Page 5 of Second Chance Christmas

Great.

With cheeks that were flaming pink, she stalked around the table and took Audrey’s hand, guiding her towards Harry. “Say goodnight to Grandpa.”

“Goodnight, grandpa.”

“Goodnight, darling.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her head. “Sleep tight.”

“Will you come up and check for monsters?”

Cassie’s spine tingled. While a lot of children were scared of the dark, and monsters, for Audrey, it was something more, and Cassidy knew why. Even though Cassidy had been careful, she hadn’t completely managed to stop Audrey from hearing. From hearing her cries, or even screams, no matter how she tried to muffle them with her hand. She knew she hadn’t been able to protect her from hearing Grant’s raised voice, and the sound of Cassidy hitting the wall, that last time, when she knew that if she didn’t leave, there was a chance she might not survive until Christmas.

“I always do,” Harry said with a wink, but his eyes slid to Cassidy’s and she felt the question there, the worry, and ignored it, spinning away

“Goodnight. Parting is such sweet sorrow,” Audrey said with a serious voice and a bow and everyone laughed. But it was Leonardo’s laugh that Cassidy heard above all others, and it pulled her back in time, to a place she never thought she’d go again. It made her feel warm, and for the smallest of moments, she wanted to close her eyes and sink into those memories, rather than running as hard and fast from them as she could.

After tucking Audrey into bed,Cassidy came downstairs and heard her father in the kitchen. Rather than return to the table across the hall—and Leo—she sidestepped into the kitchen instead. Only it wasn’t her father dutifully stacking the dishwasher, but Leo himself, with his sleeves—disastrously—rolled halfway up his forearms. She’d always been a sucker for his arms. So toned and tanned, she’d been mad about them, especially when they were wrapped around her. But they were now the arms of a man, not an adolescent, flawlessly golden skin hair roughened and enticing.

“I—,” she found it hard to tear her eyes away. Her eyes devoured his body as though she could intuit all the changes through the clothes he wore. “I thought dad was in here,” she mumbled, backing up towards the door.

Leonardo’s eyes were on her, his expression giving little away. But the slight tug of his lips into something like a smirk made her realise he’d seen her ogling him. Her heart dropped to the floor and heat flushed her cheeks.

“No. It’s just me.”

Leo had never been ‘just’ anyone.

“Audrey’s a real character,” he said, and it was the perfect statement designed to keep Cassidy from fleeing the room. As much as she didn’t want to be alone with Leonardo, she would stop time and space to talk about her beautiful daughter.

“She is that,” Cassidy agreed, trying to force her body to relax a little. After all, she’d promised her dad she’d be polite. She was just sticking to that.

“How’s she going with the divorce?” He asked, reaching for a tea towel and wiping his hands, the gesture drawing her attention lower once more, to his arms, his hands, his body.

She swallowed, her mouth dry. “She’s okay,” Cassidy frowned. “At least, I hope she is.”

“Is she close to him?”

The question was asked in a bland tone, as though Leonardo was just going through the motions of making conversation, but there was something in his voice that spoke of a deeper tension, and his body was very still.

“It’s complicated,” Cassidy said after a beat, not ready to discuss her marriage, and divorce, with anyone, let alone Leonardo.

“He’s her father,” Leo pointed out.

“Thank you very much for the reminder, I’d almost forgotten.”

“You’re way more sarcastic than you used to be.”

It was probably a fair observation but that didn’t stop it from hurting. The scales had well and truly fallen from young, idealistic Cassie’s eyes. Life was disappointing. People even more so.

“I wonder what could have happened to make me so,” she pondered, tapping the side of her mouth with the tip of one finger.

But it was a mistake. Because, just as Cassidy had found his eyes utterly, irresistibly compelling, Leonardo now stared at her lips as though they were the beginning and end of his life. He stared at her lips as though kissing her was all he could think of, all he wanted, like he might actually stop breathing if he didn’t close the distance between them and press his lips to hers.

“More sarcasm?” He asked, and Cassidy’s heart rate shot up as he placed the tea towel back on the bench and took two long, athletic strides across the room, until he stood right in front of her.

It was hard keeping a slightly sardonic expression on her face when her pulse was going crazy. It was almost impossible to even think straight, but she knew she had to stand her ground. She wasn’t afraid of him. He’d lost the power to hurt her. No one would ever be able to do that again. Not after Leo, and not after Grant.

“You reap what you sow,” she said with a lift of one shoulder.

“Are you going to make me pay forever?”

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