Page 70 of Reckless Kiss

Chapter 22

Iwaited all of five minutes before I left. They were probably following me but I couldn’t find it in me to care. I tried the lab first. One of her graduate assistants pointed me to her office. She was having her weekly office hours.

Luckily two students were leaving as I arrived and no one was waiting.

“Leo.” She smiled. “What are you doing here?” That smile was one of the reasons I was struggling with my realization. It lit me up. She smiled every time she saw me. That kind of reaction is addictive andreal.

I closed the door.

“Can you leave that open? My office hours aren’t technically over for another five minutes.”

“Why?”

She frowned. “Because all professors have set office hours. You went to college, you should know this.”

“Not that.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. I could be naked with this woman, why couldn’t I ask her a simple question?

Because it would change everything, that’s why.

“Are you working for your father?”

She reared back. “Excuse me?”

That wasn’t the answer I was looking for. So I moved to stand directly in front of her, to look into her eyes as she answered. “Are you still working for your father? Is that why you moved in with me so quickly?” I meant what I said to Dixon and Capp. I knew Esme hadn’t secretly obtained information from my files...but that didn’t mean she hadn’t thought about it.

Or, the even uglier truth I didn’t want to think about—that her initial interest in dating me was for that access.

To my great relief she went white as a sheet and shook her head vehemently. “No. God no. Leo, I donotwork for my father. Where would you get an idea like that?”

“Capp and Dixon visited me at work today.”

Her shock turned to rage. “What? Those bastards promised—wait...you think I moved in with you to get information?” Then she laughed and I didn’t know whether to be upset or happy. “Leo. No. I moved in with you because I sleep better when I’m with. I like your house. It feels like a home. I went all-in on your six month proposal because,” her voice drifted away and her gaze fell to the floor, “because if it was the only six months I got with you I wanted to make the most of every moment.”

Somehow we wound up tangled together. My hands in her hair, my tongue gliding along hers, her hands gripping my back. She kept talking between kisses. “When I want information I get it. I don’t need to fake relationships.”

“Please tell me what’s going on. Stop keeping me in the dark.” Despite my request she couldn’t say anything else. How could she when I was consuming her mouth and lifting her onto her desk?

She grabbed a fistful of my hair and broke free of my kiss. “Tell me why.”

“Why? Why what?”

She tugged again, forced me to look her in the eyes. “Why do you want to know? Curiosity? Your male ego?”

“I’m in love with you.” The confession came so easily I wondered how long it had been true. It was the only answer, after all. If I were just curious I wouldn’t care. Things like this didn’t eat at me. I either got answers or I didn’t. “I love you and I want to protect you. Ineedto know because I need to love you and I can’t love you if you keep pushing me away.”

“Leo, no. No, no, no, no.” She tried to wrestle free.

I held her tighter. “You can’t change how I feel so stop trying.”

“Please no.” She stared at my chest. “Please don’t love me.”

My chest hurt. As if the force of her stare could somehow pierce the bone. “Is it really so bad to be loved by someone like me?” I knew I wasn’t exactly traditional lover material but fuck.

“You deserve better than me,” she whispered. “You’ve always deserved better. Ask anyone. We can go outside and take an informal poll of passing students. I guarantee they’ll all say the same thing.”

Fuck polls, fuck deserving, fuck logic. “Do you love me?” I took her beautiful face in my hands and tilted it up until she met my gaze. “That’smykey, Esme. The answer to every clue, the formula that sets my world to order. If you love me then I can figure anything out.”

In that moment Esme was as vulnerable as I’d ever seen her. She forgot to hide her feelings and instead put all her emotions on full display. The force of it damn near blew me away. It didn’t matter what she said next because I already had my answer.

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