by Laura Morgan
“I’m glad it wasn’t so bad,” she said, and turned to look at him. Leo saw the pain and fear creeping into her eyes, as if she was going to ask those dreaded words, honestly, Leo? Or, you can tell me…He was far from ready to divulge his deepest and darkest secrets, so he reached out and took her hand in his.
“Piece of cake,” he joked, making her smile again, and he was happy to see the sparkle return to her eyes. He knew he’d done the right thing in not telling her the truth, and honestly didn’t want to add to her worries. It was better for everybody if she saw him as the same guy she knew and fell for years before, not a brute who’d willingly embodied the persona of the common criminal while behind bars. Leo knew it was time to move the conversation on. “As soon as I was free, next came the extradition to the UK. I’ve been informed that I’ll be watched, but I don’t care. My life of drugs and whores is behind me. I’ll happily walk away from that world, trust me on that.”
“I do, Leo. I believe you. Hanna told me Jamie’s taken over?” she asked, talking about her New York best friend and her former drug-dealer husband. Cassie was right. Leo had left his entire empire for Jamie to look after in his absence, and knew he’d made the right choice. Jamie had not only turned the call-girl agencies and strip joints Leo owned into more profitable establishments, but he’d also helped take them in a more legitimate direction. Without his cartel connections, the drug business had run dry long before Leo’s fateful birthday party, during which he’d lured Victor Sanchez away from his Mexican fortress to have him arrested. He’d made a deal to turn both himself and Cassie’s husband over to the FBI, and although he hated being a rat, it had been a necessary step to ensuring her freedom. But, as plans do, they’d failed—and for the better. Victor was gone for good, not just for a stint in Chino. Either way, the end result had been the same for Leo because of his deal with the Feds, and Cassie had walked, which was all that mattered.
“Yep, I’ve left everything in his very capable hands,” Leo told her. “In preparation for my incarceration, I’d already been mentoring Jay to become my new man at the top for a while, probably permanently now that I’m back over here. He’s maintaining the string of businesses that are legit—on the outside. They’re still fueled by the cash I made from selling drugs and girls, but he has a tight grasp on the boundaries, and drugs are no longer part of our deal. I trust him,” he added, being honest, and she seemed to appreciate it.
Leo really had stepped away. His vast wealth and regular income would be more than enough to set him up for life, thanks to his stateside assistant, Tina. She’d arranged numerous offshore accounts for him and regularly deposited his cut into them, so much so that his move back to London hadn’t been an issue financially.
He’d known Cassie was still living in the capital city thanks to Jamie keeping him up to speed with how she was doing and what she was up to. Leo hadn’t been able to stop watching over her despite Cassie being thousands of miles away, and he doubted that would ever change.
“I’d trust Jamie and Hanna with my life, and agree you made the right choice with him,” she replied, pulling him out of his thoughts, and Leo nodded.
Rather than talk any more, he then focused on the feeling of her hand in his, and the caressing movement she was doing with her fingers as he drove. He was already aching to feel her skin against more of his body, and thought of the few times she’d touched him, loved him, and gave his body the releases he’d craved. He hadn’t been with another woman in that way since long before his incarceration, and the feel of her hand against his brought back that welcome yearning inside.
“Here we are.” Leo rested the car at the entrance outside Cassie’s new apartment and waited.
“You know where I live?” she asked with one eyebrow raised suggestively. He detected a teasing edge to her tone, rather than annoyance, so he shrugged.
“Of course, love,” he admitted without a care. The moment he’d stepped off that plane, Leo had tracked her down. He’d used his intel to check out the safety of her new place, as well as secure himself a ticket to the opening night of Cassie’s recently refurbished, New Beginnings Theater. He hadn’t wanted to wait or play any games.
