by Amy Daws
“Hang on. I’ll just throw my dress on.”
“No way,” he says, grabbing my phone-clasped hand and pulling me to the door.
“What do you mean, no way?”
“I like you like this. Then I know you’re not going to run.” He smirks, but there’s a sadness pulling at his eyes that makes my heart hurt. I decide not to argue and follow him down the narrow staircase.
He flicks the light on and the fluorescents flash once and then cast a cool, greenish glow over everything. It’s a large room with particle board flooring covered in sawdust.
“Slip those on,” he points to a pair of leather slip-on loafers. I oblige and giggle at my tiny feet in his huge shoes. He smirks at me. “Well, this is it.”
There’s a long wooden workshop table right down the middle of the room. It’s covered with several pieces of rough, untouched wood and electrical tools and machinery. The far wall features several wooden pieces similar to ones in Theo’s apartment at various stages of development.
“That’s the showroom over there,” he says, gesturing to another door.
“You sell it here too?”
“Well, it’s not like a retail store. It’s appointment-only kind of sales. My brother Hayden does all that.”
“So, it’s a family business?”
“Sort of. This is a separate entity. My dad has a large furniture distribution center in Essex. He runs that with my Granddad. They sell more commercial items, mass market stuff to hotels and chain restaurants. This is just a custom branch we started about five years ago.”
“How old are you, Theo?” I ask, once again reminded of how little I know about a man who’s just been so intimate with me.
“Thirty. How old are you, Leslie?”
“I’m twenty-six, going on sixteen,” I state snarkily. “I didn’t know I was dating old balls though!” He laughs heartily and I lose my faux serious expression, instantly enjoying the sound of his laugh as he props his arms on the long workshop table. The muscles in his back glisten in the light at his hunched stance. I catch a glimpse of that tattoo up the back of his arm again.
“You like working with your brother? Do you have any other siblings?” I ask casually, trying to dig deeper. I awkwardly crawl up onto the metal stool next to him, attempting to keep the blanket tight around my chest.
He looks down nervously clearing his throat. “My sister Daphney just finished her A-Levels—she’s working with my dad. My mom is home fulltime now.”
I nod and smile.
“What about your family?” he asks, turning and hoisting himself up onto the high table.
“What about them?” I ask, feeling uncomfortable now that I’m under the spotlight. My family is not the picture perfect family to chat about.
“Siblings?”
“A brother. We’re not very close,” I say simply.
“What about your parents? They must miss you now that you’re living so far from home.”
I think about that statement for a moment. Do my parents miss me? They sure don’t act like it. I really only ever speak with my mom, and even then, she doesn’t mention anything about me coming back. Things have changed so much between us.
I shrug my shoulders, giving him a non-answer. He eyes me curiously. Deciding a change of subject is in order, I slide off the stool and position myself between his legs. He smiles softly at me brushing my bangs back once again. I was planning to get them trimmed again but the feel of him doing that all the time is so wonderful I’m reconsidering.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?”
I shrug again and bite my lip. Mustering up all the courage I can, I release the blanket to the floor. He sucks in a harsh breath and eyes me gravely.
“Leslie.”
“Theo.”
“There’s dangerous machinery in here.”
“I know.” I wag my eyebrows at him and glance down to his growing groin area.
“You are…” he pauses, looking curiously at me for a moment. “Are you sure you’re real?”
“One way to find out,” I whisper, grabbing his neck and pulling him to my mouth, losing myself in his drugging kiss.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
“Hey,” I whisper-answer my phone when Finley’s number comes up on my caller ID.
“You okay?” she asks with an edge to her voice.
“Yeah, I’m cool. You?”
“I’m fine, Lez. I’m not the one who’s not at home right now! Mind telling me where you are?”
“I think you already know that answer, Finny.” I drop my voice to a quiet whisper, attempting to conceal myself in Theo’s kitchen so my voice doesn’t carry up to his loft. It’s only eight o’clock and the blazing sunlight and my dumb phone vibrating woke me up again, forcing me out of our cozy love nest upstairs.
