Stop Dragon My Heart Around Page 6

  “Think he’s crying over his losses or getting fake hitched?” Leo whispered.

  Tee shrugged, too choked-up to respond.

  “I just looked over the weekend numbers,” he said under his breath. “Looks like you’ve got the yearly host bonus in the bag.”

  Up front, the soprano stretched her voice over the lyrics, and Tee brought her hands to her chest to capture the swelling pressure inside.

  “Are you crying?” Leo looked at her in astonishment. “Over this?”

  She shook her head, which only made the gathered moisture trickle out of the edges of her eyes. She was never going to find anyone to love her. She would be alone and wishing for Leo her whole life.

  He handed her a handkerchief from his jacket pocket, and she wiped the moisture away and tried to smile, but her mouth wobbled. She heaved out the breath she’d been holding.

  “Thank you,” she managed and gave his available right hand a squeeze.

  It was warm and solid inside hers, the calluses comforting in a tough and capable kind of way. He surprised her when he turned his wrist so their hands connected. Their fingers interlaced and heat balled and swirled between their palms.

  Tee’s heart hammered under her breastbone, and she wanted to pull him back into the bridal suite, talk fast, and then jump on him, run her hands through his hair…

  Good Lord.

  She pulled her hand away and resisted the urge to press her fingers to her flushed cheeks. Operation be-honest-with Leo was doomed if she couldn’t even get off the starting blocks.

  At the altar, the girls lit a unity candle and took their place on either side of Mr. M. The trio turned toward a cowboy-costumed officiator as the last notes of the abbreviated song trailed away.

  “I’ve got to get out of here,” Leo said, his voice gruff. “This is way too bloody Hallmark for me.”

  Inexplicably, his comment made her mad. “Too much honesty for you, tough guy?”

  “Honesty?” Leo clipped the word short, cutting off the melodious echo in her mind. He turned toward her, his eyes narrowed. “This is a social-security eligible guy marrying two twenty-something girls in prom dresses, with elevator music and a cowboy impersonator—and he already has one real wife in Montana.”

  “Shhhh.” Although his words didn’t carry, Tee gave him a sharp look. “That was confidential information. The wife is fine with things.”

  “You aren’t the guy’s confessor.” He shook his head. “And those girls may be the dullest knives in the drawer, but they have to know this is fake, start to finish.”

  “You’re spoiling the moment.” She frowned. “Go back to your cave and leave the real people to me.”

  “You only see what you choose to see.” The words were hard and sharp-sounding. “You never see the real in anything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Nothing.” He shook his head. “Jane will have your bonus check for you tomorrow. Congratulations.”

  She watched him walk away, feeling like her heart had just been pureed in a blender.

  What had just happened? Why was he so mad at her?

  Why was she so mad at him?

  Frustration and anxiety fired through her system. Enough was enough. She’d been waiting on him for three years. Three years of close encounters of the Leo kind. Three years of close but not close enough. Three years of knowing they should be more.

  Time to lay it on the line and get some answers. Good or bad.

  Chapter Seven

  Tee looked to the front of the church. The ceremony was progressing without a hitch. Mr. M. and his brides didn’t need her there anymore. She tucked Leo’s handkerchief in her pocket and hurried after him.

  Outside the chapel, Leo was scrolling through his phone. She stood beside him and laced her arm through his. “We need to talk, for real.”

  “I’ve said what I needed to say.” He disengaged himself and walked a few steps to the elevator. The bing-bing of slot machines and quarters falling pounded at her ears. When she was an old lady, rocking and keno-ing, she wanted to know she’d held no cards back.

  She stepped beside him. “Why are you so mad at me?”

  Leo rubbed his eyes as if he wanted to make her go away. “Why aren’t you wearing any pants? You can’t keep wearing inappropriate clothing—”

  “Inappropriate clothing?” Tee’s mouth snapped shut and she rocked backward onto her booted heels. Leo was the least prudish person she knew. She’d seen him take showgirls to dinner wearing nothing but rhinestones and pasties. “There’s nothing wrong with my clothing. It’s cowboy western, for the wedding theme.”

