“One,” Callum says calmly, prompting the man to scurry up from the floor, panic-stricken. “Two.” He trips a few times on his way out of the restroom, constantly looking back. “Three,” Callum says menacingly, lowering his gun to his side and watching as the man staggers and stumbles on his way. “Four.” I can’t be sure, but I’m pretty sure Callum’s eyes are laughing. The man rounds the corner and disappears from sight before Callum gets to five.
The humor I detected in his warm brown eyes is gone the second they land on me and Jess. I shrivel on the spot under his disapproval, but quickly let my spine pull me up again when the shock of his appearance from nowhere finally sinks in.
I step forward, steady and strong. “You’ve been here the whole time, haven’t you?” I ask, regarding him carefully. “Theo told you to keep an eye on me.”
His face is deadpan. “You’re welcome,” he says flatly, indicating the exit.
I’m struck dumb, part awed, but mostly mad. “Welcome?” I blurt on a laugh. He has a nerve. “I can take care of myself.”
“Looked like it.”
My teeth clench as I collect Jess’s arm and start leading her out of the restroom, pulling her back every time she looks behind. “He just saved our lives,” she murmurs dreamily. “He’s my Theo.”
My shoulders drop. “One flash of a gun and you’re anybody’s,” I grumble, dragging her on as Callum tails us through the casino. He even gets in the elevator with us, seeing us up to our room. How very kind of him.
Once I’ve let us in and Jess has had her fill of his ominous being for a few moments, I nod a polite thanks and shut the door, locking us safely inside our room.
Jess flops to the bed with a huge sigh, not nearly as shocked as she should be after seeing Callum pull out a gun. I drop my bag to the floor, undoing my dress and chucking it on my case.
“So romantic,” she muses, looking over at me pulling on a T-shirt. “Theo actually had him watch over you. I can’t believe it.”
My friend seems to have misplaced the fact that it’s also bordering on irrational. I crawl into bed and set my alarm for eight a.m., backing up the wake-up call we have scheduled from reception. “Not stalkerish at all,” I mumble under my breath, turning onto my side and falling deep into thought. He had one of his men stay in Vegas to watch me. What’s with that? I’ve only just come to terms with the fact he showed up here, and by come to terms, I mean been too utterly distracted by his attention to really think about how crazy it is. And now he’s having me tailed?
I’m about to mentally start breaking it all down in an attempt to rationalize it when my phone starts ringing. I unplug it from the charger and have a mild panic attack when I see Theo’s name flashing at me, threatening. Damn, I should have known Callum would be reporting back to him. Wait. Why am I panicking? He’s the one behaving like some kind of deranged, obsessed stalker. It’s him who needs putting in his place, not me. I sink into my pillow and answer. “Theo.”
“Izzy,” he breathes, evidently relieved, which just makes me sigh rather than launch into my intended rant.
I look across to Jess, finding her smiling excitedly, perched on the edge of her bed, intrigued by what’s going to be said. I wave a dismissive hand at her, which she totally ignores, waving one right back. “Before you give me a lecture—”
“What on earth were you thinking?”
“It was just a bit of fun,” I argue, but my tone is soft. Soothing. So much for putting him in his place. Instead, I’m finding myself naturally trying to ease his unwarranted worry. “I was kissing dice, that’s all. He seemed like a nice bloke.”
He definitely growls under his breath, and I thank the heavens that Theo wasn’t at the casino. That guy would have been exterminated in a flash. “Do you know how hard I found it to leave you in Vegas?”
And now I’m smiling. God, he’s like a sedative—a potent potion that is the cure for everything. “Enough to have Callum stay and spy on me.”
“Not spy, sweetheart. Just to make sure you get home to me safely.”
Oh, God. I flick my eyes to Jess, wondering if she’s detecting the body-melt going on over here. Home to him. That sounds so right, even with the knowledge of guns and a little mild stalking. “I guess that means you’re privy to my swimsuit-wearing crimes.”
Theo laughs softly, the familiar, deep sound igniting a fire in my tummy, making me wish that he were here. Or I were there. Unreasonable as it is, I’ve missed him these past few days. Now I’m aching with the need to see him. “You guessed right,” he says quietly. “We’ll talk about punishments when you’re home. Are you in bed?”
