Then he started, “Gwen –”
Nope. No. Where Camille Antoine was a straight-talker, Leo was a sage. If he lived back in ancient Greece, Leo would kick Plato’s ass. He had life figured out and in a flash he could read people and situations and know exactly what was going on. This made him a good cop but a dangerous friend.
Desperate, I shifted focus and because I was desperate, I opened my mouth and inserted my foot.
“Why haven’t you asked Cam to marry you?”
His eyes widened and he stared at me.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit! Did I actually say that?
“Um…” I started to backtrack but couldn’t figure out how.
“She wants to get married?” Leo asked and it was my turn to stare. Apparently, Leo being able to read everybody didn’t extend to his live-in girlfriend.
“Well…” I hesitated, “yeah.”
“Seriously?”
I blinked.
“Uh…” I hesitated again, “yeah.”
“I thought she was happy with the way things were,” he told me.
“She is,” I told him.
He stared.
Well, I brought us to this dire pass I had to lead us through it.
Shit!
“Are you happy with the way things are?” I probed cautiously.
“Fuck yeah,” he replied.
Well, at least that was firm.
“So… um, your hesitation with making it official has to do with…” I trailed off and lifted my eyebrows.
“It’s fine like it is, why change it?” he asked.
Okay, I was careening down the highway to the danger zone so I might as well shift up and engage the rocket launchers. The problem was, this meant explaining women to him and men never really were able to process that.
“All right, this is the gig,” I said and straightened in my chair, shifting my booty in it to indicate what I was saying needed his close attention. “Women like clothes, they like shoes, they like flowers and they like people to look at them and think, ‘God, she’s gorgeous.’ The more people who think that, the better it is. The one day in your life where you get all that rolled up into one is your wedding day. And it comes with jewelry and presents and ends with a vacation where it’s practically law that you have to wear fabulous underwear and have lots of sex.”
Leo flashed me a white smile showing that, likely, most of what I said was lost on him but I got through with the fabulous underwear and lots of sex so relief flooded through me.
Therefore, I reached out a hand and wrapped it on his forearm. “So, you give her that then you come home and it’s the same as it was before except you have towels and china in your house you didn’t have to buy.”
His arm twisted and he caught my hand then he gave it a squeeze.
Then he muttered, “This sounds good.”
“Well, lucky for you, you got it for free. I’m considering going on the road, holding classes for men, explaining things. I just need to hook up my commissions with wedding planners and really bad cover bands.”
This got me another white flash of smile even as he noted, “Engagement rings don’t exactly come cheap.”