Leonardo did not respond to Summer. He looked in extreme pain, his hand clutching hers tightly as if that would his pain.
“Leonardo?” she called out when she noticed his condition. He was fine when she left just now. What put him in such a state?
Leonardo still not said a word, his breathing heavy, as if he was fighting back some kind of pain.
“Let go of me first. I’ve got to ask someone to send you to the hospital!” She could not break away from him because he was still holding on to her hand. She was sweating now.
Leonardo looked pale and fragile, yet he could still muster the strength to hold her so tightly.
“Hey, Leonardo!” Not giving up, she used her free hand to smack him.
When she did that, he grabbed this hand of hers, too. “Too noisy…” His eyes half-opened as he whispered.
Frustrated, she glared at Leonardo. He was clutching both of her hands, while half of his body was on her thighs. There was no way she could pull away. Her mobile phone was out of her reach and there seemed to be no maids passing by outside the door. She had seen no maids coming up to the first floor since she stepped into the house. If she was not mistaken, Leonardo had a strong sense of territoriality. Under normal circumstances, he would not allow the maids to encroach onto the first floor. Otherwise, she would not have to come back to collect the tray and plate from his room.
“Anyone outside? Leonardo has fainted! Your young master has passed out!”
The door was opened. She did not manage to close the door when she came in. Probably the maids downstairs would hear her call. But before she could see any maids coming up, Leonardo’s weak voice came.
“I will throw you out if you make a noise again.”
Summer looked down, lifting both of her hands, which he was still holding.
“First, you’ve got to let me go.”
He removed his hands the next second. The moment she obtained her freedom, she got back to her feet. But because of sitting back on knees with him leaning on her thighs for too long, her legs were numb. She found herself too weak to get up. With not much she could do about it, she could only straighten her legs, sitting and waiting while blood flow returned to her legs.
Meanwhile, Leonardo was in better shape than her. After letting go of her, he pulled himself up, and the overbearing Young Master Emerson in him returned. The beads of sweat on his forehead made him look a tad colder than normal.
“You can leave now.” He looked down at her.
She pressed her lips together, quirking an eyebrow as she looked up. “Young Master Emerson, shouldn’t you thank me at least like a normal person?”
Leonardo’s lips raised on both sides, but there was no smile on his face. “Unfortunately, I’m not a normal person.”
She had no word for it. She could not wrap her head around how she and this man could be together last time. He was rude and arrogant.
Not wanting to argue with him, she dragged herself up. Her legs were still a little numb. So she rested her hands on her knees to wait it over. The next second, she was carried up in the air. The sudden action stunned her, and she instinctively curled her arms around Leonardo’s neck while her eyes were wide open, looking at him.
Leonardo glanced at her and snorted with a fleeting hint of triumph in his eyes like a kid who had gotten his way.
Childish!
“This is utterly improper. Put me down!”
“We already have a child. Now you’re talking about being improper?” He carried her and headed out, sounding as if he could not have cared less yet was matter-of-fact.
She blushed as she could not believe that he was so shameless.
When Leonardo carried her coming to the door, he used his legs to open the ajar door. Right then, they saw Rosie excitedly running upstairs with a tiger soft toy in her hand.
Rosie stopped in her tracks at the upper landing, gasping for air as her eyes darted between Leonardo and Summer. The next moment, she ran toward them.
“Carry me too.”
Summer’s face was blushed, and she leaned close to his ear. “Put me down,” she said in a whisper.
As her feminine breath blew into her ear, he was almost weak at the knees and feeling something tickling inside as if some bug was crawling up and down his heart.
With Summer still in his arms, one of his hands involuntarily let off. As she dropped, she reflexively held on to his neck. Leonardo came to his senses and quickly reached to catch her by her waist, saving her from falling to the floor.
Their postures looked intimate, with Summer curling her arms around his neck and Leonardo carrying her with legs dangling in midair. She did not know whether she should compliment this man for his powerful arm or whack him for his childishness.
She would neither say it nor do it. Everything just happened in her mind. She was afraid of him.
“One minute you scold me for indecency and the next minute, you curl up with me, refusing to come down.” While he spoke, his eyes were level with hers. “Can’t you make up your mind, Ms. Jarrett?”
Gritting her teeth, she took her hands off his neck and abruptly pushed him away. At last, she could not help but give him a good kicking.
“Then listen carefully, don’t mess with a woman like me who can’t make up her mind.”
Everything happened within mere seconds. When Summer turned around, Rosie had just stood in front of them and had not seen what happened earlier. Even if she saw it, she probably had no idea what it was about.
“Aunt Jarrett,” Rosie greeted her with her sweet voice.
Rosie was a chip off the old block, yet she looked like an angel while Leonardo was the opposite.
Summer squatted down and kissed Rosie on the face. “Good girl,” she said before fleeing the scene.
Seeing Summer leaving, Rosie instinctively stepped in Summer’s direction. She then suddenly realized her purpose of going there. She tiptoed and reached out to her father. “Daddy, carry me like you carried Aunt Jarrett…”
“Is she Aunt Jarrett or Mommy?” He folded his arms.
“Aunt Jarrett.”
“Then I won’t carry you.”
Rosie creased her nose. “Mommy.”