What did he ever do to deserve that?
Constant insult to injury. Or eveninjuryto injury.
“I can’t wear these all the time.” Theo shook his head and pulledthe glasses off. “I can’t wear these in my studio. I work with too much fire and heavy machinery, I need to be able to wear goggles and welding shields, I need—”
“It’s only until your contacts come in. They’re on order, and it’ll be good to have a pair of glasses in case you need them as a backup, or for around the house.”
He gave the doctor a pleading look. “Can’t I have LASIK?” The fact that somethingelsewas wrong with him bothered him more than anything. What was it now? Glaucoma? A brain tumor? Some other degenerative disease?Was he going blind?!
With his luck, he’d lose his sight within the year.
“Son, you’re slightly nearsighted. LASIK is a more serious surgery than most people think, especially for something so small. This isn’t a big deal. And your eyes may actually improve over time. I don’t want to sign off on something if you don’t need it.”
“I’ve never needed glasses before.”
Dr.Hamilton huffed. “You’re, what? Thirty-three? It’s just a consequence of getting older. It happens to most people.”
“But—”
“Growing older is the goal, you know. Youwantto get glasses, Theo. Youwantto make it long enough to need them. It’s a privilege. Every year you make it is a victory. Growing old is an honor, not a right. It’s never a guarantee. You know that better than most. Plus, it keeps me employed.” He patted him once more and then moved on to his next patient, leaving a quiet Theo behind with his thoughts.
He was still sitting with those thoughts when Audrey came home from work that evening. He was dreading showing her. He hadn’t even told her he had the appointment.
But he did appreciate how he could see every one of the stray hairs escaping from her bun as she bustled inside, her face sweaty and red from the summer heat.
“Theo, I’m home! How was your—”
She stopped abruptly after she locked the door and turned to look at him. Her mouth dropped open and she let her work bag fall to the floor, forgotten.
“You…got glasses.”
“Surprise,” Theo deadpanned while he threw up his arms in a halfhearted, mocking celebration. When Audrey didn’t say anything, when she only walked toward him slowly, he let his arms fall and his shoulders slump. He couldn’t read her expression. That couldn’t be good news. “Oh no,” he groaned, hiding his face in his hands. It was more awkward than it usually was, given how hard he was trying not to smudge his new lenses. “They look terrible on me, don’t they? I knew it. I hate them.”
He glanced up at her through his fingers when she stepped in front of him. Her eyes were wide as she continued to stare down at him, and the faintest of blushes was beginning to tinge her cheeks pink.
She swallowed.
Theo frowned and shook his head. “You don’t like them either, do you? I’m only going to wear these until I get my contacts. I—”
“You look so fucking hot.”
“I—” He stilled.What?
“Who the hell helped you pick those out?” Audrey’s voice was oddly strained and her breathing had quickened. Something prickled in warning at the back of Theo’s neck. He lifted a hand and rubbed at it nervously.
“Uh…Willow? Some girl who works at the glasses fitting desk at the optometrist’s office? She—”
Before he could finish that thought, Audrey pounced.
She lunged forward and threw herself in his lap, straddling him while grabbing wildly at his hair to drag his mouth to hers. “You look like a sexy professor in those,” she growled against his lips in between sharp nips of her teeth. “You’ve been squinting for a long time. Why the fuck didn’t you get glasses earlier?”
“WHAT?!” The word might have come out a little strained and confused, but it was because she’d already plunged her hand under the waistband of his jeans and was busy palming his cock while she writhed in his lap.
“Recite poetry to me again, Professor Sullivan.” When she sucked on his bottom lip and drew it slowly between her teeth, oh god, holyshithe was so incredibly hard, and—
“Oh. Oh, Audrey, I…” he gasped. “I, uh…I h-have an…an MFA. It’s a terminal degree, I could actually be a college professor if you wanted me to be.” Her face turned even redder at that, and when she pumped her hand around him, he moaned. “Poetry? You want poetry? Anything you want, sweetheart, I know some e. e. cummings, a lot of Rumi, I could—”
Before he could finish that thought, she pressed her lips to his neck and sucked on a particularly sensitive spot beneath his jaw, and words completely escaped him.
