Beguiling (Tempting #2) (23 page)

W
hen I finally lifted my
head and met his eyes, I searched them for a trace of the anger he should have felt for me. At the very least, he should be—and had every right to be—annoyed. I’d blamed him in the heat of the moment, when I’d been in such a hurry to leave, for distracting me all summer. As if he’d been an inconvenient presence.

But his eyes were clear, holding only concern. And the relief that moved through me was so thick that it coated the grief I’d worn like a second skin the last twenty-four hours. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

He nodded, pushed the hair from my face, grazing the tips of his fingers across my cheeks. “I tried to get my mom to give up the car, but no dice.”

“She’s pretty smart.”

“I know. It’s annoying.”

I laughed then and the hand holding the hair from my face squeezed gently. God, it felt good to laugh. “Why’d you come?”

“Because I couldn’t sleep. And if I’m not going to be able to sleep because I’m worrying about you, I’d rather be with you than away from you. That’s the selfish reason.”

My heart squeezed and I found it suddenly difficult to swallow. “There’s more than one reason?”

“The other is that I wanted to be someone you could count on. If you need me.” He seemed to struggle with what he was saying. “If you need me, I want to be here for you.”

I didn’t say anything then, just placed my hand over his where he held my head. I squeezed his hand. I knew we had a lot to talk about but I didn’t want to do those things here.

“Scarlet, would you mind grabbing us some dinner?”

I looked up and found my mom standing a few feet away. Initially, I wanted to move from the way Leo and I held each other, because there was no way my mother could misinterpret our comfort with one another as two completely platonic friends. But I stopped myself from pulling away from Leo. I wanted her to see him and me, together. Get used to the idea maybe, as I was just getting used to it myself.

“Sure,” I said. “What do you want?”

She pulled her keys out of her pocket and handed them to Leo, as if she understood that where I went, Leo would follow. “Just whatever.” She looked to Leo, smiled gently, and then looked at me.

Leo stood first and reached a hand toward me. I couldn’t think about my mom and the way she looked at me as I placed my hand in Leo’s and let him pull me to standing.

My mom stepped forward, her face smoother than it had been all day. She wrapped her arms around me and I used the one hand that wasn’t clasped with Leo’s to wrap around her back as I patted her.

“I’m happy for you,” she whispered in my ear before pulling away.

I drew my eyebrows together as I searched her face, but then Leo was tugging me down the hall, toward the elevators.

“Are you upset?” he asked once he’d pressed the button for the elevator.

“Upset?”

“That I’m here?”

“No.” It slipped quickly and easily from my lips. “Are you kidding?”

“It was a bit presumptuous of me to assume you’d even want me here.”

“Presumptuous,” I said with a raise of my eyebrow.

“I’ve been reading the dictionary again.” He smiled and, God, his very presence was so comforting that I asked myself why I’d danced around him so much, why I’d fought with him over insignificant things.

“I’m surprised by how happy I am that you’re here,” I told him once we were on the elevator, alone.

“You’re surprised?” He was still holding my hand and I used it to pull him a little closer to me.

“I didn’t know that just having you here would settle me the way it has.” It took a lot for me to admit that, but it shouldn’t have. He’d traveled all this way to be here for me—a grand gesture that spoke louder than even his words could. “You’re just what I needed.”

He smiled at that, shifted our hands so that our fingers weaved together. “I just have one question.”

“What’s that?”

“Where are we supposed to be going?” He pointed to the panel, and it was then that I saw he’d pressed buttons for every floor.

“You just had to touch them all didn’t you?”

“You shouldn’t sound so surprised.”

I shook my head and when the elevator stopped on the correct floor, I pulled him out of it, giving an apologetic look to the people who boarded after us. As we crossed the bridge into the parking garage, my entire heart was so much lighter. I knew we’d have a lot to talk about, but the fact that he was here spoke volumes to me.

“Let me drive,” Leo insisted when we’d located my mom’s SUV.

“No freaking way,” I said, reaching for the keys.

“I won’t crash it.”

