Ella woke up the next morning encompassed in warmth from Leon being wrapped around her. Her mind wandered to the previous day, and her face burned instantly. I guess he wasn’t kidding about not holding back anymore…
Grumble. Ella’s hand went straight to her stomach. Stupid stomach, be quiet! I guess I can’t blame it, though; we probably burned a lot of calories. The red crept up to her ears. Leon was right; my mind is dirty.
A light breeze blew by her ear, and she jumped. “Ah!” She clapped a hand over her mouth and glanced back to see Leon staring at her with a smile on his face. “Don’t do that!”
“Sorry, but you must be thinking about last night; even your ears are red. I’m up for a repeat performance if you want.” Leon cuddled up to her.
Yes… “Nope! It’s almost time to get up and get ready for work.”
“Oh, right… and we have a wedding rehearsal tonight. I was going to tell you yesterday, but I got… distracted.”
“Oh?”
“You don’t sound too excited.”
“It’s a rehearsal…” It’ll make me more nervous, not less.
“We can skip it.”
“What? How? It’s for our wedding…” Ella turned around in his arms. “Aren’t there vows or something we have to go over?” I don’t know what they’ll get me to say.
“I told her to let us make it up as we go. She said no and wrote something up, but I plan on ignoring it. But as long as they have a stand-in for us, and they end up knowing who goes where and whatnot, it’d be fine to skip it.”
“I’d rather not get on your mom’s bad side.”
“I appreciate that, but she’s got too many bad sides; you’re bound to find at least one of them directed at you.”
Harsh.
“She has everything under control, so I don’t know why she wants a rehearsal.” Leon rolled his eyes.
It’s only the times when he’s talking about his parents that I can tell how young he is.
“Besides, I’d rather stay at home with you after work than have to deal with it…”
“On that note, we should get up.”
Leon pouted and brushed his fingers through her hair. “I’d rather spend all day in bed with you.”
“Don’t you have important work to do?”
“Yes, and eventually Zeke would drag me out of bed, even if he had to break the door down.”
“I think I’m going to get dressed now.” Geez… I have to worry about someone forcing their way into here? Maybe I need Alice to rub off on him a bit, so he’ll give a little slack. Ella kept the blanket held up, covering her chest. “Aren’t you going to get up?”
“I was hoping to enjoy the view first.”
Her mouth hung open. “Leon!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll get up too, so we both get to enjoy the view.” He winked at her and slipped out of bed right away.
Ella turned away. If I wasn’t blushing hard before, I definitely am now. He has no shame! Not that he has any reason to be… She took a deep breath and rushed to put on her regular work clothes that Leon had insisted she keep in his room as extra. By the time she turned around, Leon had suited up and was staring at her.
“Sorry; I couldn’t help myself.”
“I’m going to make breakfast.” She rushed past him in a huff.
Leon slapped his hand against the bedroom door and loomed over her. “You’re not actually mad, are you? I’ve seen all of you already, so I didn’t think it was a big deal. But if you are, I can always do something to make it up to you.” He brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear.
“How about you lovebirds quit flirting?” Zeke’s muffled voice came from the other side of the door.
Ella jumped and stared at the door. “I guess we barely made it in time,” she whispered.
“Guess so,” Leon sighed and opened the door when she moved aside. “Did you really have to interrupt?”
“Yes.” Zeke pointed to the food on the table. “I figured you two might be late getting up, so I made breakfast for you. Now eat, or we’ll be late for the first meeting.”
“Thank you.” Ella avoided eye contact with him as she walked past. Croissants? And they’re fresh! She put the chocolate spread sitting open on the table on it and dug in. “Mmm…” Oh gosh, when was the last time I had something like this?
Leon chuckled, sipping on his coffee as he watched her.
“What?” Ella asked, pouting. He already finished eating? Did I take that long? Or did he only eat one?
“You’ve got some chocolate on your face.” He pointed at his own cheek to show her.
She wiped both sides, but somehow missed it.
He laughed again and approached her. “Over here.” He brought his hand up to her cheek and leaned in. With a kiss, he licked her cheek.
“H-hey! What are you doing?” She pulled away.
“Mmm… maybe I should’ve put chocolate on mine, too. It’s delicious, or maybe it’s just you— Ah!” Leon yelped as Zeke dragged him away by his ear.
