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“Why not?” I asked, leaning a hip against the island while he donned oven mitts.

He paused his movement toward the oven, throwing me a hesitant look over his shoulder. I braced myself, crossing my arms over my chest as I waited for him to speak. He reached up to turn off the oven with his oven mitt, before releasing all the heat from the chamber. Once the potatoes were on the countertop, he removed his oven mitts and placed them in a drawer.

Letting the potatoes cool, he stepped closer to me.

And closer.

And closer.

His front was pressed against mine, and both of his hands gripped either side of the island near my hips. He towered over me, pressing a kiss to my forehead before he let his lips linger there. Leo inhaled, his chest expanding near my face as I uncrossed my arms to wrap them around his waist.

Holding him closer to me.

Waiting for his words.

After a painfully heavy silence, Leo finally spoke against my hair, “You’re not just a warm body to me, Jacqueline.”

I tucked my fingers underneath the hem of his shirt, his hot skin warming my cold knuckles. Using his body to heat my hands, even though he said he wouldn’t use mine for such.

“What do you mean by that, exactly?” I asked. My voice was a nervous whisper, trapped between our two bodies. A conversation only meant for us.

Leo exhaled, his breath fanning over my messy bun, “I don’t know, yet. What I do know, is that I have been looking forward to you coming over tonight. I wanted to impress you.”

I squeezed him, lifting my head so my chin could rest between his pecks. He looked down at me, brushing one strand of my hair behind my ear, “Consider me impressed.”

“Yeah?” He smiled, but it was smaller than normal.

“Very much so. Tell me more about your kisses.” I bit my bottom lip, grinning.

His hand that tucked my hair behind my ear came forward to rest his thumb against my lip, pulling it free from my teeth, “I know you like snacking on a piece of chocolate after dinner. So I wanted to make you some.”

That warmth from before was spreading inside of me.

“Thank you,” I squeezed him to me again, “But full disclosure, I hate cooking. I don’t see myself making you dinner anytime soon—but I’ll think of something nice to do for you as well.”

Leo rolled his eyes, “I’m not expecting some transaction from you, love.” He leaned back to grip my waist and plop me on his kitchen island, “I just wanted to do this tonight. No need to read more into it than necessary.”

I tucked my lips in between my teeth, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” Leo pressed his lips once more, lingering there, nipping my top lip once more, “If I feel otherwise, I’ll tell you.”

My shoulders relaxed, believing him, “Okay.”

Leo chuckled before turning back to the potatoes, “Okay.”

ChapterTwenty-One

JACQUELINE

It has beenmonths since I saw him. I stood near Signe’s desk, both of us getting ready for when we started the onboarding process for his first day. Signe was babbling about her most recent book developments, and any other day I would be curious to know how that was going. Today, I was barely holding it together.

The elevators finally dinged.

And there he was, stepping off with his leather jacket and backpack hanging on one shoulder.

Just as gut-wrenchingly beautiful as I remembered him.

So I frowned.