Bared Souls - Ellie Wade Page 0,18
and takes a bite.
“Ranch and ketchup too? Isn’t the point of these fries the chili and cheese?” I eye him skeptically.
“No.” He shakes his head. “Trust me, you need the ranch and ketchup.”
“Okay.” I load up my fork in the same manner as Leo and try a bite. “So good.” I stifle a moan as a burst of flavor fills my mouth.
Leo full-on smiles, and it’s a devastating event. Sullen Leo is the most handsome man I’ve ever seen, but happy Leo is more than my heart can take.
“I told you,” he says with a modest shrug.
We chat about our majors. I tell Leo that I want to be a teacher, and he tells me that he’s going to help his dad run all of his pet projects. It sounds like Mr. Harding buys businesses like some women buy shoes. He tells me that he chose Eastern because his best friend goes here, which makes sense. I’d have attended U of M to be with Amos if I could’ve afforded it. The meal is … normal—well, as normal as time spent with Leo Harding can be.
I can tell he’s on his best behavior, and yet there’s still an edge to him, a darkness that keeps parts of him hidden. I’m still not sure why I agreed to this in the first place.
Does Leo really want to be friends? More importantly, do I?
I eat as many fries as I can manage but have more than half the plate left when I’m finished. Leo cleans his plate.
“Do you want some of mine?” I grin.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“You sure?” I shoot him a smirk.
“Hey, this is the first thing I’ve eaten all day. Stop judging.”
“I’m not judging. I was just kidding. And it’s six o’clock. Why haven’t you eaten anything today?”
“Busy,” is his only response.
He holds his wallet under the table and pulls out a bill. Folding it, he slips it under his plate. He was trying to be sneaky about it, but I caught sight of the hundred-dollar bill before it was concealed under the dish.
“Let’s go,” he says, standing abruptly from the table.
“Leo,” Luca calls out when the bell above the door chimes as we open it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, old man,” Leo says playfully as we exit.
On instinct, I walk in the direction of my dorm room. Leo doesn’t offer much in the way of conversation. There were parts of this … date that were normal, fun even. Yet the moment’s pregnant with silence with distinct reminders of the inherent awkwardness between the two of us. There’s some connection between us—I can’t deny that—but where does it go from here?
Leo follows me up the stairs of my dorm and to my door, a sickening sense of déjà vu present. I open the door to find the space empty. Quinn’s probably at the dining hall for dinner.
I drop my backpack on the floor and turn to address Leo standing in the doorframe. “Thank you for dinner. I appreciate it, and apology accepted.”
“What?” Leo lowers his gaze toward me.
“You said dinner was an apology for Saturday.” Uncertainty fills my thoughts.
Leo pulls in a breath. “Right.”
“So, I guess I’ll see you around,” I say softly.
“Yeah, okay,” Leo answers and extends a hand toward my face before tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
The movement is so foreign and intimate and out of place. Or maybe it’s not out of place at all in this weird back and forth that Leo and I have going.
“Alma, I’m sorry.” Leo takes a step toward me, and I retreat backward, the dorm door closing behind him.
I swallow. “I know. You said that. It’s fine. Water under the bridge.”
Leo closes the distance between us and takes my hands in his. “I’m sorry for taking your first kiss and then ending it that way. I’m not a good person, but that’s not an excuse. You deserved better.”
“It’s …” I start to say before Leo raises his finger to my lips.
He shakes his head. “It’s not okay.”
My heart thrums in my chest, a desperate, intoxicating rhythm. I’m finding it hard to inhale enough air. Leo’s finger scalds my lips. They ache and demand more.
His hungry blue eyes speak to me, and I understand because they mirror my own.
The desire that I feel for Leo right now is visceral. It’s all around me. It burns in my lungs with every breath I take. It pulses in my heart with each beat. It rolls around in my gut, where electric shocks pulse,