It’sTheo. I don’t care that I noticed he has a tattoo of his mom’s name in the midst of a field of roses on one bicep, or how intriguing theyou are enoughin script on his other bicep amidst a field of thorns is. I don’t care that I was mistakenly intrigued by him before I realized who he was at the pool.
And I don’t care if he’s saving every stray cat on this island himself.
For Emma’s sake, I need to leave my feelings out of it and see what’s going on in this room. Figure out how to solve it. Make sure Theo doesn’t get caught by the resort staff with animals in his room.
I don’t know how he got them in here. Or why. But it doesn’t matter.
The point is thathe cannot get caught with animals here.
I probably owe it to Emma to investigate, but I’m reasonably certain the reaction my ovaries are having to listening to Theo baby-talk kittens—no matter how much I’d rather that was a woman so that I could dislike him—puts my own self-preservation momentarily higher.
I dart back across the tropical rug and past the worn ivory couch and chair set in the living room to the bathroom just outside the first bedroom.
And yes, my eyes totally snag on the bag of knitting next to the rumpled bed inside that bedroom.
And the ring light stand.
And the ridiculously large present wrapped in silver bell wedding paper. And by ridiculous, I do meanridiculous. At least two feet on every side.
Theo’s voice is muffled by the other door, but I can still hear the soft tones, and it’s causing definite issues for me in the lower belly area.
But whowouldn’tbe a little soft toward a guy who’d baby-talk kittens? And those weredefinitelykitten sounds.
Unless he’s screwing with me.
Dammit.
He is.
He’s screwing with me. And I almost fell for it.
Like I’ll let on that I fell for it.
I dive back into the bathroom, go against every bit of training I’ve gotten since I was old enough to remember the phrasewe’re in a drought, Delaney, don’t waste water, and turn on the water full-force while I grab my phone and open my texts.
Talking to Emma is out of the question.
But talking to Sabrina?
This is a must.
Hey. You around? I have…a situation.
Sabrina
Join the club, hon. Where are you?
Theo’s bathroom.
Sabrina
WHAT?
Not like that. Em asked me to babysit and staying in his bungalow is the most efficient way to do it. Bigger question—she said you’re mad at him. What’s up?
Sabrina
Are you serious? Which one of us has held a deep-seated grudge against him since the Ugly Heiress incident? Which one of us got drunk to recover from the suspicion that his naked boob blanket-cape that he wore all over town was ordered from her parents’ company? Which one of us still talks about how her only fender-bender in her entire life was courtesy of Theo and his old beater truck? And YOU are asking ME if there’s a reason I’m mad at Theo?
