Chapter 128

Face pink from blushing and laughing, Becca placed the pictures in her hands on the table. Not because she finally heeded to the message Leo's frown was sending but to move to another aspect of his utter humiliation. That's what Leo got for always hesitating with information about himself. If he had just man-up from the start and told Becca what she wanted to know then maybe she wouldn't have asked Fernanda. Maybe then he wouldn't have to dine in a room where everyone else there are having a blast at his own expense. 

" So who does Leo take after in the family?" Becca asked and Fernanda didn't even have to think twice about it before answering.

" Grandfather. Leo looks like his father but that's literally the only way he takes after his father. The rest of him is dubbed from my husband, Salvador Kane. Aloof but deep down, still cares. Isn't that right, Leo?" She asked, turning to look at the head of the table— in Leo's direction. He snorted in response, obviously. 

" When did you realize that Leo was just like his grandfather?" Becca proceeded with her questions, too interested in the topic to even reckon to drop it. 

" Oh, that's easy. Right from his childhood, he always exuded Salvador's traits. He did things that Salvador would most likely have done at that moment. For instance, there was this one time Leo was playing with cousin Damien. He and Damien used to be so close when they were younger and it bothers me to know that instead of their friendship growing stronger by the years, they only grew further apart." Fernanda finished her statement with a sigh and glanced at Leo once more before returning her attention to Becca. " Anyway, there was this one time Leo and Damien we're playing a game— I don't exactly remember what game it was. After a while, Damien gets angry and calls Leo out for cheating, saying he wasn't playing fair. Leo, over there, who was clearly guilty of all charges, didn't even try to deny it and said these exact words; life isn't supposed to be fair. And it was at that moment, I realized I was living with my husband's personality clone."

Life isn't supposed to be fair? Leo was no older than seven when he said those disturbing yet brutally honest words. Fernanda always knew Leo was… different. Dare she say, a little strange. He wasn't like other children, never tried to act like other children, talk more of interact with them unless when persuaded to do so first. Back then she thought that send Leo to live with his parents would do he some good, that spending time with his mother and father would be best for him, have a better impact on him. Well, it did but not in the way Fernanda wanted. Not in the better way she prayed for. By the time she realized how broken Leo had become, it was too late. Too late in the sense that he had already lost what should have been the best time of his life.

His childhood. Leo lost his childhood. Forced to mature by the conditions he faced with his family and in some cases, Fernanda couldn't help blaming herself for not shielding him from it all and the depression it came with.

" Why does he sounds like a man who's fed up with his life? How old was he when he said that?" Becca asked and lifted a glass of water to her lips, unaware of the turmoil the conversation was stirring in Leo. It wasn't her fault, she had no idea. Leo went as far as enclosing his emotions with an opaque veil of indifference, that there was simply no way of Becca knowing even if she looked hard. She saw nothing.

Apparently, Fernanda couldn't see the way he fought hard to stay relaxed and not stiffen as he sat in their midst. Absolutely nothing.

Fernanda proceeded. " He was seven."

Becca choked on the water, patting her chest as she coughed. 

" Are you okay, my love?" Leo's eyes filled with worry as he stretched out his hand and rubbed her back. It's a good thing she sat just next to him.

" You were what?" Becca asked, baffled as her frantic coughs began subsiding.

" I know, it hard to believe. Even I have a hard time believing it despite hearing it with my own ears." Fernanda shrugged. " Anyway, about from his tendencies of not playing by the rules, Leo was a calm child. He never cause unnecessary trouble but always unleashes hell when unauthorized hands touches his stuff."

Now that explains a lot.

Becca finally stopped coughing but Leo's hand still didn't leave her back. Feeling his hand firmly on her back, Becca glanced at Leo, thinking he was still worried but she stood corrected when she saw that sensual smirk smudged on thise heavenly lips of his. His true motives were revealed. He was just worried about her choking, he wanted an opportunity to touch and he snatched it as soon as one presented itself. The sneaky, perverted caveman. For a minute there Becca almost forgot how shameless the man next to her could get. She was sure he would have patted her chest if his grandmother hadn't been in the same room as them.

She leaned closer to him so Fernanda would see his hand that was still on her back and whispered. " Your grandmother is right here."

" So?" Leo whispered back, a laugh stuck to the back of his throat.

" So let go." She said and in response, Leo's hand slinked lower, inching down her back, dangerously close to her ass. 

Fernanda was so focused on her food, still a little jet lagged, that she didn't seemed to notice what the horny people at the other side of the table were doing. Leo's naughty fingers were at work, setting Becca ablaze with the sensation of his touches gave her. The sensation that sent numerous shivers sprinting down her core, made her wet.

She chewed on her left cheek, forcing on a straight face as Leo wend his onslaught. His hand skulked from her back, and slowly, he prowled it to her laps. With that smirk romping on his lips, it was clear just how much he was enjoying this. He was having time of his life and the paint slowly creeping onto Becca's cheeks only made it even better. 

Why did Becca ever think Leo would let? Even after claiming to know all his tricks, she still hadn't fully understood the fact that Leo would never heed to anything at the expense of what he is enjoying. Most especially when what he is presently enjoying is her. A stubborn mule was a befitting adornment for him at many instances but now? Now he was a hungry coyote and coyotes love feasting on little kittens. It was astonishing how fast the man's mood changes. 

" Leo, your grandmother is right." Becca whispered once more and Leo cocked her an amused brow.

" My grandmother? The same one that was spying on us early in our bedroom? Oh, trust me when I say that she would be thrilled if she knew all the things I want to do for you." He responded, his voice hush and low, propelling more shivers through her.

" If you are shameless enough not to consider your grandmother's presence then think about your wound. It hasn't fully healed." Becca's core throbbed with need as she whispered those words to him. It took everything she had in her, every sliver of self-control she had to say those words, to refuse him when he was being like that. Naughty. God help her because deep down, she knew she couldn't refuse him, she never could. Not when she wanted it just as much as he did. And in this case, she wanted it. She wanted him. But there was his wound, his paralysis. They couldn't just ignore those factors in the know of satisfying their urges. At least not now.

The message didn't seem to be clear to Leo. He wasn't following, wasn't even on the same page with her. All he wanted was her. Fourteen days spent in the hospital, two more days spent at home with her by his side and he still had touched. It baffled and amazed him how he was able to last that long after tasting her sinful sweetness. The hair on the back of her neck rose as Leo's hand prowled underneath the skirt she wore, stroking her thighs and just as expected, just as he liked, she trembled. 

As if right on cue, Fernanda lifted her gaze from her plate, focusing it on the other people who she was having lunch with. They weren't even touching their foods anymore and for some reason were now sitting closer than she remembered them to be.

" What's going on? Why aren't you eating your food anymore?" 

Fernanda's voice jerked Becca out of the arousal spell Leo was putting her under. Since she was actually doing something bad with Leo this time, the shock on her looked more in place and… incriminating.

Becca gulped hard, Leo's hand still clasping her lap underneath her skirt. " It's nothing, grandma." Becca answered, trying not to stutter but failing.

" 

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