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“Fuck!” Leo jumped, spilling a decent amount of chocolate onto the counter and himself, before catching the bowl and placing a hand over his heart.Oh my god, Leo was wearing anapron. It looked handmade, with a floral pattern on it.

Leo was officially too much.

“Is thather?” the first English woman asked, “Step closer to the camera, darling!”

Instead, I froze. Staring wide-eyed at a panting Leo, still recovering from the scare my presence induced.

“I didn’t hear you come in,” Leo explained as his eyes traveled up and down my clothing. I wasn’t wearing anything special. After work, I had changed into leggings and a sweater, and some fluffy socks. I was a wimp when it came to the cold, but I also loved bundling up in my favorite layers.

The way his eyes heated on me, though, made me feel like I just walked into his kitchen wearing lingerie.

“Let us see!” both women yelled from the iPad.

Leo rolled his eyes, though he didn’t look annoyed at the request. Instead, he lifted a hand to his mouth—the hand that the chocolate spilled on—and reached his other arm out toward me.

Slowly, I stepped into his embrace, in front of the iPad.

“Oh,” I finally tore my gaze away from Leo’s mouth, sucking the chocolate off of his fingers, to face the screen where the voices were coming from, “You’re lovely.”

An Asian woman with dark hair and eyes was looking at me with a wide smile, along with a white woman with blonde hair and blue eyes sitting next to her, resting her hands underneath her chin.

“Thank you. Um, hi.” I lifted my hand for an awkward wave, appreciating the comforting weight Leo’s arm resting around my shoulders provided.

“These are my mums,” Leo explained, “Victoria and Lisa.”

“But you can call us Mummy and Mama,” Victoria replied.

Something burned in my chest from the immediate inclusivity. My mom passed when I was too young. But Leo hadtwomothers. Part of me acknowledged the unfairness of our situations, but another part of me suddenly understood Leo so much better after meeting the two women who raised him.

So, I just smiled and nodded at them.

“It’s nice to meet you both.” I found myself leaning into Leo’s body a bit more for reassurance, but my eyes kept falling to the pan of chocolate kisses, “I didn’t know you knew how to make chocolate.”

“He doesn’t,” both women replied, before Lisa added, “But his mums do.”

“They’re chocolatiers,” Leo explained, reaching around me to grab the pan of kisses, before putting them in the fridge to set, “They were willing to instruct me on this.”

“Wow, that’s so cool.” I gave his parents my profile while I leaned to peek into the oven, “Are you making…potatoes?”

“I am,” Leo stood tall, reaching behind himself to untie his apron, “We are going to have a proper English dinner—if you’re up for it.”

I beamed at him, making him hesitate his movements for half a second as he registered how excited I was at the thought. How honored I felt that he was introducing this part of his culture to me.

“Leo, honey, we’re going to hop off,” Lisa chimed in, breaking us from the moment, “It was lovely meeting you, Jacqueline.”

“You, too.” I waved awkwardly again while Leo finally tugged his apron over his head.

“Love you.” Leo blew a kiss at the iPad, which his mothers reciprocated before he ended the call, “I was hoping to have all of this done before you got here. I apologize.”

“Don’t.”

That warmth bloomed in my chest again. The warmth that only Leo had been capable of providing lately. The warmth that terrified me when I was alone, but a warmth that I looked forward to whenever we were together.

“Are you hungry?” Leo asked, tossing the apron aside so he could wrap both of his arms around me and give me a quick peck on the lips.

“Yes.” I reached up to fist his t-shirt, making him come back for a deeper, wetter kiss.

“Excellent,” Leo grinned against my lips, squeezing my waist with his hands and pulling away, “But you’re still not getting any of my magic dick tonight, I’m afraid.”