  “It’s a shirt and belt, and it’s too short.” He puckered his mouth like he tasted something bad. “You might offend someone.”

  “In Las Vegas?” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. How dare he comment on her clothing?

  “Casino hosts are supposed to wear loose black pants, a tailored white shirt, low heels, and minimal, non-religious jewelry,” he quoted. “Page 153. I looked it up.”

  To their right, a gaggle of women stumbled past. One of them had on a crown and a pageant sash that read “Bachelorette.” All five of them were wearing less clothing combined than Tee.

  “Look around you, Leo. The fact is, I’m over-dressed for the casino, and you know it. If I wore your HR regulation clothing, I’d look ridiculous.” She put her fists on her hips and raised her chin. A devious smile stretched her face. and she poked her bare leg through the dress’s front slit. “I think you like it and that’s why you’re upset.”

  Leo leaned close, so their noses were inches apart. “Of course I like it. Every red-blooded man this side of the grave likes it. That’s why you shouldn’t wear it.”

  Tee watched his pupils crowd out his green irises. The scent of him washed over her, clean, and manly. The hustle of the casino melted away, so it was only the two of them, anchored together inside a whirling kaleidoscope of blurred people.

  “I like the way you smell.” She touched his suit gently and ran her hand inside the vee of his lapel. The heat of his body was a magnetic force field. “I like everything about you.” She let the words fall between them.

  He stiffened and pulled away as the elevator doors opened. “Wear more bloody clothes or don’t come to work.”

  She followed him, slipping alone with him inside the elevator.

  Without looking at him, she inserted her key card and withdrew it to turn off the alarm, and then hit the stall button. The elevator slid to a smooth halt. The air grew heavy and hot. The only sounds were the crooning casino Musak, Leo’s breathing, and the rapid beating of her heart.

  “Leo, I love you.” She turned and faced him in the confined space. “I have since the first week we worked together. I want more. If you don’t, you need to tell me. Plainly. So I can move on. No more games.”

  Silence stretched and the Musak seemed to grow louder, hurting her ears. Tee’s heart thundered behind it. She could’ve been walking a tightrope over the Grand Canyon and been calmer. She peeked a glance at him.

  He had his hands in his pockets, and he looked at his feet.

  “You kissed me.” She held up her hands in question. “I know you want me. Why shouldn’t we take things further, see where it leads?” Her words were too rushed, the tone too high pitched to sound confident.

  Calm down.

  She took a deep breath. Forced her lips closed, waiting for Leo to respond.

  He shifted to the side and wouldn’t meet her gaze. In the gilded reflection of the elevator, his face looked shifty, edgeless, and mirage-like. “There’re things you don’t understand about me,” he said. “I’m not able to just play around.”

  Her hands dropped like they were leaded. “You play around all the time.”

  “It would be too serious with you. I care about you, too, I do. But, it can’t work.”

  “You care about me too!” Amazement filled Tee, followed by you-just-won-the-lottery elation. “What’s the
problem then?” Happiness filled her from her heart outward. She couldn’t stop grinning.

  He wanted more, too. They were meant to be together.

  Meant for each other.

  “You would get hurt. It can’t work.”

  Her happily-ever-after song came to a skidding halt as if someone put a finger on the vinyl record. “What?”

  “It can’t work,” Leo said for the third time.

  “I want to be sure I understand.” She paused a minute to process his words and rigid stance. “You’re saying that there can be no romantic relationship between us, because it would be too serious, and I would get hurt?”

  “That’s right.”

  She gaped at him. She wasn’t a vestal virgin, for crying out loud. She wasn’t asking him to buy a minivan and life insurance plan—yet. Sadness and embarrassment crushed through her, even as hurt fisted below her sternum. She felt like an idiot. He was obviously lying about caring for her. He just wanted to let her down easy.

