Chapter 10 - Home with Leo

Leo woke up the next morning feeling completely relaxed. He felt some sort of warmth beside him and moved up comfortably towards the source. It felt so good. He lazily opened his eyes to a familiar room, his room. But there was something off about it.

The first thing he noticed was a set of beautiful dark blond hair cascading down a pillow. He dropped his gaze towards his body and saw that his arm was wrapped around her delicate waist. He reached for her hips and pulled her back against him when it suddenly hit. Mia was in his bed! And apparently he was spooning with her too. Holy Shit.

Suddenly the door swung open. "Bro, I thought we could go shoot some...damn!"

Leo immediately tightened his arm around her waist and shifted his position to cover her.

"Max, do you mind? Get the hell out!" he yelled with a sleepy voice.

"Okay sorry, I'm out. How was I supposed to know you brought some chick home? You're insane by the way." At that Max left and shut the door.

Leo turned around to look at Mia, and saw that her cheeks were heating in embarrassment. At least her back was to the door so Max hadn't seen her entirely.

"Mia, I'm so sorry. I must've fallen asleep...you okay? That was my pesky brother by the way."

She turned around to face him and rubbed her eyes. "Yeah, I'm okay. I figured as much. Sounds like a fun guy," she chuckled.

Leo smiled. "Yeah, he is. How are you feeling? You look...better," he said tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and cupping her cheek. Not better, gorgeous. How could she look this good in the morning? And how did he get so lucky to wake up with her laughing in his bed?

She leaned into the palm of his hand and sighed. "A lot better actually. Better than I deserve. I just hope I'll be able to walk now."

"You weren't enjoying me carrying you around everywhere?" Leo grinned.

Mia laughed. "That was...nice. But you can't keep carrying me forever."

I wish I could. "I didn't mind...do you want to try it out?" He got off the bed and offered her his hand.

She took a deep breath and took it. She hesitantly placed her feet on the floor and slowly stood up. She winced in anticipation of the pain, but it didn't seem to come. "I think I'll be alright. I only feel a slight aching I'll be capable of handling," she smiled.

"I told you, you would. Remember?" Leo couldn't help picking her up in a bear hug before giving her a swirl and placing her back on the bed. She was in one piece again. "Are you hungry?"

"Starving." Her stomach seemed to agree because it gurgled at the same time and she laughed.

"I'll be right back."

Leo walked straight into the kitchen. Max was sitting in a barstool chair munching on some food the cook was preparing and chatting away with the housekeeper. As he entered, they all stopped to give him a sly look.

"Can you all calm down? It's not what it looks like," Leo tried to explain.

Max snorted. "Sure, Leo. Whatever you say man."

"Look, it was an emergency okay?"

"Hey, you don't have to explain anything to me. She's cute though. I would have brought her home too if I could."

"Mind your own business. And she's not just some chick," he argued, noting his remark from earlier.

At his comment, Max shot him a look of disbelief. "Well, I'll be damned little brother. I think hell just froze over. Now I know why you begged me for those concert tickets."

Leo rolled his eyes and looked over at the housekeeper. She was looking back at him in absolute joy. She handed him over a shopping bag. "Encontré tu nota."

"Gracias, Carmen! Eres la mejor. Almuerzo en la terraza?"

She nodded in return.

Leo walked back towards his room with a chuckle and shaking his head. Everyone seemed to think he was losing it. Except Carmen, at least she seemed happy for him.

He found Mia still sitting contently on his bed. God, he could get used to that sight.

"Esto es para ti, guapa." He placed a blue Zara paper bag in front of her.

"Leo, what is this?" she asked, puzzled.

"Clothes silly...so you can get dressed. I figured you would want to wear something that wasn't soaked in alcohol."

"This is crazy! When did you even..."

"Don't worry about it. Just thank Carmen later. I'll let you change." He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and went to the dresser to grab some clothes for himself before leaving the room.

*****

Mia peeked into the bag. She pulled out a pair of jeans, a black top, a matching pair of bra and panties, and even some really cute white tennis shoes. It was definitely too much. She checked the sizes of the clothes and was amazed to find they were spot on. How did he know?

Curiosity aside, she popped off the tags and quickly dressed. The clothes fit quite well on her, and she even thought it looked like something she would normally wear and buy for herself. Maybe she should do a little shopping one of these days. After all, clothes from Zara were always trendy and affordable in Spain. So far her day was looking up.

They had lunch on the terrace and she felt like she was back home in Mexico. She couldn't remember the last time she had a home cooked full-course meal like that. She took a bite out of the patatas revueltas Leo had served her and it was exquisite. She was just about to tell him how much she was enjoying the meal, when two young children ran up to the table and jumped on him.

"Leo!" the girl screamed as she climbed over him, and the boy settled at his side pulling on his arm. They both had blond silky hair and were clearly twins.

He laughed. "What are you two trouble-makers up to?"

The little girl looked down and shrugged. "Nothin'..." she said innocently.

"Nothing? Hmmm...I hardly believe that's true," Leo said tickling her.

She giggled. "It's true, Leo!"

Mia stared in astonishment at the adorable scene evolving in front of her. Just judging by the short interaction, the amount of affection between them was clear.

"Do you guys want to meet Mia? You're going to just love her," Leo said.

The girl nodded and the boy peeked up curiously at Mia as if he had just noticed her.

"Mia, these little monsters are Sofia and Nico. They're my younger siblings."

"So nice to meet you. Aren't you the cutest little things," Mia said warmly.

"C'mon guys don't be rude to our guest. Go give Mia a kiss," Leo said as he put Sofia down and nudged Nico forward. They both quickly complied and Mia bent down to receive two big kisses on the cheek.

Nico then turned around to look at Leo. "Is Mia your girlfriend?" he asked.

Leo glanced over at Mia before responding, and she felt her heart flutter. "Well...she's certainly a girl and my friend," he said.

Nico didn't seem to understand because he had a confused look on his face. "How come we've never met her before?" he pressed.

"I don't know. I invited her over several times but she never wanted to come," Leo joked.

"Leo! Don't say such things," Mia interjected.

He laughed. "They know I'm kidding. Right guys?"

They both nodded in unison, even though they clearly weren't following the conversation.

"Leo? Carmen said mommy and daddy are coming home tomorrow. Is it true?" Sofia suddenly asked.

"Yes, it is. So you won't have to miss them much longer, okay princess?" he responded stroking her hair.

Sofia's face lit up. "Do you want to come play the Wii with us?"

"Why don't you ask Mia first?" Leo said.

She turned around and repeated the question to Mia.

"Of course I do, sweetie," she smiled.

"Go start it up and we'll meet you there soon," Leo said. He had barely finished the sentence when they both screamed in excitement and ran off.

Mia smiled watching them until they disappeared from her sight. "I can't believe you didn't tell me about them. They're adorable," she said.

"Yeah, they always make my day. I just feel bad they don't get to spend so much time with my parents since they travel all the time. It's part of the reason I decided to come back home."

"Well, they're lucky to have you. You can tell they really look up to you."

"I guess with the age difference it's inevitable. Sometimes I feel like they're my own kids and not brother and sister."

"I think I know what you mean. One of my uncles also had twins much later on after already having four children so the older ones pretty much took care of them. You know, my dad is also a twin, I guess it runs in the family."

"I can't imagine what it would be like to have two Mia's running around. Now that I would like to see," Leo said smiling.

Mia smiled back but felt an unease grow inside her. She quickly pushed it back, not letting her thoughts come to fruition. "So how about that Wii, huh? Get ready to get schooled in tennis."

"Oh, we'll see about that."