Page 31 of Two Steps Ahead

“Here it is,” she said, twisting the laptop around so the others could see.

Weston and Jasper both looked at Leo, waiting to see who would be assigned the task. Kayleigh didn’t want this to turn into another standoff.

She looked up at Weston. “Can Jasper and his men go get it? I... I’d love for you to stay with me, if you don’t mind.”

He nodded. “Absolutely.”

“We’re on it.” Jasper took the laptop from her and disappeared out of the kitchen without another word.

“We’ll be going, too,” Gwendolyn said. “We have business to attend to. Call if you start feeling worse or if you think you need a doctor.”

Gwendolyn pulled a protesting Leo from the room. She shoved him out of sight around the corner and gave Kayleigh an exaggerated wink that made her chuckle under her breath.

Finally, she and Weston were alone.

“Why are you here?” she asked. Even if she had made it to his office, she would’ve missed him.

He gave her a small smile. “I came to apologize. I guess great minds think alike.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. Dad tricked both of us. He admitted the truth after you left.”

“He wants to keep you safe. I can’t fault him for that.” The way Weston looked at her, like she was precious to him, made Kayleigh’s heart race. “But I’m sorry you felt betrayed. I would never mislead you like that.”

She reached up and squeezed his hand that was resting on her shoulder. “I’m sorry I overreacted and didn’t get to the truth before accusing you of something pretty awful.”

He smiled. “Let’s just call it a reaction to a stressful situation. Besides, now we both know the truth and we can move on.”

“You want things to move on between us?”

“I do. Do you?” Weston asked.

“Yeah.”

He smiled, lifting one of his hands to caress her cheek gently. His thumb brushed over one of the scrapes, but it didn’t hurt.

“It means I’ll have to quit working for Leo. That kiss definitely wasn’t professional of me. You can no longer be my client.”

Kayleigh grinned, leaning closer. “Then you should kiss me again, since I’m not a client.”

He didn’t say anything else, just tangled his hand into her hair and pulled her closer. Their lips met, and though this kiss was much gentler than the one last night in the lake house kitchen, it was still every bit as passionate.

And this time there were no secrets between them.

Chapter Ten

Twelve hours later, Weston was still at Leo’s house. He stood in the kitchen with Leo, Gwendolyn and Jasper, who had finally returned from his search for the stolen camera.

The only one missing was Kayleigh, who was in her second shower of the day. This one hopefully enough to help her to relax and eventually sleep.

Weston hadn’t been able to look away from her face and the bruise coloring her cheek this morning as he’d kissed her. Couldn’t stop pressing his lips to the scrapes on her skin from where she fell.

It could’ve been so much worse. There were plenty of muggings that went wrong and someone didn’t survive. Kayleigh could have died and he would have lost her before he’d really had her.

Realizing how close it was had made Weston reluctant to leave her side. So, he’d kissed her again. And again. And again.

When her stomach growled, they’d both laughed and pulled away enough to get her some food and some more tea.

He’d sat next to her while she ate, not wanting to be separated yet. When she was done, he’d asked her to go through all the details with him again to be sure she hadn’t forgotten or missed something the first time. Then, very gently, had her go through it one more time after that.

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