Leo Maddox Read Online Free PDF Page A

buy—but I would never have Clara.
    I closed my eyes, suddenly too exhausted to keep them open.
    And I must have drifted asleep because the next thing I knew the golf cart was stopping. “Leo. You're home,” Clara informed me as she poked my ribs to wake me.
    Struggling to return to consciousness—since it had been over twenty-four hours since I’d last slept—I rolled from my seat and proceeded to fall straight out of the golf cart onto the hard cement below. My bruised leg cramped up on me and I could barely move. Clara hurried around the golf cart and came to my aide. I tried to tell her to stop and that I could manage on my own—but instead of listening, she took my arm, placed it over her shoulders, and led me toward my house.
    Dammit. Exhaustion was getting the better of me. I tried to speak again, but my tongue felt heavy in my mouth. Clara helped me inside and up the stairs toward my room. I dropped like a heavy rock onto my mattress. Then, with my face already pressed into my comforter, I let sleep sweep me away. Clara was leaving. This strange night was over. Maybe in another six months some other family function would push us together again. Maybe by then I could learn how to be civil, pull my head out of my ass, and control my temper around her. Maybe the stars would align and I could tell her how much I loved her.
    Maybe.
    But as my father had pressed into my skull at an early age, I knew maybe was only a synonym for no. And with that final thought, sleep hit me.
     
    * * *
    A t some point, just before dawn, I woke up in a sweat and still in my suit. My head was ringing and my room was too damn hot. I still had on my shoes for fuck’s sake. Stumbling out of bed, I stripped off all my clothing. I flung each piece of fabric across my room as I undressed—angry and annoyed.
    What the hell was wrong with me?
    I thought over the few moments I’d shared with Clara the night before. The least I could have done was to tell her goodbye. I hadn’t even managed that. No wonder the girl hated me so much.
    Naked as the day I was born, I padded across my room toward my open door. The spot on my thigh was a little tender but feeling better.
    I’d live. Unfortunately.
    I shut the door and stumbled back across my vast room. Clara must have left the door open and I didn’t want Regina barging in on me in a few hours. She was out in the guest house, several yards away from the main house, but I expected her to come find me soon enough. She knew how to knock, so I didn’t bother locking the door. Opening a window, I then crawled back on top of my bed, face buried deep in my pillow, and fell asleep all over again.
    The next thing I knew it was light out and I heard Regina’s voice. The noise came from the hall outside my bedroom door. Blinking the sleep from my eyes, I glanced across the room and saw the door ajar. “Hello, Miss Maggie,” I heard Regina say.
    Great. Apparently Maggie was here bright and early. And fuck, I was still naked.
    “This is a surprise,” Regina was saying to Maggie. What was a surprise? It didn’t matter. I just wanted to get the hell out of Blue Creek.
    Quickly, not wanting either woman to see me, I slipped out of my bed and moved for my dresser. I pulled on the first pair of jeans and t-shirt I could find. It was time for me to get back to New York. Time for me to get back to reality. My grand plan of wooing the girl I loved had failed miserably. Now the only thing I had waiting for me was Sunday’s reopening.
    “He’s sleeping,” came a whisper. “I’ve got to go.”
    Holy Mother of all things holy.
    It wasn’t Maggie speaking to Regina. That was Clara’s voice out in the hallway. Regina had never met Clara before and she must have mistaken the twins. My heart jumped around in my chest. Shit. Shit. Shit. I walked for my slightly ajar door. Who had opened it? Regina or Clara? Dammit, what was Clara doing in my house?
    “Nice seeing you,” Clara told Regina. Her back was to me