Leo Maddox (24 page)

She extended her hand. My fingers traced against her skin as I clasped the bracelet—a charm bracelet with only one charm—around her wrist. It wasn’t flashy or covered in diamonds. Because I knew Clara wouldn’t have wanted something like that. It was simple silver links in various sizes and one four-leaf clover charm.

“Leo?” She glanced from the bracelet up to me. Tears were on the brink of her eyes.

I swallowed hard, feeling all jittery once again. “I can remember that night in my library perfectly. And for years I searched through random books, finding nothing and thinking the clover was lost forever.
Great Expectations
. I had forgotten the title until you said it on the subway. That's the actual clover, by the way. I had it dipped in white gold. I've always wanted to give it back to you. I feel like I’ve been waiting a lifetime for this.”

“Holy shit,” she muttered. I couldn’t tell if that was a good
holy shit
or a bad one.

Rubbing one hand across my neck, I tried to give her an out just in case she wasn’t into it. “I know you never wear jewelry...so if you'd rather wear it as a necklace or something else or not at all, I'll understand.”

“No,” she gasped, “it's perfect.”

“I'm going to say stupid shit sometimes,” I blurted out, wanting to talk about us now. “That's a given. And you're probably going to find new and interesting ways to piss me off. That's a given too. But nothing can take away from the fact that I love you, and I'm pretty sure you love me, too. At the end of the day, that's all that will ever matter. I know you're not going to trust me one-hundred percent immediately, given our history, but one day you will. And I know you will because I'm going to spend the rest of my life proving that, yes, I am an ass, but...I'm your ass.” I sighed, burying my face in the furry body of the armadillo. “Fuck. That came out awful.”

Clara finally closed the distance between us. She pulled my hands down away from my face. “Nope, it was perfect…and so are you. I love flustered Leo just as much as I love the rest of you.”

My heart clinched. “Say that again,” I demanded.

“What?”

“You know what.”

“I love you,” she whispered.

It was the single best thing she’d ever said to me—that anyone had ever said to me. And then suddenly Clara jumped up in my arms, gripping my neck tight, squeezing her legs around my waist, and pressing her lips to mine. Not so gracefully either, I might add. My heart was flying in a way it never had before.

“Dammit,” I growled into her sexy little mouth. “What is it with you and airports? Do you enjoy trying to make me hard for the whole world to see?” I smiled against her lips. “It's another one of your sweet ways you try to murder me, isn't it, killer?”

“Shut up and kiss me, you ass,” she groaned playfully.

And I did. Her lips were warm against mine and her mouth hot as she opened up for me. She made the blood pumping through me feel like fire, just like she did every time we had kissed, and I couldn't get enough. I didn’t think I'd ever be able to get enough.

We broke apart only when a girly squeal interrupted us. I set Clara down and a second later Stephany tackled her with a hug.

“Where did you come from?” Clara asked, confused but excited to see her friend.

Stephany hugged her harder. “Sorry, but I had to stop you before you screwed Leo in front of your whole family,” she whispered.

A second later, Reed and Maggie, plus a few stragglers, joined us. Any other day I might have cared that they’d all witnessed that kiss. But not today.

“You brought an entourage?” Clara asked Stephany.

“Leo brought an entourage,” Stephany corrected.

Clara groaned. “Seriously?”

I pulled at her hand, getting her attention. “I realized—after Maggie found all of the Arizona printouts in your room—that maybe our argument wasn't the only thing that sent you running.”

“No, it wasn't,” she admitted. “But you're the
only
reason that brought me back. So… this is about to get super awkward.”

A second later, the others surrounded her, blocking the flow of traffic through the airport.

“Did you two kiss and make up?” Maggie jokingly asked.

I didn’t bother to answer her question and instead reached to pick up Clara’s suitcase. As I stood up straight, I whispered against my girl’s ear, “Talk to your family, Clara. Instead of pretending like you don’t care, just talk to them. They love you and you need to realize that.” Then, right in front of Reed and everyone, I pressed a lingering kiss to her lips. As we parted, I said to the rest of the group, “anyone without Ryder DNA...follow me
now
.”

And they followed, everyone leaving Clara to talk with her sister and father.

There seemed to be a mutual agreement that some sort of family pow-wow needed to happen. Clara needed to sort some issues out with her family. She needed to know how worried they were and how much they truly loved her. And she needed to do it all without me.

So that was what happened. I lead the others away to some empty seats where we all relaxed and waited. Ten minutes or so ticked by. And by the time we were all leaving the airport, the only thing I felt inside was relief. Immense, soul-cleansing relief.

“Well,” Reed said to the group. “Let's move on outta here. We're gonna have a big party tonight at the club for Sinclair's birthday. Not that I need any other reason to celebrate—I've got both my girls right where they belong.”

I approached Clara from behind, wrapping an arm over her shoulders and tucking her in close against my side. She fit there perfectly and I never wanted her to leave. While everyone else started moving toward the exit, we fell several steps behind.

“I was right, wasn't I?” I asked. “Your family loves you and there was no fucking way they were going to let you disappear to Arizona.”

She rolled her eyes, smiling. “Yeah, yeah. You were right.”

“I'm always right, so you should probably get used to it.”

She laughed. Then pulling at my arm, to whisper in my ear, “The only thing I plan on getting used to is spending more time with you.”

I stopped walking. “When we get back to Blue Creek, you're coming over to my place and we're making up for lost time.” My voice went low, turning into more of growl. “I want you naked in my bed with your legs wrapped around me. I've missed having my little snuggler with me this week.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “I snuggle?”

