Until Leo Read online

  I felt Leo’s warmth as he stepped behind me, his body pressed against mine as he glanced down at the ingredients on the counter over my shoulder. “But tonight I get to load mine up with all the sausage and peppers I can fit onto the crust, while you can stick with boring cheese pizza.”

  “Nuh-uh,” Lynn mumbled. “I’m gonna put some olives on a corner of mine. And maybe even a little bit of bacon, too.”

  Leo’s arm wrapped around me as he stepped to the side and bellied up to the counter next to me. “Those are daring choices for my cheese pizza girl.”

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret.” I leaned forward and whispered to Lynn, “I have two extra crusts, so if you end up hating what you make the first time you can just start all over again with plain cheese.”

  “Awesome,” she breathed.

  “Definitely awesome,” Leo agreed.

  Oh yeah...that trip to the store was going to happen in the morning. And I wasn’t going to choose between chocolate fudge cake and caramel swirl brownies. These two deserved both. Plus some stuffed French toast for breakfast. I was going to put Leo’s gourmet kitchen to good use this weekend, and spoil the heck out of them.

  Chapter 7

  Leo

  Having Lynn and Carrie together under my roof settled me in a way I’d never felt, but it made Monday morning harder than it’d ever been before too. “C’mon, baby girl. I need you to sit still if I’m going to be able to do this braid for you.”

  “No,” Lynn grumbled. “I want Carrie to do it.”

  The girls had bonded all weekend long. Between making build-your-own pizzas, cake, brownies, French toast, and an egg and bacon breakfast casserole, the girls had baked up a storm. I wasn’t much of a cook, and neither was my ex. But Lynn blossomed in the kitchen with Carrie patiently talking her through every step along the way. Seeing how well they got along was the best part of it all—and that was saying a lot because I hadn’t eaten so well since I lived at home with my parents.

  “Carrie’s not up yet, so you’re stuck with me.”

  “Actually,” a throaty, feminine voice interrupted us. “I’m awake and happy to help.”

  My eyes jerked away from Lynn’s hair and up to Carrie’s reflection in the mirror. She was still dressed in the pajama pants and shirt she’d insisted on wearing while Lynn was in the house, instead of one of my T-shirts like she’d done during the week. They were pink with yellow hearts, and my baby girl had been quick to tell me she wanted a pair to match when she saw Carrie in them on Saturday morning.

  “Hurry up, Daddy! Let Carrie do my hair while you get ready for work,” Lynn urged.

  I moved away and trailed my fingers along Carrie’s neck as I passed her in the doorway, getting a thrill out of the goosebumps that popped up on her soft skin. “I guess I’ll leave the braiding to the experts.”

  “I’m not really an expert,” Carrie laughed as she stepped behind Lynn and gathered her hair up, quickly separating it into three chunks. “That’s my step-mom. She taught me everything I know about hair.”

  “Your step-mom?”

  There was something about Lynn’s tone when she asked Carrie about her step-mom that made me want to hear the rest of their conversation. Since I was only a few steps down the hallway, I paused to shamelessly eavesdrop.

  “Yeah, she’s amazing.”

  “Amazing like you?”

  “I think she’s one of the most amazing people I know.”

  “But she’s your step-mom. Isn’t she mean?”

  “Step-moms in real life aren’t like the one in Cinderella.” Carrie paused, most likely trying to figure out how to explain it to a five-year-old. “I’m sure there are some step-moms who are mean, but I’m willing to bet there are even more who are awesome like mine. She taught my dad how to do my hair when I was your age.”

  “Like you taught my daddy?”

  “Yup, and then she taught me how to do my hair all by myself when I got a little older. Without her, I never would have been able to offer the daddy daughter hair class where I met you guys. And I wouldn’t have landed the job that brought me to Nashville in the first place.”

  “What kinda job do you have?” my nosy daughter wanted to know.

  “You know all those pretty bows and hair elastics I brought with me to the class?”

