If that man so much asbreathedin the direction of hers, he’d have hell to pay.
“Sorry,” Lloyd muttered, looking down at the floor. “My mistake. I thought you weren’t busy.”
“You thought wrong.”
Without another word, he slunk away from the door. Diego grabbed him and shoved him roughly back into the hallway before Eleanor slammed the door after him so hard, it rattled in the doorframe.
She turned back to them and rolled her lips together.
“As I was saying—how long have you two been dating?” She made her way back to her chair and perched on the edge, crossing her legs primly, one right over the other. “I want to hear all about it. Please tell me as much as you’re willing to.”
“It hasn’t been long—we met this summer.” Audrey smiled at Theo as she sat back down. Warmth and relief simmered molten inhis amber eyes, soft and sweet and grateful. “But I’m deeply in love with your son. I’ve never met anyone like him before.” She squeezed his hand. “He’s extraordinary.”
Eleanor’s expression softened. “That he is.”
Maureen brought in a pot of fresh coffee, setting the tray and mugs down between them and wiping her eyes with her sleeve as she hurried back to her desk.
They spent the rest of the morning talking.
It was sweeter than Audrey ever thought it might be.
Twenty
Once Lloyd wasproperly subdued and exiled back to his corner, Diego hurried back to his office, citing his editor’s impatience—as well as his own deep satisfaction. If there were any consequences, he assured them it was all worth it, if only because he finally got to shove Theo’s asshole uncle around. Truly a lifelong dream of his, apparently.
Maybe Audrey understood why Theo loved Diego like a brother now.
Maybe she kind of did too.
After they spent about an hour talking with Eleanor, they left.
And they ran.
It was Theo who took off first, fast but limping slightly while he tugged Audrey along behind him. They flew down the street, dodging trash cans and skirting along sidewalks, and it was all she could do to keep up with him.
They rounded a corner and Theo pulled her to the side of a building, leaning up against the nearest brick wall and ripping his mask off. His breath curled white in the cold air, and just as Audrey stumbled after him, the early winter chill burning her lungs when she freely gulped it down, he grabbed her and spun her around.
And laughed.
It wasn’t that anything was funny, exactly, only that hisrelief—his utterreliefat having just done what he did—was palpable. His laughs turned into gasping groans, and he buried a hand in her hair, clutching her to his chest while he rocked her back and forth. “Thank you, sweetheart,” he whispered. “Thank you for being there with me.”
“Always,” she whispered back. “I’ll always be there for you.”
Finally, he calmed and he put her back down with a crooked smile. “Wanna go home?”
Audrey matched his smile with one of her own. “God, yes.”
They still had almost three more full days to spend together.
She couldn’t wait anymore.
The first thing Theo did when they got back to his house was put his phone on Do Not Disturb. And once they changed clothes, he got started in the kitchen, and they made—and did—all the things he’d promised her yesterday.
Watching him expertly work dough with his hands was a new fascination for Audrey. The practiced dexterity in his fingers, the way his brow furrowed in determined concentration, the expertise he’d gained with persistence, all of it was beautiful.
But while the focaccia baked in the oven, Theo had his own feast.
He didn’t have to ask. He didn’t have to say one word. He simply turned around after setting the timer and she knew what was coming purely based on the dark, heated look in his eyes. His enormous hands gripped her waist and lifted her up onto his countertop as if she weighed nothing at all before tugging off her joggers and sliding her underwear down. The cool quartz at her back gave her goose bumps when he laid her down and ran his hand reverently along her body, and her mouth suddenly went bone-dry as soon as he spread her legs and lowered his face between them.
