Theo in a deep red suit with a black tie, standing next to a girl with long blond hair, dressed in a strapless black dress. Maybe a school dance. I smile.
“Your band,” I whisper as my fingers wipe away the dust from the black and white photo of The Derby performing on stage. Just like the video Nolan showed me, Theo is zoned into his guitar.
He wasn’t alwaysthe law. Theo lived a normal childhood. He had girlfriends, loving parents, and a beautiful life. It’s so perfectly… heartbreaking.
I turn and study the vulnerable version ofmyTheodore Reed perched at the end of his bed, hands fisted on his jean-clad legs.
“You had a normal life.” I exhale a whisper of a laugh. “I think. Actually, I’m not sure I know what that means. I never had normal. Nothing about me has ever been relatable. Oscar told me to just be me. I’ll be thirty-two next month, and I still haven’t got a clue who I am.” I roll my lips between my teeth, easing my way to Theo. His mouth stays firm; his eyes sparkle with something hopeful.
He grabs my hips and straddles me over his lap. I lace my fingers together behind his neck.
“Maybe you could just be mine—the naked body I worship, the mouth that sucks my—”
“Stop!” I pinch his lips together like a duck’s. His grin makes my grip on them slip.
“No gag reflex.” He shakes his head.
I shove him back on the bed. His body vibrates with laughter. I’ll let him make crude comments all day if it means I’m rewarded with smiles and his endearing chuckles—so uncontrolled and innocent.
My face hurts. I think my grin could crack it.
Theo squeezes my legs with a firm grip. “Scarlet Stone?”
There it is again.
His voice.
My name.
It forms a lump in my throat and makes my eyes burn with tears.
“Hmm?”
“I don’t deserve you.”
My grin chases the tears away. “You really don’t.”
“Can we keep that little secret just between the two of us?”
Twisting my lips, I cock my head to the side. “Yes. But I’ll need it in writing.”
“In writing?”
I nod. He interlaces his fingers behind his head. It makes his white T-shirt pull up just enough to expose a few centimeters of his abs.
“Like a contract?”
I shake my head. “Something morepermanent.”
His right eyebrow peaks. “Such as?”
I trace my finger along the wide waistband of his black briefs, to the left of his happy trail. His erection grows firm, inching closer to my finger. My lips curl into a smirk that matches his. His muscles tense, tipping his pelvis up a bit as if he thinks I don’t already see how turned on he is right now.
“Right here.” My finger dips under the waistband.
He groans as I tease his skin so close to where he’s most begging for my touch.
“This is where I want you to put inpermanentwriting that you don’t deserve me.”
