Love Confessed Page 9

  10 Steve

  “Thank you for having us over.” I say to Leah as we stand at her door. My eyes shift between her eyes and her lips. I notice they are slightly swollen from our kiss just five minutes ago. Lord knows I don’t want to leave, especially like this, with both of us still wanting and needing some sort of conclusion. There’s nothing else I can do though. I can’t kiss her goodnight because Abby would ask questions. I can’t sit here and stare at her all night and I certainly can’t take Abby back to bed and finish what Leah started. Well I probably could and I definitely want to but even I know that I shouldn’t. So instead I settle for an awkward one arm hug, pick Abby up in my arms, and I head home.

  The next morning I’m so distracted with the thoughts of Leah that I start to pour coffee in Abby’s cereal.

  “Dad! I am not going to eat that. There’s coffee in it!” she yells at me and I jump.

  “Sorry honey, I’ll get you a new bowl.” I walk to the cupboard and start her breakfast all over again.

  “Daddy, are you ok?” she looks really concerned.

  “Yes, why do you ask?”

  “Because you’ve been acting really weird this morning.”

  “I’m sorry. Just have a lot on my mind.”

  “Like Leah?” Her expression changes to pure excitement and it almost looks like she wants to start jumping up and down. “I like her daddy. She’s always really nice to me.”

  I’m completely blindsided by this question and the confession that comes with it. What is she trying to tell me? I’ve thought about Leah so much lately and I know I want more. The friends suggestion was doomed from the start but this really is a new concept to me. I’m definitely in uncharted territory here. Up until now I was perfectly content with it just being me and Abby, but there’s a pull to Leah that I can’t seem to escape and I don’t think I even want to.

  “I like her too. How would you feel if I asked Leah and Ethan to spend more time with us?” I ask hesitantly. I’m not really sure how to approach this with Abby. Bringing

  other people into our lives seems like a big deal and it’s more than a little terrifying to me. Allowing a woman close to my daughter like this is a huge step for me, one that I never genuinely thought I would take.

  “Oh that would be so much fun, daddy. Ethan and I could play all the time.” She’s so happy I feel like I almost have to make this work or else I would be letting her down. Frankly I know I would be letting myself down too.

  * * *

  After dropping Abby off at school I head to the office. Jo is at her desk, staring intently at her computer. I set her coffee down right in front of her and she gives me a grateful smile.

  “Oh thank God, you brought me coffee! I don’t know how much longer I could have survived without it…” she says. It’s only nine in the morning and she already sounds exhausted.

  “Why are you so tired this morning, kiddo?” I ask suspiciously. She’s done some late night meetings with one of our recent clients, a client who has a reputation I’m not particularly fond of. Ryan is a producing a music festival that I’m supplying the equipment for this summer. He may have needed a few party planning details taken care of but certainly nothing to warrant the involvement that he seems to be demanding from Jo. I know she can take care of herself but I feel protective of her in a big brother kind of way. She was Janie’s best friend from college. She’s worked with me since I had to run away back home for a few months when Janie died when Abby was born. If Jo hadn’t jumped in and held the company together when I was falling apart, I would have lost the company. She took over the parts of the business that Janie handled and over the years she’s also become one of my closest friends.

  “Simmer down, big brother. Everything’s fine. Ryan kept me up late last night.”

  “I don’t want to know!”

  She laughs at me before asking, “So how’s the friends thing going for you?” She continues, affectionately rolling her eyes at me. “God, that was a stupid idea. I thought you were smarter than that Steve.”

  Man, girls can be brutal. As I walk out I turn back just long enough to tell her “Very well, thank you. As a matter of fact I’m going to call her right now to ask her out on a date.” Then I exit before she can say another word.

  I go into my office, close the door and pull out my phone. The first person I call is Claire. She’s been watching Abby since she was born and has always been really good to both of us. Unfortunately, since Abby’s been in school full time we haven’t seen as much of each other. We talk for a little while, catching up and by the end she has agreed to watch Abby on Saturday. When I hang up with Claire I scroll down my list of contacts stopping on Leah’s name. It’s better to just do it and get it over with, but I’m nervous. My thumb hovers over the screen for what feels like forever as I try to decide what I’m going to say to her. Deciding to just wing it I press the call button.

  “Leah Collins” she answers and it sounds like she’s busy, which immediately makes me regret this call.

  “Hey, it’s Steve.” I respond, hoping it comes across cool and breezy.

  “Oh, hi. How are you?”

  “I’m good. How are things going? Is this a good time?”

  “Yeah, I’m good. Just headed to court. Listen, I’m glad you called. I think we should talk about what happened last night. I know you want to be friends…”

  Before she can mention what a mistake she thought it was for us to do what we did I cut her off.

  “Don’t say we made a mistake last night. I think we both know that we were never going to be just friends. Well I knew that at least. I like you Leah and I know that sounds very high school of me but I don’t know how else to say it. Sorry, I haven’t had a conversation like this since, well, High School so I’m a little out of practice. Anyway… I am actually calling to see if you would like to go out on a date Saturday night.” There. It’s out there and all she has to do is say yes. God I hope she says yes.

