But seeing Leo jolted something awake inside of me. I'd come all this way, sold my new used car back to Sloane, and left my Arizona dream behind me—and I did it all for him. Because I loved him. Because I wanted the rough-around-the-edges side of him just as much as I wanted his sweet-as-hell side. And now he was here, looking smoking hot with several days’ worth of stubble coating his jaw and rumpled no-product hair, as if my imagination had spontaneously materialized him. But I didn't know what to say to make up for running away from him, so I stood frozen in the middle of the airport—people swirling around us in a hurry to get to their different destinations—staring at him, while flesh-eating butterflies gnawed at my insides.
Hours could have ticked by, but it was probably only a couple of seconds before he spoke first. “Hey.”
I gulped. “Hey.”
“What's that?” He nodded toward the stuffed animal that my hands were gripping the hell out of. I'd forgotten I was still carrying the one thing that had made the journey back with me from Arizona.
“Um…an armadillo.” I stared down at the gray, 'I'm-so-ugly-I'm-cute' little thing. “I got him in the gift shop in Phoenix. It's dumb, I know, but I got him for you.”
“They have armadillos in Arizona? I thought that was Texas.”
“You're right. It's really stupid.”
I bent down, ready to bury my foolish gift away in my suitcase. Leo bent down with me, his hand stopping mine on the zipper of my bag. “Give me the stuffed animal, Clara.”
The soft way he said my name and the light touch of his hand on mine had me giving up the armadillo in an instant. Leo stood back up, studying the stuffed animal for a moment. I stood up too, fidgeting with the hem of my shirt. I'd never been so embarrassed by something so silly before.
“He reminded me of you,” I explained, “because armadillos have hard shells. But then at the same time, they're cute and soft on the inside. And—”
“You're so fucking adorable.”
My eyes darted up to his. “What?”
“You heard me. I love your gift, and I especially love how flustered you're getting. It's really sexy. I have tons of expensive shit and nothing I own means as much as this. It means you thought of me while you were away.” He dug around in his pocket. “I actually got you something too. And now you can watch while I get flustered.” My already thumping heart started to race. He pulled out something silver. “Give me your hand,” he commanded. His words were strong, like he knew exactly what he was doing, and he didn’t seem at all flustered like he just said.
I extended my hand and saw that the flash of silver was a bracelet. His fingers traced against my skin as he clasped it around my wrist. It wasn't flashy or covered in diamonds like something I would have expected from Leo. The bracelet had elegant silver links of varying sizes, and there was one little charm dangling. A four-leaf clover charm, to be exact.
“Leo?” I stared blankly up at him.
“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.”
“Holy shit,” I muttered. I had a knot the size of a big-ass truck stuck in my throat.
“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, it's perfect.” Suddenly, the distance between us was growing torturous. I couldn't stand not touching him another moment longer, but he still wasn't budging an inch toward me.
“I'm gonna say stupid shit sometimes,” he admitted. “That's a given. And you're probably gonna 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.” He sighed, burying his face in the furry body of the armadillo. “Fuck. That came out awful.”
I moved closer to him, pulling his hands down so I could see his face again. “Nope, it was perfect…and so are you. I love flustered Leo just as much as I love the rest of you.”
He gave me the sweetest smile I’d ever seen on his beautiful face, and I had no choice but to fling myself at him. I leapt into his arms, gripping his neck tight and squeezing my legs around his waist, and then pressed my lips to his. Not so gracefully either, I might add. Jeez...he was just too damn cute not to try to jump his bones right there in the middle of the airport.
I loved that he hadn’t apologized or taken back any of the things he’d said during our argument. Because I knew I had been ridiculous—even fucking ridiculous, as he'd called me—for leaving him seconds after spending a wonderful night together. I knew that. And I liked the way Leo never sugar-coated anything.
“Dammit,” he growled into my mouth. “What is it with you and airports? Do you enjoy trying to make me hard for the whole world to see?” He smiled against my 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.”
And he did. His lips were warm against mine and his tongue hot as it pressed inside my mouth. He made the blood pumping through me feel like fire, just like he did every time he had kissed me, and I couldn't get enough. I didn’t think I'd ever be able to get enough. It's funny...I never imagined that the boy who'd driven me crazy growing up would turn into a man who could drive me crazy in a whole new kind of way.
I only broke away from kissing Leo when I heard a squeal. He set me down and a second later someone tackled me from behind with a hug—Steph.
“Where did you come from?” I asked, confused but excited to see her.
