The Right One - Felice Stevens Page 0,81
came all the way here just to pick me up.”
Leo handed him his helmet. “I figured I’d surprise you, make your first day a little special.”
Morgan met his eyes. “Every day with you is special.”
Damn. His throat closed up.
He took a deep breath. “Natalia said my mother’s blood pressure’s running high, and I’m thinking maybe I need to step up my visits to more than once a week.”
Morgan’s jaw thrust out in a hard line. “I told you, you’re not doing this alone. That’s not how it works anymore.” He straddled the bike. “Let’s go. I’m coming with you.”
“You don’t—”
“If you’re going to say I don’t have to, what I will have to do is get really angry and you don’t want to see that.” Sparks shot from his eyes, and it was remarkable how that sight never failed to turn him on. A feisty Morgan was a sexy Morgan, whether he was running his mouth or screaming Leo’s name during sex.
“I don’t know about that.”
“Stupid. Now let’s move it.” He grabbed Leo around the waist and kissed his neck.
“I like you all bossy. It’s a fucking turn-on.”
“Yeah?” Morgan leaned over his shoulder and lightly bit his earlobe. “Keep that thought for later when I’m going to ride you like this bike.”
“Jesus,” Leo breathed, putting his helmet on. “You know, it hurts to ride with a hard-on.”
Morgan gripped him tighter. “Deal with it.”
“I created a monster,” he muttered and started the Ducati. The engine purred to life.
“You love it.”
He grinned and gunned the motor, and they took off for his mother’s house.
When they pulled up and he cut the engine, he didn’t get off the bike but sat and stared into space. Morgan hopped off and put a hand on his arm.
“What’s wrong?”
“I always wished my father could’ve seen what I’ve accomplished. My mother doesn’t think it’s anything special, but Peter and I worked damn hard for these two buildings and to start up this business. I don’t need her praise, but she could at least acknowledge what we achieved.”
“Then tell her that.”
“No. I don’t need to beg for someone to care about me, least of all my mother.” He slid his leg over the seat but made no move to walk up the path to the house, and instead fingered his sunglasses. “Do you think I’m being too harsh on her now? I mean, she is sick and all, and none of it matters anymore.”
“You’re wrong. It does matter because it shaped you into the person you thought you were.” Morgan linked their arms. “I don’t think forgiveness works like that. But the passage of time can lessen what once seemed so awful, you’d swear you’d never recover, so here you are. And notice I said who you thought you were. Because you’re not that angry man I met at the beginning of summer. Not anymore. The human spirit has a remarkable capacity to regenerate.”
Content to stand in the sunlight with Morgan tucked at his side, Leo watched a white butterfly flutter amid the green grass, remembering himself as a carefree, laughing child chasing them in the backyard. “The man I rented the apartment to wouldn’t have dared speak to me like that. After what you’ve been through, you’ve got more guts than most people I know.”
Instead of accepting what he’d meant as a compliment, Morgan huffed out a sigh. “You know, I’m tired of you defining me by what happened in my marriage. I’m more than the guy who was abused.”
Not wishing to upset Morgan, Leo sought to soothe him. “I didn’t mean it that way. What I’m trying to say is the exact opposite, but I guess it came out badly. I’m not good with words and stuff.”
The annoyance faded from Morgan’s eyes replaced by a different kind of heat. “You’re plenty good with them, as I recall. And I didn’t mean to take away from your time with her. I think you should go into the house and talk to her. Whatever comes naturally will be the right thing. If it’s what you want to hear, then good. If not, then you’re in no different a place than you were before you came.”
Leo put his arms around Morgan and kissed the tip of his nose. “You’re pretty smart, you know? You should be a teacher or something.”
Morgan rested in the crook of his shoulder, and Leo felt the curve of his lips against his skin. “I can give you detention tonight, and we can make it