  She shut her mouth. “Okay.” Her eyes filled and she fumbled behind her for the button. She had to get out of there. She’d wanted to know how he felt.

  Now she knew.

  He thought she was too eff-in serious and fragile.

  “Tee. Bloody hell.” Leo reached for her hand and tugged her to him. “Please don’t cry.”

  Pulling away, she glared at him through blurry eyes. Anger blazed from her head to her heart and doubled back for another round. “What are you, the tears police?”

  “No, I just don’t want you to hurt.” He sounded pained himself, remorseful. The tone just pissed her off more.

  “I’ve got news for you. Women cry. All the time. We cry at coffee commercials at Christmas. We cry at fake weddings. We cry. It doesn’t mean jack-shit.” The wrongness of his argument hit her square in the chest. “I think it is pretty damn conceited that you think you own my emotions. You don’t. They’re mine. You need to get over yourself.”

  “I’ve never seen you cry.”

  “Leo.” She wiped away the telltale moisture and faced him clear-eyed. “It’s not that big a deal. It’s not like losing blood or severing a limb. It’s just water.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She couldn’t look at him. Instead she stared at the gold walls, stumbling in her mind to get the answers she needed so there could be no doubt later. No coming back to this moment. However much it hurt, she needed to be done. She rubbed her forehead and tried to focus. “Just answer me one question, and I’ll never bring this up again.”

  “All right.” He looked relieved.

  She stepped closer to him so the front of their bodies touched. Leo leaned against the wall away from her, but not before she felt the evidence of his desire. “Do you want me physically?”

  He dropped fisted hands from his pockets. “No.”

  “You’re lying.” She leaned against him, feeling the heat of him down the front of her body. “Why would you lie about something that’s so easy to disprove?”

  “You said one question.”

  His denial fired through her doubt. She knew he wanted her. The heat of his body touched her bare legs, and an achy need tightened her spine, stretching her closer to his mouth.

  “Then what I wear or don’t wear shouldn’t bother you at all.” She stepped close enough to feel the fabric of his suit on her bare legs. Feel the bulge of aroused man between his legs. She put one arm on either side of him, caging him. “My being this close to you shouldn’t bother you at all either.”

  “It doesn’t.” He shoved his arms between them and raised his head so she saw the underside of his chin. He hadn’t shaved. The stubble of his beard poked through his skin, and she wanted to kiss it, to taste the slight saltiness.

  She put her lips to the juncture of his jaw and ear.

  Leo stiffened but didn’t move.

  Leaning forward so her body was pressed flat against him, Tee put one booted foot between his legs. His arousal pressed thick and hard against her belly. She nibbled at his jaw line with feathery kisses, and the rough stubble abraded her sensitive lips.

  Leo shuddered and she worked her way up to his ear, coming up on her tiptoes. “I know you want me,” she whispered, and a trapped groan vibrated inside his chest. “I can feel it.”

  Emboldened, she twined her arms around his neck and kissed his eyelids closed. He still stood rigid and at attention, his breathing ragged and loud in the tight space.

  The first brush of their lips shot electricity through her core and shock of awareness hit the center of her chest. She increased the pressure and felt the exact moment Leo’s resistance gave way.

  Dropping his arms, he opened his mouth over hers and slipped his tongue deep inside, sweeping her mouth in a seductive dance. He pulled her hips to his and walked forward until she was pressed against the side of the elevator. Tee clung to his shoulders, and he lifted her with one hand.

  Her legs looped on either side of his hips, bringing their bodies into throbbing contact. She tightened her legs so her center pulsed against his hardened length. Her body shook as if a live wire had jerked her moorings.

  “Bloody hell.” Deftly he unbuttoned the top of her shirt and pushed aside her bra, exposing her breasts.

  Tee rested her head against the elevator wall. “Oh God.”