  After several seconds of silence I start to think she may have hung up but then she giggles and I relax in my chair. That sound is already becoming very familiar.

  “Steve” she starts, “I wasn’t going to say it was a mistake. We were both sober, at least mostly, and I started it which means I may or may not like you as well.” I can tell she’s smiling as she says this and if we were face to face I’m almost certain she would’ve winked at me. “Saturday sounds great. I have to go into court. Text me the details?”

  “Yeah definitely. Give ‘em hell Miss Collins.” With that I hang up, slouch in my chair feeling completely euphoric, and send her a text letting her know I’ll pick her up at seven. Then I realize I need to start planning. I can’t just do dinner and a movie with Leah. I need something more, something bigger, something better.

  I stop by the store to pick up a small bouquet of irises. Roses just wouldn’t have worked. They’re too generic, too simple for a woman like Leah. I needed something more special and irises seem to suit her – they’re classic, cool and elegant just like she is. As I approach her door I hesitate, this is the first date that I’ve been on in a really long time that I am actually looking forward to. I catch my breath, straighten my button up shirt and run a hand through my hair. Ok I’m ready. I knock on the door and it takes her a minute to answer but when she does I am speechless. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over how beautiful she is. Her brown hair falls down her back in loose curls and she’s wearing a green wrap dress with tall nude heels. For the first time tonight I notice something is different about her eyes. Normally they’re blue but tonight they’ve picked up the green hue of her dress and have become a blue-green color that is hypnotizing. The dress falls around mid-thigh and her long legs shimmer. The only thing I can think about right now is lightly running my fingertips up those legs. Hmmm. This is going to be a long few hours because I think that though created an image that will be pretty impossible to get out of my head.

  “Wow.” I let out a breath. “You look amazing, Leah.
”

  She smiles a shy smile before saying “Thank you. You don’t look so bad yourself.” I’m fairly certain I don’t compare. I decided to go with the dress casual look of jeans and a long sleeved button up white shirt with the cuffs rolled back.

  “Would you like to come in for a drink before we head out?”

  “Absolutely.” When I step into her apartment I am surprised by how comfortable I feel here already. I’ve only been to her place once and already I feel like I can make myself at home. Well to be honest, I felt this way the first time too. I guess it’s because of how I grew up. Friends of mine or my brothers were always coming or going. My mom always had food prepared for all of us too. But because it’s not my home though and she grew up a whole lot different than I did, I let her grab the wine.

  “So what do you have planned for tonight?” she asks as she brings me a glass of red wine.

  “Well, I was thinking we could do a little cooking.” I reply and she raises an eyebrow at me. “I have a friend who owns a small Italian restaurant downtown and since he’s just starting out he’s only open through lunch. So I asked and he lent me the keys for tonight. I thought it might be fun to play in the kitchen and make our own dinner. What do think?” When I asked Marco for this favor I thought it was a good idea but her silence has me second guessing myself. I don’t know what it is about Leah that has me caring what she thinks so much and has me so desperate to please her. After a few moments she looks at me and says,

  “I think that’s a great idea. I know how to cook a little maybe I can teach you a thing or two.”

  “I was hoping so.” Little does she know that I can also do a little cooking myself. Being a single dad I made myself learn some of the basics so that my daughter wouldn’t have to grow up on take out or macaroni and cheese. Abby likes to cook too. We’re actually in a weekend cooking class together right now. As we finish our wine we talk and I learn that we have all night because both of our kids just happen to be staying overnight with their sitters. Looks like I wasn’t the only presumptuous one and the realization has me smiling.

  When we get inside Marco’s restaurant I see that he has set a table with candles and place settings and a note that read “Have a great time, brother. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. Ps. Clean up after yourselves please.” I laugh to myself and put the note in my pocket. What does he think I’m going to do in his restaurant? Well he probably just knows me well enough to know what I want to do, in all honesty. I’ve known Marco almost my whole life. His family lived a few blocks from my parents and his dad worked for my dad on the farm.

  A few years back Marco showed me how to make fresh pasta for Abby and because it requires the use of our hands that’s what I wanted to make with Leah.

  “Do you like spaghetti?” I ask her as I grab an apron for her off the back of the pantry door.

  “Of course. It’s almost a weekly meal in my house.” She says with a smile. I’ve noticed she hasn’t stopped smiling this whole time and neither have I for that matter. That smile makes me so impatient to pull her in for a kiss.

  “Great. We’re going to make it from scratch.”

  “You know how to make fresh pasta? You just keep surprising Mr. Cooper.”

  “A man has to eat and so does his daughter.” I say to her with a small shrug of my shoulders. I pull out the flour, eggs and salt while she grabs a cup of water and place them on his counter. Marco already has the marinara sauce made so I pull that from the refrigerator and place it in a pot to heat on the stove next to the pot of water Leah has already placed. When I turn around Leah is looking at me with hooded eyes. Something tells me this is going to been really fun and become a little bit messy.