“I do know the answer,” she snickers. “Was it good? Did it happen after midnight?”
“What? And yes. I mean…wait, midnight? Why midnight?”
“The final step in the cleanse! Today is day seven. If you did it after midnight last night, then you completed the one-night stand in Frank’s cleanse! That was the last one!”
I scowl and turn to glance upstairs, feeling nervous. I nearly choke when I see a half-naked Theo standing right next to me. Holy shit, how did he sneak up on me like that?
“Fin, I gotta go,” I say, quickly taking in the thunderous expression on his face.
“One-night stand,” he barks, before I can even manage to end the call.
“Why are you sneaking up on me?” I cringe away from the anger radiating off his sexy body.
“Answer me, Leslie!”
“I didn’t hear a question!” I grip the blanket around me tightly, feeling uncomfortable being so naked when he’s acting like this.
“Was I a fucking one-night stand?” he roars and I flinch at the deafening volume.
His tone and his question infuriate me. After everything we shared last night and everything he said to me when we were having sex, this takes the fucking cake. Gaping at him for just a second, I storm past him—purposefully smacking his shoulder with mine. I grab my dress up off the floor and fling it over my head.
“What are you doing?” he asks, grabbing my arm and whirling me around to look at him. His stubble is even longer this morning and his serious eyes look tense and wary behind his glasses.
“I’m calling a cab,” I say flatly. It’s taking everything I have to maintain a level head right now, but my red-headed temper is rearing her ugly head—and she’s pissed as fuck.
“You’re not leaving,” he cries dramatically. “You just got here!” He scrubs his hands over his hair and looks around panicky.
Feeling dejected and overwhelmed by him thinking so little of me, I shove my arms into my sleeves. My eyes prickle with tears and I feel pissed for feeling emotional. I toss the blanket on the couch and glance around for my shoes.
I look up and Theo’s eyeing me nervously, trying to gauge what’s happening right now. My shield is slammed securely in place. He is not getting to me. I refuse to let him bulldoze me into feeling like a bad person right now. If he wants to think so little of me—that shit’s on him. Not. Me. I sniff hard, mentally pulling my tears back inside of me.
I attempt to not ogle his rippling muscles as he starts pacing angrily across the living room floor. He rubs his hands over his buzzed hair anxiously and looks at me with a raw, desperate expression.
“This took so much for me, Leslie. So much! You don’t even know!” he stops and looks anxious as I slide my feet into my shoes and throw my purse on my shoulder. Now frantic, he takes a huge gulp of air and holds it tight and high in his chest. I stare at him, waiting for a loud exhale because it seems strange to talk to someone when they aren’t breathing. After nearly a whole minute, his face starts blotching with red because he still hasn’t exhaled. Holy fuck, why isn’t he breathing?
“Theo, breathe!” I cry, feeling scared to death and dropping my purse to the grou
nd. I run over and shove my hands into his chest and the momentum forces him to whoosh out a huge swarm of air. My heartrate thunders beneath my chest as he gasps for breath and grips my arms pleadingly.
“Why did you do that?” I ask, flashing my eyes between his quickly, unsure which eye will tell me more.
“You can’t leave, Leslie. Please,” he croaks.
That word again.
“I’m not leaving, Theo,” I reply, knowing there’s no way I can possibly walk away from him in this moment. “But you can fuck off if you think that what we did last night was a one-time thing for me.” He purses his lips and nods acquiescingly.
“I’m sorry,” he rushes out and kisses me chastely on the lips. It feels uncomfortable and forced. I hate it. I grab his cheeks in my hands, my eyes roving over his entire face.
“What’s going on?” I ask again and he shakes his head pleadingly at me, like he’s begging me not to ask.
“I don’t want to tell you, Leslie,” he groans and hugs me. My cheek hits his bare chest and his heart is hammering rapidly. What is going on?
