Ella finished making a chicken burger and fries for each of them and sat down to wait. She looked at the time on her phone, checking to make sure he didn't send a text about lunch.

"What's taking so long?" she mumbled, her stomach gnawing at her. Tired of waiting, she picked up one of the fries with ketchup and nibbled on it.

Despite eating as slowly as she could manage, she finished her fries, and Leon still hadn't shown up.

"What's going on? He said he was going to be home for lunch, right?" Ella stared at her phone, debating on contacting him since he was already more than an hour late. "I should be working right now... but I can't help but worry." She dialled his number, but only got a busy signal.

Should I finish my meal and get back to work? But what if something happened, and they call the suite instead of me? Arg! She texted him, just in case.

She paced around the kitchen as she waited, checking her phone every few minutes.

The door burst open, and Leon came through, huffing. "I'm so... sorry... I'm late... Meeting... went long... because they were late..." He leaned over, resting his hands on his knees as he panted.

"You're okay..." she sighed, nearly dropping her phone.

"You were worried?"

"Don't you know how to pick up the bloody phone?!" she snapped at him.

He flinched back and then held his hands up. "I'm sorry. I tried to call earlier, but I got a busy signal."

"That's what texts are for..."

"You're right; I should've sent a text."

"Should've answered my text."

"You texted me?" He looked at his phone and paled. "I had the sound off, so I didn't hear it. I'm so sorry, Ella." He stumbled over and pulled her in for a tight hug. "I'll try to be more careful from now on." He couldn't help but smile, since she had actually worried about him, but he hid his expression by keeping her in the hug.

"As long as you've learned your lesson..." She hugged him back. I can't believe I worried that much. I can only imagine how much Nathan worried when I ran out... Who knows how badly he thinks of me after what I've done to him?

"Ella?" Leon held onto her shoulders as he looked into her eyes. "Are you okay?"

"Yup... Just glad you're okay. Um, I should get to work—"

"Sit and finish your lunch, please. Don't make me eat alone; defeats the purpose of coming home for lunch."

"You come home so you could eat with me?"

"Of course! Why else would I come home to eat? I know the food here is great, but it's not going to make me rush home from the other side of the city..." he trailed off, realizing he admitted more than he wanted to.

Her eyes widened. "Why would you do that? Downtown is so busy at lunch; I can only imagine how long it would take to rush back here..."

Leon tried to hide his smile, biting his cheek. "I always wanted to come home for lunch and have someone waiting there for me. Not that I want you to wait, but that you're here for me; someone to go home to."

From how his parents are, I'm going to guess he never had that as a kid.

Ella nodded. "I think I get what you mean. Seriously though, call or text if you're going to be late... and do it before you leave the building. I don't want you getting into a car accident because you were doing something stupid, like talking on the phone or texting while you're driving."

"Zeke was driving me around, but I understand your point."

If Zeke was driving him around, didn't he have time to call?

"Um... Did I say something wrong? I feel like I did..."

"Nope, it's nothing..."

Leon put his hands on her shoulders again. "If I messed up, then I messed up, but I may not always know what I did, so please tell me. Talk to me, Ella."

Ugh... fine! "If Zeke was driving you around, shouldn't you have had time to contact me?"

"After I called and got a busy signal, I ended up on another business call, which ate up most of my time. I should've gotten back to you afterwards, so I'm sorry."

"You're so busy..." She sighed. "Doesn't that burn you out?"

"Yes, and it used to get me so tired I'd waste my weekends away sleeping, but things are different now. Seeing you, and knowing you're here for me, recharges me." He smiled at her.

"Dripping sweetness..." she mumbled.

"Do you forgive me?"

"You make it hard not to."

"Thank you." He gave her a quick peck on the lips and sat down to eat. "Looks delicious." He dug in right away. "Mmm... Yup, tastes as good as it looks. Aren't you going to eat?" He nudged his head towards her chicken burger, still sitting on her plate.

She sat down with a huff and started to eat.

"So, how was work this morning?" Leon asked her.

"Shouldn't I ask you that?"

"Mine was chaotic, and yours?" He kept fishing for the details he wanted.

Ella rolled her eyes. "Yes, I called my mom. She agreed to come here, though I must warn you, she's not too enthusiastic about me being engaged again because of my past."

"It's good she agreed. Can she come this weekend?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to pick her up, or would you like me to send a car?"

"I... She can take a taxi, or rather a bus."

"We'll send a car to pick her up." Leon finished eating. "Less stress that way."

"I'll set it up..."

"Is something wrong?"

"Nope." Ella wiped the corners of her mouth to make sure her face was clean and picked up her empty plate.

"What is it?" He followed her over with his own empty plate.

"She doesn't like taxis and whatnot because she sees it as a waste of money. I mean, it's not like we didn't have any money, but she's a single mother, which can be quite hard, so she always tried to keep her expenses low." Ella washed their dishes as Leon leaned against the counter.

"I see... But we're sending the driver; she's not spending anything. By the way, if she needs money or anything, we can help her with it. Heck, we can buy her a new place wherever she wants."

"We?"

Leon shrugged. "We're going to be married; my money is your money, remember?"

I guess that means I'll be rich... I should be excited about that, but I never even think about it.

"I doubt she'd accept anything extravagant from us." Ella sighed, thinking about how many times her mother turned down help from her over the years.

"Don't worry; I know how to get her to accept it. You make sure she has no other choice. We'll have to get a place in her name though..."

"I don't think she'd want to move from her current house; a lot of memories there."

"But wouldn't she want to move closer to you if she could?"

"I guess..."

Leon looked at the time. "I wish I could stay longer, but I have to go if I want to get to my next meeting in time."

"Oh, okay."

"I'll send you the list of services I regularly use, so you can set up the normal driver. I'll see you later."

Ella turned off the water, finishing with the dishes, and turned. "Okay—"

Leon cut her off with another quick peck on the lips. "Have a good afternoon," he said, smiling as he took off.

I have a feeling he's always going to catch me off guard...