Half an hour later, Theo’s proximity was no longer forefront of my mind as I got lost in our discussion about the script.
“You need to add the sex scene here. It’s the perfect transition between the scene where she’s emotional and exhausted by the dead end she’s met on the case, and then the scene after the intimate interlude, where she’s compartmentalizing and being strong. The sex scene fits perfectly between those two moments.”
Theo rubbed his eyebrow in thought. “I think it’s gratuitous. You don’t see that sex scene on the page in the book, Ms. Fade to Black. So why should we put it in the show?”
It was true I mostly didn’t write sex on the page, but I also didn’t always fade to black either. “But Juno thinks about the sex with Cameron as they’re changing afterward.” Cameron is Juno’s friend-with-benefits in book one. She’s a total commitment-phobe because of her past and her job. “She’s impatient to get away from him. It surprises me that you don’t understand what’s going on in this scene.”
Hearing my frustration, Theo quirked an eyebrow. “Well, explain it slowly, little mouse, so my feeble brain can comprehend.”
Ignoring his tone, I continued, “She thinks to herself how Cameron’s constantly asking her if this or that is getting her off, if she wants this, if she wants that, does she like this … it kills her desire.”
Theo frowned. “Later in book three or four, she has sex with that ex-criminal who is dominant and aggressive, and she gets off on it.”
“Exactly!” I was so into our discussion, it didn’t even occur to me to be embarrassed we were talking about sex. “She spends all day every day in this traditionally masculine role, being the boss, making decisions, carrying this tremendous weight of responsibility on her shoulders. Sex is the one place she doesn’t want to make decisions or think.”
“She just wants to be fucked,” he murmured.
Pink heat hit my cheeks and I looked hurriedly back at the laptop. Damn it. “Aye, pretty much.”
I could feel him staring at me. “Okay. I understand where you’re coming from. That this facet of her personality is important?—”
“For women, in particular.”
“Right. Well, we can talk about working it into the script in a way we’re both comfortable with.”
“Okay.” I chanced a glance at him. His eyebrows furrowed in thought as his gaze searched my face. “What?”
“Is that what you like in bed?” Theo asked matter-of-factly. “To be dominated?”
The old me would have stuttered in mortification and, unable to find an excuse to leave, would have fled the scene. The new me clenched her fists and forced herself to stay seated.
“You don’t have to answer, little mouse. I was merely curious as to where Juno comes from.”
Perhaps it was his use of my nickname or the idea that he didn’t see me as a woman beyond the pen behind Juno, but I straightened in my chair, causing our shoulders to brush. “I’ll tell you if you tell me something real about you.” I repeated my words from the diner. So far I only knew he’d once had a girlfriend he’d been extremely close to, and that he’d held hismother’s hand while she died. Small pieces of a puzzle that helped me understand why Theo might be so closed off.
Theo leaned back slightly, his eyes low-lidded as he stared emotionlessly at me. I instantly felt insecure. Why on earth would Theo Cavendish share personal information he didn’t share with anyone just to find out if I liked to be dominated in bed? I wasn’t that interesting. My cheeks flushed, and I let out a small laugh. “Never mind. I think we should break for lunch. And then I really need to write my chapter.”
“I didn’t just come here to write the script. I came here to get away from my brother.”
I glanced sharply up at Theo, surprised by this information, and the fact he’d offered it. “Your brother?”
He exhaled heavily, his tone bored, but I heard the edge beneath the apathy. “He wants me to visit with my father because my father has testicular cancer. Very treatable testicular cancer. He’s going to be fine. But my brother, Sebastian, heir to the viscountcy and all-around perfect boy wonder, decided to camp out in Ardnoch until I agreed to return to London.”
My mind whirred with speculation. “You dislike your father?”
“He cheated on my mother their entire marriage, and he punished her when she”—he made air quotes—“didn’t behave like the exemplary wife of a viscount and lady of society. When she coddled me?—”
“Punished her?” I glowered.
“Hid her credit cards. Banned her from leaving our house for days. Anything to get her to bend to his will. To go where he wanted her to go. To do the things he wanted her to do, including being a little less mothering toward me. As she got older, she fought him more. I wished she’d left him. She had her own money and plenty of it. But she was afraid he’d use his connections to take her parental rights away. Sebastian wasafraid to be close to our mother because of Father, but he attempted to be a good big brother to me. When we were kids, anyway.”
My chest ached for him. “I don’t understand why your dad wanted to control your mum, to even control her relationship with her sons.”
Theo sneered. “Because he considered us all possessions under his control.”
“That’s awful.” I wanted to reach out and cover his hand with mine, but I doubted he’d like me for it.
“Yes, it was rather. But my mum refused to let go of me the way she’d let go of Sebastian. She’d rather take the punishments. And for the longest time, I was too young to understand. It’s only as you get older and look back that you comprehend what was happening. If I’d known, perhaps I would have kept my distance.”
