All Grown Up (29 page)

I was still standing there
, looking at the DVDs, when I heard her return.

"I will have copies of those made for you as well," she said as she cleaned up the coffee tray and retreated to the kitchen.

"I should get going." I placed the coffee cup on the counter between the TV room and the kitchen.

"Okay."

She walked me toward the front door.

"Are you moving soon?" I asked and nodded toward the boxes.

"Oh, I…um…haven’t found a place yet, but I have been looking. Most of these boxes are things that will be moved into Dom’s family storage. I’m not looking at places as large as this one." She half smiled.

I gave her some neighborhoods to look into and she thanked me before we said our goodbyes.

Once I got home I put the DVD in immediately and sat back on my couch. At first it was dark, but then there was what looked like the ultrasound photo with movement. It was a recording of the ultrasound and below it said twenty eight weeks. I watched my son flitter and flop, he even kicked a leg. It was the most wonderful thing that I had ever watched. Next, was footage of an extremely large Chloe who was sitting in bed with the caption ‘third week of bed rest’. Chloe had been on bed rest? I could hear Domenico asking her questions as she sat there, rolling her eyes at him and laughing. That should have been me. I felt the tears come again.

By the end of the DVD
, I was a blubbering mess on my couch, having seen Tony immediately after he had been born and was in Chloe’s arms. Him in Domenico’s arms, his first months at home, and even Chloe breast feeding him. That image made me long for her even more than I already did. I copied the DVD before I returned it and watched it once a day.

After a month and a half of visiting Tony at his home, Chloe decided that it would be okay if I started to take him overnight for a few nights at a time. I was beyond thrilled and Tony seemed excited, though very nervous. I had Elaine decorate my spare room for him
. It was all light blue with a sports motif, a race car bed and football shaped toy box.

The first night I couldn’t get him to sleep
. Chloe ended up coming over to help me with him. She left soon after he was asleep. Seeing her with Tony, in my home, really made my heart ache and it took everything I had not to force her to stay here with us. Needless to say, I fell asleep watching the DVD that night.

Months passed and the arrang
ement started to take its full effect. I currently had Anthony for the month and Chloe would get him one night during the week and on the weekends. When Chloe and Tony moved into their new home, which was only ten minutes from me, she had started working at the label to keep herself busy. We even ended up working together a few times, though Aron seemed to do the most interaction with me. I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed.

Tonight was the launch party for New Seduction, Scarlett’s band. Mack Production and
Bel Suono, Domenico’s, well, now, Chloe’s label, would all be in attendance. New Seduction was already popular in the local market and the branching out was gaining speed. They looked to be a huge success for everyone.

Mina and my mother were watching Tony at her place for the weekend, since both Chloe and I would need to be in attendance for the party and for whatever meetings were established the next day.

Standing in the large space that Bel Suono had rented out for the night, I was amazed at the decorating and large screens that were showing videos of New Seduction performing, as well as a photo slideshow of the group. I was fidgeting with the tie of the black suit that Mina had picked out for me when I felt a hand slide across the top of my shoulders and across the back of my neck. I turned around quickly.

"Scarlett," I sighed.

"Leo," she said with a large grin.

"Well
, it’s finally here, your and the band’s night," I smiled at her. "Congratulations"

"Thank you," she smiled and winked at me. "You know that none of this would have been possible without you. You are the best producer out there
, Leo." I hadn’t forgotten that her hand was still resting on my shoulder as she moved in closer to my body.

"Scarlett," I groaned. "You know that this," I motioned between her and
I, "is not going to happen."

She stuck out her bottom lip.

"You’re no fun, Leo," she giggled. Then she smacked me on the ass as she walked off. I shook my head.

On my way over to get a drink
, I was completely knocked off my feet. Chloe was standing above a flight of stairs, arm wrapped with a large, dark haired man. She was wearing a dark blue, floor-length gown that completely took my breath away. It looked like it was silk or satin and the fit was astounding. It was so close to her body without being tight, it was fantastic. I wanted to yank the thin straps away from her shoulders and watch the material slip down her bare skin. I shivered at the thought and licked my lips. The front of the dress was a low-cut V that showed just the swell of her flesh above her breasts.

As if that wasn’t enough to make my pants uncomfortable, she turned around. I groaned internally and clenched my eyes shut to gain composure. If I thought the front was a crime
, the back of the dress was just illegal. Those thin straps crossed her perfect back and the dress had a low V at the base of her back, so low that one finger slipped in would place you between the perfect cheeks of her glorious ass.

Luckily
, Aron stepped in my line of sight and started to discuss New Seduction and other business. We headed over to the drinks and then settled at a table to talk more.

Not long after my last eyeful, Chloe appeared at the table with the large
, dark haired man. We stood as he helped her into her seat, the table going quiet. I was having trouble thinking with her being across from me looking like a Goddess.