  “Like that one?” I was willing to bet my daughter was pointing at the purple bow on the bathroom counter. Carrie had given it to her the night we met, and it was her new favorite.

  “Yes, exactly like that one. And this one too.” There was another pause before she continued. “I work for the company who makes them. I help them convince stores and hair salons to carry all the pretty things they make.”

  “That’s so cool!”

  “I definitely thought it was cool when they offered me the job. There. All done. If you turn around I can show you how it looks using this mirror.”

  “It’s perfect!” Lynn squealed. “The bestest braid I ever had. I’m glad your step-mom taught you how to do them.”

  “You know what else she taught me?”

  “No, what?”

  “How to bake.”

  “Like you’re teaching me?”

  “Yup.”

  “Wow! I guess you’re right. Step-moms can be awesome.”

  As I hurried down the hall before they left the bathroom and caught me eavesdropping, I made a mental note to talk to Lynn about step-moms when she was with me next weekend. Carrie had handled it perfectly, but I wanted to make sure there wasn’t an underlying reason behind my daughter’s worry about step-moms. She’d never said anything along those lines before, but it was also the first time I’d ever brought a woman around her. With as excited as she’d been to hang out with Carrie, something about her comments just wasn’t adding up for me. But now wasn’t the time to bring it up because we needed to be out the door in less than five minutes and her mom was going to have her until I picked her up from school on Friday.

  “Don’t forget to put your lunch box in your backpack,” I called out to Lynn after I finished getting dressed and sat down to lace up my shoes.

  “Already done, Daddy!” she hollered back.

  “You guys are too cute.” I looked up and found Carrie leaning in the doorway to my bedroom, her arms crossed underneath her tits. The position shoved the rounded swells up until they were almost spilling out of the rounded collar of her shirt. Even though I’d feasted on them the night before while she kept a pillow shoved over her face to quiet her cries, my cock still hardened at the sight. I had a feeling it always would, no matter how long we were together or how often I had her beneath me.

  “Not sure I want you thinking of me as cute. Makes me sound like a wimp.”

  Her brown eyes lit up with humor and her lips lifted up in a grin as she walked towards me. “The last thing you need to worry about is being a wimp. My nickname for you before I found out your name was hot cop. Nothing I’ve seen since then has changed my mind, and my guess is there’s a rule against hot cops being wimps.”

  I stood up and pulled her close. “You think I’m hot, huh?”

  “As if you didn’t already know that.” She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  Well aware my daughter was in the house and had big ears, I lowered my voice. “I kinda assumed with the way your pus—”

  Carrie slapped her hand over my mouth. “No talk about the P in the V until tonight when we’re alone.”

  If anyone was cute in this relationship, it was her. But her kind of cute was damn sexy. “You gonna stop after work and pack up some more stuff to bring over, or do you want to have a quiet night in and we can do laundry?”

  “Are you sure you want me to bring more of my stuff over?”

  I kissed her forehead, right in the middle where it was wrinkled with concern. She had no reason to be worried about me not wanting her around. If anything, it was the opposite. If I had my way, we’d load up my truck with all her shit and move her in here permanently. But
even though she seemed to have some doubts about what I wanted, I didn’t think she was ready to hear the entire truth from me yet. “Definitely. I’ve got more than enough room around here for anything you want to have with you while you’re here.”

  She beamed a smile up at me. “Then I guess I’ll be a little late tonight because I’ll stop by my place and then I’ll do a quick run to the grocery store.”

  “Can you get more popsicles? We ate the last of ‘em yesterday since there were only two left,” Lynn reminded her as she walked into the room, dressed and ready to go with her backpack on.

  Carrie’s face heated up, and I knew she was remembering why Lynn’s stash of popsicles was mostly gone. I’d jokingly told her I’d grab her one from the freezer when I went to get us some waters on Monday night after our second round in bed, and she’d surprised me by taking me up on the offer. Then she shocked the fuck outta me and made me wish I’d given her one sooner. She slurped away at it, making a big show of it and getting her mouth ice cold before she wrapped those icy lips of hers around my cock and swallowed me down. It was an experience I was looking forward to repeating again. Soon. “Maybe grab a couple boxes of popsicles. We wouldn’t want to run out any time soon.”

