She turned her back on him and resolutely walked to the door and opened it. “Goodbye, Leo.”
He hesitated a moment, then nodded and joined her at the exit. “Good night. I know how much you’ll miss him. I’m very sorry for your loss.”
His voice was so gentle, soft and sincere, yet somehow it popped the bubble of strength around her. She just couldn’t keep it up any longer. Moisture blurred her eyes, and big, fat tears rolled down her face. Then the sobbing started, deep, wrenching cries that broke loose from inside her. She covered her face with her hands. If there was anyone she didn’t want to see her like this, it was Leo Wallace.
“Tess?”
She couldn’t answer, not even to tell him to go away and leave her alone. A moment later she heard the door close and the dead bolt click. Then she felt strong arms come around her and she was folded against his body. He made shushing noises, patted her back and mumbled nonsense about everything being okay.
Tess would never be sure when the closeness stopped being about comfort and turned into awareness. There was a reason women were drawn to him and right this moment Tess didn’t have the reserves of strength to pretend she was different. No matter how ill-advised it might be.
The good news was that she had stopped crying. The bad was that she looked at him and their gazes locked, and suddenly it was hard to breathe. One moment they were staring at each other, the next he was kissing her. And she was kissing him back!
She opened her mouth and he didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation. Their tongues dueled and breathing escalated. He threaded his fingers into her hair as their bodies strained even closer. She could feel that he wanted her and she wanted him, too.
“Leo...” There was no mistaking the pleading in her voice.
“Are you sure?” His eyes darkened with intensity as he searched her gaze. “Maybe this isn’t—”
“Don’t say it.”
Right this second she didn’t feel sad or lonely and holding on to that bubble of painlessness was vital. For as long as it lasted, she wanted passion to cancel out the grief. She didn’t want to think about anything but this. She tugged him closer to the booth and her butt bumped up against the table. Leo lifted her onto it but there was still a question in his eyes.
“Yes,” was the single word she said.
That was all he wanted to hear. As she leaned back onto the table, he slid the hem of her black dress up and hooked his fingers in the waistband of her panties. Quickly he slipped them down her thighs, over her knees, letting them fall down her legs until she kicked them off.
And then he was inside of her, filling her completely. There was no room for thinking; all she could do was feel and take what he offered. He moved slowly, thrusting in and out until she wrapped her legs around his hips to draw him in deeper. One more push and the knot of tension in her belly dissolved as pleasure roared through her. When her shuddering stopped, he thrust one more time and then went still, groaning with the power of his own release.
Tess lay there with her eyes closed. She could feel Leo standing between her legs, palms flat on the table. The only sound in the room was their mingled breathing slowly returning to normal. She didn’t want to move. She didn’t want to talk. She just wanted to hold on to the haze of pleasure and forgetfulness he’d given her.
“Tess?”
And the glow was gone. She opened her eyes and let him take her hands to help her sit up. He smoothed her dress over her thighs and bent to pick up her panties from the wooden floor.
He held them out. “I don’t know what to say.”
It was the first time she’d ever seen him less than cocky and self-assured. That was a surprise. “Just don’t say you’re sorry.”
“Should I be?”
“No.”
“Are you?” he asked. “Sorry about it?”
“It never happened.” She so didn’t want to talk about this. “You were never here. I don’t want to hear about it. We will never speak of this again. And I don’t want to ever hear anyone else talk about it. Is that clear?”
“With women nothing is ever clear,” he said.
“Then let me point out that I’m not crying anymore.” A vision of what she must look like flashed through her mind because she had ugly-cried. Snot and tears and sobs, oh my. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”
“At least you weren’t alone.”
“It would have been so much better if I was.” Oh, dear God, what had she done?
“So you do regret it.” His mouth pulled tight for a moment.
“No. It never happened.”
“Or do you regret that it was me?”
She didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Although he didn’t seem to extend that courtesy to the plethora of women he took up with and threw away like used tissues. Still, he’d been considerate enough to pay his respects to her grandfather. Pat had always told her to be nice to Leo. He’s not a bad guy. Tess could pull it together just this once. After all, there was nothing like hot, unexpected sex to take your mind off grief.
“Leo, it’s just that you and I are like oil and water.”
“A minute ago we mixed just fine,” he said, the cockiness back in all its glory.
“Nothing happened,” she reminded him. But heat crept into her cheeks and if there was a God in heaven, Leo couldn’t see it in the dim light. Suddenly she was exhausted and her eyes felt puffy and sore from crying. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to be alone.”
“Whatever you want.” For a second it looked as if he would say more, but then didn’t. He straightened his clothes and went to the front door, steps away. After opening it he said, “See you, Tess.”
“When hell freezes over,” she whispered, locking the dead bolt behind him.
* * *
Six weeks later Leo was surprised when Tess called and asked him to stop by the bar. Where “it” had never happened. He was on his way there now and very curious about what was on her mind. After the night of Pat’s funeral, he’d avoided The Pub, respecting Tess’s wishes. But he missed the place, missed the older man who’d been more like a father to him than his own.
