Page 7 of Leo
5
Grace
I checkmy hair in the rearview mirror one last time before getting out of my car.
It’s a really hot day. I can already feel little sweat patches forming under my arms. Or maybe that’s just nerves…
I spent the whole night tossing and turning. Drifting in and out of sleep. Kicking myself for not accepting Leo’s generous offer.
It would have been a whole lot simpler to just take his money and move on. But I guess that’s just not the kind of girl I am.
Instead, I’m all dressed up in a business suit heading for Hawthorne Towers.
Flashbacks of the last time I was here play like a movie in my mind. The self-righteous, smug look on the size 0 receptionist's face. The helpless feeling of knowing that no matter how hard I try, and how hard I work, there will always be people looking down at me. Who treat me like dirt.
I look around the square for Leo, but there’s no sign of him. Checking my watch, I notice I’m five minutes early.
There’s a bench sitting in the shade of a tree, so I head over there to get out of the sun. I’ve only just sat down when I hear the roar of a motorbike engine.
It pulls up right in front of me. The driver looking my way. I turn my head to see if he’s looking at someone behind me. But then the rider gets off the bike and pulls off his helmet.
My heart literally catches in my throat.
It’s Leo. And he’s looking even more handsome than I remember.
A plain black t-shirt hugs his immense frame. His huge, bulging biceps threatening to rip straight out of the fabric.
He walks towards me. For a moment, it’s like everything is happening in slow motion. I just stare at him as he gets closer and closer. My panties getting wetter and wetter with every second that passes.
“You ready?” he says, his voice deep and powerful. It sends a shiver straight through my body. Almost paralyzing me.
For some reason, I’d forgotten just how good-looking he is. Maybe it's all the stress and anxiety about the money. Or maybe it's the panic that’s been slowly building up in me ever since we made this plan to confront his brother. But right now, all those things are suddenly irrelevant. All I can think is how fucking hot he looks, and how much I’d like to throw myself at him. To feel his hands grasp my hips and to press my lips against his in a passionate kiss.
“Hello? Earth to Grace?”
“I’m sorry.” I stand up and brush off my skirt, avoiding eye contact as much as humanly possible. I can feel the heat building in my cheeks.
Pull yourself together, girl,I tell myself,stop being such a dork! So what if he looks like a Calvin Klein underwear model? You’re here to get your money back. To fight for the survival of your business. You’re not here to drool all over some hunky, hotty with the body of an Olympic athlete and eyes straight out of a fairy tale.
He steps towards me. Closing the space until we’re practically touching. “Hey, if you don’t want to go through with this. It’s fine. I can go in there by myself.”
“No.” I straighten my back and try and put on my game face. “This is my business. It’s important that I do this myself… even if it is with a little bit of your help.”
He gives me a crooked smile that makes the butterflies in my tummy do summersaults. “Good,” he growls. “I like the idea of us doing it… together.”
I gulp down the lump in my throat and try to think straight. Is he flirting with me? Or am I imagining it?
Before I have a chance to figure things out, he gives me his arm and we’re walking side by side towards the entrance.
The same bitchy receptionist is at the desk. We head straight towards her. She looks at me, but if there’s any hint of recognition, I don’t see it.
“Can I help you?” she says, her eyes glued on Leo. She bats her eyelids suggestively and bushes her cleavage up with her arms.
It’s the least subtle piece of flirting I’ve seen in a long time. A surge of jealousy runs through me. How dare this tramp flirt with my man, right in front of me!
But, then I realize, Leo isn’t my man. He’s just some random stranger whose coffee shop I go to sometimes. Someone who’s decided to step in and help me, because he has some beef going on with his family.
I shake my head and try to focus on the task at hand. Stopping my mind from veering off into a fantasy land where me and Leo are an item. Where I have some ownership over which women he chooses to spend his time with.