I raised an eyebrow, skeptical. “How can I believe that?”

“Because I’m driving you. I don’t have a need to be reckless.”

He said it so earnestly that I forgot for a second why we were in D.C. together. We were just Scarlet and Leo, arguing about who got to drive the car.

“Okay,” I relented. “But please be careful. My mother has creative punishments if you crash her car.”

Leo opened my door, nodded solemnly. “I remember.”

“You remember?”

He closed the door and went around to the driver’s side door. “Our moms have always been in cahoots. Once, in high school, I cut class to…” he looked at me sheepishly and I didn’t need him to explain why, not when I imagined it was the fault of another girl. I merely rolled my eyes and encouraged him to continue. “Well, my mom brought me to your dad’s church during spring break and told your mom, ‘Here’s your helper. He doesn’t want to be in school, so he gets to work instead.’” Leo shuddered. “Worst spring break ever.”

I laughed. “I can imagine.” I directed Leo out of the parking lot and settled back in the seat as the air conditioning turned on.

“Your dad’s awake now?”

I nodded. “He woke up late last night. He seems to understand everything, but is still working on communicating with us.” There had been an audible sigh when he’d opened his eyes and squeezed my mom’s hands. It was the first noise I’d heard from her all night and when she’d whispered to him, I’d pretended to be asleep on the hospital sofa, to give them privacy. “I’m guessing we’ll go home in a few days.”

“I’m glad. For selfish reasons.” He smiled over at me, and I’d be a big fat liar if I said that his dimpled cheeks didn’t do something for me.

“After we get dinner, do you want to go somewhere and talk?”

Leo nodded as he pulled into the drive-thru of the closest restaurant. “I’d like that a lot.”

A
fter bringing my mom dinner
, I told her I’d be staying in the hotel room she’d reserved the day before, because it was close to the hospital and had an actual bed. So far, we’d both only slept there for a couple hours, in rotations while the other one stayed at the hospital.

“I’ll pull out the sofa here tonight,” my mom said, gesturing to the couch behind her. It made my cheeks color a little, thinking of what my mom must have assumed about Leo and me, and why she’d chosen to stay at the hospital that night instead of coming along to the room later.

But I didn’t dwell on it too much as I let Leo and myself into the room. We both fell onto the bed closest to the window, side by side, staring at the ceiling. “I’m exhausted,” I said with a yawn.

“I’m sure you are. I am too. I was up all night worrying over this pain in my ass redhead.”

I reached an arm over and hit his chest lightly. “Poor baby,” I teased him.

“Come on,” he said, standing up and pulling the covers back.

I stared at the bed for a second as I stood before looking at him again. Was he in the mood for sex? I couldn’t tell. I didn’t think I had the energy for anything more than falling against the pillow and into a deep sleep.

“I just want to spoon you, Scarlet.” He seemed to have a read on my thoughts. “But I can’t be blamed if
one
part of me gets excited.”

I blushed and slipped off my shoes, not even bothering to change from my clothes into pajamas. Leo lay on the bed first, stretching his left arm across the pillow. Without him saying another word, I climbed in beside him, laying my head on his bicep so that I was facing him on our sides. His arm curled up so he was supporting my head and he placed his fingers on my forearm, so that it was like a horizontal hug.

It was absurd, to feel as comforted as I did just by his presence. His other hand came up and pushed away the hair that had fallen across my face and then stayed, holding my jaw.

I searched his face, saw the light bruising beneath his eyes. “You look wiped out.”

His hand moved up and his thumb gently brushed where I knew I had my own dark circles. “You too.”

“We’re quite a pair,” I whispered. I needed to do something with the hand that lay between us, so I tentatively put it on his right arm that held my face. “Thank you for coming Leo. I was so very unkind to you.”

“You were in a hurry. And struggling with how to feel.”

“You don’t need to make excuses for me,” I said, grateful that he understood but sad that he said it before I did. “I’ve had a lot of time to think—about you. And me.”

“And what did you come up with?”