He’d watched her from a dark corner of the theater for a while before approaching, taking in her confident strides and charismatic nature with a swell of pride. Cassie was no longer that lost young woman he’d seen at the trial. She was strong and seemed to have her shit together at last, and what was most impressive was that she’d gotten there all on her own. Yes, she’d had to be saved from the violent and oppressive grasp of her now dead husband, but the timid girl she’d become under his control was very different to the woman he had seen commanding the room and keeping cool under the pressure of her opening night, and that was all her own doing.
“So, Mr. Solomon. Are you coming up for a drink?” Her soft voice interrupted his reverie again.
“Only if you’ve cheap wine on the menu, and if there are jellybeans involved,” he teased, smirking across at her, and Cassie giggled. He loved how they could still laugh and joke together, and that they could still have their private joke after all the chaos. He remembered that laugh so fondly, and shuddered as the sound cascaded over him. He wanted to hear more of it.
“I’m sure I can rustle something up,” she told him with a wide smile before climbing out and ushering for him to follow her.
Leo tailed Cassie up to her apartment, feeling nervous for some reason. There was still so much love and passion between them he could almost feel the tension in the air all around, but it also scared him. The old Leo would’ve acted on those urges without a care in the world, but not when it came to Cassie, not anymore. With her, it was all about being patient and gaining her trust again. There would be no rushing any of this. She needed to know he had her heart in his sights, not just her body.
***
Once inside, Cassie deactivated the security system and quickly set about pouring them two glasses of wine. She then grabbed a half-eaten box of chocolates from the fridge.
“These will have to do, I’m all out of jellybeans,” she informed him with a smile, and he plucked out a small chocolate with a matching grin as if not caring at all that she was out of her promised candy.
They watched one another for a while. One hundred unspoken questions hung in the air between them, but Cassie wanted to push them all away and start again. She didn’t want to have any of the dark and depressing talk. Tonight had been a huge success for her theater and Cassie wanted to celebrate, not relive the awful past. She certainly didn’t want to deal with the doubts that niggled in her gut about whether or not being back in Leo’s arms would be a good idea. They’d been through so very much, both while together and apart, and now it was their chance to start over. She wanted it so badly it hurt.
“Milk chocolate, my favorite,” Leo murmured as he leaned over and nabbed another small cube from one of the plastic trays. Cassie followed suit, grabbing a caramel one.
“So, where are you staying?” she asked, unable to help quizzing him a little.
“In a rented apartment not too far from here, just for now. I plan on buying something big and lavish soon, but first I’m focusing on looking for a business startup.”
“Girls?” she asked, peering at him over the rim of her wine glass.
“No, never again,” he answered, and Cassie breathed a sigh of relief. Part of her wanted to ask if he’d been seeing anyone since her, or if any of his old employees might’ve been around to keep him company during his visitation time while in prison. She couldn’t bring herself to utter the words, knowing she’d despise the answer if he admitted her assumptions were true. “Just nightclubs. Maybe casinos if I see a good investment opportunity. I’ve got contacts over here who’ve already agreed to partnerships, it’s just a matter of getting set up.”
“You make it sound so simple,” she replied, thinking how hard it’d been running her own business this past year, and she envied his nonchalance.
“Nothing’s ever simple, you just have to be ready and willing to make it work. I approach everything that means something to me in the same way. If you want something bad enough, you’ll get it. Even if it takes forever to get there.”
Cassie’s heart fluttered in her chest. Leo’s dark brown eyes were staring so intently into hers that she couldn’t pull her gaze away. She didn’t want to.
“Do you want me badly enough?” The words left her mouth before she could stop them. Her cheeks burned, and Cassie knew she must be blushing.
“Good, bad—any way I can, love. You’re all I want, and everything I need. I can never apologize enough for what I did to you. But, if you can find a way to forgive me, I’ll make it my life’s work to make sure you never regret it,” he told her, and the sincerity in his gaze made her breath hitch.
Despite his height and huge frame, Leo looked small somehow. He seemed frail, broken, and in need of as much comfort as he evidently assumed she was. Cassie saw through his front and wanted to comfort and care for who she found there. Beneath that mask was a ruined man. He’d been battered and bruised in ways far different than she’d been, but he needed saving all the same, and she knew she had to be the one to do it.
