face flushes. “What for?”
“You saw—he was asking for it.”
Without his coat, Leo’s only wearing his T-shirt, but he doesn’t seem cold. He leans forward on his knees, huge hands crossed loosely in front of him, plumes of steam coming out of his warm lungs.
His breath touches my face. The coat hangs around me like a cocoon, toasty warm, covering me neck to knee, the cuffs hanging over my hands.
It’s the best feeling in the world. The absolute best.
If I don’t want to lose it, I know what I have to do.
Leo glances over at me. He bites at his split lip, worrying the cut with the tip of his tongue.
“Sorry about earlier…”
