Waterfall Kisses (The Kisses 9)

As I took a bite of the biscuit, I didn't care that I was suppo

sed to be watching what I ate. If the response I just got from Leo was any indication, I didn't need to worry too much about how I looked. I really only cared what one person thought of my body, and the fact that he now was sitting next to me with his hand creeping up my thigh told me that he liked what he saw.

The sharp edge of hunger dulled, and I slowed down on the meal enough to taste it. I let out a happy sigh, looking over at the man who had just made all my daydreams come true. I pinched myself, just to make sure that it was real, glad that the little red welt on my arm hurt.

“Don't pinch too hard,” Leo said, noting what I was doing. “I don't want to wake up either.”

“This is just how I imagined it,” I said softly, looking around at the beauty surrounding us. Everything was perfect.

Leo took another bite of food. “Me too,” he confessed.

“I can't believe we didn't do this sooner.” I closed my eyes and taking in a deep breath of the humid Caribbean air. The unspoken question of “Why didn't we?” hung in the air.

I opened my eyes to find Leo staring at me. He dropped his eyes and evaluated the biscuit in his hands. He swallowed hard.

“I didn't think I deserved you,” he said after a moment, his voice low. “I still don't.”

I set the last of my meal down, leaning forward and putting my palm on his cheek. “You do deserve me,” I informed him.

“You are everything I could want, Charlotte.” His eyes met mine. “Everything. I shouldn't have everything. No matter how much I want it.”

“What about what I want?” I asked, a little angry that he had put me on a pedestal for so long. I didn't want to be on a pedestal. I wanted to be with him. “I've known you for ten years and you're the only one that I want.”

He sighed, his blue eyes holding back something. Tension crept into his shoulders. He plucked a blade of grass, twirling it between his fingers before crushing it and tossing it to the side. “I still have secrets. Things you don't know about. Things that would make you change your mind about me.”

“Like what?” I tossed a crumb from my biscuit at him. It bounced off his eyebrow and he glared at me.

I didn't believe he could have any deep dark secrets. Besides, short of him telling me he was an ax murderer, there wasn't anything he could say that would change how I felt about him.

Leo's eyes darkened and he looked away. Indecision filled his expression so strongly I could feel it eating away at my stomach. He sighed, ripping another blade of grass from the earth.

“Tell me, Leo,” I said softly, pulling gently on his chin to face me again. “Nothing you say can change the way I feel about you. You should know that by now.”

The corner of his mouth twitched up in a small smile, but it didn't touch his eyes. He took a deep breath. “I used to have a gambling problem. A big one.”

“Gambling? That's it?” I repeated. That was definitely not ax murderer, but he felt it was a big deal so I wasn't going to dismiss it. I softened my voice. “Like betting on horses or poker kind of gambling?”

“Yes, both.” His voice was wooden and he looked out past me. “If you could bet money on it, I did it. Football games were my specialty.”

“Were you any good at it?” I asked, thinking of how terrible my luck was at a casino.

“Very.”

I nodded slowly. The idea of gambling contrasted with the Leo I knew. Leo was always in control, always throwing out some sort of joke or causing trouble. I had difficulty seeing him in a situation where he couldn't be guaranteed to win. I supposed that's where the thrill to him came. He was the type of person who always won, and gambling didn't allow for that.

“I just realized that I've never seen you bet on anything. Not even a five dollar bet with Bastian or Gabe or even the office basketball tournament pool. You must be very committed to it,” I said. I had to wonder what else I had missed about him. “What made you stop?”

“I nearly lost everything.” The lines of his face hardened and he finally brought his gaze back to mine. “So I stopped and I don't gamble any more.”

“And you thought I would hate you because of that?”

“It's not something I'm proud of.” Leo's eyes begged for forgiveness from me. “It's an addiction. One I fight every day. It's not exactly a lovable trait.”

I leaned forward and kissed his lips. He didn't pull away, but he didn't kiss me back.

“I still like you. A lot. Maybe even more than like.” I grinned hoping he would smile at my words.

Leo looked up and I loved the joyful surprise that filled his face. He kissed my forehead. “See, this is why I really don't deserve you. I tell you a secret that would send most girls running to the hills and you smile and make it all seem okay.”