At some point, she found herself back in her body, the weight of the world back on her chest. Or it would have been—if Theo hadn’t been holding her so closely. He was clutching her to him, his hands making soothing circles on her back and stroking her hair, his lips alternating between murmuring gentle praise and peppering tiny, delicate kisses along the underside of her jaw while she gasped for breath and tried to remember how lungs were supposed to work.
“Oh my god,” she finally managed.
“Thank you, sweetheart,” Theo breathed against her neck. “That was incredible. You’re perfect.”
“Are you joking?” Audrey was mystified. She’d never come so hard in her life, not even on the rare occasions she had the time and space to touch herself while Violet was out of the apartment, and Theo had done all the work. She could feel how hard he was. His length was pressing against her through his gym shorts, and if it felt like anything he’d just done to her, she knew it had to be agonizing.
And besides: shewantedto touch him.
“Theo,” she said, stretching out a hand. “Can I—”
“No.” He shook his head sharply and pulled away just enough to brush her hair out of her face. “No. Don’t touch me.”
“Why not?” She frowned at him. “I want to.”
Theo sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Two reasons: first of all, if you touch me now, I’m going to come so fast, I’ll embarrass myself. I’d rather not.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “And two, I want to wait. Ineedto wait. Because…” He drew in a deep breath. “Because above all else, I am a horrible, greedy,selfishman.And once I start, I won’t just want a taste: I’ll want all of you. A full banquet of your body.”
“What was this, then?”
“A preview. Just the scent of a meal to tide me over.” He smirked at her, the lights of his artwork glittering in his eyes. “And the only thing it did was make me hungrier. But you have midterms this week, work in the morning, and I can’t keep you all to myself right now. So I won’t push it any further. Not today. But I needed this all the same, and…I wanted to watch it happen here. So thank you.”
“Uh…” Audrey blinked, dumbfounded. She was the only one who’d gotten the orgasm, but he seemed perfectly pleased by it. “You’re welcome?”
He snorted in amusement and flung her tights over his shoulder, stooping again to gather her up in his arms before shutting off his creations and mounting the stairs. The constant, low-grade buzz of the neon lights cut out sharply when Theo’s studio was plunged back into darkness, the light of his stars suddenly extinguished.
“Hey, Theo?” she asked as he carried her back up into the soft glow of the lamps on the first floor.
“Yeah?”
“Can I have my panties back?”
He hummed pensively, tilting his head from side to side in deep consideration. “Mmm…no. No, I don’t think so.”
“Oh, come on!” Audrey tried to lunge toward his pocket to grab them, but Theo was too strong. He hoisted her out of reach and threw her back over his shoulder like he’d done earlier, and she had to resort to twisting and pouting at him. “I still have to get home! That walk’s going to feelbrisk.”
“You’re not going anywhere yet. Didn’t you hear me?” She yelped when he slapped her ass playfully. “I’mstarving. We’re ordering Chinese.”
Thirteen
Theo| Mountains or beach?
Audrey stared at Theo’s message. There was no context, and they hadn’t been discussing either beaches or mountains. He’d just sent it out of the blue.
She zipped up his hoodie and started to type. He never gave her panties back, so she’d stolen his favorite hoodie in retaliation. He didn’t seem too sad about it when she walked out of the house wearing it, and she loved the way it wrapped her in warmth and smelled like him, all woodsy pine and bergamot and spice.
Audrey| Are you thinking of going somewhere? I like both
Audrey| I’ve never been to the mountains, but the beach is great
Audrey| Some of them in Florida are really pretty
Theo| No, no, it’s the This or That game.
Theo| Don’t think, just choose.
Theo| First impulse.
Huh. This was new.
