He paced in silence for several long minutes. She wondered if he believed her. Finally, he stopped and lifted a hand to bat away the snowflakes that were increasing in size and frequency. “We jumped too far ahead,” he said. “I want to say things to you that are too soon, too serious.”
Her heart sank, because she knew he was right. “So that’s it?” she asked bleakly. “We just chalk this up to bad timing and walk away?”
“Is that what you want?” He stood there…proud, tall and so alone her heart broke for him.
“No. That’s not what I want at all,” she said, daring to be honest with so much at stake. “So if you have a plan, I’m listening.”
He exhaled noisily as if he’d been holding his breath. “Well, okay, then. Here it is. I propose that we go back to your place and spend Christmas Eve together when it rolls around. I’ll stay with you for the remainder of the time I have reserved and work on learning how not to obsess about business.”
“Is that even possible?” She said it with a grin so he would know she was teasing. Mostly.
“God, I hope so. Because I want you in my life, Phoebe. And you deserve a man who will not only make a place for you, but will put you front and center.”
One hot tear rolled down her cheek. “Is there more?”
“Yes. And this is the scary part. At the end of January, assuming we haven’t killed each other or bored each other to death, I want you to come back to Atlanta and move in with me…as my fiancée. Not now,” he said quickly. “As of this moment, we are simply a man and a woman who are attracted to each other.”
“Very attracted,” Phoebe agreed, her heart lifting to float with the snowflakes.
She took a step in his direction, but he held up a hand. “Not yet. Let me finish.”
His utter seriousness and heartfelt sincerity gave her hope that what had begun as a serendipitous fling might actually have substance and a solid foundation. Cautious elation fluttered inside her chest. But she kept her cool…barely. “Go on.”
“I’m not criticizing you, Phoebe, but you have to admit—you have issues with balance, too. Work is valid and important. But when you left Charlotte, you cut off that part of yourself.”
She grimaced, feeling shame for the holier-than-thou way she had judged his life. “You’re right. I did. But I’m not sure how to step back in the opposite direction.”
A tiny smile lifted the corners of his mouth. “When we get back to Atlanta, I want you to work for Cavallo. I could use someone with your experience and financial instincts. Not only that, but it would make me very happy for us to share that aspect of who we are. I understand why you ran away to the mountains. I do. And I strongly suspect that knowing each of us, we’ll need your cabin as an escape when work threatens to become all-encompassing.”
Anxiety dampened her burgeoning joy. “I’m afraid, Leo. I messed things up so badly before.”
He shook his head. “You had a man who didn’t deserve you and you lost your baby, a miscarriage that was one of those inexplicable tragedies of life. But it’s time to live again, Phoebe. I want that for both of us. It’s not wrong to have a passion for work. But we can keep each other grounded. And I think together we can find that balance and peace that are so important.” He paused. “There’s one more thing.”
She was shaking more on the inside than she was on the outside. Leo was so confident, so sure. Could she take another chance at happiness? “What is it?” she asked.
At last, he took her in his arms, warming her with his big, solid frame. He cupped her cheeks in his hands, his gaze hot and sweet. “I want to make babies with you, Phoebe. I thought my life was great the way it was. But then I had the heart attack, and I met you, and suddenly I was questioning everything I had ever known about myself. Watching you with Teddy did something to me. And now tonight, with Luc and Hattie’s babies upstairs asleep, I see it all clearly. You and I, Phoebe, against all odds…we have a shot at the brass ring. Having the whole enchilada. I think you were wrong about that, my love. I think with the right person, life can be just about perfect.”
He bent his head and took her mouth in a soft, firm kiss that was equal parts romance and knee-weakening passion. “Will you be my almost-fiancée?” he whispered, his voice hoarse and ragged. His hands slid down the silky fabric of her dress all the way to her hips. Dragging her closer still, he buried his face in her neck. She could feel him trembling.
Emotions tumbled in her heart with all the random patterns of the snowflakes. She had grieved for so long, too long in fact. Cowardice and the fear of being hurt again had constrained her equally as much as Leo’s workaholic ways had hemmed him in.