I turn onto my side, my head sinking into the pillow. “Yes. Talk to me until I fall asleep,” I order on a yawn.
“Is Jess there?” His voice is suddenly rough.
That alone has my thighs clenching. “Yes.”
“Then I guess that limits my scope for wearing you out.”
Oh? I glance over my shoulder to see Jess disappear into the bathroom. “You could do that over the phone?” I sound coy, and he chuckles lightly.
“I feel like I could connect with you telepathically, Izzy. That’s how in touch with you I feel.”
God, he’s on form tonight, saying all the right things. I sense he’s not happy about the happenings on the casino floor, but I also sense that he’s more relieved than mad. “Theo?” I say, looking up at the ceiling, wondering how I might word my next question.
“What?”
I hesitate for a brief moment before deciding there’s only one way. I need to know. “What’s going to happen when I get home?” It’s been playing on my mind since he tied me to the bed and rained devotion all over me, albeit in his own little way. It didn’t take any of my hunger for him away. If anything, it’s multiplied it by a million. “Apart from you punishing me for my swimsuit-wearing crimes, I mean.”
Theo laughs lightly but hesitates, and I see him in my mind’s eye brushing the length of his index finger over his cupid’s bow thoughtfully. “Us happens,” he finally says, simple and straight to the point. Except I’m not sure what us is.
“What will us be?”
“In truth, I don’t know.” He sighs. “But I’m looking forward to figuring that out. If you’re happy to come along for the ride. Are you happy to, Izzy? Do you want to explore what us could be?”
I’m sure I hear him breathe in, like he’s holding his breath, waiting for my answer. But I can’t be one hundred percent sure, because I sucked in my own breath at the same time. Explore us. I’ve had a glimpse into what I can expect, and though it defies what I know and stretches my imagination beyond what I thought I was capable of imagining, I’m certain I want to venture there again. Because it will be with Theo. “I do,” I reply quietly, smiling when I hear his exhale. “I want to,” I confirm.
“You won’t regret it,” Theo whispers. “I promise you.”
“I believe you.” I wholeheartedly do. If I could see him, I know he would be smiling. I love his smile. Softness on hardness. Light on dark.
“Good. Now get some sleep. I look forward to seeing you.” He hangs up, and I drop the phone by my side, gazing toward the window. And I admit, no matter how crazy it may seem, I’m falling hard for the dark, menacing stranger.
Chapter 11
Holy shitballs,” Jess cries as we break out of the airport into the cold air.
I shiver and pull my cardigan in, looking across the road to check how long the queue is at the taxi rank. But there’s someone blocking my view. “Callum,” I breathe. Of course he’s here.
“Hey,” Jess sings, muscling past me. She drops her case at Callum’s feet and smiles up at him. “I never got to thank you for saving my life,” she gushes, beginning to fidget when his expressionless face doesn’t crack. “Um…so…yeah…” She coughs and frowns back at me, shrugging when I shake my head in dismay. “Thank you,” she finishes, seeming to shrivel on the spot.
“I don’t believe I saved your life,” Ca
llum mutters as Jess collects her bag and retreats, coming back to me for support.
“Cold,” she mutters under her breath, slighted.
Callum stoops to pick up my bag before claiming Jess’s from her grasp. She doesn’t give it up easily. “I can manage,” she snaps, snatching it back.
“Suit yourself.” Callum brushes her stroppiness off without a shred of annoyance and wanders off toward the Mercedes parked a few meters away. I follow, glancing back at Jess lugging her case along behind her.
“What?” she asks, scowling.
“Want some help?”
“No.”
I laugh and carry on my way, smiling my thanks when Callum opens the door for me. “I’m interested,” I start, as I hold the top of the door, one foot in the car. “How does one get a gun through customs?” Callum smirks at me, but he doesn’t answer. He just shrugs. So I go on and ask another question that’s been playing on my mind. “What does Theo do for a living?”
His smirk now is gone, falling away fast. The cold, expressionless man is back. “He wants to tell you that himself.”
