Page 23

Leo

“God, I seriously cannot believe how clueless my brother is at times,” Hannah says. “I mean he’s only twenty-four, but still.”

It’s really late, after midnight. We’re lying in her bed, me leaning against the headboard, my lower body half covered by the sheet. Hannah is lying sideways on the bed, the rest of the sheet covering her as her head rests in my lap.

Laughing, I glance down, brushing the hair back from her face. “Yeah, I mean he kinda seemed a bit surprised about the amount of shit he’s going to have to do when this baby of theirs comes along.”

Hannah rolls her eyes in a can you believe it kind of way . “Poor Tessa,” she adds, chuckling. “She’s gonna end up with a baby and a toddler out of all this.”

“Maybe he’ll surprise us all,” I say with a grin.

“Hmmm or maybe, he’ll cruise through it all like he usually does,” she says with a smirk. “He’s always been like that. He’s like Teflon, nothing sticks, and he just slides through life without a care in the world.”

“Oh man, please don’t tell me you’re jealous, babe?” I tease, pushing the sheet a little lower as I slide my hand over her boob and pinch her nipple.

She lets out a squeal, slapping at my chest. “No, of course not. I’m actually really happy he’s found Tessa and they’re doing this. He might be an idiot at times, but he’s a fun idiot and he will make a great dad…eventually.”

She’s smiling as she talks, and I know she genuinely means what she’s saying.

It’s obvious she and Dylan share a close relationship and that was even more evident with all the work she put into organizing his and Tessa’s baby shower tonight.

It was a huge success and it had taken everything I had in me not to fucking burst with pride and tell everyone she was mine at the way they all loved her food, or how Jack and Lauren had fought over getting her dishes on their menus.

I’d thought we might have been finally able to come clean about the two of us tonight, but then Lauren had suddenly gone into labor and everyone else had disappeared, leaving Hannah and me with leftovers to pack away and a table to clear.

We still haven’t heard any news, but I knew from my brother and sister’s kids that these things can take hours.

So, with the cleaning done and nothing else to do, we’d come back to her place and gotten naked.

“Yeah, I agree,” I admit, knowing he’ll definitely be a fun dad, if nothing else. “He’s got that whole let’s go out and do fun shit vibe going for him.”

“You mean dumb shit,” Hannah deadpans.

I laugh, giving her boob a squeeze. “Do you want kids?”

Hannah’s gaze snaps to mine the second the question leaves my lips. “What? I mean, shit. Do you?”

Chuckling, I reply, “Pretty sure I asked you first, babe.”

“Yeah, but…I mean…do you though, ’cause…”

“There is no wrong answer here, Han,” I say softly, moving my hand between her breasts. “I’m just asking if it’s something you want.”

She lets out a long exhale, her eyes moving back to the ceiling.

My hand still rests on her chest, and I feel her heart pounding behind her ribs at my question.

She says nothing at first, as she lies here, the wheels clearly turning inside her head.

I don’t push it, knowing I’ve kind of just dropped a huge fucking question here.

One that I guess could have a pretty big impact on our relationship.

“I know people expect me to want to have kids,” she eventually says, her words coming out carefully as her gaze moves back to mine.

“Yeah, but fuck other people’s expectations,” I say, giving her a small smile. “Tell me what you want.”

She licks her lips, pulling her bottom one between her teeth in a way that tells me she’s nervous to answer me. “What if what I want is not what you want?” she asks, her voice quiet.

I trace the line of her eyebrow with my fingertip, my eyes never leaving hers as I study her gorgeous face.

“Well, first of all,” I start, a grin tugging at my mouth, “I really like that in trying to answer this question about wanting kids, that it’s me you’re thinking about the whole kid thing with. ”

She blushes now and it’s so fucking adorable I can’t help but laugh a little. “Well, I mean…” she starts, clearly embarrassed as she covers her face with both hands.

“Han, babe,” I say, gently pulling her hands away so she can see me. “Of course kids and you and me is who I meant when I asked the question.”

