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  He was breathing loudly, still lodged inside, though his cock was softer now.

  Her head dropped to the pillow and her legs gave out. She fell flat to the mattress. Leo followed her, twisting to her side, lying on his back.

  She lifted her head and turned to look at him. His chest rose and fell rapidly, but he was facing her, smiling.

  “Am I saying I love you too much?” he asked.

  Yvonne shook her head. “Not possible.”

  “Keep thinking that word doesn’t feel strong enough.”

  She smiled, surprised to feel the sting of happy tears in her eyes. She scooted over a few inches and put her arm around his waist, his shoulder pillowing her head.

  Both of them were skirting the edge of sleep, exhaustion from their exertions setting in. It was early evening and they hadn’t had dinner, but there was no way she could leave this bed until she’d had a short nap.

  “Love you too,” she whispered before she gave in to sleep.

  Chapter Twelve

  The sun nearly blinded her when she opened her eyes the next day. She turned away from it. Her sudden shift must have roused Leo because he turned with her, spooning her.

  He’d woken her up twice during the night to make love to her again. The second time, they’d gotten up to eat, but their midnight snack took a sexy turn when they started feeding each other, then ended with her on her back on the kitchen floor, Leo licking chocolate sauce and whipped cream off her breasts as he took her.

  “Shower?” he murmured.

  She nodded. They’d taken one after their kitchen interlude, but the idea of hot water on her stiff muscles sounded like bliss.

  Last night had been one hell of a workout.

  Leo rolled away and rose. It took her a couple minutes more to manage the same. By the time she joined him, Leo had already steamed up the mirror with the hot water from the shower, and he was standing beneath the jets.

  She slipped in next to him, accepting the long, heated kiss he offered under the water. Then, they took turns washing each other’s hair and bodies. Yvonne mewed when Leo ran the soft washcloth between her legs.

  “Sore?” he asked.

  She lifted one shoulder. She was, but she didn’t care. Leo dropped the cloth on the floor of the shower, opting to use his hands instead. He pushed two fingers inside her, fucking her with them, curling them to stroke her G-spot.

  “I want to watch you come. Right here. Right now.”

  There was no question he’d get his wish when he added a third finger and rubbed her clit with his thumb. His other hand rested on her ass, holding her in place.

  Yvonne ran her fingers over his slick chest, then licked him, nipping at his nipples as he drove her up the mountain peak.

  “Leo!” she cried, too close to stop.

  “I’m right here, baby. Do it. Let me feel that tight pussy of yours clench around my fingers.”

  “God,” she breathed, his words the final nail in her coffin. She came, clinging to his strong arms as she rode it out.

  Once her orgasm waned, he kissed her again, this one gentle, sweet, loving.

  Then he turned off the water and helped her out, drying her with a soft terry cloth towel.

  She wrapped one around her body while he grabbed a second, covering himself from the waist down.

  “Breakfast?” he asked.

  She nodded. She’d worked up one hell of an appetite. “I’ll make it.” She walked to the kitchen, rifling through his refrigerator until she found enough ingredients to whip up a decent omelet.

  Glancing at the clock, she realized she’d be better off calling this lunch. It was nearly one in the afternoon. Fortunately, today was her day off. After bailing on her family twice this week already, there was no way she could have left them hanging a third day. Not that Riley or Dad would have said no. They knew her well enough to see she was falling fast. Dad had pulled her aside yesterday morning to tell her that he thought Leo was a good man and he was happy for her.

  Boomer pranced around her feet as she cooked, so she snuck him a piece of bacon.

  They’d just sat down to the table to eat when Leo’s phone rang. He walked to where he’d left it in the living room, then came back to the table, still talking.

  From his tone, she knew it was Josh. Leo had a “Josh” tone that was unmistakable, a weird mix of exasperation and reassurance.

  “I told you I wasn’t coming this morning, Josh.” A pause. “Why would you think I was joking?” Another pause. “Don’t. Don’t do that, Josh. You know I care about Dad’s health and the family. I just—”

  Yvonne hated the way Josh treated Leo.