  “So are you ready to show me how it’s done, sir?” she asks then turns toward the counter with all the ingredients on it. I don’t say anything, I just come up behind her and I feel her tense for just brief moment as my arms slide around her waist but then I grab the measuring cup and scoop out the flour onto the worktop. From this position, even in her heels, I can rest my chin on the top of her head. Her smell is intoxicating and it takes everything I have to focus on what I’m doing. I grab her hands in mine and we make a canal in the flour to add the eggs, a pinch of salt and water then together we knead the dough.

  My heart is racing from being this close to her and I can tell I have the same effect on her. As we roll the dough I can feel her relax into me. When she tilts her head to the side and exposes her neck I take the opportunity to lightly brush my lips across her skin, immediately I can feel the goose bumps rise. She pushes her back into me and the contact has my growing erection at full attention. God I want her. I want to lift her up onto this table top, pull her panties down, spread her legs and taste her. I’ve wanted that since the day of Sanders and Smith party.

  Her little shallow breaths that have a faint moan to them are making me feel needy and desperate. Knowing that she needs me as badly as I need her has me wanting to take her over, to possess her, to mold her to me. I’m fully aware that our hands are covered in dough and I feel like I’m being restrained. I can’t touch her not like this. I pull back reluctantly.

  “I can’t touch you with my hands covered like this. I need to wash them.” There’s disappointment in my voice and I do nothing to hide it.

  “We probably shouldn’t do this in your friend restaurant anyway. It might be a health code violation.”

  I snicker. “You’re right. But if I’m being honest, I couldn’t care a whole lot less. I’m not sure how much longer I can wait to feel you again. It’s all I have thought about these past weeks. There’s something here Leah and I’m pretty sure you feel it too.” This attraction is consuming, electrifying even. I can’t shake it off and I am pretty certain I wouldn’t want to even if I could.

  “I do feel it Steve, but I think we can make it through dinner. This smells way too good to waste. I don’t want to disappoint, but I’m not exactly the kind of gal who gets taken out to dinner and orders a salad.” She winks at me and then reaches up on her toes and kisses my check. We manage to finish making dinner with minimal contact which was basically a necessity in order to finish making dinner.

  After dinner, I find strawberries and whipped cream in the fridge.

  “How does dessert sound?” I ask walking back to our table.

  “Sounds like we should take it to go.” She replies. “Those look like they may taste better if we eat them off of something other than a plate…”

  “Don’t have to tell me twice.” Before we leave I make a mental note to remind Marco of everything we used so that I can replace it. Our exit is quick because I can feel the electricity between us bouncing around the car as we make our way back to my place. When we park I walk around to open her door then take her hand in one of mine and the dessert in the other. On the elevator ride up to the top floor I don’t let go of her hand and we don’t speak. I feel like there are a million things I want to ask her but I settle with, “Would you like a glass of wine with dessert?” Just as we step into my loft apartment she responds in a soft, low tone –

  “Yes, please.” She replies.

  I pour our wine and bring the strawberries in to the living room. She’s sitting on the couch with her legs crossed and instead of sitting next to her I sit on the coffee table in front of her. She raises an eyebrow and then starts giggling. I’m starting to accumulate a list of my favorite sounds she makes.

  “What are you doing?” she asks in between giggles.

  “Can I feed them to you?”

  She doesn’t say anything just sombers and then nods. I dip the first strawberry in the whipped cream and hold it up by her mouth just far enough that she has to scoot up on the couch causing her knees to brush mine. Her eyes are staring into mine and she opens her mouth, slowly leaning forward towards the strawberry. Her lips wrap around it and when she closes down on it she makes sure she sucks on my fingers ever so slightly. That is all I can handle – I physically hand handle this for another
second. I lunge forward, faster than I intend, pressing my lips to hers, cupping her face with one hand and weaving the other in her hair. When her mouth opens slightly on a moan I take advantage and sweep my tongue against hers.

  God I want her but not here, not on the couch. I want her in my bed. Neither of us is drunk tonight and I want to take my time with her, taste her, savor her all night. I stand and lift her just the slightest bit and, without either of us having to say anything, she wraps her legs around my waist. We both feel just as desperate at this point. We don’t break contact as I make my way to my room and set her down at the foot of my bed. I grab the hem of her dress and slowly pull it up over her head and toss it aside. Her breathing is shallow and quick and I am reminded of how much I like to hear her like this. This is how she sounds when she’s turned on and it’s sexy as hell.

  I pull my shirt off and make quick work of my pants, then I grab her and lay her on the bed underneath me. I kiss her slowly because I want this night to last. I can tell this time she’s nervous, with every touch and every kiss her body trembles. I plant soft little kisses on her neck, her collar bone, her chest, her breast. I suck her hardened nipple into my mouth and bite down just enough that she lets out a small plea and I smile around the stiff point in my mouth. I think she can feel my smile because when I do it, she relaxes ever so slightly I move my hand down her side to her inner thigh and back up to the edge of the top of her lace panties. Next time I will remember to appreciate them more but not tonight. Tonight I need to feel her. Now. I give a small tug and they shred providing me the access I need.