“Theo, I need to know why you’re freaking out. You’re scaring me!” Why did he do that to himself?
“I’m sorry. I’m not crazy, I swear. I thought I was better,” he says, and his voice cracks at the end. I pull away from him and see tears slip down his face.
“Better from what?”
He sighs, clearly warring with himself on what to say next.
“Not now, Leslie. Please. Not yet. I just got you here. I can’t get into it all. I promise you, it’s okay. I’m okay. I’m not scary. Do you truly feel afraid of me?”
His eyes bear into mine, raw and vulnerable, telling me so much more than words can say. Despite myself, I believe him. I’m not scared of him or what he’s not telling me.
“You’ll tell me someday?” I ask quietly.
His nod is almost imperceptible. “Can we just go back to bed…please?”
That damn word. I pull him into me, hugging away his pain and he leads me under his arm, back upstairs. We reach the bed and he pulls my dress off over my head and tucks me in. He slides his pants off and sets his glasses on the nightstand, then crawls in behind me, spooning me skin-to-skin. I pull his hand up to my mouth and kiss it, feeling his breathing begin to regulate again. Mine slows with his ‘til eventually, sleep takes me.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
I wake a short while later, glancing at the clock. It’s after ten. Shit. I really need to get home. I roll over and am greeted by a smiling Theo.
“Hey, you’re awake. Did you not sleep?”
“Yeah, I did. I just woke up a bit ago.”
“And you’re watching me sleep. You creepy bastard.” I giggle and nuzzle into his chest. Damn this feels so right.
“I was just thinking about that night at Shay…when you blew me off.” He snickers, dropping a soft kiss into my mess of wild auburn hair.
“Oh God, don’t remind me of that night ever again.”
“Um, that’s not going to be possible because that night was unforgettable.”
I groan and cover my face.
“You were so fucking beautiful, Leslie.”
“Oh yeah,” I reply sardonically. “A beautiful orgasming-hussie climaxing on a stranger’s leg.”
“I resent that.”
“Resent it all you want. That was the single most embarrassing moment of my life.”
His chest vibrates with mirth. “I’m glad I got to be a part of it.” He bites his lower lip playfully. “You have no idea what that did to me,” he starts, and I frown, wondering where he’s going with this.
He rolls over onto his back, staring at a spot on the ceiling. I prop my head on my hand, listening intently. “I’d been in such a fog for three whole years—a state of numbness. And then I saw you…” he says, smirking as if remembering a private joke. “You were dancing like nobody was watching. You weren’t trying to look cool or sexy, you were just laughing. You were laughing so bloody hard I found myself laughing with you! I was drawn to you.” He looks at me seriously. “I was desperate to know you. To know what kind of person can be that incredibly happy.”
I gape at him. Is he fucking with me right now?
He ignores my stunned expression and continues, “And then when I touched you, it was like your body was hardwired to mine. Every movement, every flick…every adjustment…you were so…” he pauses, grinning mischievously, “Responsive.”
I smack his chest and he laughs buoyantly. It’s a great deep resonance that stirs the warm fuzzies inside of me. “I knew then I had to have you.” He pulls me down onto his chest, kissing the top of my head.
“Sorry I made you work so hard,” I whisper, feeling slightly ashamed of my behavior. God, how many times did I run from him?
“You’re worth it,” he says, seriously, trailing his fingers languidly up and down my spine. I feel a familiar stirring in my core and know that if I don’t get out of this bed soon I’ll be here for another couple of hours. Plus, I don’t know how many more compliments I can take. It all gets to be a bit much for me to accept.
“As much as I love this walk down memory lane, I really have to be going.”
“No,” he groans and squeezes me into him.
“I’m afraid so. I just got back from vacation and have so much work to catch up on.”
“Can I see you tonight?” he asks nervously. I look up at him to stroke my hand along his whiskered jawline.
“Yeah! You want to come over to mine maybe?”
