Page 48 of Fake It True

“Since we’re making wedding cookies, does that mean you’re getting married soon?” Dora asked, her eyes bouncing from me to Leo with a sly smile. Dora might be only six, but she had opinions.

Flustered, I laughed a little. “Um, you picked out the kind of cookies we’re making,” I pointed out.

Leo slid his arm around my waist and gave me a subtle squeeze.

Dora shrugged. “I was just asking.”

Leo stopped beside her to inspect the tray of cookies. She shooed him away when he offered to help. He grinned, tugging lightly on her ponytail as he stepped back and rested his hips against the counter.

“Where’s the pizza?” Dora asked.

“Oh crap! It’s in the backseat. Be right back.”

A short while later, we were enjoying pizza while the cookies baked. I was a little nervous because this was my first official “slumber party” as Dora insisted on calling it. We’d had a careful conversation with her about it. Leo had explained to her that he cared about me and wanted me to be part of his life. Every so often, I wondered about the boundaries her mother had set around these things because Dora straight up asked us if we were going to have a “birds and bees” night.

While I thought my face might melt off, Leo had nearly choked with that question, but he’d kept it together and asked her what she meant. She’d said her mom told her that’s how babies were made. She proceeded to request that we make a little brother.

When the cookies were ready, Leo took on the assignment of helping her learn how to roll the baked cookies in the powdered sugar. Dora ate the first one and let out a little happy sigh with Leo enthusing, “These are the best cookies I ever had.”

After she went to bed, Leo came out to the living room, walking so quietly I didn’t even hear him until he whispered, “Casey.”

I glanced over to see him holding a finger to his lips. He sat down beside me and let out a heartfelt sigh. “Bedtime can be tough. I figured tonight might be a challenge since you’re here, but she fell asleep. How you doing?” He scooted closer and curled his arm around my shoulders.

I smiled up at him. “Good. I’ve been nervous all night, honestly.”

He angled to face me. “What are you nervous about?”

My heart started to kick a little faster and my belly felt all ticklish. When I felt his thumb sliding back and forth in a slow caress along the edge of my collarbone, my skin got hot and tingles radiated from that strip of skin. He wasn’t even trying to turn me on, but my body felt like an antenna, tuned solely to the frequency of Leo.

I forced myself to focus and took a quick breath. “I know we’ve talked about things, but this is a big night. Staying here when Dora is here feels like a big deal.”

His gaze sobered. “There’s been a lot going on.”

I snorted. “Seriously. I’m relieved the truth came out with my parents, and I’m sorry it got so crazy.”

“You don’t have anything to apologize for. I wanted to be there for you through all of it. I’m just really grateful it’s okay. You don’t have to carry this alone anymore and your parents believe you about what happened with Callie.”

Nathaniel had been flown back to North Carolina, this time under arrest because of the threats he’d made to me. My father was no longer helping pay for his attorney. Whether or not Nathaniel’s father knew exactly what happened with Callie, it was clear he had known more than Nathaniel’s mother did. She was furious with both of them and had moved out. My parents’ house had sold, and they’d moved into a retirement community.

I could never fix everything that happened, but at least the people who mattered the most were okay and Callie would get justice.

Leo tipped his head to the side as he studied me, his thumb driving me wild with subtle strokes over my collarbone. I finally reached up and put my hand over his. “You’re distracting me.”

His lips curled in a slow smile that sent my belly into a spin. “I haven’t had a chance to say something important.”

“What’s that?”

He suddenly looked a little nervous and his shoulders rose with a deep breath. “I already told you this, but it was a hectic moment, so I want to say it again. I love you. I’d love to make our fake engagement real.”

My heart felt like it might burst out of my chest as joy rose in a crashing cacophony through me. “I love you.” I leaned up to pepper his face with kisses.

“I love you too,” he murmured against my cheek. “What do you think? Will you marry me?”

I blinked before I burst into tears.

“Hey, hey, that wasn’t supposed to make you cry.” Leo reached for a napkin from the stack on the coffee table.

“They’re not sad tears. It’s just a lot of emotion. Of course I’ll marry you. Yes, yes, yes!”

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