Page 47 of All I Want Is Love
Leo blinks, sitting down on one of the chairs. “I am not sure I understand,” he mutters. “But it’s part of you, and I would love to see this part of your life.”
Yeah, I am completely sold already. I am going to do everything I can to make sure this relationship works out.
I hand him a plate of eggs Benedict and sit down next to him.
“Soren!” he grabs my hand. “Did you just truly cook this?”
I grin. “Didn’t you realize I was whipping something together?”
“I thought you would make ham & eggs or, I don’t know… toss some cornflakes into a bowl. This is amazing.” His eyes gleam. “No one has ever made breakfast for me like that. Well, minus Aspen, but I think we can agree that that’s something else.”
“I am happy you like it.” I nuzzle my nose into his still-damp hair. “Even more reason to make breakfast for you regularly.”
“If you continue like that, I will have a hard time staying alone here when you aren’t around.”
My heart skips a beat. “Even more reason to plan our time together well. How about next time, you spend the night at my place? You haven’t seen it yet.”
“Yes,” he beams. “Barkley can come too, can’t he?”
“Obviously, you are a package deal,” I say seriously, smiling when Barkley uses this moment to trot into the kitchen and look at me demandingly.
“I fed him already,” Leo says. “But he is always hungry.”
“That’s the breed,” I chuckle. “So, today… How about we go and buy some things we’ll need for our hiking trip, then drive to my patients and then… I don’t know, what do you want to do?”
“We can just walk through the town,” he offers. “Or go and have dinner somewhere.”
I nod. “Sounds lovely.”
Leo chews on a piece of toast before tossing me a gaze. “Are you not going to ask?”
“Ask what?”
“About what happened yesterday,” he mutters.
“I wasn’t sure…” my voice trailing off.
“You can always ask me,” he says. “Whatever you want to ask.”
“Only if you promise me that you will not feel pressured into answering,” I argue. “That you know that even if I ask, you can always tell me you aren’t ready to talk about it.”
He lets my words sink in before he nods. “Deal.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, trying to sound as gentle as possible. I don’t want him to feel pressured into having to.
“I don’t know,” he admits. “I was about to draw a logo for Aspen’s shop. Did Aspen tell you?”
“No,” I say. “He would never betray your trust like that.”
“Would you tell him if I told you things?”
“No, because I wouldn’t betray your trust either.”
“I just felt it was time, you know. To use my tablet and draw on it. I thought I could do it if it were for Aspen, that my positive feelings would outweigh the negative. But they didn’t. And I slipped into a state of panic, and wasn’t able to get out of it. I called the first number that came to my mind.” He looks like he is about to say more, but then he just shakes his head and closes his mouth. “I… I can’t…”
“It’s okay,” I reassure him. “Never feel pressured to tell me more than you can.”
“I am really lucky that I have Aspen and that he made me come here, and I got even luckier meeting you.” He pauses. “Robin has become a good friend too and…” another pause. “Wait a moment, this just reminds me that Robin has an ostrich. How?”