  Leo worked damn hard, but, unlike Josh, he had a son relying on him as well. Vince needed his father just as much, if not more, than that farm.

  “No. Mom didn’t call me this morning. What did the doctor say?”

  Yvonne put her fork down, not bothering to hide her eavesdropping. Not that Leo appeared to care if she listened. He mouthed the word “rehabilitation” when she silently asked “what?”

  She gave him a sympathetic look, but Leo glanced out the window, clearly unhappy with whatever Josh was saying.

  “I told you, Josh, with school starting, now isn’t a good time to—” Leo sighed, then gave up, letting his brother speak his peace for a few minutes more. “Listen, Josh. I need to get off here. I’ll head over to the hospital later this afternoon. And I’ll see you at the farm tomorrow morning.”

  Leo hung up and leaned back in his chair wearily. He’d looked so happy before the damn phone rang, but real life had returned with a vengeance.

  “Rehabilitation?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Yeah. They want to move him from the hospital to a different facility. At least for a little while, few weeks, maybe more. Josh thinks I should move back to the farm.”

  Yvonne frowned. “But Vince would have to change schools.”

  “I’m not moving. He’s been pestering me about it since the night of Dad’s heart attack. I keep saying no, but you know Josh. Once he sets his mind to something, he’s like a dog with a bone.”

  Leo rubbed his eyes, and she hated seeing him stressed out again.

  She looked down at the towel around her and had an idea of how to distract him. Tugging the terry cloth loose, she pulled it away, letting it drop from her naked body.

  It worked. Leo grinned. “You lost your towel,” he pointed out.

  She glanced at herself as if shocked. “Oh? Did I?” Then she gestured to the towel around his waist with a nod of her head. “Wish you’d lose yours.”

  “Didn’t we do this last night?” he asked, even as he stood up long enough to pull the towel off and drop it to the floor.

  “Do we have a ‘no repeats’ rule?”

  Leo shook his head. “Nope. I intend to christen every room in this house with you a thousand times over.”

  She picked up her fork. “Eat your omelet. Then you can have your dessert.”

  Leo’s dessert was served in the kitchen, but it ended on a blanket on the living room floor two hours later, the two of them still naked, lying on their backs.

  Leo glanced at the clock. “Ryder and the boys will be back soon.”

  “All good things must come to an end,” she said sadly.

  “Yeah. And now that we’re moving Dad to a different facility, I’m not sure when we’ll be able to steal a day like this again.”

  She reached over and clasped his hand in hers. “I don’t care if we’re alone or surrounded by a million people, as long as we’re together. Maybe I can start cooking dinner here for you and the boys once a week, when school starts up again. Give you a hand with them.”

  He lifted her hand and kissed it. “I’d like that.” Leo’s phone pinged, and he sighed. “I suspect that’s Ryder telling me he’s almost home.”

  He stood up and helped Yvonne rise, the two of them going back to his bedroom to dress. She’d just finished packing all her stuff into the overnight bag when the
y heard a car in the driveway.

  They returned to the living room, dropping onto the couch as Clint burst through the front door.

  “Leo!” he yelled. “I caught a fish! Oh! Vonnie.” He came over and hugged her. “I caught a whopper, Vonnie!”

  She grinned. “Did you keep it? Need me to fry it up for supper?”

  Clint shook his head. “No. We let it go. I didn’t want to kill it.”

  Yvonne ruffled Clint’s blond hair. “Good for you.”

  Ryder and Vince entered, their arms laden with sleeping bags and duffels.

  “You didn’t help us unload the car, Clint,” Vince grumbled.

  “Hi, Yvonne,” Ryder said. She liked Denise’s husband, whom she’d gotten to know a bit better since his wife’s death. He was a quiet, private man, but he never failed to greet her with a friendly smile.

  “Hey,” she said, then she glanced at Vince. “Hi, Vince.”

  Vince didn’t spare her a glance. Instead, he appeared to study her overnight bag sitting on the floor.