“My mom told me that she was proud of me already—not just because I got into vet school.” I moved my hand along his arm, wanting to give him some of the comfort he was giving me. “It was freeing, to be honest, knowing that no matter what I did going forward, she was proud. She doesn’t want me to work myself to death.”

“What a shame that would be.” He pushed the hair behind my ear, gently traced its curve. “Think you’ll slow down a little?”

“I don’t know yet,” I told him, even though I did have an idea of what I should do. My father wouldn’t be back to normal overnight—and it’d probably be several months before he’d even be up and around like before. Once I got back home to Massachusetts, I knew I’d need to call the admissions office at UC Davis and weigh my options.

“I’m sorry I said those things to you. It wasn’t fair.”

“Well, I
did
distract you.”

“And I liked it. A lot.”

“Me too.”

We were silent for a moment and he began running a hand over my hair. “I like that you call me out on my shit though. Even if you were upset and working through your feelings, you didn’t compromise your emotions to please me. You’re real to me, Scarlet. And that’s…” he smiled softly, his eyes closing halfway in fatigue. “That’s unbelievably refreshing.”

He was sweet like this, when there was nothing but us. No bucket list, no animosity. We were both fully clothed, under the covers together, and Leo was comforting me not because he felt he should but because he genuinely wanted to. He flew several states away just to be with me, taking a gamble on whether or not I’d even want him here. His exhaustion was written across his face, but he was still being gracious with me even when I didn’t deserve it.

My heart squeezed as my eyes traced his face, his eyes closing more and more as we stared at one another. His body was giving way to exhaustion, but he didn’t move away to get more comfortable. He just stayed there, giving me everything I needed in his touch. “I’m happy I’m here,” he whispered, his voice so soft that all the words slid together. I wanted to kiss him then, out of gratitude and … something else that had just found its way into my heart—a something else I was surprised and afraid to acknowledge.

When his eyes closed completely and his breath was even and deep, I leaned closer and gave him a soft kiss against his forehead. The arm under my head tightened, pulling me closer to him and I didn’t resist, wanting to be as close as possible to him.

In sleep I heard him whisper, “Scarlet,” like he was sighing it. And I realized that I’d been guarding myself against the inevitable. What had started with hate and turned into lust had just bloomed into something else, inflating my chest so much that I ached.

I still wasn’t sure where we stood together, but I was absolutely positive that my heart had just slid from my chest and into his hands.

I
went bungee jumping once
, in high school. Normally I wasn’t a daredevil, because one stupid injury was all it would take to screw up a season, possibly even my career. But that one day I’d done it, and I still remembered the best part like it had happened yesterday. The best part of the entire experience was the moment
before
I jumped. The second my feet had left the platform, during the freefall, I had a fleeting thought that I was an idiot for doing it. But right before I’d jumped, there was a suspended moment of anticipation that I never wanted to end.

That’s exactly how the last two weeks had felt between me and Scarlet. One long, suspended moment of anticipation. We hadn’t even had a whole lot of time alone once she and her parents had returned back home. What time we had spent together, there were eyes on us, like
all the time
. Mainly the mothers, but that was to be expected. Every time my mom smiled at us, no matter what we were doing, I was fairly certain she was dreaming up names of future grandchildren.

And even though nothing had progressed past some lingering touches and extended eye contact between me and Scarlet, I couldn’t blame her. Hell
, I
was dreaming up names for redheaded little kids.

Kidding.

Kind of. I didn’t want kids, not for a long time, and I wasn’t even really thinking about marriage, but what I
couldn’t
stop thinking about was Scarlet. And what it would take to make this thing with her turn into forever.

Ever since we laid in that hotel bed, twined around each other, I could see in her eyes that she was thinking the exact same thoughts as me. That wasn’t anything that I’d seen in her before that night, I’d have recognized it if I had. Which is why I’d been content to just let it rest for a couple weeks. Let her get settled back at home and help her parents around the house. Because I knew she was right there with me.

Her dad ended up having more weakness on the left side of his body than they’d anticipated, andshe told me that he’d struggle with some short-term memory loss every once in a while. But every day, he got better. Which meant that every day, the weight pressing on her shoulders got lighter, her smiles got bigger and appeared more quickly. But she still watched me like she was waiting, like she was anticipating that same thing that I was.