"So, Lucien, are you enjoying the party?" Aron broke the silence.

"Yes. Chloe, has been very hospitable," he answered with a thick Italian accent. Who the hell was this guy?

"Lucien
, this is Leo, he produced New Seduction’s CD," Aron added.

"Congratulations on the success
." He stuck his hand out and I shook it quickly.

"Thank you." I turned my eyes onto Chloe who was now leaning toward Lucien and talking very animatedly. I wish that she talked like that to me again. We spoke, but it was never with the spirit that I loved about her and it was usually about schedules or Anthony.

When he wrapped his arm around her and leaned into her ear, I felt my stomach tighten and my fists clench, my breathing becoming ragged through my nose.

Who is this guy
and why is he touching her? Touching the mother of
my
son,
my
Chloe? Just as I was about to reach a boiling point, a small, dark haired woman appeared, drawing my attention away.

"Lucien, Chloe, there you are," Chloe stood up and the woman kissed each of Chloe’s cheeks. Then she leaned down and kissed Lucien on the mouth. I was completely confused now and furrowed my brow.

Chloe sat back down and turned to Aron as he spoke. "Lisa, it is so good to see you again. How is the family?"

"Good, good," she spoke with a thick Italian accent as well.

"Leo," I turned to Aron when he addressed me. "This is Lisa, Lucien’s wife and Dom’s sister."

"Pleasure to meet you
, Lisa," I took her hand and kissed it over the table, quickly.

"Finally…a gentleman, other than my husband and Aron, in this
God forsaken country," she laughed and Chloe laughed with her.

A few hours later
, I felt the need for fresh air. Heading to the patio through a set of doors, I bumped into Chloe, who was on her way back in with her cell phone in her hand. She raised her phone.

"Tony is sleeping. It seems that Mina wore him out." She smiled and put the phone back in her purse. She excused herself and started to go back inside when I heard a familiar slow song and grabbed her hand. I heard her gasp.

"Dance with me," I stated to her shocked and confused face.

"Um
…Leo, I don’t think…" I cut her off by pulling her to me closely.

"Good
. Don’t think, just do," I chuckled lightly as I wrapped my arm around her waist, lifted her other hand and started swaying to the music. After hesitating for a minute, she began to move with me.

I pulled her tighter to me and inhaled the scent that could make me fall to my knees. The electricity between us was still there. I could feel it coursing
between us, igniting into sparks everywhere our bodies touched. I pulled her even closer and dropped her hand, wrapping my other arm around her waist.

"Chloe…"

"Don’t, Leo," I could hear the cracking in her voice.

"Please
, let me just…"

"No, I can’t
." She tried to pull away.

"Don’t run from me
, Chloe." I lifted her face to me and kissed her easily, passionately.

She started to push away before finally giving way to her
wants, reciprocating the kiss. As we separated to catch our breath, I placed my lips to her neck. The doors suddenly opened, halting my actions.

"Chloe," Aron’s voice rang out and Chloe moved away from me quickly.

"Y-yes?" She croaked out.

"Alex would like to meet with us
for a moment." She looked at me briefly before heading toward Aron and taking his arm. I watched her go back into the party, running my hand through my hair.

What the hell was I doing? Did I really think that Chloe and I would be….together again? I was out of my mind. I shook my head and rubbed the back of my neck. Then I covered my face with my hands and lightly rubbed. I could still smell her on my hands.
Torture. I was torturing myself.

I knew exactly what I was doing.

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Please

Chloe

I don’t know what I had been thinking. How could I let that have happened? Things were a mess as it is and kissing each other just made things more complicated. And what was going on with him? Why was he being so…
he should be pissed and disgusted with me, not dancing with me and kissing me, was he crazy?

"Chloe?"
I had been so lost in my own thoughts that I had missed most of the conversation going on between Alex and Aron.

"Oh, I’m so sorry
." I cleared my head and battled for an excuse. "Is it starting to get really warm in here?" I fanned myself.

"Are you feeling okay?" Aron genuinely asked me. I couldn’t tell if he was just playing along with me or if he actually thought I didn’t feel well.

"I’m fine. Please, continue," I smiled.

The party had been winding down for the past hour, I had said my goodbyes to Lucien and
Lisa twenty minutes ago and, now that I had said goodnight to Aron, I headed for my car. The driver was waiting and opened the door for me when I approached.

"Thank you," I smiled while I slid into the car.

As the door shut, I looked up in the car.

"Leo?"

He smirked.

"What are you doing?" I reached for the door handle. He
quickly moved in beside me and grabbed my hand. "Let go, please."

"Not until we are moving." Just then
, the car pulled away from the curb. He sat back and smiled, taking my other hand.

I pulled my hand away.

