Page 63 of Jonathon, After All

“That was phenomenal,” Leo said as they walked arm in arm through Central Park. He stopped them under a street light. “This is how I pictured us. Here and in Vienna and London and Paris…” He smiled and nodded in the direction of the Plaza. “I came here when I needed a moment to clear my head and escape my bodyguard and my brothers. I came here so I could be alone with my thoughts and you.”

“Did you?” Jonathon asked, but wasn’t surprised. Leo hated being cooped-up and would see it as an oasis in the city. “I spent so many hours staring at the park this weekend,” he said, laughing as he turned back to Leo. “I don’t think anyone recognized us.”

He was staring at Jonathon and nodded. “I don’t think so either, but I wasn’t paying attention.”

“No, you weren’t,” Jonathon agreed.

Leo was attentive and gently possessive from the moment they stepped into the elevator. His hand remained around Jonathon’s or around his waist or their arms were linked wherever they went. Leo got every door, pulled out his chair, and would have happily fed Jonathon if he would have allowed it. Leo pampered Jonathon shamelessly and made him feel like it was just them, wherever they went.

Maybe it was Jonathon’s new haircut and Leo’s super glasses or the fact that Jonathon had chosen more ordinary places, but no one recognized them. He did hear a man whisper “One of them is someone, but I can’t figure out where I know them from.”

He also heard several people refer to them as a couple and was pleased that no one seemed confused or surprised that a man like Leo would choose a slip of a man like Jonathon. Perhaps it was because Leo made it patently clear that he had chosen Jonathon, doting on him and sneaking little kisses at every opportunity. He acted so shamelessly and happily in love, wherever they went, it was so easy for Jonathon to get caught up in the moment.

Jonathon drew the limit at ice skating at the Wollman Rink or Rockefeller Center, despite Leo’s pleas. “Unless you’re going to carry me on your back or in your arms, no.”

“It would be so much fun!” Leo had insisted, but Jonathon was not adding humiliation to their list of activities. He’d already spent ten years making an ass out of himself.

“I don’t have a single athletic bone in my body and while I enjoy winter and snow, my appreciation is purely vicarious. I prefer to watch others experiencing it from a warm, safe distance.”

“Fine, but I will teach you later, when it is just us. I’ll make sure there is plenty of glühwein and warm blankets for you afterwards,” Leo had decreed, causing Jonathon to stumble.

“Glühwein?” He laughed shakily. “This fantasy of yours takes place in Austria, then,” he teased and tears stung Jonathon’s eyes as he fell in love with that dream too.

Leo slowed, the arm around Jonathon’s shoulders and the grip around his arm tightening as he was pulled closer. “Most of them do…” Leo stopped, turning and taking both of Jonathon’s hands in his. “But I’ll tell them I can’t go back and I’ll find a place here and wait, if that’s what you want,” he said with an easy shrug, his gaze clear and determined as it held Jonathon’s. “The last ten years have been…empty for me. I used my work to fill the void and I tried dating other people. But at the end of the day, I missed you and the man I was able to be when we were together.”

“I can’t let you do that, Leo, but I know how that feels,” Jonathon whispered, unable to find his voice and his heart burned; he was so sad for the both of them as he recalled how lonely it had been. Those memories were already fading as they commiserated, but they stung as they shared and purged. “I waited for someone else to sweep me off my feet so I could forget you, but it turned out I’d missed my chance with a once-in-a-lifetime prince.”

“No.” Leo shook his head as he cradled Jonathon’s cheek. “Your prince nearly missed his chance with a once-in-a-lifetime heart. But he isn’t going anywhere this time, and he’ll try again and again until he gets it right. If you’ll let him.”

“I might,” Jonathon said coyly, lowering his lashes and stretching toward Leo. He offered his lips, only to receive a strained groan as Leo pecked at them briskly and turned Jonathon toward the Olympia. Those little kisses were starting to get on Jonathon’s nerves.

“I do not trust myself with you,” Leo said and those little kisses suddenly felt like a large victory.

“You don’t?” Jonathon asked as they walked. He wound his arm around Leo’s, surprised at how natural and good it felt to be by his side again. They had both changed in so many ways, but Jonathon felt the same enthralling connection and safety he had only ever experienced with Leo.

Leo shook his head faintly, distracted. “It would be counterproductive and attract the wrong type of attention if I were to attack you here in the park,” he murmured, then sighed as the Riftstone Arch and the exit came into view. “If it would please you, I will send a car to pick you up in the morning so you can join me for breakfast in my suite at the Plaza. After, if you think you’re ready, I will send for Sabine so she can answer to the both of us, together. I won’t allow her to play us off of each other again.”

Jonathon stared up at Leo, nodding. “I would like that, the breakfast part,” he began, then frowned as he considered the second part. “Thank you for including me and considering my feelings,” he said and Leo stopped them, his expression taking on a severe edge.

“You will always be included from now on. And I will always consider your feelings first. You are all that matters and I will fight for us this time,” he vowed. “You tell me how you want this matter with Sabine to be handled and I will see it done.”

“That’s…a lot, and maybe too much,” Jonathon said with a soft laugh. “She betrayed both of us. She barely knew me, though, and what she did to you seems much worse, given how much you trusted her. But she was acting to protect you and she gave you everything else you wanted.”

Leo pulled a face. “I have thought of little else but her manipulations and my culpability and I have found us both guilty. That is why I will not be the one to decide when we are forgiven,” he explained and gestured for them to resume their journey back to the Olympia. “It’s getting cold and starting to rain and your coat isn’t heavy enough,” he stated, putting his arm around Jonathon again.

That was what Jonathon had missed so much, all those years. None of the men he’d played with had actually cared about Jonathon. They saw him as a fast fuck and forgot about him or they were along for the wild ride and acted more like accomplices. They tapped out lines for him to snort while holding his hair and helped him spend his aunt’s money on expensive champagne and hotel rooms, using him as he used them to get back at Leo.

But with a deft flick of Leo’s chopsticks, they were all forgotten as he fed Jonathon a vegetable or wiped sauce from the corner of his lip. Every act of tender, adoring attention and possessiveness soothed one more burn and erased another scar.

To be cherished and nurtured, while being his true self was magical, but also affirming and healing in ways Jonathon hadn’t expected. And for Leo to worship Jonathon so openly and unabashedly in one of the biggest and busiest cities in the world had earned him several points as well.

“What about the Foundation?” he asked as they stepped into the elevator. Jonathon squared up to Leo playfully, bracing his hands on his chest. “What if they get wind of this and try to shut it down?”

“They have already been informed and they can’t,” Leo stated, but his voice had lowered to a ragged rumble as his hands spread across Jonathon’s back. “A lot has changed and I have more power than I had ten years ago. I’ve had a decade to learn the ropes and I’ve taken everything I need from the margraviate and the Foundation. They need me far more than I need them. I have more than enough money and properties and businesses that are not tied to the House of Hessen so we will never have to worry. But they’re out of men to fill the role if I walk away,” he explained.

“You can’t do that for me,” Jonathon objected, earning a wicked grin from Leo.

“Want to bet? I’ve already signaled that I’m willing to do just that if they don’t allow me this time to handle a very important personal matter.”

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