He escaped, leaving her to contemplate whether to open another bottle of wine in celebration of a successful dinner or to drown her disappointment since Leo had abandoned her once again.
Drown her disappointment. Definitely.
She located a bottle of pinot that went better with her mood than white wine and filled her glass almost to the rim. Then she called her mother to talk to someone uncomplicated and who she knew loved her always and forever, no matter what.
"Dannie," her mother cried when she answered. "Louise just told me. Thank you!"
Dannie grinned. Her mother's caregiver had turned into a friend almost instantly, and the two were constantly chattering. "Thanks for what?"
"The cruise, silly. The Bahamas! I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it." Her mother clucked. "I can't believe you kept this a secret, you bad girl."
The wineglass was somehow already half-empty again, but she didn't think she'd drunk enough to be that confused. "I didn't know. What cruise?"
"Oh. You don't? Louise said Leo booked us on a seven-day cruise, leaving out of Galveston. Next week. I thought for sure you suggested it. Well, thank him for us. For me, especially."
A steamroller flattened her heart. Her husband was a startling, deeply nuanced man underneath it all.
Dannie listened to her mother gush for several more minutes and managed to get a couple of sentences in sideways in spite of the question marks shooting from her brain. Were Leo's nice gestures indicative of deeper feelings he didn't want to admit for some reason? No man did a complete about-face without a motive. Had he come home for dinner in hopes of developing a friendship-or more?
Regardless, something had changed, all right, and her husband owed her a straight answer about what.
Sometimes talking to Leo was worse than pulling teeth, like their conversation after her text about the fake noise. Her marriage didn't just call for blunt-if she wanted to get answers, it apparently called for Scarlett, as well. And Scarlett had been squashed up inside for a really long time.
Three glasses of wine put a good dose of liquid courage in Dannie's blood. She ended the call and cornered Mr. Behind the Scenes in his office.
She barged into the study. Leo glanced up, clearly startled. She rounded the desk to pierce him with the evil eye, not the slightest bit concerned about the scattered paperwork under his fingers.
"About this cruise." Bumping a hip against the back of his chair, she swiveled it so he faced her, swinging his knees to either side of hers.
Not the slightest bit intimidated, he locked gazes with her. "What about it?"
Good gravy, when he was this close to her, the man practically dripped some sort of special brand of masculinity that tightened her thighs and put a tingle between them.
"Are you going to deny you did something nice for my mother?"
"No?" He lifted his brows. "Or yes, depending on whether you thought it was nice, I suppose."
His voice hitched so slightly, she almost didn't notice it until she registered the rising heat in his expression. Oh, my. That was lovely. Her proximity was putting a tingle in his parts, too.
"It was nice. She's very excited. Thank you."
He sat back in his chair, as if trying to distance himself from the sizzling electricity. "Why do you seem a little, ah, agitated?"
"Agitated." She inched forward, not about to give up any ground, and her knees grazed the insides of his thighs. "I am agitated. Because I don't get why you won't ever acknowledge the wonderful things you do."
His gaze flicked down the length of her body and back up again slowly. "What would be the point of that?"
Her husband was nuanced all right...and also incredibly frustrating. He likely refused to take credit for his actions because that would require too much of an investment from him. Someone might want to reciprocate and make him feel good, too, and then there'd be a whole cycle of emotions. That would never do.
She huffed out a noise of disgust and poked him in the chest, leaning into it as her temper rose. "You do these things and it's almost like you'd prefer I didn't find out you've got a kind streak. Jig's up, Leo."
He removed her finger from his rib cage, curling it between his and holding it away from his body instead of releasing it. Probably so she wouldn't wound him, but his skin sparked against hers and nearly buckled her knees.
The memory of that kiss exploded in her mind and heightened the gathering heat at her core.
But she still didn't know what was happening between them-friends, lovers, more? Maybe it was actually none of the above. If she gave in to the passion licking through her, would he disappear afterward until the next time he wanted sex? Or could this be the start of something special?
"You have an active imagination," he said.
She rolled her eyes to hide the yearning he'd surely see in them. "Yeah, I get it. You're a ruthless, cold-blooded businessman who'd rather be caught dead than disclosing your real name to a couple of students. What's it going to take to get you off the sidelines and into the middle of your own life?"
That was the key to unlocking his no-emotional-investment stance on marriage. It had to be. If he'd only wade into the thick of things and stop cutting himself off, he'd see how wonderful a real relationship could be. How satisfying. Fulfilling. Surely their marriage could be more than an occasional crossing of paths. He needed her to help him see that.
Leo's frame tensed and slowly he rose from the chair, pushing into her space. "I like the sidelines."
Toe-to-toe, they eyed each other, the impasse almost as palpable in the atmosphere as the swirl of awareness. "Why did you book my mother on a cruise?"
He shrugged, lashes low, shuttering his thoughts from her. "I thought she would like it."
"That's only half the truth. You did it for me." A huge leap. But she didn't think she was wrong.
Their gazes locked and the intensity shafted through her. "What if I did?"
Her pulse stuttered. Coffee, then dinner. Now this. What was he trying to accomplish? "Well, I'm shocked you'd admit that. Before you know it, we'll be buying each other birthday cards and taking vacations together. Like real couples."
Like the marriage of her dreams. Just because neither of them had expressed an interest in a love match didn't mean it was completely impossible to have found one. What better security was there between two people than that of knowing someone would love you forever?
He threw up a palm. "Let's don't get out of hand now."
She advanced, pushing his palm into her cleavage, burning her skin with his touch and backing him against the desk. She wanted to bond with her husband in the most elemental way possible. To complete the journey from A to B and see what they really could have together.
"I like getting out of hand."
"Do you have a response for everything?" His fingertips curled, nipping into her skin.
"If you don't like what I have to say, then shut me up."
His expression turned carnal. He watched her as he slid an index finger down the valley between her brea**sts and hooked the neckline of her dress. In a flash, he hauled her forward, capturing her lips in a searing kiss.
On legs turned to jelly, she melted into it, into him as he wrapped his arms around her, finally giving her what she'd been after since she walked in. Maybe since before that.
Greedy for all of him, she settled for the small, hot taste of Leo against her mouth. With a moan, she tilted her head and parted his lips with hers. She plunged into the heat, seeking his tongue with hers, and he obliged her with strong, heated licks.
His arms tightened, crushing her against his torso, aligning their hips. Need soaked her senses as his hard ridge nudged her. She cupped the back of his neck as his hand snaked under her dress to caress the back of her thigh.
Yes. As seduction techniques went, he could teach a class.
Soft cotton skimmed under her fingers as she explored the angles and muscles of his back. Delicious. Her husband's body was hard and strong, exactly as she liked, exactly perfect to keep her safe and satisfied at the same time.