She hugged me harder. “Sorry, but I had to stop you before you screwed Leo in front of your whole family.”
My eyes went wide as I looked over her shoulder. Dad and Maggie, plus a few stragglers, were here in the airport…for me. “You brought an entourage?”
“Leo brought an entourage,” she corrected.
“Seriously?” I whined. Now that they'd seen that I'd spotted them, they all began to walk toward us.
Leo pulled at my hand. “I realized—after Maggie found all of the Arizona websites in the search history on your computer—that maybe our argument wasn't the only thing that sent you running.”
“No, it wasn't. But you're the only reason that brought me back,” I told him sincerely. “So… this is about to get super awkward.”
A second later, I was surrounded. Dad, Maggie, Anita—uh, why was she here?—Dean/Robby, and my possible little sister all stood around me, blocking the flow of traffic through the airport and staring at me like I was some kind of lunatic. Maybe I was.
“Did you two kiss and make up?” Maggie jokingly asked Leo. She had a shit-eating grin plastered across her face, and I was guessing she must have kissed and made up with Dean, who had a pretty strong grip on her hand.
Leo didn't bother to answer her question and instead reached to pick up my suitcase. As he stood up straight, he whispered against my 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 Dad and everyone, he pressed a lingering kiss to my lips. I forgot for a second where I was until he backed away, saying, “Anyone without Ryder DNA...follow me now.”
And they did.
Left alone with only Maggie and Dad, I dared my first glance up at Dad. I worried most about what he would say and the great big inevitable ass-reaming he'd surely have for me today, but the anger I expected to find in his eyes wasn't there. And then he shocked the bejesus out of me when he reached o
ut and engulfed me in a hug. “Good Lord, Clara,” he said with a sigh. “You're so much like your mother. It drives me crazy.”
“I am?”
He hugged me tighter. “Yes, she shines so brightly through you.” He broke the hug and continued talking. “Did I ever tell you girls about the time your mom and Leo's mom disappeared to Mexico for a weekend? They stole my car and drove across the border a few days before our wedding. I was so worried—terrified really—but she came back just in time. I never knew exactly what made her go, but I think that wildness of hers still lives in you today, Clara. I guess Maggie got my more practical genes.”
“And his good looks,” she deadpanned. When did she become a comedian?
“Yes, that too,” Dad laughed. “Anyway, I think either way you belong here in Virginia—with us. I like my family whole, but if Arizona is still a place you want to move to, then I will take you there myself. After you finish school, of course. I just want you to be happy, Clara. No matter where that is.”
“What if I hate working at the country club?” I asked, being completely honest for the first time in a long time.
“You hate it?” he asked, sounding genuinely surprised.
“I despise it.”
“Then you're fired.” He gave me a small smile, brushing his wispy blond hair out of his eyes. “I'm only kidding. If you don't want to work there anymore, you don't have to. I had dreams that maybe you and Maggie would run it for me one day. But those are my dreams, not yours.”
Wow, that was easy. But quitting work at the club wasn't exactly what I wanted. “Actually, I guess I enjoyed giving the golf lessons. So maybe working for you this last summer wouldn't be too bad. It's just...sometimes it feels like you and Maggie are a team, while I'm the black sheep reject living in the cupboard under the stairs. Not that I'm actually living under any stairs, but do you get my point? I actually used to feel that way a lot with Leo too, but everything's different with him now. At least, I hope so.”
Dad and Maggie both stared at me for a moment. Then Maggie spoke first, “And you call me the drama queen.” She rolled her eyes, clutching me in a giant side-hug. “I love you even when you're annoying. So does Dad. So does Leo. We've been running around like idiots the last couple days trying to find you, silly.”
“Neither of you even tried to call me. Leah said so.” The tears I knew were coming finally made their grand appearance, leaking out of my eyes and down my cheeks.
“That's because Leo thought you needed your space and wouldn't let us. He can be very persuasive when he wants to be. But we want you home and we want you safe, just as much as he does. Now, can we please leave the airport? I'm sleepy since none of us got any rest last night.”
I nodded, but I didn't miss the tears in my sister's eyes through my own. I guess when she stopped worrying about pointless shit like shoes, clothes, and boob-jobs, she wasn't half bad. I'd always assumed the worst with Leo—that he only cared about frivolous things too—but I'd been completely wrong about him. Maybe there was a whole lot more to my sister as well.
“Okay then,” I said. “Where's Leo? Let's get the hell out of here.”