  Chapter 8

  Carrie

  I was lucky that it wasn’t a busy day at work since I wasn’t very productive. My mind kept wandering to what I should pack to bring to Leo’s house tonight. I’d known him for ten days and had spent the last seven nights at his place. Most of my favorite outfits were already there. I could’ve just agreed to his suggestion of doing laundry, but I liked how I felt when I added something of mine to one of the drawers Leo had cleared out for me. I also liked it when he added a bunch of hangers to the closet so I’d have a place for my work clothes. And when he put my makeup and brushes in a drawer in the bathroom, plus my bath stuff in the shower.

  It was crazy how fast things were moving between us, but I liked all of what Leo had given me so far. His time. His attention. Affection. Space in his home. More orgasms than I imagined were possible. Mind-blowing orgasms at that.

  I liked it so much that I’d convinced myself to pack an entire suitcase full of my stuff tonight. As long as he was going to keep giving me space to put my stuff without complaining, I was going to keep on filling it. Even if it meant I was basically moved in before he realized it.

  I laughed softly to myself at the thought, but it died in my throat when I heard three hard raps against my office door. “Come in,” I called out.

  I didn’t recognize either of the people who walked in to my office. Both of them were blonde, but they didn’t look like they were related. The woman had blue eyes; the man had green. She was a couple of inches taller than me, and he only had a few inches on her.

  I was startled when they shut the door with a bang behind them. As I rose to my feet, I was thankful that I’d left my cell on the corner of my desk because I was able to power it up with a punch of a button and a quick swipe of my finger. Knowing I’d be able to make a call out if needed gave me a little bit of comfort.

  “Can I help you?” I directed my question at the guy, but it was the woman who answered.

  “Yeah, you can help me,” she spat, stalking towards me. I slid my phone into my hand and dropped it towards my leg so it was hidden from her view by my desk. With a quick glance down, I opened the phone app and then returned my attention to the woman when she slapped her hands down on the top of my desk. “You can stay the fuck away from Leo and Lynn.”

  “Pardon?”

  “You heard what I said!”

  “Jenna,” the guy hissed, moving further into the room to stand behind the woman. “Say what needs to be said, but keep it down so nobody calls the cops.”

  “Jenna?” I echoed. “Lynn’s mom, Jenna?”

  She leaned towards me, her blue eyes burning with what I could only call hatred. “Damn straight I’m Lynn’s mom. As her mom, I’m the person who decides who gets to spend time with my daughter. And you sure as shit aren’t anyone I want hanging out with her. Doing her hair in fancy braids. Bribing her with hair bows and baking lessons.”

  “I didn’t—”

  Her hand whipped up, palm facing me. “I don’t even want to hear it. I picked Lynn up from school today, and she didn’t tell me she missed me. She barely even gave me a kiss before she started in on how fucking awesome you are. How you work for the place that made her favorite purple hair bow; the one you gave her last weekend. And then there were the questions about why I never bake anything with her. Why we’ve never done build-your-own pizza night, whatever the fuck that even is. Why, why, why!”

  “Where is Lynn now?” I glanced out the window, worried that this crazy woman had left her alone in a car while she came up here to yell at me.

  “It’s none of your damn business where my daughter is!” she screamed.

  “Jenna,” the guy snapped.

  “You know as well as I do that this needs to be done, so shut the hell up and watch the door,” she hissed over her shoulder at him.

  The guy grumbled to himself as he walked over to the window next to the door and peered through the blinds into the hallway. “Not even sure the money’s worth putting up with this shit.”

  “Money?” I parroted in confusion.