She wouldn’t talk about whatever it was on the phone but he figured she wanted to discuss investing in her business. Not long before he died, Pat had told him it was in trouble and the best hope of saving it for Tess was to take on a partner. He’d heard what she said when he left after the memorial and figured hell must have frozen over. Her call came out of the blue and the only reason she would speak to him was finances.
He pulled his car into the nearly empty lot outside The Pub. The only other vehicle was a small, fuel-efficient one that had a few years on it. Probably Tess’s. Anticipation hummed through him and adrenaline started to flow. Not unlike the way he used to feel before a hockey game.
After parking, he turned off the car and exited. “Let’s see what the lady has to say.”
He walked to the door, where the Closed sign was displayed. Peeking inside, he saw Tess behind the old-fashioned wooden bar with a brass foot rail. She was wiping everything down.
Leo would have to be a moron to miss the fact that she didn’t like him very much. Other than his ex-wife, who was a lying bitch, Tess was the only woman who’d given him the cold shoulder. Maybe he couldn’t get her off his mind because she was a challenge. Without hockey to consume his competitive nature, he was channeling it to her.
That was as good an explanation as any because she wasn’t his type. She was pretty enough, but not the kind of woman who gave men whiplash turning to stare. But there was something fresh and appealing about her brown hair and eyes, something friendly and inviting. For everyone but him. Until that night he’d never made a move on her. Why waste time on a woman who showed no sign of ever warming up when an abundance of ladies lined up to be photographed on his arm?
Except she did warm
up to him that night. She could pretend it never happened, but he had the scorch marks to prove her wrong.
Time to get his head on straight and talk business. He tried the door and found it was unlocked. Tess looked up but her expression didn’t signal that she was happy to see him.
“Hey,” he said, closing the door behind him.
“Leo.” She stopped wiping the bar and watched him walk over and sit on one of the stools in front of her.
He could almost feel the tension radiating from her. Maybe he could put her at ease. “I want you to know that I respect what you said that night—”
She held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t.”
“Understood.” He met her gaze. “So, why did you ask me to come over and talk?”
“It’s about The Pub—” Her lips trembled for a moment as grief slid into her eyes. She blew out a breath and continued, “I’m aware that Granddad came to you with a proposition to invest.”
“That’s right. I talked with him a lot when I suddenly couldn’t play hockey anymore. About what I was going to do.” That had been a personal low. He was dealing with an injury that forced him to retire prematurely from the sport that defined him at the same time his wife admitted she’d been cheating with a former lover. She announced she was leaving and taking their child with her. Leo had spent a lot of time at The Pub, drinking and spilling his guts to Patrick. “Your grandfather told me I needed an act two and I had a good head for business. He was right about both.”
“He told me you bought the local ice rink and it was finally turning a profit.”
“Yes. Among other ventures.” All of them had been going down when he took over. Now every one of them was prospering.
“Before I make my pitch, you should know that The Pub was doing fine until Granddad got sick. The medical bills after he was diagnosed were substantial. Even then things were okay. But recently—”
“So you’re letting me know you’re a good manager.”
“Yes. And the good news is that there’s been an uptick in business.”
“Yet you’re approaching me, I assume for help, even though you fought Pat tooth and nail when he suggested I put up money and lend my name to improve declining revenue.” At her surprised look he added, “Yeah, he told me you weren’t in favor of partnering with me. So why now, Tess?”
“I had to let a full-time employee go and cut hours for others. That’s enough to keep the doors open but not to grow.” She didn’t exactly answer the question of what had changed.
“Okay.”
“This place has been my home since I was six and came to live with Granddad. I grew up here. Did my homework in the office in the back. Swept floors because I wanted to help. Did inventory. But there’s a lot of debt from his cancer treatment and medical bills. I want his legacy to go on. I just don’t want to see it turned into a sports freak show.”
He winced at the dig to his former profession but sympathized with the sentiment. Or maybe the sheen of unshed tears in her eyes and the fierce pride on her face made him go soft.
“So, tell me what you’re proposing.”
She outlined the high points: an infusion of capital to update the place, a percentage of the business and a few other things. She finished up with, “If that’s acceptable, I’ll take you on as a silent partner.”
What she outlined was agreeable to him and at this point in the negotiations it was probably best not to tell her “silent partner” was never going to happen. The thing was he really wanted to buy in. The place was conveniently located and had a lot of potential. Leo also wanted to preserve Pat’s life’s work.
“Do you have any objection to using my lawyer to draw up a contract?” he asked.
“No.”
“Okay, then. I’ll get in touch with her first thing in the morning.”
“Figures your attorney would be a her.”
“I didn’t hire Annabel because of her gender. She’s a damn good lawyer.” And beautiful, too. But it was strictly business and a line he wouldn’t cross even if there was an attraction between them.