  Leo said his son had been a bear lately, and it appeared the camping trip hadn’t improved his mood.

  “Did you have a good time?” Leo asked his son.

  Vince shot Leo a genuine look that could kill and didn’t answer.

  “We had a great time. Perfect weather, though the mosquitos were murder.” Ryder lifted a bag of apples. “We stopped by your family’s farm on the way home and grabbed some apples and corn on the cob. Thought we could take steaks out of the freezer and barbeque. You’re welcome to join us, Yvonne.”

  “Thanks, Ryder. If you want, I could use those apples to make a pie.”

  Clint jumped up and down. “Yes!”

  Ryder laughed at his son’s excited reaction. “Yes what?”

  “Yes, please! Apple pie!” Clint was practically dancing.

  As one of the older Collins cousins, Yvonne had spent a fair amount of her childhood babysitting what she and Colm referred to as the baby cousins, Darcy and Oliver. The only other child she’d ever seen with the same level of limitless energy as Clint was Darcy. She also danced whenever she was happy, and the sweet girl was always happy.

  “Wanna help Yvonne bake a pie, Vince?” Leo asked. Yvonne got a sense he was trying to find some way to cajole the boy out of his bad mood.

  “No.”

  Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Vince—” he started.

  “I don’t want to!” Vince shot back hotly.

  “I think maybe you and I should have a little talk in your room. You’re being very rude to Yvonne.”

  “I don’t care!” Vince screamed. “It’s your fault.”

  “My fault?” Leo asked.

  “You ruin everything. All the time!” There were tears in Vince’s eyes, put there by pure, unfettered anger.

  Yvonne had never seen the boy like this. His face was red and his whole body was shaking with fury.

  It was disturbing enough that Leo’s previous annoyance faded, his tone one of concern when he said his son’s name again. “Vince.”

  “You don’t care about me. Don’t love me. If you did…” Vince was struggling to breathe, every word he said laced with malice. “I don’t want things to change, but you don’t care! You don’t give a shit about me!”

  Yvonne gasped, certain this was the first time Vince had ever used an obscenity.

  Leo looked completely lost. “Vince, you need to calm down.”

  Ryder glanced from Vince to Leo, and then to her, and she could see he was just as confused by Vince’s behavior. “I don’t understand,” he said softly.

  “I’m not going to calm down,” Vince continued. “I hate you! I hate you! I wish Mom was still alive. She’d take care of me—and then I wouldn’t need you!” And with that parting shot, Vince ran from the room, slamming his bedroom door behind him.

  No one moved for several moments, all four of them stunned into silence until Clint sniffled. “Is Vince gonna get a whipping for cussing?”

  Ryder bent down and hugged his son. “Why don’t the two of us go on back to my room for a little while, Clint? We can get showers, wash away the campfire smell, then watch TV.”

  Clint nodded, but as he trudged down the hall, he looked like a deflated balloon.

  Ryder looked at Vince. “I swear to you, he was fine when we were camping. Laughing, carrying on. I don’t know what happened.” Even as he spoke, Ryder slid a glance in her direction.

  Ryder had come to the same conclusion Yvonne had. Vince had been fine…until he came home and found her there. So Leo’s son had seen them kissing on the Ferris wheel. And he didn’t like it.

  That answered the question that had niggled in the back of Yvonne’s mind since the day of the fair.

  Vince didn’t approve of Leo’s relationship with her.

  Neither she nor Leo spoke as Ryder and Clint left the living room. Leo stood motionless, obviously as shell-shocked as she felt.

  “He saw us kissing at the fair,” Yvonne said, breaking the silence.

  Leo nodded slowly, staring down the hallway. He hadn’t faced her yet.

  Yvonne’s chest tightened, and she fought to take a deep breath. She knew what she needed to do—and she couldn’t do it if she fell apart.

  “He doesn’t approve.”

  “He’s twelve,” Leo said, his voice devoid of emotion. She wished he’d look at her. With his face turned away, she couldn’t figure out what he was thinking, how he was feeling.