I can’t help my recoil, and I try to rub away the sick feeling in my stomach. He wants to tell me himself? That doesn’t sound reassuring at all. “Why?”
Once again, Callum shrugs, not answering, choosing instead to march up to Jess and seize her case. My mind races, reminding me that there is so much I don’t know about Theo Kane. And I’m quite sure I won’t like it, just like Theo said himself.
“Hey, I was doing just fine,” Jess fumes indignantly as she wrestles with Callum’s hold of her case.
“Put a lid on it, woman.”
I hang on the door, my eyes going back and forth between the pair of them, watching them fight over the luggage. Of course, Callum wins easily, leaving Jess scowling at him indignantly as he literally throws her case in the boot and slams it shut.
“Hey,” she cries. “Be careful, you big oaf.”
Callum tenses, his patience obviously wearing thin, his warm brown eyes flashing with frustration, his hand raking through his blond waves. He gives me an exasperated look, and I give him an apologetic one. “She’s tired.” I make Jess’s excuse for her. “Grumpy.”
“Should have left that scumbag to slap the insolence out of her,” he gripes, turning toward Jess. “Get in.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
I sigh, growing as exasperated as Theo’s friend. She’s being difficult just for the sake of it, not wanting to lose face. Callum strides over to her, taking her arm and leading her to the car, and she splutters and protests the whole way, kicking up a stink to the point people start looking. I slink into the car and shut the door, embarrassed, as she falls into the seat beside me.
“Arsehole,” she spits, throwing herself back in the seat, huffing and puffing all over the car.
“You’re such a princess.”
She scoffs and arranges her bag on her lap. “He can be a gentleman when it suits him.”
“You call holding a gun at someone’s head gentlemanly?” Why isn’t she shocked? I had a mini meltdown when I first encountered Theo’s weapon.
Jess grins, nibbling her bottom lip. “I want him to hold a gun to my head.” Her stare roots to the back of Callum, and I snigger on the inside, just catching Callum’s eye in the rearview mirror. He looks a little bewildered, probably cursing Theo to hell and back for setting him up for this.
* * *
The drive from the airport is uneventful, though I sense tension past my own state of contemplation. Us happens. I smile to myself as we pull up outside our apartment, and Callum carries our cases into the hallway.
“Here.” He hands me a black box, secured with a pretty red ribbon.
“What’s this?” I ask, staring down at the embossed card as I toy with one of the lengths of ribbon. After a few moments, Callum hasn’t answered, and I look up and see him getting in the car. Jess is quickly on my back, trying to get a peek of what’s in my hand.
“Is it from him?” she asks, her eyes dancing with excitement. I’m not excited, more…apprehensive.
I move through to the kitchen, Jess hot on my heels, and take a seat at the table, placing the box before me. And I stare at it.
“Open it, then,” Jess drops down into a chair, pushing the box toward me. “What are you waiting for?”
I start chewing my lip, sitting back. There’s a tag on the corner, facing down so I can’t see what’s written there. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s just a gift. But what could it be? I reach forward tentatively, like the box could bite me, and flick over the tag. I have to tilt my head to read the text.
Welcome home x
“Aww.” Jess slaps a hand over her heart, coming over all dreamy. “For such a fuck-off big, scary thing, he’s quite romantic.”
I smile down at the box, curious and still very apprehensive. “What do you think it could be?” I ask, still avoiding diving in and ripping it open.
“Oh, wait,” she says, and I look up to see her eyes closed, her fingers at her temples. And she’s humming.
I reach over and slap her shoulder. “All right, smart arse.”
“Open it.” Jess pokes the box over to me again, and I load my lungs with air and start pulling the pretty bow free until it pools around the box. Flicking my eyes up to Jess, I smile when she encourages me on with an impatient look. I pull off the lid and peek inside, finding a note atop a pile of satin. I take the note and unfold it, reading the lines Theo has written.
I’ve missed you terribly.
Understand it?
Me either.
I hope you accept graciously.
Theo x
My damn heart melts in my chest as Jess plucks the note from my hand and gushes all over the table, oohing and ahhing, her hand back on her chest.