  “Don’t pretend like you don’t know exactly what he’s talking about,” Jenna spat. “There’s only one reason a woman like you”—she eyed my blouse and skirt with a sneer—“jumps into a relationship with a man like Leo as quickly as you have. Money. Lots and lots of money.”

  Leo’s house was nice and his truck was newer than my car, but I’d figured it was because he didn’t have a lot of expenses beyond himself and Lynn. “Leo’s not rich. He’s a cop.” And there were a lot of reasons why a woman like me—heck, pretty much any woman—would fall head over heels for Leo and none of them had anything to do with money.

  “You aren’t just a bitch; you’re a dumb bitch.” Jenna’s laugh wasn’t humorous, it was scathing. “So I’ll spell this out for you in terms you can easily follow. Lynn is my daughter. Leo is my ex. Unless you want a serious problem with me, you’re gonna back off your relationship with him and stay away from my daughter. You got me?”

  “No.” My denial slipped out before I knew I was going to say it, but I meant it all the same.

  “You’re gonna want to rethink that decision,” she hissed. “Or else my man is gonna help convince you.”

  What the heck? Was my boyfriend’s ex threatening to have her boyfriend beat me up if I didn’t break up with him? I was half-tempted to check the ceiling for cameras because this situation would make for an excellent episode of a prank television show, but I knew this wasn’t pretend. This was really happening. “Why? Why do you care if Leo has a woman in his life? I mean, I would kind of understand if he’d been the one to break your heart, but you threw him away when you cheated on him! You can’t possibly want him for yourself.” I shook my head. “And why would your man be willing to help you get me out of Leo’s life? Wouldn’t he want your ex to be taken so you’re not tempted to cheat on him with a guy from your past like you did with Leo?”

  “I don’t have to fucking worry about her going back to Leo.” Her boyfriend stalked towards us. “She doesn’t wanna fuck him. She never did. Not really.”

  “Jesus, Danny! Shut the fuck up.”

  “No!” he growled. “I don’t care who the hell she is. I don’t like her thinking you’d cheat on me with that dumb bastard who fell for your shit back then.”

  “We’ve got a good thing going here, don’t fuck it up,” she warned, shoving him towards the door and yanking it open.

  “Wait!” I rounded my desk and followed after them. “Where’s Lynn? You never did say.”

  Jenna whirled around and shoved me back into my office. “I already told you, it’s none of your business where my daughter is. Stay away from her, and stay away from Leo. Or else.”

  “Or else what?”

&n
bsp; “Or else I’m going to make sure you regret it,” she threatened.

  Several of my co-workers had left their offices and were openly staring at us. Lynn’s boyfriend tugged on her arm. “C’mon, we better get outta here.”

  Lynn got up in my face one last time. “And don’t tell Leo we were here.”

  I sputtered in shock as she and her boyfriend moved towards the elevators. My co-workers circled me as I watched the two people who’d just accosted me step inside the car as soon as the doors opened. I lied and told everyone I was fine before hurrying back to my office. My phone was still in my hand, and I lifted it up to stab at a number in my recent call history. Two weeks ago, my dad would’ve been the first guy I thought to call in an emergency. But things had changed since then, and it was Leo I dialed instead.

  Chapter 9

  Leo

  “Hey.” I looked up to find Nico striding towards my desk. “Didn’t you say your woman works at that Bella Bows place?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “I was walking through the bullpen when I heard a call come in. A couple squad cars are rolling out because there was an altercation between a female employee and two unidentified perps. It was bad enough that one of the co-workers called 9-1-1.”

  I stood up and reached for my phone, but it started to vibrate on my desk before I had the chance to pick it up. Carrie’s name lit up on the screen. “Hold on. It’s her.”

  “Leo?” Her voice cracked. “Can you come to my work? Something happened.”

  I headed towards the door, confident that Nico would follow. “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, just a little shaky. It’s Lynn I’m worried about.”

  I didn’t understand how an incident at Carrie’s work could connect with my daughter, but my pace picked up at the mention of her name. “Lynn?”