Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,263

this close and know that we were over.

“The truth is, when I first started this script, I was going to do a real hatchet job on you,” he said. “I was so angry and hurt and heartbroken, more jaded than I’d ever been before. I intended to hurt you by writing this film, Sophie.”

I swallowed. When I opened my mouth to tell him that I didn’t blame him, he held up his hand. “Wait,” he said softly. “Just let me get this out. I need to say it all.”

I nodded my acquiescence, and he continued.

“But as I worked on the screenplay, everything flooded back to me. All of our time together, and the way you made me feel. I remembered who you truly were, and for the first time I was able to step back and objectively view our relationship.” Leo swallowed, his chin trembling momentarily. When he spoke again, his voice was full of emotion. “I realized that you’d given yourself to me fully, and I was the one who’d held back. And then I understood, by the end of writing and filming, that I was the one who’d been a coward, too afraid to show you my feelings, Sophie. You’d lost everything to be true to what we had, and I hadn’t been willing to do the same. It had been easier for me to blame you. But that’s because I’d been a fool.”

I so badly wanted to talk now, but I recalled that he wanted me just to listen. So I kept my mouth shut even as tears streamed down my face.

Leo looked into my eyes. “I rewrote and reshot that last scene only a few weeks ago, and it was only then that I realized what I needed to do.” He took a deep breath and sighed, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. “I needed to tell you the truth, Sophie Scott. I needed to tell you that I always loved you, and that I still love you more than ever. Your love made me seize not just the day, but my life. And I intend to spend the rest of my life with the woman of my dreams…if she’ll still have me, that is.”

He handed me the bouquet as I nodded, barely able to speak. “Of course,” I said, as the crowd burst into thunderous applause that I didn’t even care about. All I cared about was him.

Leo.

He loved me back. He didn’t hate me at all.

I found myself wrapped up in Leo’s arms, tears running down my face and his lips pressed firmly to mine. I was his. It had always been that way but we’d let outside influences get in our way. As he kissed me there in that theater in front of his friends, colleagues and industry bigwigs, I cared only for Leo and our feelings for each other.

I knew that I’d never let a day pass without showing him how much I loved him, and what he meant to me.

Just minutes later, we walked out of the theater with our arms around each other, straight into a waiting limo—with Steve at the wheel, of course.

“It’s great to see you again, Miss Scott,” he said, and I was happy and relieved at the use of my real name.

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo said. “No offense, Steve, but let’s just get out of here already.”

As the car pulled away, I stayed snuggled close to Leo, still in shock that I was there with him, and that he hadn’t stopped loving me after all.

I felt the reality of Leo Armstrong, his scent, his feel, his heat. I let go of the flowers and clutched him.

“What’s wrong?” he said, touching my cheek that was still wet with tears. “I thought this was a happy moment, Sophie.”

“I’m afraid that if I let go of you, you’ll disappear again,” I told him.

He pulled me closer. “Then don’t let go,” he said, his voice slightly bemused. But then he held me, too, his strong arms encircling me. “I won’t if you won’t.”

And I knew then that he was a little scared too. We’d both thought that we’d lost each other, and being in one another’s arms again felt too good to be true.

But it was true.

I looked up into his eyes. “I’m so sorry—“

“Don’t,” he said. “You never need to apologize to me. I’m in love with you, and besides—I think we’ve met our apology quotient for this year.”

I laughed a little, my chest loosening. I was beginning to accept