“Oh my goodness.” She sighs, watching as I reach inside the box, smiling like crazy. “That face.” She points at my reddening cheeks. “Jesus, Izzy, you’re fucking glowing.”
“We’ve just got off the plane from Vegas,” I point out in a silly defense tactic that has my friend laughing her socks off. She has every right to. I’m well and truly buzzing with the knowledge that he’s missed me, my veins warming as they pump blood to my pounding heart. I take out the satin-wrapped parcel, lay it on the table, and begin to pull each corner out until the sheet of luxury fabric is laid flat on the table, revealing…
“What the hell is that?” Jess asks, leaning in closely.
I’m damned if I know. Cocking my head, suddenly afraid to touch the unknown object, I try to fathom what it is exactly we’re looking at. I figure out there’s a cuff of some sort, lined with…
“Is that velvet?” Jess reaches forward and runs a finger around the inner circumference of the cuff, and it’s then I notice a matching one, sitting neatly underneath.
“There’s two.”
“And there’s some kind of gold bangle attached to each of them.” She picks one up, and we both watch as she lifts it slowly.
Realization slams into me. “Oh…” I breathe, recoiling in my chair.
Understanding must dawn on Jess a split second later, because she gasps and drops the cuff to the table. “Oh my fucking God,” she shrieks, standing up abruptly. “It’s bondage gear.”
“They’re cuffs.” I pick one up, playing with it thoughtfully. The leather of the cuff is soft, the velvet lining even softer, but the thick gold hoop attached to it is solid and hard. “He’s worried he hurt me when he tied me up.” I fall into a daze, continuing to study the pretty accessory, feeling it and slipping it over my wrist. I smile. “Perfect fit,” I muse.
“Wow,” Jess splutters, dropping back into her chair. “You’re falling for a sadomasochist.”
I giggle, despite myself. Her statement is grossly inaccurate. “He is not a sadomasochist.”
She eyes me, her lips puckering. “But you are falling for him?”
I note my error and start to correct it, but Jess hol
ds up her hand to shut me up before I can begin. “We’ll get to that in a minute. I’m more concerned about this.” She waggles a finger at the box.
I take the other cuff and place them together on the table, admiring them. “He isn’t a sadomasochist,” I reiterate, knowing I’m right. “He wants me to wear these so he can’t hurt me.” I look up to Jess. “He’s worried I’ll touch him and he won’t be prepared for it during…” I let my words fade and let Jess draw the right conclusion. She nods, both in understanding and for me to continue. “Theo’s senses are heightened to movements. Other people’s movements. I think he’s taught himself to be super aware over the years. He always catches my hands before I can touch him, and he takes control of my movement, putting them where I intended. He says he’s hypersensitive to me and he’s worried he won’t have that advantage when we’re in bed together.”
“So you can’t touch him when you’re…you know…doing it.”
“You’re such a prude.” I laugh.
“I’m not.” Jess picks up one of the cuffs and studies it. “I’m just not into kinky stuff.”
“It’s not kinky. It’s a necessity.” I take my gift back and tuck it neatly into the box. “I can’t touch him at all. At least, not without him expecting and controlling it.”
She pouts to herself, her mind obviously racing. Welcome to my world, Jess. “I wonder what would happen?”
My hands falter, enough for her to notice and conclude that I’m as curious about that as she is. “I need to unpack.” I leave Jess at the table and make my way through to my bedroom, flopping on the bed with my box. And as I stare up at the ceiling, I daydream. I daydream, hope, and pray that one day Theo will be comfortable enough to give me free rein over his body. Until then, I guess I should get used to being tied up.
Chapter 12
For once, I’m not complaining about the heat in the hospital. I haven’t warmed up since I left Vegas. God, eight hours at work and my holiday already feels like eons ago, and the urge to tip a bucket of water over Jess’s head this morning, when she smugly collected her coffee before going back to bed, was unbearably hard to resist. Her first shift back at work is the red-eye shift, the lucky cow. I, however, was up and out of the house by five thirty, more or less sobbing my way to work. I feel like I’ve been awake for years.
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