"What are you doing?"

"I’m doing things that I should have done a long time ago," he smiled and leaned toward me. His lips were temptingly close to mine, but I fought the urge
and pushed him back easily. His face fell as he looked at me.

I moved to the other side of the car.

"Leo, you need to stop. This needs to stop."

"Why?"
He leaned toward me again, I put my hands up. If he got too close I knew that I would cave.

"You should already know why," I sighed. "What has come over you? Have you lost your mind?" I crossed my arms over my chest and sat back in my seat.

"No, I’ve only just now come to my senses," he smiled at me.

I huffed.

"Chloe, why can’t you just…"

"Stop!"
I spit out. "Why are you doing this? Things are complicated enough as it is." I groaned out loud.

He relaxed and sat back in his seat. "I thought that things were getting better," he mumbled.

"Things are ‘better’, I guess. But what are you thinking kissing me?" I raised my eyebrow.

"You kissed back," he smirked.

"I know I did, but why, Leo…it’s not good..." He cut me off.

"I wanted to kiss you," his eyes were soft and pleading. "I miss you, a lot."

"Things are different now and too much has happened," I sighed.

"That’s all
in the past, Chloe. I don’t like what happened. In fact, I hate what you did." I interrupted him.

"Exactly my point!
You should hate me." I threw my arms up and brought them down on each side of my legs.

"I said I hate what you did, not that I hate you," he growled out.

"How can you not hate me? I hate me for what I’ve caused! I can’t forgive what I did to you and your family, and especially to Tony!" I argued.

Quickly
, he moved from the seat, putting his knees on the floor of the car with his hands on either side of my body. I leaned back at his closeness.

"Damn it
, Chloe, please let me forgive you. I don’t want to be angry all the time! Especially not with you," he was pleading again.

"How can you forgive me for a situation that you only know partly about
, Leo? I would say that you are fooling yourself into thinking that you can forgive me. You can’t possibly."

"Then tell me," he growled.

"What?" I was confused.

"Tell me why…tell me why you hid the fact that we had a son. What were your reasons
, Chloe?" He looked at me intently.

I swallowed a lump that was building in my throat.

"I…I can’t….not right now. Another time."

He hit the seat on the left of me with his fist. I jumped.

"NOW," he spit out at me. I bit my lip and tried to hold the tears back.

I took a deep breath and exhaled before I started.

"That night, in the tree house, I was home…because I caught Dom with another woman in Italy." I watched his face contort into confusion. "It had been over a week since I caught him." I took another breath. "Mina came to get me the morning after because Dom showed up at my parents." He looked like he was going to say something, but he closed his mouth and I continued.

"We went to have coffee and talk. When I returned
, Mina said you had left. I assumed that you…that…I’m not sure what I assumed. I just knew that you were gone. Then you didn’t respond to my attempt to contact you, so I let it all go. I was going to tell you that I told Dom."

"You told him?"
He furrowed his brow.

"I told him that I had slept with someone else
," I sighed. "When I tried to go into further detail, he got upset and didn’t want to hear it. I actually tried many times, but he always stopped me and didn’t want to know." I looked down into my lap where I was twisting my fingers.

"After I found out that I was pregnant and how far along
I was, I tried to tell him again. He said that if I told him who ‘he’ was then he would kill him." I felt a tear fall down my cheek. "I’m not trying to make excuses, I swear. I only want you to know what actually happened. You should hate me and I’d understand…" his lips cut me off.

Leo’s hands were on each side of my
face, his tongue swiped my bottom lip, wanting me to grant him access to my mouth. I resisted and turned my head.

"Leo
, stop," I panted out.

"Chloe...I don’t hate you
." He pressed his forehead to mine as he tried to catch his breath. "Yes, I was angry and I’m still not happy about it but, like I told you, I don’t want to be angry anymore. I want what we should’ve had from the beginning, before my fuck-ups, before your fuck-ups."

"Leo, that’s impossible. I still feel
so guilty for everything…I am so guilty for everything. I can’t let you…"

"You aren’t letting me do anything," he argued. "I am telling you what I want. I have never been
more sure about something in my life." He sighed and ran his fingers over my collarbone. I could feel each fiery nerve ending blaze at his touch.

"I want you, I want you and Tony." He looked into my eyes, his green orbs blazing fiercely with passion and longing. "I want to have more children with you." My breathing hitched at his words and he smirked at me.

I started to pull away from him. He had lost his mind. No one in their right mind would want that after what I had done. He grabbed my arm and held me where I was. Pressing his full body into me, he attacked my mouth.

This time he didn’t ask permission
, he simply thrust his tongue into my mouth as his hands roamed over my body and tightened on my hips. Instinctively, I grabbed his shoulders tightly and held onto him.

