The Right One - Felice Stevens Page 0,28

upset and withdrawn he’d become when they’d talked about his ex. Leo was certain there was more to the story than Cantrell let on, but he wasn’t about to push. Cantrell might start expecting him to talk. He seemed the share-your-feelings type, and that wasn’t happening. Inside his apartment, he tossed the helmets onto his old recliner, kicked off his sneakers, and stripped off his clothes to shower before bed. The ex must’ve cheated…Leo frowned, his anger mounting at the man who’d obviously broken Cantrell’s heart and hurt him.

I should’ve kissed him.

Hell, no. A kiss for a guy like Morgan Cantrell would mean something. Something permanent and special. Besides, Leo rationalized as his imagination ran rampant with thoughts of the quick-witted, sharp-tongued man naked underneath him, once he kissed Morgan Cantrell, he might not want to stop, and he wasn’t willing to go there.

***

“The building looks so much nicer, Leo. I’m glad you let Morgan plant the flowers.”

Reasa, one of his longtime tenants, stopped her watering in the front yard. Excitement burst through him as he surveyed the building, thinking of the meeting at the bank the day before. He and Peter, who’d offered to put up the garage as collateral, were now fifty-fifty partners in this building, plus the new one they’d secured a loan for. This was real. The dream they’d talked about—owning their own real-estate company—was happening. Both he and Peter, along with Peter’s brother and buddies, all in the construction business, would use their sweat equity and do as much of the rehab work as they could.

Realizing he hadn’t replied to Reasa, he said, “Well, he wouldn’t stop asking me, and I couldn’t stand it any longer.” He winked so she knew he was joking. “But I will admit, it does look nice.” So nice, in fact, that he planned to do a little more landscaping around the side as well. Maybe even start a vegetable patch for tenants in the back. Not that he was going to tell Cantrell. Not yet. Bossy as he was, Leo could only imagine the “I told you so” coming out of that smart-alecky mouth.

A car stopped in front, and a woman got out, closed the door behind her, and checked her phone with a frown. From where he stood, Leo could see the uncertainty in her furrowed brow, and when she walked up the path to the front of the building, he figured she might be lost.

“Excuse me,” he told Reasa. “I’d better see what this is about.”

He left her and met the woman at the foot of the steps. Tall and slim, dressed in black leggings and a pink T-shirt, with wavy dark-brown hair held off her face by a striped headband, she could’ve been anywhere from forty to sixty. She clutched a large tote bag with both hands, and her big green eyes gazed at him steadily as he approached.

“Hello, can I help you?”

Her mouth curved in a smile, and she looked vaguely familiar to Leo even though he was certain he’d never seen her before in his life.

“Not really, but thank you. My son lives here.”

Then Leo knew. “You’re Morgan Cantrell’s mother, right?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

Leo smiled. The eyes gave it away. That, and the curve of her mouth was identical to Cantrell’s. “Just a feeling. Is he expecting you? I haven’t seen him around today.”

“Are you a…a friend of his?”

She was clearly trying to be discreet, but he saw her assessing him. He knew what she was thinking. Tattoos, longish hair, and dressed in scruffy jeans, Leo wasn’t up to her standards for her precious baby boy.

“I’m the super and building owner. Leo DeLuca.”

Her eyes lit up. “Oh, you’re Leo. Morgan told me all about you.”

He raised a brow. “He did?”

Her eyes, so much like her son’s, brimmed with laughter. “Just that he almost burned the apartment down, and that you were nice enough to help him out of a few other little scrapes he got into.” She checked her phone again. “I thought I’d take the train to the city for the day and surprise him with a visit. Usually he comes to see us in the summer, but with everything that’s happened over the past year, he couldn’t make the trip.” She frowned. “He’s not answering. I should’ve let him know I was coming, but when I spoke to him the other day and asked him what his plans were for the weekend, he didn’t mention going anywhere today, just that he