“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen—just as you are.” Theo leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her nose before pulling out and setting her carefully back on the ground. He took out his handkerchief and used it to clean her up, wadding it into a ball and stuffing it hurriedly back into his pocket. Both of her shoes had fallen off somewhere and her legs felt like Jell-O, so she clung to him while she steadied herself and tried to remember how to walk properly again andnotwobble like a baby deer on a ship at sea. “Though I might have kissed away all your lipstick. Pretty sure that’s long gone.” He ran a hand along his mouth and shrugged sheepishly.
So much for Violet’s bulletproof date-night lip color. “Uh-huh. Sure. And now you want to go back outthere?” She grimaced as she bent and slipped her shoes back on. Truthfully, she wasn’t sure she had it in her to go back to the ballroom where everyone might stare at them, and at Theo’s scar—
And his suspiciously wrinkled shirt and jacket.
“Actually, no.” He tucked himself back into his pants and tried to straighten his jacket, smoothing his shirt somewhat before patting curiously at his hair. He only managed to tame it slightly when he ran a hand through it. “Want to go beg for some more crème brûlée from the kitchen and then call Wesley to pick us up out back once we get your coat? I’m ready to go home.”
“Are you regretting giving your dessert to me now?”
“Yes,” he said, bending forward and stealing another kiss. “I paid enough money for that table. I want the cherry on top of my night after all.” He raised an eyebrow and leaned down to whisper in her ear. “But you’re still the best thing I’ve ever tasted, sweetheart. Nothing can topyou.” He kissed her, low and slow this time. “And I can’t wait for you to come home with me—for good.”
When she swatted at him and headbutted him playfully, he only smiled wider and folded her into his arms. Once he tucked her into his side, they glanced out into the hallway and walked out as if nothing at all noteworthy had ever happened to either of them.
No, nothing noteworthy at all.
And somehow, that second caramelized custard—nicked from the kitchen and eaten barefoot against a wall in the service hallway of the Plaza Hotel—tasted even sweeter than the first.
Twenty-Three
A few weeks later
It was aSaturday at exactly 2:15 p.m.
And Violet was a ticking time bomb.
“Sign here,” muttered Theo’s lawyer, Imogen, pointing at the stack of papers as she towered over Audrey’s tiny ex-roommate. Zoom had not done the woman justice: turned out she was something of an Amazon and was nearly as tall as Theo himself.
It made for an interesting picture when she and Violet stood at his kitchen counters.
“And here. And initial here.”
Violet shoved her curtain of sleek, dark hair behind her ear and groaned as she shook out her hand. “What is his studio, fuckingFort Knox?” Without warning, she attacked the paperwork with such renewed vigor, she nearly knocked the remainder of her latte onto it. Audrey leapt forward to grab the half-full mug while the wide-eyed lawyer stumbled backward, teetering on chic sky-high red-bottomed handmade Italian leather stilettos.
Violet hardly noticed.
“I swear to God, this better be worth it,” she grumbled while she scribbled the last signature with a pointed flourish. “I need to knowwhat in the actualfuckTheo is doing as art that requires this much secrecyor I am gonna die.”
“Don’t you think that’s a bit of an exaggeration?” Imogen’s red-painted lips pursed while a single platinum blond eyebrow soared. “It’s simply a matter of security, not death.”
“Who’s dying now?”
The heavythumpof a cane followed by another and another echoed off Theo’s expensive tile floors as he finally made it up the stairs, not looking too worse for the wear, all things considered. He’d slipped on the ice on his stoop a few days ago and was still suffering for it, though every day was getting better.
Violet threw her head back. “Me! I’m dying, Theo.”
“You sure about that?” He eyed her wryly.
But she wasn’t to be deterred. “Yes, very sure, because you won’t show me your art without agoddamnedNDA.”
“Hey, at least you’re here now, right? And besides, we can’t have you dying. Ali would be so disappointed.”
Fire blazed in Violet’s eyes. “Don’t you dare bring up that prick Alastair Hackett to me,Theodore. I don’t care if you happened to play lacrosse together at Columbia, I don’t want to hear one more fucking word about that man.”
His smile was soft and crooked as he stepped over and jabbed a finger into her ribs, chuckling when she flinched and dodging her retaliatory shove before he made his way to stand next to Audrey. Once he was settled, he turned to his lawyer. “Thanks for coming out here, Im.” He extended a hand. “I know it’s a bit of a trek for you.”
Imogen’s hard expression softened as she clasped his hand, her eyes dropping down to his right hip before darting straight back up. “Of course, Theo. You don’t need to be out and about—especially not after having fallen like you did.”
He waved her off. “I’m all right. I’ve had worse.” He jutted hischin at where Violet had decisively slammed her pen down on the counter. “Are we good here?”
