My Kind of Forever - Tracy Brogan Page 0,109
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Leo’s gaze turned to surprise. “Seriously? Well, she’s a very generous person. In fact, she was so generous to me that I can afford to take a break from working. I’ve decided to try my hand at writing that novel after all. I heard that winters here are the perfect time and place.”
He looked over at me, observing as the words sank in.
“I’ll just be going now,” Dmitri said. “Seems like you two crazy kids might have some other things to chat about.”
My heart raced as I watched Dmitri melt into the crowd. Reluctantly I looked back at Leo. “I’m not falling for that a second time,” I said. “And you can’t just come back here and expect everything to fall into place. It doesn’t work that way.”
He looked around. “It’s crowded in here. Will you go outside with me?”
“It’s freezing outside.”
“Please?”
Well . . . shit. He had said please, and it was a little stuffy in the pub. Maybe a bit of fresh air wouldn’t be so bad. We made our way to the front door and stepped out into the frigid air. The moon was high in the cloudless sky, and the stars were bright and twinkling. A perfect setting to fall in love, if only it wasn’t ten degrees out. And if only my heart wasn’t locked up inside a steel box and wrapped in chains.
Leo turned to face me, and I let him clasp my hands in his. You know, because it was cold. His eyes were warm on my skin, his expression wary but hopeful. “I did a shitty thing, Brooke. Regardless of my reasons, I hurt you and I can’t take that back. I just need to know how to make it up to you. Will you let me try?”
“Why? I mean, what happens after you finish that book? What if you give it a try and decide you don’t like it here and realize you need to move back to Chicago or Washington, or just anyplace but Trillium Bay?”
He sighed, his breath misty in the cold air. “I don’t want to make specific promises about that, Brooke, because I’m not certain. But what I do know for certain is that the way my life felt before I met you wasn’t half as good as the way my life felt when I was with you. And now my life is just plain miserable, and I want to change that. I do like it here, and I like you. In fact, I have a sneaking suspicion that I might even be in love with you. I probably am. Gina says I am, by the way, and she finds it completely annoying.”
Gina. Maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. Still, I needed more information.
“Are you really here to write a novel?”
“I am. And in the spirit of full disclosure, I’ve also been offered a job here. Turns out the chief of police is looking for an assistant deputy.”
Ohmygosh. He didn’t. My father offered Leo a job just to get him back here for me? That was either the most pathetic attempt at landing me a husband or the sweetest thing ever. Who knew that under Harlan’s gruff exterior beat the heart of a true romantic?
“I believe my father may have offered you that job under false pretenses.”
“I don’t care. All I know is that it gives me another excuse to hang out around here because, as of yet, you have not asked me to come back.”
The chains around the locked box of my heart rattled in my chest and fell away. “I’m not going to ask you to come back. I don’t need you, Leo. I’m pretty happy being the mayor. However, if you do decide to come back . . . I might be willing to go out with you again.” Ah, what the hell. What was one more broken heart? I guessed I was willing to jump just one more time.
“You would? Does that mean you’ve forgiven me?” He gave my hands a squeeze.
“It means I’m willing to consider it. Because I do like you, and in the spirit of full disclosure, I have a sneaking suspicion I might actually fall in love with you, if you play your cards right. But you should know, Leo Walker, I’m not looking for temporary. I’m looking for forever.”
“That’s okay.” He smiled and pulled me close. “I like the sound of that. I think I’d like your kind of forever.”
The hurt I’d been cloaked in melted away. Leo was back. And he’d come back just for me. Because I wasn’t just someone special. I was someone special to him. It was nearly midnight, but I couldn’t wait for the countdown. Leo was in front of me, and he probably loved me. I probably loved him, too, so no sense waiting for the ten, nine, eight . . .
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. “If we jump, there’s just no telling where we’ll land, you know.”
“I know,” he said, pulling me tight against his chest. “But no matter what, we’ll land together.”
And then he kissed me.
Cheers erupted from inside the Palomino Pub, and in the back of my mind, I wondered if midnight had struck, but it hadn’t. They were cheering for us, faces pressed against the windows, watching. So much for keeping this a secret. But I didn’t want to keep it a secret, anyway. This time I wanted everyone to know. Brooke Therese Callaghan was about to take a lover.