Page 63 of Modern Romance July 2025 #4-8

Cassie sidled into the room.

Her stomach had been knotted with nerves for the short trip back into town. Twice she had been tempted to spin the car around and turn back, but then she’d thought of her mother, gritted her teeth and accelerated on.

Being shown to the room by the manager of the hotel had made her feel faint with trepidation. Of course, Bob Jenkins recognised her and asked after her mother but politely refrained from asking about Leo. He obviously hadn’t recognised him, which suited Cassie just fine.

And now here she was and, by God, Leo hadn’t changed.

He was still as shockingly gorgeous as he had been as a young man, but those good looks had been refined over time and given a harder edge and a more arrogant stamp.

He was the guy who had carved out a fortune for himself through blood, sweat and tears, as he had said, and it showed in the sense of ruthlessness lying just beneath the surface.

His hair was still raven-black but was now cropped very short and he was as bronzed as he always had been, the burnished colour of someone whose roots lay somewhere hot and sunny.

She knew that, if he stood up, he would still be six three of compact muscle and sinew and she felt faint just thinking about that.

No change, and yet so much—from boy to man.

From jeans and tee-shirts to hand-made shoes and cashmere.

He wore a black jumper, black trousers, and a matt chrome watch which was unmistakably from a luxury brand.

She sat down in the chair facing his with relief, because her legs were wobbly.

‘You look a little shaky,’ Leo murmured.

‘Don’t worry, I’ve ordered some wine, but you’re free to have something stronger if you’d like.

First, though…’ He reached for his glass that he had set on the table next to him and sipped, before tilting his head to one side and gazing at her over the rim of it. ‘How are you?’

‘I’m…’

‘Not fine?’

Cassie shifted uncomfortably. He’d always been able to read her every shift in mood and it felt as if not much had changed on that front, which was worrying.

‘We could spend time going over stuff you’re not interested in, Leo but, as you know why I’ve come here, we could just cut to the chase.’

‘I’m not sure I want to take that shortcut just yet, Cass.’

‘Because you want to see me squirm.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘You know what,’ Cassie muttered under her breath. She glanced down at her fingers which were linked on her lap, barely aware of someone bringing two trays, one with wine and glasses and another with finger food. She was ravenous but the thought of eating made her feel queasy.

‘Look, I’m sorry, Leo. I’m sorry about the way things ended between us.’

‘You mean the way you texted me to tell me that we were unfortunately over? You’d had a think and decided that you were too young to make any serious decisions about your future, especially one that involved leaving this godforsaken little town?’

‘I was only nineteen.’

‘Loosely translated, your parents laid down the law and you caved in because, when it came right down to it, leaving town with your dirty little secret just wasn’t going to do.’

‘Don’t say that! You were never that!’

‘Oh, Cassie, it’s the truth.’ Leo sighed.

His face remained calm and indifferent but inside he was seething at the way he had been drawn into this pointless disinterment of the past. It wasn’t why he’d come here.

But just seeing her had catapulted him back to where he had been eight years ago and resurrected all sorts of feelings he thought he’d left behind.

His dark eyes cooled and he looked at her without bothering to disguise his masculine appreciation.

‘So you went through with the catering course,’ he said, changing the subject, and this time there was genuine interest in his voice.

He dragged his eyes away because he was tempted to keep on staring at her and somehow that felt like a weakness.

‘Yes.’ She drew in a steadying breath and hesitated for a few seconds. ‘I… I always wanted to go to culinary school, as you know.’

‘How could I forget?’ Leo said politely, ‘When you made such a convincing show of checking out courses near MIT?’

‘Leo, please…’ She paused but then continued in a rush, ‘I opened up a catering business with Frankie—you might remember her.’

‘Not really, no.’ Leo lowered his eyes. His body was still surging with a physical pull he couldn’t seem to control and the drift of the conversation wasn’t in a direction he had time for.

‘Have some wine.’ He poured her a glass and nodded to the plates of food that had been brought in for them.

‘And you can see whether the offerings here are as good as you can do yourself.’

‘I’m not hungry. Thank you.’

‘Suit yourself, but Cassie, my advice is this—when you’re on a begging mission, it’s often a good idea to approach your potential benefactor with a smile on your face.