“If you say so.”
Tess was starting to get under his skin, and not in a good way. “Clearly you have a low opinion of me. Why is that?”
“The parade of women through your life for one thing. That speaks to being shallow, self-centered and commitment resistant.”
Any guy would run in the face of commitment if he’d been through what Leo had. A guy would have to be an idiot to go through that again. Hockey had given him highs and lows—sanctuary from a lousy home situation, a college education and more than one Stanley Cup championship. The game was physically aggressive and injuries left marks. But they were nothing compared to what losing his career and family at the same time had done to him.
It was best to change the subject and get back to business. “You said The Pub was doing all right until recently. What changed?”
She suddenly looked nervous. “I probably should have led with this, but I wanted to get business details wrapped up first. Although if you have a problem with the fact that I didn’t tell you this up front, feel free to change your mind about investing. You don’t have to help if you don’t want to.”
He’d promised Pat he would look after Tess whether she wanted him to or not. There was no way to know what was going through Pat’s mind when he made Leo swear, but a vow was a vow. If she was trying to scare him away, it wasn’t going to work. “You’re not making any sense.”
“I know. I just want to make it clear that I’ll figure out some other way. I could have worked eighteen hours a day with little pay before and it would have been all right. But things have changed. Now I have to—”
“Tess.” That stopped her babbling but not the tension and nerves still making her twist her fingers together. “What’s going on?”
She blew out a breath and stood a little straighter, as if bracing herself. “You know that thing we’re not talking about that never happened?”
“For the record you can pretend we didn’t have sex on that table over there. You can semantics the hell out of it, but that won’t change anything. The fact is that we did it. You can bury your head in the sand but that leaves your backside exposed.”
“You’re not wrong about that.” She looked everywhere but at him.
This was really starting to get on his nerves. “What’s going on, Tess? Just spit it out.”
“I’m pregnant.”
He blinked at her and couldn’t wrap his mind around the words. “I’m sorry. What?”
“I’m going to have a baby.”
Bingo. That was the scariest thing she could have said to him. He couldn’t believe it. No way this was happening to him. Not again. He wasn’t getting sucked in for a second time by a woman who was lying about having his baby. Leo stood up and walked out of the bar.
Copyright © 2019 by Teresa Southwick
Keep reading for an excerpt from The Austen Playbook by Lucy Parker.
Coming soon from Carina Press and Lucy Parker,
Lucy Parker presents opposites attract, as she brings the West End to the English countryside via a Jane Austen–themed whodunit.
Read on for a sneak preview of
The Austen Playbook,
the next book in Lucy Parker’s
London Celebrities Series.
The Austen Playbook
by Lucy Parker
Chapter One
A year ago
After twelve years of performing in the West End, Freddy Carlton had racked up her fair share of unfortunate experiences. Bitchy co-stars. Costume malfunctions. Having to stage-snog people with whom she’d had bad dates and even worse sex.
She’d never forgotten her lines during a public performance.
“Peanut, it wasn’t that bad.” Crossing her long legs, her older
sister Sabrina pushed the basket of hot chips across the table. She’d been trying to stuff food down Freddy’s throat for the past half hour. The conviction that most ills could be assuaged with carbs ran deep in their family. “You covered really well. Barely a pause.”
Freddy put down her sangria and rubbed her eyes. “Yes. It really saved the day when I quoted a Bruce Springsteen song in the middle of a play set in 1945.”
In the instant under the lights when her mind had just...blanked, and her stomach had dropped to her shoes, some safety valve in her brain had stepped in and supplied a line. Unfortunately, it had fixed on the last song she’d been listening to in her dressing room to wind down before curtain.
She supposed she should be thankful she hadn’t trotted out a line from the second-to-last song the radio had infiltrated into her subconscious. She might have responded to her soldier lover’s romantic declaration with an obscene rap.
“Oh my God.” She pushed aside her glass and briefly dropped her forehead to the table. “Press night. I quoted Springsteen in front of a thousand people on press night.”
She’d never really screwed up on stage before. Certainly never so bizarrely. She usually confined any major hiccups to rehearsal. She had a reputation for reliability. Affability. Just tell Freddy where to go, what to do, who to be, and she’ll do it. She’d even throw in a smile.
Generally, the smile was genuine. She loved the stage, she loved her family, and she loved life. With the glaring exception of tonight’s debacle, her career was on the up. She ought to be skipping through the streets.
Not lying awake at night, not partying too much in the extremely brief gaps between productions, and not feeling physically sick before auditions.
“People may not even have noticed.” Sabrina pushed back a strand of wildly curling hair. They’d both inherited their father’s ringlets, but where Freddy was dark brown, like every Carlton in recent memory, Sabs had popped out a bright redhead. An early beginning on her lifelong tendency to stand out in the crowd. “And given how shite the actual dialogue was, I thought your improvisation was a massive improvement.”
To Keep Her Baby Page 18