“You don't just snuggle, you cling. It's really nice.” I pressed a kiss to her temple. “Because as tough as you are most of the time, I like when you show me your softer side.”

She stared at me, stunned.

“C'mon, your family is waiting for us,” I said, tugging on her hand. The others were yards ahead of us. We caught up and the entire clan left the airport, heading toward where Reed had parked his Range Rover.

After cramming inside and heading straight for the very back seat, Clara curled against my side. We were both beyond exhausted.

“Oh, here's your phone,” I said, pulling it from my pocket to hand to her. “I got it from Leah.”

“Thanks,” she muttered. Whether she knew my history with Leah or not, she didn’t mention it. But she did start staring at her phone. “You emailed me? A few days ago?”

“Delete it,” I said quietly, so the rest of the car wouldn’t hear us. “You don't need to read it.”

I’d forgotten about the desperate email I’d sent her when she first went missing. She didn’t need to see that.

“Why? Is it mean?” she asked.

“No. It's sappy as shit and irrelevant now that you came home.”

“Oh.”

Yeah, that seemed to only make Clara want to read it more. She sat there, reading as Reed started the car and started driving back toward Blue Creek. I thought over the words I’d written to her a few days ago.

Once upon a time, there was a skinny little blonde girl, no taller than a tadpole, with a big heart and an even bigger mouth. And then there was the boy next door. He loved her his whole life, but never knew how to handle that. So, he pushed her away and pushed her away, until one night he fell off a railing and bumped his head. She appeared, as if by magic, and picked him up off the ground. She kept an eye on him, even though she should have pushed him away for always being so mean. He knew then that nothing in his life would ever be worth anything until he figured out a way to win her heart...

I stepped in front of the golf cart, Clara. You hitting me wasn't an accident. I saw you coming and I had to do something. Because if I didn't...then one day, I would blink and you'd be gone, happily married with two-point-five kids to some guy who wasn't me. I stepped in front of it...expecting nothing more than a bruised ass, but gaining everything.

And since I’m confessing everything right now, I need you to know that I lied when I said
don't expect me to always chase after you when you pull this kind of bullshit.
I'd chase you a million times and then a million more.

So, I'm coming to find you and when I do, I'm bringing you home. I knew what I wanted when I was six and that hasn’t changed…it never will either. Don't even try to argue with me about this one because you'll lose. I love you.

Yours, Leo

She finished reading. I feared for a small moment that my words would frighten her, send her running all over again, but they didn’t. Instead Clara snuggled closer into my side. She said nothing and I tightened my grip around her waist.

It was clear to me now.

I’d been the idiot for waiting half a lifetime to tell this girl how I truly felt. There was some merit to the words Robby had spoken to me in the bathroom. The emotion that rolled off Clara in this moment told me everything I needed to know. Even if she hadn’t known the way I’d always known, she loved me now. And always. This was the way it was supposed to be.

And she’d always belonged with me.

CHAPTER 21:

P
arting ways sucked some serious balls. By the time we drove home from the airport, stopped at McDonalds, and made it back to my house, it was late afternoon. And, trust me, McDonalds had
not
been my call. The only thought rolling around in my head all afternoon was getting Clara home, getting her alone, and then getting her undressed. Food was more like an afterthought. Especially fast food. I wasn’t even a fast food kind of a person. So by the time we finally reached my house, I was antsy as hell and slightly sick to my stomach.

And then Reed dropped me off at my front porch. Alone.

“Bye, Leo,” he said, smiling and hanging his head out of his driver side window of his Escalade. He waved his fingers at me. “We’ll see you later tonight. I know how you need your space and your time to get ready.”

My mouth dropped open a little. “Okay then.”
Was he dismissing me?
I was a little confused.

Sure, my appearance was important to me and I knew I took longer than the average male to get ready. Okay, maybe even longer than the average female too. But I wasn’t as much of a diva as he was insinuating. To make this moment worse, I kind of expected Clara to hop out of the car and follow me inside, but she didn’t. I guess it was too awkward and inappropriate having her father unload us both in front of my empty house.

Because the sexual tension between Clara and I had been thick all afternoon. Maybe Reed could sense it too and was trying to do the fatherly thing. Who the hell knows?

So I unlocked my front door and went into my house. Alone. Robby had mentioned something about taking Valerie back to his apartment to start packing his belongings—or something like that. I wasn’t really paying attention, so I can’t be certain. Not that I cared much either way. But they didn’t get out of the car either. So it was just me.

Marching up the staircase, I hurried for my room. I figured I could shower and head back over to Clara’s house. There were still a few more hours left before the party started. And time with Clara—supervised or unsupervised—was better than none.

I stripped out of my clothes, leaving them in a pile on my bathroom floor. Then I started the water in my shower. The water had just moved past freezing cold when I heard a small knock.

Turning quickly, I opened the door. And there was Clara—slightly out of breath and staring at me. Her eyes took in my naked body. And,
fuck me
, did they like to linger. My whole body started to buzz and the blood in my veins pumped a little harder. The fact that I was already naked and the sound of my shower running behind me only magnified everything.

“Um, hey, Jesus.” She blew out a breath and her eyes flickered up to meet mine. “I got as far as the end of your driveway before I realized that I didn’t care if that whole carload of people knew going with you into your house meant we were about to have sex. So I jumped out of the car and ran up your driveway. And then up your steps. This house is entirely too big and I don’t think—”

I silenced her words with a kiss.

Not a gentle one either, I might add, because I couldn’t even pretend to wait another second longer. I needed her. Now. We had lost time to make up for. Hell, lost
years
to make up for. And she was right. Worrying about what other people thought wasn’t what I wanted either of us to waste our time on.