“Definitely,” he kisses my fingertips, tracing his lips. “You have time for a shower? Please?”
Well, only because he asked nicely.
***
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
I feel like I’m about to do the walk of shame as I pull my dress from yesterday on over my freshly-showered body.
“I said you could have some of my clothes,” Theo says, strolling into the bathroom while tugging his shirt down over himself. I feel a brief moment of sadness at his covered body, but shit, he looks just as hot in jeans and a t-shirt, so I guess I’ll deal.
“That’s an even worse walk of shame…to flounce home in another man’s baggy clothes.”
“Not another man. Your man.” I look up quickly at the label he’s just slapped on us so brazenly. My knee-jerk reaction is to resist the title and get the hell out of here. I’m battling against all my old insecurities about being under a man’s thumb because I think Theo could be the exception for me. At least I hope so.
“My man?”
He looks at me incredulously. “I’d prefer it!”
I shrug my shoulders. “Okay, okay…my man. Keep your shirt on.” He flashes a dazzling smile and grabs me roughly on the sides, pulling me into him. I squeal at the assault on my ribs and he laughs down happily at me.
“I thought you liked me with my shirt off.”
“Mmm, I do. This is quite a pickle we’re in.” I bite my lip and stroke my hands over his pecks appreciatively. Needing something, anything, to distract me, I look around his bathroom taking in the all-white tile on the walls. “There’s a lot of white in your place. Not much color. Are you opposed to color?”
“I like red,” he says, nuzzling his mouth into my neck.
“You like red…” I repeat sarcastically. “Let’s get moving you cheeky bastard.”
We head down the stairs to his garage, laughing obnoxiously at a redhead joke I shared. Just as we reach the bottom, a taller, more slender version of Theo strolls in casually.
“Theo—” The man pauses, and stops mid-greeting, looking at me in obvious surprise.
“Hayden,” Theo responds in a clipped tone, all his humor and lightness evaporated in seconds. He looks up at me uncomfortably and I blanch at his expression. “Uh, this…this is Leslie.” He introduces us but doesn’t move to let me down the stairs to shake his hand or anything.
Hayden continues to stare at me with his jaw dropped. Jesus, wh
at the hell? Do I have fangs or something?
“Sorry, right. Hi Leslie,” he says, shaking off his stupor and reaching awkwardly past a stiffened Theo to offer his hand to me. I give him a quick onceover and smile brightly. “I’m the brother.”
“Oh! You’re Theo’s brother. Of course! Nice to meet you!” I say, looking more closely at him now. They look a lot alike. Hayden’s clothes are quite a bit sloppier though, and his demeanor makes him appear younger. He doesn’t really exude that air of mystery and confidence that Theo does. Although, looking closely at Hayden’s face, it seems like it looks aged beyond his years. Long and haggard somewhat—like he’s hungover.
“We have to go,” Theo says, broodingly, and turns his back on his brother. He motions for me to go through the door first. He looks at me expectantly and I glance back at Hayden apologetically while I head into the garage.
Theo and Hayden exchange a few words while I stand awkwardly by his car. He then comes out and opens the door for me. I get in, wondering what’s up with him right now. As he navigates through the busy streets of London, I start feeling offended about how that introduction went. I can’t figure out why he was so reluctant to let me meet his brother! He goes from calling himself ‘my man’ in the bathroom to acting ashamed to introduce me to his family. I know we’re still new in whatever relationship we have going on right now, but that’s just bloody rude!
“How old is your brother?” I ask, tearing Theo’s pensive attention away from his thoughts and back to me.
“Twenty-four.”
“That’s quite young to be running the business side of things all on his own.”
“He’s not all on his own. My parents help him a lot.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you help Hayden?”
“No. I just make the orders. I have zero interest or time to manage the business side of things. Besides, Hayden needs to learn how to help himself.”
What the hell does that mean?
“You know, I’d rather not talk about my brother. You don’t need to worry about him.”