He felt amazing against me and he tasted better than I had remembered. He tasted sweet and spicy at the same time.
Pure Leo. His mouth moved over my jaw and down the front of my neck, slowly licking and sucking down into the low V neck of my dress.

The car stopped abruptly and brought me out of the lust filled haze. Leo continued his ministrations between my breasts as his hand slid up over my left mound and massaged.

"Leo, we need to stop." He ignored me. I pushed his shoulders and he pressed into me further. "Leo, Stop!"

"Fuck
, Chloe! Just let go with me…" His head was lying in my lap. I sighed and ran my hands through his hair. At my touch, his hands slid to my thighs and squeezed lightly. "Please?" He begged.

"The car stopped."

He looked up at me. Anger saturated his features and I tried to push back further into the seat. For the first time ever, I was scared of Leo. He yanked the door handle and shoved the door open, turning his face back to me.

"You’re right! We are here," he growled loudly. Then he grabbed my arm and pulled me with him out of the car.

"LEO," I screamed. I looked back at the car and saw the driver step out quickly and run toward us.

"Sir?
Excuse me, sir! I don’t think that…" Leo spun around quickly to him.

"She is staying here tonight." He looked at me
, daring me to argue with him. I bit my lip and froze in fear. Without looking back to the driver, he spat out "That will be all for this evening. Thank you."

Leo pulled me along with him toward the elevator and pushed the number for his floor.

"Leo, please stop." I felt the tears slide down my cheeks. "You’re scaring me, please…" he snapped around to me quickly. He wasn’t as angry looking, but he was still determined.

Wiping my tears away
, he looked into my eyes again.

"You have nothing to be afraid of Chloe." The elevator doors opened and he grabbed my hand
, pulling me to his door. As he unlocked the door, I took a step back from him.

"Leo
, I should get home. It’s late." I tried to speak calmly. He simply wrapped his arm around my waist securely and walked us through the open door, shutting it behind us. The click of the door lock made me jump.

"Leo…." He cut me off with his lips again and I pushed away from him.

"Chloe, please…" he was back to pleading again.

"Leo, this needs to stop. You need to stop." He wrapped his arms around me and lifted. I gasped and then protested over and over.

Realizing that we had entered a bedroom, I got completely nervous and felt more tears. What was he thinking?

He laid us down on the bed and curled up beside me, his arm over my stomach and his face in my hair.

"Leo?"

"
Shhh…please….Chloe, just lie here with me." It wasn’t long until I heard his breathing even out and I shifted out from under his arm.

I stood up and took in a deep breath. Looking back at him as he laid in bed
, I saw my son’s face. They slept with the same expression. I felt a tear drop down. I rushed to the door, but his hand against the door stopped me before I could open it.

"Chloe?"

Without turning around, I answered him. "What, Leo?"

"I’m sorry that I scared you," he moved his hand from the door. "It wasn’t my intention."

"I get it. You’re still angry with me…that’s why this is not…" He cut me off.

"I am not angry with you…I mean, I am angry that you are so resistant to us," he sighed and sat on his couch. "I just don’t understand. I thought that after all this time you would still love me the way that I have always loved you."

He looked up when I inhaled sharply at his words and my eyes widened. I saw hope flash in his eyes as he approached me.

"You do?
Don’t you?" He smiled. "You still feel it...I can see it on your face that you do!" His smiled widened and reached his eyes. "You still love me. You are still in love with me…just as I am with you. Aren’t you?"

I bit my lip, he growled as he stared at my mouth. I dropped my purse out of my hand and this time
, I attacked his mouth.

My hands instantly went straight to his shoulders and his wrapped around my waist. As our tongues danced in each other’s mouths
, his hands slid over my ass where he stopped to squeeze roughly, causing me to moan into his mouth.

I fisted his hair as he bent down, never leaving my mouth, and grabbed the back of my thighs. He lifted me up and I
instinctually wrapped my legs around his waist, my dress scrunching up to the top of my thighs.

Leo walked us back to his room and placed me back on my feet. Standing next to his bed
, his mouth moved to my ear and then to my shoulder as his hands pushed the straps of my dress off my shoulders. He took a step back from me and watched as the dress slipped down to my high heeled feet. I watched his eyes darken and he looked back to my face. My breathing was still labored.

"Still so fucking perfect," he growled as he pulled me to him tightly, his lips going straight to the crook of my neck and shoulder. He sat onto the bed, pulling me with him. Rolling over until I was underneath him, his lips never le
aving my skin, I laced my fingers in his hair, seemingly igniting his lust.

Quicker than I could comprehend
, he was between my legs, leaning on his elbow that was next to my head. His other hand wandered over my left breast, manipulating the sensitive nipple eagerly. Leo sat back between my legs and pulled me up to him as he reached around me and swiftly removed my bra.