Tiramisu. But only if it’s made in-house. If not, substitute with panna cotta and berry compote.
Right there and then, I knew it had been a good idea to wait until I had a decent place to bring the aloof doctor with an expensive palate. My apartment was not fit for a man with his taste. I was accustomed to shoveling whatever food was most convenient down my throat, especially when I was working. Leo, on the other hand, turned ordering takeoutinto something almost clinical in the way he dictated every detail.
I’d never spent that much on a single meal in my life. The cost of the bottle of wine alone was enough to feed a frugal family of four for a month. But this was Leo, and I would ensure he got exactly what he wanted when he wanted it. As long as he wasn’t running from me, I’d buy him all the fifteen-hundred-dollar bottles of wine he asked for without a second thought.
Italian food wasn’t my forte, so I’d triple-checked with them at the restaurant that they’d gotten his order right. I would hate for the place to “accidentally” burn down by a grease fire because the ravioli got soggy.
Since I had to work the night at the club and he was returning to the hospital tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to see him as often as I wanted. He had all-day shifts, which meant our times of availability would clash. I didn’t dare sneak away from the club anymore in case some other shit went down during my absence. The place was quiet since the nurse overdosed, but it felt more like a calm before the storm sort of thing.
I picked up my phone to text Leo that I was there, but then I looked at the paper bags and had an idea. If I showed up at the door, he wouldn’t really make me return to the truck for us to eat, would he? He couldn’t bethatcold.
I grabbed the bags in my right hand and carried the wine in my left. At his front door, I stopped to stare at the doorbell.Fucking idiot.Why hadn’t I bought him flowers or chocolates or something? Did older people do that when they liked someone, or had I watched too many shows with Nik? Leo didn’t seem like the type of man who would want flowers. He had none around. Or maybe he didn’t because no one gave them to him.
The front door opened, and Leo appeared, dressed in apair of loose cream linen pants, a blue shirt half tucked inside, but which looked deliberate, and a pair of glasses perched on the bridge of his sharp nose. His hair was tousled and shiny like he’d washed it and used conditioner or something.
God, I want to kiss him.
His brows furrowed. “Why didn’t you ring the doorbell? You’re standing out here like you’re having second thoughts.”
“No, no second thoughts.” The light behind him shone through his pants, and my throat went dry. He was going commando. I could make out the imprint of his dick behind the linen, and he wasn’t exactly flaccid either.
“Leo—”
“Hmm?”
“Are you deliberately turning me on?” I dragged my gaze back up to his. “Because it’s fucking working. If you don’t step back, our food’s gonna be on the floor, and I’m going to be on my knees sucking you off and not giving a damn that the neighbor across the street will get to see everything.”
Instead of moving back, Leo took a step forward until we were so close I could smell his minty breath. It made me want to cup my hand to breathe in it and smell if mine was up to par, but I didn’t.
Leo ran his nose across my cheek. “Be good, dollface,” he purred in my ear, and the rumbling in my stomach wasn’t a hunger for food but other things—carnal things. “I’ll punish you if you drop the food. I’m really hungry tonight.”
I didn’t get the feeling he was talking about just food. I closed my eyes and hung on to the handles of the paper bags for dear life. The way he was sniffing me, lips trailing along the side of my neck?—
“What is that smell?” Leo’s displeased tone dragged me out of my trance. He leaned in again, closer this time, inhaling along the front of my shirt before stepping back, hislips tight and eyes boring holes through me. “You don’t smell like you.”
“Huh?” I was still trying to catch up, my thoughts lagging where my body had already gone. For a second, he was flirting with me, and the next, he was looking at me as if he wanted to murder me.
“You were with someone before you came to me. You reek of them.”
His tone was thick with disgust as if I’d been contaminated and he couldn’t stand the thought of having me touch him.
“What? No—I?—”
Jess.
Fuck.
Jess had hugged me, but that couldn’t be what Leo meant. He sounded jealous. Angry. But he wasn’t the jealous type. Was he?
“She’s just a friend,” I blurted out. “Well, not exactly, but?—”
“I suggest you decide which version of the truth you’re offering before you speak again.” Then the door slammed in my face.
I blinked rapidly. What the fuck just happened? I rang the doorbell.
“Leo! Leo, it’s not what you think. She’s already in a relationship with two of my friends. I swear it was nothing.”
Still no movement.