Page 90 of Lucky Mother Pucker

His eyes light up. “Let’s go.” He grabs my hand, and we dart off.

Chapter 34

Lucy

Ican’t help but giggle as we snake our way around the ballroom in search of the elusive cheesecakes. We finally spot the server a couple of minutes later.

“Crap, there’s only three left,” I say.

Leo darts ahead, grabs the tiny cheesecakes in his massive hand, and then leads me out of the crowded ballroom.

We stand a dozen feet from the entrance, in a dimly lit hallway, leaning against the wall as we share the cheesecake.

“Oh, fuck, that’s good,” Leo says around a mouthful.

“Not as good as The Cheesecake Factory.”

He shakes his head. “No way. That’s the best.”

I giggle and finish my mini cheesecake. He offers me the last one, but I shake my head. “Nope, you get the last one. You earned it after all the polite smiling and small talk you had to do.”

He grins and devours it in a single bite.

“Leo, what the hell are you doing?”

We both look up and see his dad standing at the end of the hallway.

I push up from the wall and stand up straight. Leo does the same.

“What do you want, Dad?”

Leo’s dad glowers at him as he walks over to him.

“I want to know what you’re doing hiding out in this hallway instead of in the ballroom where you belong.”

Rocco looks down at the small, empty plate sitting on a nearby food cart. He glares at the trail of crumbs on the white china. “Were you eating cake?”

He sounds as offended as if he just walked in on Leo shooting up heroin.

Leo straightens up and rolls his shoulders. “Yeah. I was.”

“Well, that’s just great,” he mutters. “First, you act disinterested in front of all the guests at the gala. And now you’re sneaking off to eat junk food? How the hell do you expect to play well when you’re loading up your body with crap?”

Leo’s jaw tenses as his dad goes off on him. He looks like he’s about to say something. But he stays silent. Almost like he’s holding back.

A second later, his dad’s angry gaze cuts to me. “Is this your doing?”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t talk to her.”

We both glance over at Leo. When I see the look on his face, my breath catches. There’s a murderous gleam in his eyes. The veins in his neck are bulging, and he’s balling his hands into fists at his sides.

“I don’t know what your little friend’s agenda is, Leo, but I don’t appreciate the influence she seems to have on you.”

My skin pricks at the dismissive way he speaks about me. He doesn’t even know me and he’s being such a jerk.

But before I can say anything, Leo takes a step forward, into his space.