Dad gave me one more hug as we joined back up with the others. “Just because Maggie and I naturally get along more easily than you and I,” he whispered to me, “that doesn't mean I love you any less.”
The tears tried to work their way out again. “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”
“Well,” Dad 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.”
Leo came from behind, wrapping an arm over my shoulders and tucking me in close against his side. I fit there perfectly and I never wanted to leave. While everyone else started moving toward the exit, we fell several steps behind them.
“I was right, wasn't I?” he said, cocky as ever. “Your family loves you and there was no fucking way they were going to let you disappear to Arizona.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You were right.”
“I'm always right, so you should probably get used to it.”
I laughed. Then I pulled at his arm and stood on my tiptoes so I could whisper in his ear, “The only thing I plan on getting used to is spending more time with you.”
He stopped walking. “When we get back to Blue Creek, you're coming over to my place and we're making up for lost time.” His 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 the last couple nights.”
My eyes went wide. “I snuggle?”
“You don't just snuggle, you cling. It's really nice.” He pressed a kiss to my temple. “Because as tough as you are most of the time, I like when you show me your softer side.”
I stared at him. The realization that we had more in common than I ever could have imagined left me a little shell-shocked, my skin prickling with goose bumps.
“C'mon, your family is waiting for us,” he said, tugging at my hand.
We rejoined the others and made our way out of the airport to where my Dad's Range Rover was parked. After cramming inside, I curled into Leo, hoping to get a little sleep on the way home.
“Oh, here's your phone,” Leo said, pulling it from his pocket. “I got it from Leah.”
“Thanks,” I muttered, surprised to find it wasn't dead like usual. I saw that I had an unread email—that was odd. Who would email me in the summer? I clicked on it and found that Leo had. “You emailed me?”
“Delete it,” he said quietly. “You don't need to read it.”
“Why? Is it mean?”
“No. It's sappy as shit and irrelevant now that you came back.”
“Oh.” But of course that made me want to read it even more so I opened the email.
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
I finished reading and snuggled closer into his side. He said nothing, but I felt his grip on me tighten. I realized then that my Arizona never was a place, it was a person—and that person was Leo.
CHAPTER 29
MAGGIE
My hands were shaking as I entered the code to Leo's front gate. It was after midnight and all the lights were already out at the mansion.
Sinclair Longerburger's 83rd birthday party had been a success. My whole family had gone and we'd had a blast, eating, dancing, and miraculously all getting along. But the whole time my insides had been eating me alive. Maybe it was because I saw Dean drop that little pink towel and I couldn't remove the image from where it was permanently lodged in my cerebral cortex, but polite conversation a
nd hand-holding with him just wasn't cutting it for me. We had plans to go out to dinner tomorrow night, but I couldn't wait for that either.
So when Dean left the party to take Valerie to Leo's since it was past her bedtime, I'd gone straight home to change and get ready. I'd slipped on the red Zac Posen dress, not caring if I was committing a major fashion faux pas. Instead of red heels, I'd paired the dress with black ones because I wanted them to match the black, lacy panties I wore underneath.
To heck with dinner. Our first date was going to be way more amazing than that.
Taking a breath—one that did not calm my nerves in the least—I marched up the front porch steps. I had a key and let myself into Leo's place, which was completely quiet so I tried to walk across the marble floors as softly as I could in my heels.
“Maggie?”
Lord have mercy! Leo and Clara were in the kitchen eating what looked like leftover pizza—Clara sitting up on the counter, wearing one of Leo's t-shirts—and they’d both just caught me creeping around like a fool. Someone might as well have yelled ‘booty call’ over a loud speaker.
“I was just...” I couldn't really think up a good lie at the moment.
“Yeah, I know,” Leo said across the darkness. “Valerie is staying in Bunny's room. She liked the wallpaper in there. And Dean is in the suite at the end of the hall. Left side. Not the green room, the blue room.”
“Thanks.”
“I was wrong,” Leo admitted before I could get away. “Dean's a good guy. Sometimes shitty stuff happens to us and we have to deal with it, but it's how you deal with it that makes you who you are. He deals a lot better than the rest of us.”
So with Leo’s seal of approval, I carefully walked up the stairs, passing room after room until I ended up in front of the suite at the end of the hall. My skin tingled with anticipation. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. Yes, it took me twenty minutes just to pick out my underwear, but I couldn't really plan for how Dean would react to me sneaking into his room like we were kids again. He had a daughter now. He had responsibilities I couldn't even comprehend yet.
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