Why did you get in touch with me when you could have gone to your parents anyway?

Or at the very least, the bank manager?’ He looked at her narrowly when she didn’t immediately answer then he smiled slowly, with dawning comprehension. ‘I get it.’

‘What? What do you get? And, Leo, you know why I’m not smiling. You’re not exactly making this easy for me.’

‘You may have a point there, although I’m wondering why you think I should,’ Leo conceded with a shrug. ‘The past can cast a long shadow.’

‘You were going to tell me why you think I came to you…’

‘If you wanted money for something straightforward, you would have gone down the straightforward route. However, you haven’t. The fact that you’ve bitten the bullet and contacted me after eight years suggests that, whatever you want the money for, it’s for something you want to keep under wraps.’

Leo watched the colour crawl into her cheeks and was almost disappointed that he’d struck the jackpot. Had he secretly hoped that he would find the same innocent girl he had fallen for, however unlikely that would have been?

‘What have you been up to?’ he asked speculatively. ‘Spending beyond your means on things your parents might disapprove of? You’re not doing drugs, are you?’

‘Of course I’m not doing drugs! I don’t even smoke! There’s no point playing guessing games, Leo. I’m here… I’ve come to you because…’

Their eyes tangled and Cassie felt a shiver of awareness that was threaded with the treacherous stir of sexual excitement, the same sexual excitement she had felt all those years ago when she’d lived and breathed only Leo.

She didn’t even know this man sitting in front of her with the unfeeling, superior expression and his contemptuous manner. Wealth had changed him and bitterness had instilled a cruel harshness that had never been there before. He’d forgotten nothing.

She felt a surge of protectiveness towards her family, towards her ailing mother. She would have to admit to the financial difficulties sitting on her doorstep, but she wasn’t going to confide in him about anything else. She would do what she had to do and forget that they’d once shared a past.

‘Because…?’

‘It’s the family business, Leo. There have been problems and now…’ Cassie felt tears gather in her eyes and rapidly blinked them away.

‘You’ve been to the bank? And why are you the one coming to see me? Did your parents think that you might be able to find a way to me where they would never be able to?’ He shot her a curling, derisory smile. ‘Was your father too proud to come with the begging bowl?’

‘This isn’t going to work.’ Cassie leapt to her feet and began turning away.

‘Stop!’

That single command brought her to an abrupt standstill and she swung round to glare at him.

‘Why?’ She swept some of her hair away from her face and tilted her chin at a defiant angle. ‘We both know that the only reason you came here was to watch me beg you for money you have no intention of lending me!’

Leo flushed darkly.

‘You’re still bitter about what happened between us but, even if that’s the case, Leo, I never thought that you could be as cruel as you’re being now.’

That hit home and she saw Leo’s jaw clench. He’d probably told himself that he wasn’t here for revenge but of course he was.

She’d hurt him once upon a long time ago and so he’d returned to repay the favour.

‘Tell me why you need the money, Cassie. And have something to eat. The food will otherwise just go to waste.’

Cassie looked at him for a few seconds. For the first time since she’d entered the room, his tone wasn’t openly aggressive.

She thought of her mother and all the horrible changes and distress she would have to endure if the house was repossessed.

With that thought uppermost in her mind, she tentatively sat back down.

‘So?’ Leo prompted.

‘First of all,’ Cassie said quietly, ‘My dad died several months ago. I know that, after everything that happened between us, you thought the worst of him. I know your father worked for the company, and you never openly said anything, but you didn’t like the divisions between the men on the ground floor and the managers who gave the orders.

I know you pigeonholed Dad as rich and maybe uncaring, but I loved him, and he honestly wasn’t like that. ’

‘I confess I didn’t know him aside from the glimpses I had now and again,’ Leo said gruffly. ‘But it’s true that I resented what he represented—the boss who seldom checked in personally on the lowly blue-collar workers. How did he die?’

‘Heart attack, out of the blue. He… When he died… I mean afterwards…lots of things came out that my mother and I didn’t know about.’

‘Ah.’ Leo sat back and looked at her. ‘He left behind debts you knew nothing about. It happens, I’m afraid. Bad management, poor investments, over-extending…take your pick.’