Page 25 of Protected By Him

Chapter Twelve

Leo

IwatchedLaurahurryto the stairs and knew I needed to talk to her sooner rather than later. Maybe over dinner. I could see the same hunger I felt reflected in her eyes, but I needed to know where she stood. Whatever this was between us couldn’t be a fling. She meant too much to me for that. I could tell something amazing was growing between us, but it would take a lot of courage on both our parts to pursue it. Laura had to feel it too. She wouldn't come apart so easily at my touch if she didn't.

After placing our order for dinner, I went to the kitchen and chose a bottle of wine from the rack that I thought would pair well with Chinese food. I didn’t indulge often, but I thought Laura and I both deserved a glass or two after the day we’d had.

Looking for something to do so I wasn’t tempted to follow Laura upstairs and continue where we’d left off that morning, I went to my office. Technically, I had the rest of this week off, but I decided to check my messages anyway, knowing full well my absence wouldn’t prevent my colleagues from emailing me a couple dozen times a day. I spent the next thirty minutes responding to emails until my cellphone rang.

“Hello,” I answered after seeing Rob’s name on the screen.

“Did you order take out?” he asked immediately.

“Um, yes. Why?”

“I told you I’d have agents watching your place. They just scared the daylights out of some poor high school kid when he turned in the driveway unannounced. Next time you’re expecting a visitor, call me so I can give them a head’s up.”

“Sorry, Rob. I didn’t think about it. Shit, is the kid okay?” I felt terrible. I couldn’t imagine how frightening it would be to have a couple FBI agents come at you when you’re just trying to deliver sweet and sour pork. I guess I should’ve braved the kitchen after all.

“He’s fine. Davis gave him a big tip and sent him on his way. He’s bringing your food to the door. You owe him twenty bucks,” Rob said, then hung up abruptly.

I stared at my phone for a minute before standing and fishing my wallet from my pocket as I made my way to the front door. I opened it to a sour-faced looking man with thinning black hair who was holding a large take-out bag. I could only assume this was Davis.

“Sorry about that,” I said as I traded him a twenty for the bag of food. He grunted, then turned and walked away. Shaking my head, I closed the door and headed for the kitchen. Laura was already there, pouring two glasses of wine.

"Hey Leo" she greeted me as I walked in, “that smells amazing.” Damn, how I loved hearing my name on her lips. She had changed into a pair of leggings that emphasized her gorgeous curves and a tight V-necked t-shirt. I remembered her purchasing them this afternoon, but I’d had no idea then how sexy she would look in them.

I coughed and gave my head a little shake to clear it of my lust-filled thoughts. There’d be time for that later. For now, we needed to eat dinner. Then, we needed to have a talk before this thing between us went any further. After placing the food on the counter, I went to the cabinet and pulled down a couple of plates, then grabbed forks. I knew the Chinese place would have included chopsticks, but I’d never managed to use those without making a mess of myself, and that was the last thing I wanted to do tonight.

We sat next to each other and spread out the food between us. I’d known Laura long enough to know that we both loved Chinese food, so I’d ordered several entrees. We ended up skipping the plates altogether in favor of passing containers back and forth, taking bites of everything. By some unspoken agreement, we talked about everything but the things we needed to, namely our relationship and whatever Harvey and Wilkins were up to. We mostly talked about Ella. I shared with Laura several of the dinosaur facts that Ella had taught me lately and my certainty that my daughter was going to become a paleontologist.

“I don’t know,” Laura said, “I think she’s going to be a lawyer, like you.”

“Why’s that?” I asked, genuinely curious. I would love for Ella to follow in my footsteps, but while she certainly had a knack for memorizing things, which would come in handy for studying the law, she wasn’t argumentative in the least.

“Because she knows how to steer a conversation. It doesn’t matter what the topic is, Ella always manages to segue back into whatever it is she wants to talk about, usually dinosaurs. She does it so smoothly, you hardly realize it until you’re deep into whatever is she wanted to talk about. She’s so friendly and cheerful, she could convince anyone to agree with her.”

I thought about that for a moment and realized she was right. Then, something else occurred to me. “You know what else I just realized she does? She talks you in circles when she wants something. Like the other day, we were at the store to replace her backpack. While we were shopping, she started chattering non-stop, and I swear she waited until I was so worn out that I was barely listening to trick me into getting her a new toy. All she did was say, ‘we can go get a toy now, right Daddy?’ and I said yes without thinking! I tried to backtrack, but she had me over a barrel. I either had to tell her I hadn’t actually been listening to her or get her a toy.”

Laura started laughing, and I thought it was one of the most beautiful sounds I’d ever heard.

“I think I can guess which route you chose,” she said. “See? I’m telling you, that girl is a born litigator. She could get a witness to say anything.”

I laughed along with her, but the sound died in my throat as I caught Laura’s eye. God, she was so beautiful, I couldn’t look away. Laura’s laughter trailed off, and her eyes darkened as we stared at one another. Slowly, I stood from my seat and closed the short distance between us. I could see her breaths becoming more frequent. I could also see the questions in her eyes along with the hunger.

When I was close enough, I took one of her hands and placed it on my chest. "Laura, this isn't just a fling to me. Whatever is happening here isn’t meaningless, and I don’t want to ignore it anymore."

She looked at me with puzzled, beautiful green eyes. "But Leo, what about Brandon?"

"I think Brandon loves both of us. And I think Brandon would be happy." She didn't know, but this was something I’d thought about many times. Not only did I know that Brandon would only want Laura to be happy, but I was certain he wouldn't truly trust his sister with anyone other than me.

"Tell me what you are thinking, Laura." I could feel my stomach tying in knots at the thought of rejection. All those years of wanting her from a distance had built to this moment.

"Dipwhit," she said as a smile curled across her face.

"What? Dipwhit?" I said, confused.

"Yes, you are a dipwhit if you think I haven't been falling for you my entire life." She wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling my forehead to hers.

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