“Okay,” she breathes out, her body relaxing as she lets out a long exhale and she gives me a half-smile, half-smirk.

“So…” I prompt, twisting a lock of her hair around my fingers.

She chews on her lip again. “I mean it’s not like our jobs are exactly conducive to family life, are they?”

“Babe,” I say, chuckling again, wondering why this is so hard for her to give me an answer. “Fuck our jobs, we can make it work if this is what you want.”

Hannah takes another deep breath, letting it out slowly as she finally says, “Honestly, Leo, I don’t really know what I want.”

“Okay, now we’re getting somewhere,” I tease. “So, you don’t know if you want kids?”

“I don’t know if I want kids,” she confirms. “I mean, I really love my job and I really, really love this, this…this life that you and I have together too. I like being able to stay up late with you like this and not worry about what time it is. I like that we can spend our days off lying-in bed all day and not worrying about anyone else. I mean, not that that’s all we do, but you know what I mean. ”

Laughing, I curl my arms around her, pulling her up against my chest so I can press a soft kiss to her lips. “I really like all of those things too, Hannah. I like them a lot.”

“So what about you then?” she asks, her eyes searching my face. “Do you want kids?”

“Honestly, babe, I don’t know what I want either.”

Hannah scoffs, slapping at my chest as she says, “You shit! You made me sweat my answer when you knew all along that yours was the same.”

Laughing, I pull her up so she’s now straddling me. “Maybe,” I tease. “But I wanted your real answer on this. I always want you to be real with me, okay?”

Hannah rests her hands on my shoulders, that bottom lip of hers between her teeth again. “So what now?” she asks.

I lift a shoulder in a shrug. “We continue on as we are,” I tell her. “If one of us decides later on we’ve changed our mind about the kid thing, we talk about it.”

“That’s it?” she asks.

“That’s it,” I confirm.

“That sounds way too easy.”

My hands move to her hips, gripping her firmly. “It is easy, Han. I love you and loving you and making you happy is all I want to do.”

Hannah smiles now, in a way that lights up her whole face. “That’s what I want too,” she whispers.

“Well then,” I say, my brow lifting as I pull her closer, her legs spread over mine and her pussy perfectly lined up with my dick.

Her mouth drops open into a tiny O, her eyes widening as she says, “Are you seriously hard because of the conversation we’ve just had?”

“Well, I mean, I’m always hard around you, but yeah, it was definitely a contributing factor.”

Smiling, she shakes her head a little. “I see, so what now then?” she asks, smirking as she repeats her earlier question.

Lifting her a little, I push the sheet down so there’s nothing between us. “Now,” I start, my grip on her hips tightening, “you come up here and take a ride on my dick.”

“Oh, now we’re talking,” Hannah says with a smile, lowering her body onto mine as she presses a hard kiss to my mouth and we stop talking altogether.

The next morning, we are woken early by the simultaneous sound of incoming text messages on both of our phones. Hannah grumbles as she reaches over me for hers, while I stay exactly where I am and ignore mine.

“What is it?” I ask, lying on my stomach, my face muffled by the pillow.

Hannah sits beside me, her phone in her hands. “Text from Jack.”

“And?”

“Ella and Benjamin Wilson, born 4:25 and 4:46 am. Bubs are healthy and beautiful, Lulu is gorgeous and amazing. Everyone is well.”

“Oh wow,” I mumble, not bothering to open my eyes even as I hear Hannah typing out a response. “Tell them congrats from me too.”

“Leo!” she half shouts as she cracks a hand across my bare ass.

“What?” I ask, opening one eye.

“I’m not sending a joint congratulations to our bosses at eight o’clock in the morning. What the fuck, they’ll know we’re here together. That we are together!”

Chuckling, I close my eyes again. “Yeah, and I thought that was the plan, we finally come clean.”

“Not via text,” she huffs, smacking me on the ass again.

I half lift my hand, waving away her comment. “Fine, fine. But can you copy your response and send it to them from my phone too, please?”

