Page 25 of Reckless Love

“You know Esme picked up on it right away,”he glanced at me with a smile that made my heart beat a little faster. “My mum—she didn’t like to be calledmom—was from Liverpool. Made the bad mistake of falling in love with an American. They got married, moved to the States, had a kid.” He waved his hands at himself and then took a sip. “I was raised by her which is why I say things funny, right Esme?”

Honestly, I was so shocked hewas actually sharing that I forgot how to speak for a moment. I tried and failed twice before I found my voice. “Um, yes, that’s right. Some of your vocabulary choices are very British English and your syntax and cadence as well.”

“You’re a fucking linguist too?” Greg asked.

“Actually in the United States linguistics is one of the four subfields of anthropology.” It was annoyingand amazing how fast I could switch into professor mode. I sounded like I was selling students on choosing my department as a major.

“Well there you go.” He took a swig of his drink and grabbed the bottle to refill everyone’s glasses. “So daddy dearest packed up and left his wife and kid for freedom? A younger woman? Which cliché did he pick?”

“I don’t know,” Leo shrugged. “One dayhe was there, the next he wasn’t. My mother never told me and now she’s gone so I can’t ask.”

His words sounded confident and sure, but his eyes told a different story. I wanted to sit in his lap and hold him, tell him things likeeverything will be all rightandI love you.That was silly right? No one had ever said such things to me no matter how sad I felt inside.

But itfeltright.

And my life was probably not the best example to follow when it came to caring, loving gestures. To use a terrible analogy, if Leo and I were a delicious dish I was creating for dinner, would I follow the recipe or my instinct? Did we need a dash more sugar for everything to come out just right?

Well, if it worked in the kitchen maybe it worked with people too. So you knowwhat I did? I crawled in Leo’s lap. The look on his face was worth it. The surprise, the smile, the love. All worth it.

Marie laughed and Greg mumbled something aboutshe can be taught!And then we were alone in the dining room while they cleaned up the kitchen.

“What’s this?” His arms came around me, tilting me back just a little.

“Everything will be all right. I love you.”

His smile reached his eyes. “She can be taught,” he repeated with a smile. “I was wondering what you were struggling with over there.”

“Struggling?”

“Yeah,” he waved at my face. “There was a lot of crinkling up here,” he touched my forehead, “and frowning. You wanted to do this but didn’t know if it was the right thing to do?”

He was a damn mind reader. Or maybe I wasthat transparent if Greg could read me too. Heaven knew that man was oblivious to everything except Marie and Natalie. “Correct. It was the first thing I thought of but I’d never seen anyone actually crawl into another persons lap in front of other polite guests.”

“I’m glad you went with your gut.”

“Yeah? You like it?” I snuggled closer, realizing I liked it quite a lot too.

“Being closer to you is always a good idea but yeah, I think I needed a hug too.”

I held him tighter, wishing I could make him completely and truly happy. “My father said something that got me thinking.”

Leo’s arms tightened around me. He was still so angry about that night. “Something you haven’t told me?”

“He said he never believed I could have orchestrated the Nashvilleproblems on my own. That,” I began talking with my hands as I whispered, waving them in circles as I tried to find the words to explain everything that I had been quietly running and analyzing in the back of my mind. “He said that one of his executives had to have helped me or put me up to it. And that now they’d been pretty high up in the national organization.”

“Perfectly placed to setthings in motion now...”

“Yes. Possibly.”

“And what areyouthinking?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. But I keep circling back to that. There must be something there.”

Leo’s fingers gently touched my throat. “Thank you for telling me. I know you try to keep it all to yourself.”

“That’s because I don’t want to bring anything bad into your life. I only wantthe best for you.” My heart thudded against my chest. I wanted to shower him in love and happiness and pleasure. I wanted to give him the world like some out of control Santa Claus.

Love made me nuts. I was a nut. A happy nut, but a nut.

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