Page 122 of Royal Icing

He had never connected with someone on this level. It was so far beyond a mere physical yearning. He craved her laughter, her cheeky glance from across a room. She was fearsomely addictive, and being apart from her was misery.

Didn’t he have a duty to himself as much as his people? There had to be a way to make this work. He would find it.

Her entire body went tense, and her chin tipped up like the sensation was growing and changing inside her. He allowed himself to get lost in the rich emerald of her eyes as she clung to him with shaking arms.

With a final thrust, he drove them both to the shuddering brink. Her legs went limp, and he gathered her to his chest, his nose in her wet hair. He draped the towel around her with one arm. His legs shook, and he breathed hard from the exertion.

“Leo?” she said softly.

“Yes?” He drew back to look at her, and his heart went haywire.

There was love in her eyes. He could see it. She was going to say it.

“I—”

Her phone rang in the front room, and she froze. Her lips pressed together in a grimace.

“I should get back to my mom,” she said hurriedly.

His pulse evened out as a pit formed in his stomach. Hardly the profession of love that he was hoping for.

“Of course.” He helped her off the counter.

They awkwardly got dressed and prepared to leave the apartment, but she stopped and looked back at him.

“What is it?” he asked.

She took both his hands. “I wish I didn’t have to leave tomorrow. Promise to pass on the news as soon as you hear something? Even if it’s the middle of the night.”

“You have my word.” He kissed her again and hoped against hope it wouldn’t be the last time.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

EMMA

Every goodbyewith Leo was harder than the last. New York had greeted them by pelting them with sleet the second they left the subway station. Emma’s apartment felt empty, drafty, wrong. Even Lisa seemed bummed with their return to normalcy and had meticulously inspected the plants, cursed their neighbor for overwatering her string of pearls succulent, then retired to her room for a nap with Arizona.

Emma collapsed onto the sagging couch. She needed to get up, to start looking for freelance jobs. At the very least, she needed to come up with a damn name for her business. But something inside her was weighing her down like a fifty-pound bag of H&R flour.

Her phone vibrated, and she jumped. Was it Leo calling with news?

But no. It was Lola.

“Are you home?” her bestie said by way of greeting.

“Yeah, we just got back.”

“You don’t sound happy. Did something happen?”

“No, everything’s fine. Actually, Leo and I are going to try long distance.”

There was an ear-piercing shriek on the other end of the phone.

“And you decided to wait untilnowto tell me?”

“I know, I’m sorry. Things have been crazy here.”

“What’s actually going on?”