Free Leopold: Part Three by Ember Casey, Renna Peak Page A

faces? How can we ever leave this house again?” I can feel my breaths coming a little too fast again—nothing about this is remotely how I planned. I was supposed to come home and try to rebuild my life. I spent a year in Rio de Campo to get the crazy out of my life. Not to bring more of it back in. And this…whatever the hell is going on here is more than crazy. It’s batshit insane.
    Leo drops his arm and comes to sit next to me on the couch. He sits on the opposite side, too far away to even reach over to me. He stares at the wall for a long moment. “Tell me, Elle. What is your worst case scenario? You seem very concerned about what the future may hold. I have to wonder why you’re trying to destroy what seems to be to be a very fine present moment.”
    My brow furrows and I turn to face him. “I… I’m not trying to destroy anything.”
    “Really?” His gaze snaps to mine and he lifts a brow. “You fear what may happen tomorrow or next week. That outweighs your ability to enjoy this moment. And this moment is pretty splendid from where I sit, Elle. I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
    I can’t deny he’s right—I have spent a lot of time trying to plan an uncertain future. But he doesn’t understand—having control over what’s going to happen is the only thing that’s kept me sane. Preplanning every moment of my life for the past year—at least, everything that could be planned—has been the only thing that’s allowed me to go on living at all. His presence in my life has thrown a giant wrench into everything I had already planned out.
    My voice drops to a whisper. “I can’t go out there with you. I mean—I don’t want them even to know I exist. If I could go back in time—even a few hours—I would have run the hell out of here.”
    He nods and rubs at his chin. “But the fact is, they do know you exist. You’ll have to factor that into your plans for the future from now on, Elle. I’m not going to lie and tell you it will be easy—it won’t. But you don’t have to deal with them alone. I’ll be here with you.”
    He sighs. “Tomorrow is going to come. And we don’t know what is going to happen tomorrow—no one does. Not even you, Elle. Trying to plan for an infinite number of possibilities is impossible. So why bother? Why not enjoy a perfectly pleasant situation? We’re here together now and this is what we both wanted. We have all the privacy we could ever want here, as long as we stay inside. And there’s no reason for us to leave until we run out of food. And I can assure you, I’ve had enough peanut butter delivered to this house to sustain us for a month if need be.”
    A smile comes to my lips despite my best efforts to cover it. My smile turns to a laugh only a moment later.
    “Good. Now, as I suggested, I believe we should have a proper first date.” He holds his elbow out to me again. “If you would be so kind…”
    “Leo.” I shake my head. “I can’t go out there with you. I mean, I know you’re experienced with dealing with them, but I’m not. I thought I might be able to go out there and talk to them before, but there are just so many of them—”
    “Elle,” he interrupts. “I never said anything about going outside. I want a proper date with you, but that doesn’t mean we have to leave this house. In fact, I would suggest we don’t leave, at least until the uproar tapers off somewhat.”
    I nod. “Okay. Then what the hell are you talking about?”
    He grins. “A second chance. You believe in second chances, do you not?”
    “I… I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.” A second chance for a guy—probably not. For me, though? I don’t know. I’m not sure I deserve one. I’m not sure it’s even worth discussing.
    He lets out a long breath. “A first date. We never had one—I was injured when we shared our first meal together. And you were merely doing your duties as a professional—I’m not sure you even remember how