Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71679 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 358(@200wpm)___ 287(@250wpm)___ 239(@300wpm)
There is no way I’m going to let this continue. I nearly leap out of my chair. “Dad! Seriously! Truth is one question, and we are off-limits. Grilling Leon is not okay.”
A warm hand lands on my knee, stopping me from saying anything else. My lips compress instantly, but it’s more to keep in the purr that I feel rising in my throat at Leon’s touch than anything else. Yes, a bloody purr. Like I’m so far gone I’ve become a cat now.
“It’s okay,” Leon tells me. “You wanted them to know. They’re your parents, and they have a right to answers.” He takes a breath. I think everything might be okay, but god, I’m so wrong. “There was a time in my life when the only thing I had was my honor, and I still hold that above all else, so here’s my word as a gentleman. I don’t want to admit this because it isn’t easy, but I won’t sit here and lie to you.”
Yup. This is going straight to shit so damn fast.
“I’ve known your daughter for a year. We met at work because I’m her arsehole boss. My intentions are entirely dishonorable and have been since the start when I asked her to fake marry me to save me from getting deported because I would rather die than go back to Ireland.”
I hang my head and barely manage not to rake my hands up and down it.
“Your daughter is full of grace, and she’s got the purest heart of anyone I’ve ever known. She’s smart and brave and courageous. She has never once complained about anything I asked her to do at work. I don’t give her the menial tasks because I’m trying to humiliate her. I give them to her because I trust her more than anyone else. Trust for me doesn’t come easily. Actually, it doesn’t come at all. I don’t deserve her. This wasn’t supposed to be about deserving. It was supposed to be about a ring on her finger and her name on the paper to save me, and when it was all said and done, I was going to divorce her and pay her what I bribed her with to do this dirty deed as a bonus through work so I could also write it off because I’m a real bastard.”
“Leon…”
He’s not done. He’s going to answer the rest. “As for my parents, in the name of honesty, my father was an insufferable prick, and the best thing he ever did was shucking off his mortal coil. I have no relationship with my mother, so the chances of me telling my parents anything about us are zero. I live with chronic pain, and I probably always will, compliments of my past life.” He holds up his hand. “This is just what you can see.” The firelight plays off the twisted, discolored skin.
“Sometimes I brainstorm what I’d like to tell people if they saw it, which they generally don’t because I usually wear a specially made, costly as hell prosthetic overtop. My sister calls it an accident. What kind of accident? Trampoline? Python bite? Boy-genius-gone-wrong-in-the-chem-lab kind of mishap? Anyway, that’s crap humor, but it does amuse me, and if I can find amusement in something like this, then maybe there’s hope for me yet.” He takes a deep breath, and holy shit, I think things are about to get even more honest. “I’m likely fucked up beyond measure. Yet, somehow, when Darby looks at me, she can see past all that, and she makes me want to be more. It’s impossible to keep her out, and I feel entirely ruined by her already. She makes me want to be the man she sees when she looks at me, even when I can’t find him.”
I am stunned into silence. My eyes are brimming with tears, but I’m not sure if I’m crying for myself or Leon or because this whole thing just went way the heck south, and I don’t know how to fix it. This was not how I wanted my family to find out about us and the marriage and everything else. I don’t think he was trying to sabotage anything. I think he just…had the words in his mouth, and they were like an explosion. Something he couldn’t keep inside anymore. Not a confession but the truth all spilling out because it couldn’t be contained anymore.
My dad runs a hand through his graying hair. He looks way less uncomfortable than I thought he would. And he’s not mad. I can see that through my haze of tears. “Well, shit, that’s heavy.” Understatement of the entire existence of the world right there. His face is soft. That’s a shock to both of us, I think, but I can’t actually look at Leon right now because I know if I do, all these tears I’m holding back—some painful, some proud, some I can’t put a name to—will become a flood. “I’m sorry about all of that, and I hope I have a chance to make up for it just a little by being your father-in-law. Welcome to the family. We’re going to love you.”