And that probably meant that my girl was waiting for me to make a move. If that was what she wanted? She’d get the greatest fucking move on the planet.

Her day had already started about three hours ago. She didn’t have class today, and that kind of free time was now spent helping her mom around the house, cooking or cleaning, running errands or getting her dad up and moving. I’d watched out the front window when Denard’s girlfriend, Tasha had picked Scarlet up, shepherding her into the car and off to the spa, where they were getting massages and whatever the hell else she wanted to do. My instructions to Tasha had been to keep her away for at least three hours. Scarlet saw me in the window, so I waved, laughing when she rolled her eyes in return.

As soon as the car disappeared down our street, Denard, Cameron, and one of our red shirt freshman linebackers who was still too intimidated by us to say no, had gone across the street to deep clean the Jennings’ house.

Mrs. Jennings oohed and ahhed the whole time that we dusted and vacuumed and mopped. I made the freshman do the toilets, though. But the coup de grace of the entire day would come when Tasha dropped Scarlet off at my house, just in time for dinner.

I sent Cameron to the grocery store with a list so that I could get my house all ready. My parents were gone overnight for some board retreat, and had I mentioned I was
beyond ready
to be back on campus? Granted, Scarlet would be across the country at vet school, but at least when she was home I’d have an apartment. No parents anywhere. Hallelujah, praise the Lord.

While I was draping a white tablecloth over the table in the kitchen, Cameron walked through the front door with two brown grocery bags in his arms.

“Yo, lover boy. I got everything you need to guarantee you’ll lose your virginity tonight.”

“Gee, thanks, Hunter. I’ll let you know how it goes, so by the time you finally pay a girl to sleep with
you
, you’ll know which hole to put it in.”

He cracked up and set the paper bags on the kitchen counter. “Looks fucking romantic in here.”

I looked around. I had two candles sitting on the table, but one of them had fallen over. “Dude, I’m not done yet. I’ve got an hour until she gets here, and the recipe I found said it only takes twenty minutes, so I still need to set the table.”

“Yeah, umm, I couldn’t find the kind of cherries you listed, so I grabbed something else.”

“What kind did you get?” I asked, instantly suspicious of anything that Cameron thought was an acceptable substitute. I’d googled easy first date recipes, and literally picked the first thing I saw, Chicken with Cherry-Wine Pan Sauce. One pan, twenty minutes, probably something I could throw together in my sleep. But the recipe specifically said pitted sweet cherries, fresh or frozen. So when I peered in the bag and saw a jar of bright-ass red maraschino cherries, I shrugged. “I guess these will work.”

“Are you sure you don’t want any help in here? Have you even ever cooked before?”

“I can manage to follow a recipe.” I pointed at the door. “Go. Thanks for your help cleaning. I’ll owe you if you ever decide to pull your head out of your ass and get a girlfriend.”

He rolled his eyes and walked out, wishing me luck before he slammed the door behind him. When I looked at the clock, I had fifty-seven minutes until Tasha dropped Scarlet off. I looked at the recipe on my phone, grimacing when I remembered that I hadn’t found balsamic vinegar in the pantry, only apple cider vinegar. Oh well, couldn’t be that different.

I unpacked the bags, rolled up my sleeves and went to work.

F
ifty minutes later
, I knew exactly how royally fucked I was.

The kitchen smelled like ass, and I meant that literally. The concoction in the pan was blood red from the maraschino cherries, and when I tried a small spoonful of the sauce, I’d barely made it to the sink before I spit it out.

“Damn it,” I said, wiping my mouth. My phone dinged, and I swiped across the screen.

T
asha
: ETA 5 minutes!

I
shook
my head and looked around the room. At least I’d managed to get the table set, and it looked pretty damn spectacular if I said so myself. Adele had helped with this one, sending me stuff from Pinterest that wasn’t “cheesy or like a pussy came up with it.” Exact quote, I swear.

