Chapter Twelve

Leo

She was trying to drive me crazy; there was no other explanation for it.

I sat at the kitchen table, slowly chewing through a plate of eggs and bacon, but I barely tasted it. My focus was pulled elsewhere. Brynn, sitting next to me, seemed more interested in her yogurt than the conversation around us. She dipped her spoon into the smooth white surface, then lifted it to her mouth, her lips closing around the metal with an infuriating kind of grace.

The spoon left her lips, and she licked it once, then twice, each movement deliberate, slow. I couldn’t look away. Her eyes, hazel and wide, flicked up to meet mine. Something passed between us—electric, heavy. Her cheeks flushed a soft pink that only made her look more irresistible. She knew exactly what she was doing. And damn if it wasn’t working.

Kitty was talking. I could hear her voice buzzing in the background, but none of it registered. I caught words here and there—something about the pond, or maybe it was a new pair of shoes. Hell, it could’ve been about space aliens for all I knew. Nothing was sinking in. Brynn was all I could think about.

Especially after last night.

That kiss in the kitchen… it had set something off between us. She’d been standing so close, looking up at me like she was daring me to make a move. I couldn’t resist. I had pulled her in, our lips crashing together, the taste of her warm and addictive. For those few moments, nothing else mattered—just the feel of her body pressed against mine, the soft sounds she made, the heat between us.

But it had ended too quickly.

Now, sitting here, watching her, I could still feel the ghost of her lips on mine. Every time I caught her eyes, it was like a reminder of what we’d started, and it drove me insane that I couldn’t have more.

“Leo, are you even listening to me?” Kitty’s voice cut through my thoughts, pulling me back to the present.

I blinked and turned to her, offering what I hoped was a passable smile. “Sorry, Kitty. What was that?”

She rolled her eyes, clearly annoyed, but didn’t seem too surprised. “I was saying you should show Brynn the pond. Since she is going to be here for a bit, she might as well see all of the charm of Wyndemere.”

I nodded absently, my gaze flicking back to Brynn as she took another deliberate lick of her spoon. God, she was tormenting me. Kitty could have been inviting me to an alien abduction, and I would’ve agreed just to end the conversation and refocus on the real distraction in the room.

Princeton sat at the other end of the table, silent as always, his dark eyes flicking from person to person like he was mentally cataloging everything. He seemed to notice where my attention kept drifting because a small smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. But he said nothing. Just leaned back in his chair and let Kitty prattle on about aliens and the pond.

Brynn caught me staring again, and this time, her blush deepened. She dropped her gaze quickly, like she wasn’t sure what to do with the attention. I smirked. I wasn’t the only one feeling the tension.

Bristol moved around the kitchen behind us, cleaning up the remains of breakfast, but she stayed out of the conversation. I could hear her humming softly as she scrubbed at the sink, occasionally glancing over her shoulder at us, but she didn’t seem interested in joining the table. Maybe she sensed the undercurrent, the tension sitting heavy between Brynn and me.

I watched as Brynn finally set the spoon down, clearly aware that she’d been caught. She shifted in her seat, avoiding my gaze, but I wasn’t about to let her off the hook that easily.

“You sleep well?” I asked, my voice low, just for her.

Brynn glanced up at me, her eyes narrowing slightly like she knew exactly where this was headed. “I did. You?”

“Well enough,” I said, leaning in a little, keeping my focus on her. “After a late-night snack in the kitchen, I was able to get some sleep.”

Her cheeks flushed pink—just like they had last night when I’d kissed her. The blush spread over her face, and she cleared her throat, picking up her spoon to fiddle with it. “Oh, really?”

Kitty kept talking beside us, completely oblivious. Larry had joined in, nodding as she told some story. Honestly, she could’ve been recounting an alien abduction, and I wouldn’t have cared. Brynn was the only thing on my mind.

I nodded, my voice dropping lower. “It was delicious. I’m hoping to have some more later.”

Brynn’s eyes widened, her fingers tightening around the spoon. “Leo,” she whispered, glancing around the room. “Stop it.”

She shifted in her seat, clearly flustered, and I couldn’t help but smirk. I was getting to her, just like she was getting to me. And I wasn’t about to let her pretend last night hadn’t happened.

The truth was, I’d been worried she might try to brush it off—like nothing had changed. But that wasn’t an option for me. We may have had Candace’s mess to deal with, but once that was over, Brynn and I weren’t going back to the way things had been for the last twenty years. I wasn’t going to be without her again.

I was about to push a little more when Sig walked into the kitchen, his face hard and serious. He looked straight at Brynn and gave her a nod. They didn’t say a word, but I could see her whole demeanor shift. She glanced over at me.

“Can we go to your office?” she asked quietly, her tone suddenly businesslike.

“Of course.” I wiped my mouth with the napkin and pushed my plate aside. “Princeton,” I called, giving him a nod.

He stood up silently, falling in behind us as we moved to leave. I could feel the curiosity from the others in the room, but no one questioned it.

Kitty, still mid-conversation, laughed as we got up. “I feel like they just had a full conversation without speaking a single word.”

“That seems to happen more often than not,” Bristol chimed in from the fridge, not even turning around. “Should I plan on lunch, or just make something you can grab when you can?”

“Something light,” I called back over my shoulder as we left the kitchen.

We moved through the house quickly, my mind already spinning. Whatever this was, it had to be about Candace. And that meant it was serious. Sig wouldn’t have come in with that look on his face if it wasn’t.

As much as Brynn was a distraction—the way her lips parted when I got under her skin, the blush that made her look even more beautiful—right now, I needed to focus on Candace. We’d come too far, gone through too much to screw things up now.

But as soon as this was over, as soon as Candace was in the ground where she belonged, I was going to claim Brynn. Fully. Completely.

I wasn’t going to let her slip away again. Not after last night. Not ever.