with a cherry on top even while my mind reminded me that this was only a game. We were taking things slow.
He wasn’t actually telling me to take off my clothes.
Slow. Slow. Slow.
Except, I didn’t want slow. I wanted more.
I tilted my head just enough to skim my lips over his. But right before I made contact, I whispered, “Hayle kissed me.”
As soon as the words spilled from my mouth, I wanted to take them back. In less than a blink, Leo withdrew his hands from my body and moved a good foot away from me on the bed. “Is that what’s been going on with you? Hayle kissed you, and you didn’t want to tell me?”
My stomach sank. I wished I could use that excuse. It was better than the truth. “Not exactly.”
He threaded his fingers through his hair. “Fuck. Okay, then, let’s start with Hayle. When did this happen?”
“Earlier tonight. He didn’t know for sure that we were together,” I added hastily. After all of my insistence that the brothers needed to grow closer, I hated the thought of this pushing them even further apart.
“For sure?” Leo growled.
I twisted my hands in my lap. “Well, he’d heard rumors but nothing concrete.”
“What about you? Did you want him to kiss you?”
Damn it. How did I answer that question honestly?
“I didn’t expect it or encourage him, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“That’s not what I’m asking, and you know it.”
Anxiety pooled in my stomach. It would be so easy to lie and say that all I felt for Hayle was friendship. But I was done—lying to myself and others. If Leo and I had any chance of making this relationship work, we had to be honest. And, as hard as it was, that started with how I felt about his brother.
“I care about Hayle, and if you and I weren’t...” I paused to search for the correct term, but Leo interrupted me.
“Dating? Because I thought that’s what we were doing.”
“Okay. If you and I weren’t dating, then I probably wouldn’t have pushed him away. But we are dating, and I did push him away.”
He stood and started pacing between the bed and the door. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
I didn’t blame him. If the situation was reversed, and he’d admitted to wanting a kiss from another girl, I’d be devastated. I knew my feelings for all three of the Sharpe brothers were a problem, to put it mildly. I just had no idea what to do about them.
Minutes passed as I watched him pace, waiting for him to figure out what to say. We hadn’t even officially gotten off the ground with this whole dating thing, and I was already throwing a massive roadblock in our way.
He finally stopped a few feet from me, his gaze intense as it fixated on me. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do here. I already feel like I’m stealing you from Tristin, and now I can’t help but wonder if you’d be better off with Hayle. He’s better boyfriend material than me, by far, and you two would probably be happy together.”
Leo stalked to me and reached for my hands, lifting me up. We were standing so close, I had to tilt my head to see his face. It was softer than it had been a few moments before. “But, damn it, Thea. I don’t want to let you go. I’m twice the man I was six weeks ago, and that has everything to do with you.”
Tears filled my eyes. Maybe it wasn’t fair to him, but I couldn’t walk away. I didn’t have the strength.
So, I lifted onto my toes and brushed my mouth over his. “I don’t want you to let me go.”
Chapter Fourteen
Thea
Warm.
That was my first thought, followed by protected.
Because that’s how I felt in Leo’s arms—like he would do whatever was necessary to keep me from harm. Even if that meant going against his father.
I’d never gotten around to telling him about Vincent’s threats last night. We’d laid in his bed and talked. He told me how guilty he felt for letting his team down and how he planned to spend all of his extra time helping train the backup quarterback. I told him about Violet’s request for space and my unexpected but appreciated friendship with Petra.
I kept waiting for him to give into his baser instincts and maul me, but when my eyes started getting droopy, he merely tugged me into his side and told