Cassie stepped forward and slid straight into Leo’s embrace. She wrapped her arms around his back, resting her palms on his shoulder blades, and squeezed tight.
“Of course I forgive you. None of this was ever what you wanted, Leo. I chose to be with you back then knowing there were risks, and I still want you now.”
They stood like that for a long time. Each held on so tightly to the other that there was no denying their pain, or the openness of their feelings. Cassie was glad he’d stopped faking it and just let her hold him. Leo was a proud, defiant, and dominant man. She knew he hated being seen as vulnerable, but wondered if perhaps he simply wasn’t strong enough to hide it anymore.
They eventually moved into the living room, where Cassie showed him the photographs of the renovations she’d done to the theater, and of Hanna’s recent visit with her daughter, Sandi. He seemed to enjoy seeing the happily captured moments for himself, and stopped her when Cassie went to put the albums away.
“I want to see more,” he said, looking at the shelf, which had three more volumes on it.
“There aren’t any more. Those albums are empty. I bought them because I know I’m going to make lots of new memories, and those are the ones I want to capture forever.”
“We can make them together.” He smiled, looking up at her tenderly in the dim light. Cassie leaned down and placed a gentle kiss against Leo’s lips, and adored it that he didn’t press her into him to deepen it, he just let the softness be. They let the delicate kiss go on for a while, and Cassie liked how tender he was being with her. He’d been a true gentleman when she’d needed him to be after they’d first met, and seemed to be doing it again without her even needing to ask. It was marvelous how in control he was of his once so domineering sexual prowess, and she appreciated the chance to take things slower.
After she pulled back and relaxed into her seat, Leo excused himself and headed to the bathroom, leaving Cassie alone with her thoughts. She wanted to push away every doubt and fear and enjoy this reunion in the most wonderful way she could imagine, naked and between her sheets with this man—her man.
The last person she’d had sex with had been Victor. He’d forced her down and fucked her, while Leo had watched from the shadows. At the time, she’d had no idea he was there simply biding time until the police arrived. She’d thought he was there to watch Victor force himself on her for some sick thrill, but had gotten it all so profoundly wrong. He’d watched to save her, to protect her. Leo had taken charge of her fate that night, and ensured her freedom come the end.
Raw, unadulterated heat swept over her body, and Cassie pulled off her jacket. Regardless of how demoralizing that experience had been, just minutes after Victor had finished taking her, she’d murdered him in cold blood. Strangely, that memory didn’t bring with it fear. Instead, it brought her an animalistic desire to feel that power again.
As her blazer hit the floor, Cassie quickly set about sending the rest of her clothes cascading to the ground around her feet. When she was standing buck naked, she grabbed Leo’s jacket and slid it over her skin. She loved how it was so big it hung off her, and how it smelled of him.
Doubt flared inside. Was this right? Was she rushing things? Both sides of the argument were buzzing through her mind so loudly that it took her a moment to realize she was no longer alone.
“What are you doing?” Leo asked from right beside Cassie’s ear and she sucked in a breath. His voice was so low, deep, and gruff. Full of desire and passion. “I asked you a question,” he growled, and Cassie was immediately reminded of their one and only night together so very long ago. She’d given herself to him at last, but only after he’d taken the lead, and Cassie knew she needed that from him again. She needed for Leo to push her over that cliff she knew she would teeter on forever if he left her there.
“I wanted to feel something of yours against my skin,” she replied, her voice breathy and ragged.
“Take it off,” he demanded, and grabbed at the collar from behind before sliding the jacket down her arms and to the ground. Leo took a sharp intake of breath at the sight of her nakedness and then gripped her bare shoulders in his hands, pulling her into him, and Cassie could feel his need pressing against her ass from inside his pants. “Tell me what you want, Cassie. Tell me everything you want me to do to you.”
