Page 82 of King of Temptation

“Stop talking about yourself like that!” he roars. “You are everything to me, Kim. Everything.”

I blink back my surprise, his words soothing something inside me.

But Leo’s not done. “I’m in love with you, Kim. I think I might have been from that very first night. And I’ve made this habit of getting my way by being a blunt instrument and causing damage wherever I go. When my father died, I just was so angry, I caused hurt everywhere.”

He shakes his head, and then, I can hardly believe it, but he drops to his knees. I reach for him automatically, maybe to pull him up, maybe to push him away.

Instead, my hands settle on his shoulders and he wraps his arms about my hips, pulling me close and settling his face against my belly.

“I don’t know how to explain that I see it now. What I’ve been doing wrong. The man I want to be for you and for our child. I’m never going to be Mason, cold and calculating, I’m always going to run hotter than that.”

“I like your heat,” I whisper. I don’t know why I’m comforting him.

“But that doesn’t mean that I can’t be the man who does what’s best for you instead of what is best for himself. Please, Kim. Please give me a chance to prove that.” I hear the sincerity in his voice and it guts me.

“I’ve never asked my mom,” I say. “Whether my dad knew about me and he chose not to participate in my life.” I squeeze his shoulders. “Do you think he just thought being a dad was too hard? That he couldn’t give up his own future for mine?”

Leo’s hands are still on my hips but he tips his head back to look up at me.

I softly shake my head. “No one besides my mom has ever put me first, Leo.”

I see him wince.

“It’s not all the time. And I think when you love someone, you put them first and then you trust that you’ll get what you need because they’ll do the same for you.”

“I know what you’re saying, and I know I haven’t earned that trust?—”

“I love you too, Leo.”

His jaw goes so hard, it could cut glass.

“But I’m not sure it’s enough.”

“No.”

“I need to think Leo,” I draw in a shaky breath. “And if you love me, you’ll let me.”

He shakes his head. “If I let you go, you won’t come back.”

That’s when I know. He thinks he’s worthless too. And something in my heart melts. I reach for his face and then I lean down and I kiss him. “You don’t know that.”

“I do.”

He wraps an arm around my thighs, lifting me up as he rises. “Why would you come back to the man who stole your future?”

I hold onto his face. I don’t want to say too much here. Did he steal my future or replace it with a different one?

“I need to go home. Talk to my mom.”

I see the pain that spasms across his face. “I have to let you, don’t I?”

“Yes. You can’t dictate the terms of how I make choices.” And somehow I know, if he lets me go, he’s really willing to put my needs first. It will kill him to watch me walk away. But if he does it…

I hear the front door open and close. “Kim?” Mason calls.

I feel Leo tense.

“Up here,” I call back.

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