  Not that it mattered.

  “You warned me.”

  That caught his attention. He spun to face her, his eyes narrowed. “About what?”

  “About the reasons we shouldn’t have…” She swallowed heavily, her throat closing. She cleared it and forced the words out. “We should have kept the status quo. Remained just friends.”

  He shook his head. “No. Yvonne—”

  “You know I’m right.” She hated the way her words were starting to wobble.

  “He’s a kid.”

  “And you’re the only thing he has. You’re his father and his mother. He needs you. And he has to come first, Leo. He has to.”

  “I’ll talk to him.”

  The tears she’d been fighting sprang to her eyes. She blinked them away. “No. No. He needs some time to calm down. He’s upset. And scared. You can’t push this on him.”

  “What are you saying, Yvonne?”

  “I think…it would be best…if we just went back to being friends.”

  He scowled. “No. It wouldn’t.”

  “Please,” she said, her voice breaking. “Please. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

  “This isn’t right,” he argued.

  She held up her hand to stop him. “I’m leaving one way or the other. We have to go back to the friendship or…I don’t know how we…”

  “How we…” His jaw was clenched as he prompted her to finish her thought, his voice tight.

  “Please don’t make me say it.”

  He stepped toward her, but halted his forward movement when she shifted away. If he touched her now, she’d fall apart completely. “So you’re offering me friendship or nothing.”

  She didn’t respond for a moment, then she nodded. Her entire insides were trembling, while Leo’s suffering seemed to take on the form of numbness. She wasn’t sure which reaction was worse.

  “I’m going to talk to him.”

  “I’m not going to change my mind,” she reassured. “I have to…” She bent down to pick up her overnight bag and started for the front door.

  “You don’t have a car.”

  “I’ll call an Uber.”

  He followed her, grabbing the keys to his truck. “No, you’re not.”

  God. She wasn’t sure she had it in her to hold it together the whole way back to the pub, but she knew Leo well enough to know he was going to drive her home.

  Mercifully, he didn’t continue the argument in the truck. Instead, they rode to the pub in silence, the trip a far cry from yesterday�
��s, which had been silly, lighthearted, fun.

  She held her breath the whole way.

  When he pulled up to the door, he reached for her arm, stopping her before she could get out. “Change your mind.”

  His demand, so typically Leo, provoked a smile, a watery one, but a smile nonetheless. “No.”

  He released her arm, and she got out.

  Before she could shut the passenger door, through gritted teeth, he said, “Friendship.”

  She nodded, the ability to speak beyond her, and turned away, rushing into the pub and praying no one stopped her.

  Somehow, miraculously, she made it all the way to her bedroom without running into anyone. Once there, she closed the door, locked it, dropped down on her bed, and sobbed her heart out.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Leo walked into his house and dropped down on the couch without even yelling out to tell the guys he was home. He sat there and stared at the TV but couldn’t summon enough energy to turn it on.

  He’d driven Yvonne home three days earlier, and his life had been a complete shit show ever since.

  After dropping her off, he’d gone to the hospital, where his father had been engaged in World War Three with his doctor, who insisted he wasn’t well enough to go home. It had taken Leo and his mother the better part of two hours to convince Dad to go to the rehabilitation facility, promising him it wouldn’t be for long.

  The rest of that evening was spent moving his father, then he drove his mom back to the farm and stayed with her until nearly midnight. She’d been physically and emotionally wiped out, something Leo could relate to. So he’d sat with her in the kitchen and listened as she talked about all her fears, all the things stressing her out. It had occurred to Leo that he was definitely his mother’s son.

  Vince had been asleep when he got home.

  The next day and this one had both started at four a.m. with phone calls from Josh, who was “just checking” that he was up and headed to the farm. One of their hired hands had quit—probably because of Josh’s award-winning personality lately—so Leo had spent fifteen hours both days working with the crops, as well as taking care of some paperwork he’d fallen behind on since his dad’s heart attack.