“I want you, Leo. I want you to own me.” Cassie was shocked at her words. After forcing herself to submit to Victor, here she now was, asking for exactly the same thing from Leo. She’d promised herself she’d never let a man possess her in that way ever again, but now she wanted nothing more than for him to take every inch of her body and claim it for his own.
Cassie reached back and gripped Leo’s waist with her tiny hands, pulling him even closer. “I want you to take away the pain of the past and leave me with only you, Leo. Will you do that for me?”
“Abso-fucking-lutely,” he replied, and nibbled her earlobe as his hands slid down to her voluptuous breasts. He traced circles around her already hardened nipples before gripping each tightly and massaging them into soft peaks of heightened sensitivity. Leo then answered her unspoken pleas for more as he turned Cassie to face him and captured one of the tender buds in his mouth. He fell to his knees, trailing his kisses over her belly and down to her bare mound. “This is mine, Cassie. Do you understand?” She nodded profusely.
“I’ll die before I let another man touch me ever again,” she promised, and cried out when Leo’s tongue lapped at the already throbbing bead atop her thighs. She didn’t care about her scars, or her old hang-ups. She didn’t care that he might still be one of the bad guys. All Cassie cared about was her violent need to become Leo’s one and only—forever. It’d kill her if he let her go again, she just knew it. She wouldn’t survive having her heart broken again, but she let all of that fear go. Trust was the only thing she could cling to. Cassie knew she had to learn to trust Leo before they could even begin to find their way, and she would start right now.
Her hands fisted in his hair, pulling him closer to her aching core, and he groaned in response. He nibbled at her clit and then thrust two fingers inside her soaking body. Years of pent-up emotion came flooding out of her when she came, and Cassie’s knees gave out. Luckily, Leo was ready to catch her, and he lifted her straight into his powerful arms.
“I’ve got you, Cassie. I’ll always be here to catch you,” he promised, kissing her neck as he laid her down on the sofa. He climbed over her, still fully dressed, and continued his kisses while his hands roved over every inch of her body.
Cassie made quick work of the buttons on Leo’s shirt, and her hands were at his belt before he could even finish pulling it off. She was desperate to feel him inside of her, and craved the stretching resistance she knew she’d fe
el to his presence within. It was a welcome end to her chaste life since leaving the States, and the anticipation was driving her wild.
With his pants around his ankles, Cassie lifted her hips and guided his rock-hard cock inside. She didn’t care about anything other than getting her fix of him, and Leo immediately began thrusting hard. He was like a man possessed, seemingly on a mission to claim her as well, and it wasn’t long before he pulled himself free and came on her belly.
“I’m sorry, love. I couldn’t hold on. It’s been so long,” he groaned, kicking off his boxer shorts, which he used to clean her up with. Cassie laughed, grinning up at him. She didn’t care in the slightest, and knew they’d be going again within minutes. She guessed they both should’ve known their first time back together would be frantic and over too quickly. The suppressed sexual tension that had built up for years wouldn’t take its time to release, and she loved that they’d had to have one another in such an animalistic way.
“All I care about is having you with me again,” she whispered, kissing him deeply and pulling him back into her embrace. His body melted into hers. Their lips collided, and as soon as he was ready again, Leo slid inside her wet opening without any need for her to ask. He thrust into her slowly this time, watching her as he moved, and Cassie surrendered to the sweet passion with a greed for him she couldn’t hide. She felt whole at last.
Cassie burned for him, hotter and hotter, until a climax exploded out of her and she saw stars. When she opened her eyes again, she saw how Leo had climbed up into a push-up position so he could watch her as she surrendered to her ecstasy. He grinned, but shook his head when she grabbed his forearms and tried to pull him back down against her.
Leo then reached down and lifted her hips up off the sofa, his eyes roving over her body as he made love to her, and he pressed himself deeper into Cassie’s still throbbing core, taking his time while she continued to unravel beneath him. He watched every slow, sensuous thrust, and bit his lip.