This earns me another smack on the ass and this time, I open both eyes, rolling onto my back as I look up at her. My look turns to a smirk as I watch Hannah’s gaze drop to my dick, which is well and truly awake and pointing directly up at her.

“What?” I ask with a chuckle.

Hannah rolls her eyes, even as she forces them back to my face. “I’m not sending the exact same message I sent to them from you as well. I mean hello, obvious.”

I reach for my phone on the nightstand, handing it to her. “Fine, type something for me. Please, babe?” I ask, a playful tone in my voice. She lifts her hand as though to smack me again and I grab her wrist, stilling her. “Don’t you dare,” I warn.

She smiles now, licking her lips as her gaze moves back to my dick and she pulls her wrist from my grip so she can wrap her hand around my dick. “And what would you like me to say, exactly.”

“Fuck, I honestly do not care,” I moan, my eyes closing.

Hannah squeezes me once, before letting go and my eyes snap open. “What would you say?” she asks, as she opens the message on my phone.

“Ugh, fuck, I don’t know,” I say, taking her hand and putting it back on my dick again. “Say whatever you want, but make it quick, babe,” I add, closing my grip around hers so she can’t let go of me.

Hannah laughs, typing out a message with one hand before she throws both of our phones onto the nightstand. “All done,” she whispers, turning to me. “But it’s a little early for work still, so any thoughts on what we should do?”

This time it’s me smacking her hard on the ass. “Get up here and sit on my face.”

A couple of hours later, we’re finishing our coffee, before heading off to work. As we walk out of Hannah’s place, I squeeze her hand in mine. “Let’s just swing past my place so I can grab a fresh t-shirt and a new chef’s jacket.”

“Or,” she says, “I can just meet you at work?”

Chuckling, I shake my head. “Babe, seriously, we can walk in to work together, you know. No one will care.”

Hannah lets out a slow breath. “I just don’t want…I don’t want people to think I’m getting special treatment, that’s all. I want them to like me.”

I pull her close, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Everyone loves you,” I tell her. “Including our bosses. No one is going to be bothered by this.”

“You think Dylan will?” she asks, blinking up at me.

“Do you really care if he is?” I ask, knowing Hannah doesn’t usually care what anyone thinks.

“No. I mean, yeah, I kinda do. You’re like the first guy I’ve ever been in love with. It’s important to me that my family is happy about that.”

My heart flips in my chest. “I’m the first guy you’ve loved?”

“Uh huh,” she whispers, looking up at me.

I can’t resist leaning in to kiss her. Even though it’s broad daylight, her place is far enough back from the main part of the winery that no one is going to see us. “You’re the first person I’ve ever loved too,” I murmur against her lips. “The only person.”

“Leo…”

I kiss her again, holding her closer. “Dylan will be fine with this, babe,” I whisper. “I’ll talk to him.”

“What about your family?” she asks, her hands resting on my chest.

Chuckling, I slip my hand down to her ass. “Oh my god, my family is going to fucking love you,” I say. “Shit, I’ll bet my dad will try and steal you away to work in his restaurant.”

Hannah finally smiles. “I’ll never leave Somerville’s.”

“Oh Somerville’s, huh?” I tease, brow cocked. “What about leaving me and my kitchen?”

“Yeah okay, that too,” she says, playfully rolling her eyes.

I pull her in for another kiss. “Everything’s going to be alright, Hannah,” I whisper against her lips. “Actually, everything will be perfect. We’ll come clean to Jack and Lauren and our families, and everything is going to work out.”

She smiles against my mouth, her hands sliding from my chest as she wraps her arms around me. “Okay,” she says, kissing me once more before we both pull back, only to discover Oscar and Olivia standing there watching us.

“So,” Oscar says, a huge grin on his face as he crosses his arms over his chest. “What do we have here?”

“Oh fuck,” I chuckle, as Hannah buries her face in my chest. “Guess we really gotta come clean now, babe.”