In the end, I went with a bunch of squatty white candles and short, clear vases filled with white flowers. No roses, because they were too obvious. Nothing red because I didn’t want to be a cliché. The plates were china, the stuff my parents only used on Christmas and Thanksgiving, but now, I had no fucking idea what I was going to serve for dinner.

I had just opened up the freezer, groaning at the fact that my only option in the house was frozen pizza, when I heard the creak of the front door.

“Hello?” Scarlet called from the entryway. Maybe the dinner disaster was a good thing, because I wasn’t nervous in the slightest. If she didn’t want to hear what I had to say? Then her hunger would distract her. It was perfect.

“Back here,” I called, shoving the offending pan of chicken into the cold oven. When Scarlet turned the corner, I grinned at the pleasant surprise covering her face. Her eyes found mine, a smile making her cheeks lift.

“What is all this?”

I shrugged, tucking my hands into the pockets of my jeans and walking over to her. “Just thought you needed a day that was just about you. You’ve done so much for everyone else lately, and soon…” I swallowed, holding her eyes, “soon you’ll be busy with school.”

The room was dim, since I’d drawn all the shades in the kitchen, and the grouping of candles made light dance on her face. She blinked rapidly, then sniffed.

“What’s that smell?”

“Ahh, nothing.”

Then she laughed. “Did you cook too? Oh, Leo, this is so sweet. What did you make?”

“Trust me when I say you do not want to know.”

Scarlet ducked past me and looked over at the empty stovetop. “Come on, I want to see! No one has ever cooked for me before.”

“And it will be a long time before I do it again.”

She stopped, gave me a small, questioning smile. “But you’re planning a repeat? For me?”

I scratched the back of my neck. None of this was going how I planned. But then again, neither had anything with Scarlet. So I grabbed her hand and led her to the table, pulling out her chair and waiting until she sat to help her push it in. When I sat down in the chair opposite of her, I took a second to just look.

“You look beautiful,” I said, my eyes hitting every part of her that I could see. She blushed and fidgeted in her chair.

“I didn’t know I was coming straight here. I would have dressed up or something.” Scarlet looked around again, shaking her head. “Leo, this is so nice, but…” she trailed off.

“But what the hell is going on?” I supplied.

She smiled. “Pretty much.”

The nerves hit me with the force of a well-timed sack, knocking the breath from my lungs. Suddenly, I was too far away from her, so I stood and dragged my chair until it was next to her. Then I sat, grabbed the legs of Scarlet’s chair and turned her to she was facing me.

“So, the thing is,” I grabbed her hands and shifted so that my legs were open around hers, “I know that this may not make a difference right now. You’re leaving soon and I’ll be back at school next week.” Her fingers tightened around mine. “Fuck, I don’t know why this is so hard.”

“Hey,” she said gently. “You can tell me anything.”

“I know,” I exhaled, smiling at her. “And it’s only hard because I know that it just means that I’ll miss you so fucking much when you leave. I mean, I would anyway, but I’ll do everything in my power to end up wherever you are.” I squeezed her hands so hard, wishing I could just transfer everything that was sprinting through my head into hers. That somehow she’d feel it flow through her without me having to open my mouth, that she was
it
for me. I was saying this all wrong, and judging by the faintly amused look on her face, she could tell. “You know, I didn’t even practice this beforehand, because I’m not that guy who will ever do this in a perfect, romantic way. As evidenced by the fact that I have a really horrible plate of chicken sitting in the oven right now that I will
never
let you try.”

She laughed at me and I couldn’t wait. I leaned forward and gave her one soft kiss before pulling back. Sixteen days since I’d last felt her lips on mine. Three hundred and eighty-four hours. I’d done the math earlier. Scarlet opened her mouth to say something, but I shook my head and set my shoulders.

“I’m so fucking in love with you, Scarlet,” I said in a rush. “And I don’t know where I’ll end up after next year is over, but I know where I
want
to be. I want to be with you. If you’ll have me.”

My heart thudded to a halt while she watched me. Then she smiled,and it started back up again.