Beast of Bishop's Landing by Amelia Wilde

Author:Amelia Wilde
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Dangerous Press
Published: 2022-08-26T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Haley

My heart breaks for him, so cleanly there’s an audible snap.

I expect him to hide his face. I expect him to get up from the table and walk out. Close himself in his bedroom and lock the door. But Leo meets my eyes with an expression so unguarded it shocks me. Exhaustion and despair darken the gold in his eyes. His next breath is a sigh. His next breath says I have nothing left.

I see him.

All of him. This is the true Leo. The one beneath his outer show of power and control. The one beneath the anger he wields like a weapon. It’s a painful, conscious choice for him, to open up to me like this. The risk must feel unimaginable.

Because that’s the thing about Constantines and Morellis and anyone else who moves in a world of money and reputation. It’s especially true for Leo, beginning in childhood. The illusion must be protected at all costs. To reveal that you’re a person like everyone else is to lay yourself bare.

Leo is not an illusion.

He’s broken and sometimes cruel, but he is real.

He could be mine, if I let him.

I rise from my seat, taking the cloth napkin with me, and go to him.

Leo pushes his chair back from the table. I don’t get to my knees between his. With his dark eyes tracking every movement, I ease myself into his lap. My heart has never beat so hard.

This is beyond anything we’ve done. Any conversation we’ve had.

Leo puts his good arm around my waist, and I feel it then.

His hands are shaking.

I dab at the soup on his shirt, but it’s already disappearing. Leo’s jaw works as he lifts his hand from the table and lays it over mine. My throat closes, aching at his trembling hand. He could have tried to hide it from me. Could have pretended it wasn’t happening, that he’s nothing but an angry beast, but he took the final risk instead and showed me, openly, that he is human. That he is heartbroken. That he doesn’t know what to do.

Who else has he done this for? Eva, because he had no other choice.

But not like this.

He squeezes my hand on top of the napkin once, then twice, his eyes still on the table. The shaking subsides. It’s an incredible effort to stop it. But when he has it mostly under control, I slip my hand out from under his and drop the napkin on the table. Because I need to look him in the eye for this.

Leo doesn’t resist when I put my hand under his chin and tilt his face to mine. His black-gold eyes blaze with resignation—and with hope. I know you hate me, his expression says. Please don’t.

“Maybe I should hate you for everything you’ve done, but I don’t.” Leo’s shoulders sag and his arm tightens around my waist. “I can’t. I said it to hurt you, and because I thought…I thought you couldn’t be hurt.”

A wry smile flashes over his face, but then it falters.

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