Page 93 of Worst in Show

Tears well up even as astonished laughter spills out of me. No one has ever done something like this for me. Not my parents, and certainly not past boyfriends. I want to jump into Leo’s arms right then and hold on for dear life. “It’s perfect,” I say instead. “Better than perfect.”

Leo beams.

“I hope you’re hungry,” Diane says. “When you get to be our age, the desire fades to celebrate yet another year gone by. This is a rare occasion for us.”

I hug her and Dawn again. “I can’t believe he roped you into this. This is amazing.”

Leo pulls out the chair with the balloon for me, and I sit.

“I know it’s late,” Leo says once we’ve polished off three courses and several glasses of wine. “But there’s one more thing.”

I put my napkin down and wish yet again I could unbutton my pants. After generous helpings of salad, bread, steak with béarnaise sauce, twice-baked potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, and cake, I suspect I won’t need to eat for another week. If I make it home that is. I may have to roll out the door.

Leo stands and pulls out my chair. “Cap and Boris can wait here but bring Cholula.” He grabs my jacket and hands it to me.

“What about dishes?” The kitchen counter is overflowing.

Dawn titters. “Don’t be silly. No chores on birthdays.”

“Go.” Diane smiles. “Both of you.”

“No point in arguing,” Leo says, close to my ear. “They never lose.”

He leads me to the barn and pulls open the heavy door with a creak.

I try to adjust to the impenetrable dark. The moon doesn’t reach more than a yard into the space. “What did you do?”

“Hold on.” He aims the flashlight at the wall and finds the light switch. “Ready?”

He turns on the light, which floods the front part of the barn, a space roughly forty feet square. The floor is lined with wood chips, and the boards, wheelbarrows, tires, shovels, and old windows that used to litter the space have been moved to the back of the building. The tunnels and cones we use for training are set up as are several new obstacles—three jumps of different heights, a seesaw, and two raised platforms. It looks like a real agility space.

He returns to my side. “As far as birthday presents go, I realize this is pretty lame, but I had limited time to work with.”

I take several steps into the space. “It’s not lame. At all.” It is the absolute opposite.

“You like it?” Leo rests his hand on the top horizontal bar of one of the jumps. “I figured, with temperatures dropping, it might be nice not to have to train outside anymore. Even though this isn’t heated, it at least offers some protection from the elements.”

Tilly and Cholula are running laps around the obstacles, a physical manifestation of the giddiness bubbling inside me. Leo is vastly underestimating the thoughtfulness of this gift and the veritable earthquake it’s set off inside me.

Enough thinking.

I don’t know how I get to him, whether I run or walk, all I know is that suddenly I’m in his arms with mine wrapped around his neck.

“I need to…” I say, trying to find more words. I run my palms down the front of his jacket and up again as if I’ve only just discovered he’s there. “I more than like it. I…” I look up, willing him to understand what I want. And of course, he does.

His lips crash down on mine, and it’s everything I’ve wanted for a while now. If kissing Leo has been a quiet thrill in my imagination, reality is a thunderous torrent that reverberates deep in my core. His hair and skin are cool from the air, but his lips are warm and supple as they explore mine with a hunger that makes me lose any sense of where I end and he begins. I’m equally ravenous and help myself to plenty of him—fistfuls of cotton, greedy pecks along his jaw, and always, always one more kiss. His hands cradle my neck and my shoulders, skim lower over my breasts, and grip my waist. I pull him down to me, and it’s almost like a tug of war—he gives, then I give, while we both hold on for dear life. Fortunately, this particular contest can be enjoyed whether on the winning or losing side.

I’m dizzy when we pull back, out of breath and unmoored. He looks as wild as I feel.

“I think we need to stop,” he says while exhaling before he kisses me again.

I smile against his lips and then graze them with my teeth. “You are very good at birthdays,” I say between licks and nips. “Did anyone ever tell you that?”

Leo caresses my hair and groans, pulling away again. “No, we really need to stop, now. You’re so…” His eyes roam my face, like he’s drinking me in.

I lean my cheek into his palm. “So?”

“Alive.”

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