“What do I need this for?” she’d asked when he’d handed it over.
“You’ll see.”
“What are we even doing, anyway? How do I pack for thisweekend?” A bikini didn’t make any sense at all for how cold it was outside.
“We’re going to do whatever you want.” His phone vibrated in his pocket, but he took one look at the screen and sharply silenced the call before shoving it back into his jeans, irritation flashing briefly across his face as he turned his attention back to investigating her bed. “Personally, I don’t think you need any clothes at all, but trust me: a bathing suit could be fun.”
Her cheeks burned at his tone. “Should I bring a dress? Are we leaving the house?”
“We don’t have to if you don’t want to.” He dipped beneath the top bunk and clicked her fairy lights on and off a few times.
“What are you looking for in there?” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Get out of my—” But before she could pull him away, Theo straightened, his smile crooked and victorious. He held a stuffed puffin in his hands. The old, ragged toy looked so small wrapped in his fingers.
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t forget Petey. And I needed to officially meet him. Heisyour oldest friend, after all.” He held him up and looked at him directly in his beady eyes. “Hullo, Petey.” He pinched a wing with two fingers and shook it gently.
“OH MY GOD, THEO, GIVE ME THAT!”
Mortified.She was mortified. She snatched it away from him, her face somehow burning even hotter than before. But before she could shove the puffin in her bag, Theo grabbed her and picked her up, lifting her completely off the ground with only his left arm and pressing her against his side. His biceps bulged against her back and his grip was like iron.
God, he was strong.
“Do you have any idea how excited I am to spend a few days with you? Three whole days?” he murmured in her ear. “And Petey too.Don’t be embarrassed. He can keep Roo company.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“You’re such a dork.” She shoved halfheartedly at his shoulder while she kicked and struggled to be let down, but it was a useless endeavor and she knew it.
“Yeah, and youlikeit. You’ve told me, over and over again. And I was listening.” He nuzzled into her cheek. “It’s been long enough for me to finally believe you, and I’ve seen it—and felt it—for myself. Can’t take it back now.”
The way he said it—
The way he held her—
It only made everything worse.
And by the time they got to his house with Petey tucked safely in her duffel, her stomach churned with both apprehension and burning hot excitement.
Theo clearly had some experience. He’d known what he was doing down there on that table.
What ifshewas the one who was bad at it?
What if she didn’t measure up to who he’d been with before?
But Audrey didn’t have time to linger on the thought, because as soon as she’d unwound the scarf from her neck and draped it over one of the hooks in the entryway, two large hands gripped her hips and lifted her, twisting and pinning her against the opposite wall.
“Mine,” Theo growled. “Finally.”
He held her high enough for her to look him in the eye, and the golden rays of the setting sun spilled along one side of his face. They streamed through his windows overlooking the East River from across his house, highlighting the concentric amber and mahogany rings of one of his extraordinary multitonal irises and plunging the other side into shadow. He ran his hands down her legs and wrapped them around his waist, settling comfortably between them beforegently combing his fingers through her hair and tucking it behind her ears.
“You’re so beautiful, and all mine.”
He was less gentle when he dove forward and pressed his mouth to hers.
The electricity in her skin shifted to lightning along her lips, and Audrey closed her eyes and gasped at the force of it, of him, of how ravenously he devoured her, sucking and nipping at her mouth like a man starved and driven mad by hunger. She buried her fingers in his hair and held on for dear life, giving herself over to Theo’s intensity. He was so warm, his hands so unbearably hot, and flames licked across her skin everywhere they touched, curling deep within her belly and pooling there, molten and churning and urgent.
Finally.
Theo slid his left hand beneath her sweater, his fingers deft and questing, and they nudged aside her bra, slipping beneath to cup her breast. His palm was wide enough to cover it completely, and he made a noise low in his throat when her nipple pebbled under his thumb as he massaged it across her skin, the sound primal, guttural.
“My girl is so pretty,” he finally managed between desperate, breathless kisses, punctuating the sentiment with tiny nips of his teeth along her jaw. “So perfect.” She shuddered and clung to him harder, hardly able to stay upright on her own. Her legs weren’t working anymore, and she’d have melted to the floor by now if he hadn’t pinned her back against the wall. “So soft. And you smell—” Theo leaned forward and inhaled deeply at the base of her neck, closing his eyes and relishing whatever he found there. “You smell so fuckinggood, Audrey. So sweet.” A kiss, whisper soft against her skin, was followed by another, decidedly less soft. “I could devour you whole, ravish you, thoroughlydebauchyou right here, right now if you’d let m—”