  Their distorted reflection in the gold wall of the elevator seemed like a dreamscape. She watched the blurry image with fascination. Leo held her against him with one hand, her red boots locked around his waist. His head bent toward her breast. In disjointed images, she watched him suck her nipple into his mouth. She saw it before she felt the greedy tugging of his lips.

  “We are bloody not doing this.” His voice was gravely and frustrated, but the protest was in vain, as he deftly moved to the other breast.

  “Nope.” She watched the gilded scene through half-closed eyes, sensation swamping her. “We bloody aren’t.”

  She gasped as tremors started at her groin. Her hands shook as she ran them through his hair and pulled his mouth back to hers. Their tongues mated, tangled, and retreated. Tee heaved a breath, and Leo returned his attention to her exposed breasts.

  He pulled the nipple into his mouth and swirled his tongue. Tingles rippled through her, and she cried out in pleasure. Her back arched and a shot of desire contracted her stomach muscles with an aching need to be closer. Leo’s free hand continued to stroke her while he took heaving breaths into his lungs.

  “This has to stop,” he said and pulled her flush to his body halting her movements. He covered her breast with her bra and closed her shirt. Shaking his head, he released her, so her feet slid reluctantly to the floor. “There’re reasons we can’t do this.”

  “What reasons?” Need pulsed through her body and frustration, unlike any she’d ever known, pounded through her soul. “Tell me. The truth this time.”

  “There’re things about me that you don’t understand.”

  “But if these things weren’t there, you would want to be with me?”

  “God, yes.”

  Satisfaction spread through Tee and a wide smile stretched her face. “Tell me about these things.”

  “It can’t be fixed. It just is.” He was serious. Anger fired through her system, igniting the raw achy passion that still smoldered. She knocked away his hand, feeling the cool rush of air between them.

  “So explain it to me.” Fury bubbled up from her heart, making her feel like her head would explode.

  “The Chief—”

  “The Chief isn’t a part of this. Quit trying to pretend I’m a child, we both know better.”

  “No.” Leo carefully buttoned her blouse without brushing his fingers across her skin. He shook his head, battling some inner argument Tee couldn’t hear.

  “Just, no,” he said. “It’s for your own good.”

  She couldn’t believe he would deny the explosive need that still rocked her body. “If you’re worried about the casino, I can walk into the Hard Rock today.�
� She would change jobs if it would overcome his unnamed obstacles. “I can go work for another casino.”

  “No.” Leo hit the stall button and the door opened to a horde of waiting tourists. There was an audible gasp as the crowd took in their closeness and apparent dishevel.

  “Dude, score,” a young man called and high-fived his drunk friends.

  “Back off,” Leo said with a deep menacing sound that quieted the gathered crowd. They collectively took a step back to create an exit space at the front of the elevator. “Back off further,” he said, and the group moved to the center of the waiting room, staring at them with open mouths and wide eyes.

  Leo rested a protective hand on her back. “I’ll see you at the festival.”

  “Don’t bother.” Tee pulled away. She didn’t care that they had an audience. She wanted the last words she said on the subject to be heard and remembered. “Do you hear what I’m saying? Don’t. Bother. I’m not waiting around for you to find your balls anymore.”

  The crowd tittered and Leo gave them another fierce stare. “We’ll talk later.”

  “No, we won’t,” she said, feeling the sureness of it in her head if not in her heart.

  She stepped across the threshold and the sliding door closed at her back. The elevator mechanics kicked into gear, whisking Leo away.

  “OMG,” one of the bachelorettes whispered at her left. “I think that was Thor.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Pull up the tape from the south elevator.” Leo’s voice was low and harsh, making him sound angry. He was angry. He was angry with himself for letting the little minx corner him and break down his resistance. How had he let that make-out session happen in public?

  And what had he been thinking, telling Tee he cared about her?

  He did. But it didn’t matter. He wished his heart could accept what his mind already knew.

  Tee wasn’t his destined mate.