“Breakfast time is over. We have to leave. Goodbye, Ella,” Zeke said as he continued to pull Leon along.
“One second!” Leon managed to get out of his grasp. He rushed up to Ella and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. “I’ll see you tonight.” Zeke wrapped his arm around Leon’s neck and dragged him out the door.
“I can’t tell if Zeke’s his assistant or animal trainer…” Now, what to do today?
Ella cleaned up and proceeded to help Jenny around the hotel.
Ella returned to their suite at lunch to find Mrs. Hunt sitting on their couch.
“Hello, Ella dear.” She patted the seat beside her. “Let’s have a chat.”
A chill ran down her spine. “O-okay…” She kept a bit of space between them and sat down. “Is something wrong?”
“I have to ask… is Leon planning on skipping the rehearsal today, and he doesn’t even plan on giving me a heads-up?”
Ella froze, tight-lipped as she stared at Molly.
“Ha… I thought so. That boy of mine… I know you two think I know nothing about him, but I know enough to predict this.”
“Isn’t it better not to force it?”
She sighed. “I just want this all to go well, and if you two aren’t there—”
“You can’t control everything that will happen, but I trust that you have everything ready the way it needs to be, and can take care of things as they happen,” Ella said.
“Oh!” Molly’s eyes widened slightly. “I… I didn’t think you thought highly of me at all, so that was unexpected. By the way, I hope you’re feeling better.”
“Much better.”
“I don’t want you getting sick right before the wedding.”
“I’m feeling perfectly fine.”
“So, you’re not going to run away and leave him at the altar, are you?”
Ella’s eyes widened, and she gripped her hands tightly in her lap. “What… are you talking about?” I think people asking about it makes it all that much worse…
“I have looked into you extensively, and I know about some of your past engagements. I’ve seen how much Leon loves you, and I don’t want things to go wrong, and for you to leave him heartbroken.”
“Considering the jobs on the line, and apparently my feelings for Leon, I don’t think you have to worry about it.” I hope, anyway.
“Look, I know about that old stupid tradition and the special ring currently on your finger, but… I don’t want you getting too close to him if you’re going to leave.”
Too late for that.
“His father is the only one who cares about those stupid ‘rules’ for Leon to take over, but I always wanted to use them to weed out the users and make sure he didn’t have a child out of wedlock.”
“Wait, what?” I thought she wanted those rules followed because they had to.
“There are so many women who would throw themselves at Leon for his looks and money, but the weight of the rules will scare most of them away. Some even go after him with the thought of getting pregnant to latch onto him, but between the bodyguards, rules… and I’m assuming that distant longing for you, he never gave into temptation. I want Leon to marry someone he loves, but I also want them to love him just as much. I’ve been thinking about the past a lot lately and thought about what you said to me… I know things were hard, but I never should’ve neglected Leon like I did. I didn’t even notice I was doing it.” She shook her head and wiped the corner of her eyes. “Or I chose to deny it, I don’t know…” She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself.
I guess she does care about him. I don’t know about in the past, but this woman cares about her son… and she’s worried about me ruining him. The worst part is, I can’t blame her, and she’s not wrong to be worried.
“I suppose it’s too late to be dwelling on the past like this.” Molly sighed.
“You sound just like Leon; he thinks it’s too late to reconcile with the two of you.”
“I can’t blame him for that either. Both of us… aren’t too great at admitting we did things wrong, so it’d be hard to apologize.”
“And yet you’re so open with me, the future daughter-in-law you barely know.”
Her brows furrowed as she thought. “I suppose… you’re easy to open up to. Besides, if I have any chance of turning my relationship around with Leon, I have a feeling you’ll be right in the middle of it. Anyway.” She stood. “I only came to see how you were doing and to have a little chat.”
Ella stood, and Molly put her hand up to stop her.
“You don’t need to see me off. You don’t need to come to the rehearsal either; I already wrapped that friend of yours into being a stand-in. Just, on the wedding day, make sure you go through with it and don’t break my precious son’s heart.” Molly left.
Ella sighed. I swear my mouth has a mind of its own. At least we don’t have to go there tonight… Wait, isn’t the wedding rehearsal normally within a few days of the actual wedding? She pulled out her tablet to look at Leon’s schedule and froze. Oh crap… I didn’t think it was that soon!
Continued in chapter 41.
Christina Maharaj 