“What in the world have you been up to?” she murmured.
Theo stalked into the room looking like a thundercloud and in not much better condition than the dog. His jeans and sweater were soaked straight through and covered in soap suds.
“Should I even ask?” She couldn’t help the smile that tugged at her lips.
“We were cleaning the porch, and Beau, here, decided it was playtime,” Theo muttered as he kicked off his wet boots and headed into the bathroom. A moment later she heard the shower.
“I think you made him mad,” she whispered to the puppy as she dropped him down on the worn, rose-colored rug in front of the fire. His tail thumped against the floor, and he flopped on his back, exposing his belly.
“What am I going to do with you?” She smiled, rubbing his belly.
Worn out from his playtime, Beau fell asleep contentedly curled up in front of the fire. Olivia looked up as Theo stepped out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips, drying his hair off absently.
“Thank you,” she said quietly as he turned to regard her with quiet contemplative eyes. “For cleaning up the porch,” she clarified. “I would have done it.”
“Well, it’s done now.”
He watched as she stood and moved across to him.
“Is Jake gone?” she asked.
Theo nodded.
“Do you want to talk about it?”
She shook her head, taking his hand and tugging him toward the bed and folding back the bedclothes. “I don’t want to talk.”
He watched her with dark eyes as she slowly peeled off her clothing until she stood naked in front of him. Dropping his towel to the floor, he pulled her down to the bed.
He took her lips slowly as if he had all the time in the world to taste her. She parted her lips and his tongue swept in, and as he took her down, she was lost. Nothing else existed but the feel of his firm, smooth skin pressed against hers, or the weight of him pressing her into the soft mattress.
Unlike before, when they had almost devoured each other with a frantic pace and desperate hands, this time it simmered low and intense. He seemed content to torture her slowly and thoroughly. Not a simple thought would form in her mind; all she saw was him, and all she wanted was him. He seemed to know exactly the comfort she needed, and when he settled himself between her thighs and slipped inside her, all she could do was sigh against his mouth and enjoy the pleasure he gave to her.
Wrapping her arms and legs around him, she pulled him as close as she could. Rolling his hips deeply, causing intense waves of pleasure to crash over her, leaving her shaken and impossibly needy. Time had no meaning, and the lengthening shadows in the room faded into darkness until the only light in the room was from the snapping fire.
She felt like she was going to fly apart, like everything was out of her control, but he simply wrapped her up tightly in his arms. He took her higher than she could have ever imagined, and when she finally crashed, he was right there behind her, following her into oblivion.
She trembled in his arms, and her heart pounded in her chest. She didn’t want to need him, but despite her best intentions she did.
“Talk to me,” he murmured as he traced a lazy finger across her hip.
“What is there to say?” she answered quietly.
“You are angry with your friend.”
“Angry and disappointed.” She sighed, shivering as her body cooled.
Theo dragged the bedding up and covered them both, enfolding her back in his arms, content as she pressed her face into the line of his throat and breathed in the scent of him.
“She did what she thought was right to protect you.”
“I can understand that to a point. Knowing what I do now about the demon, I understand them not wanting to bring me back when I was a child. But when I was old enough to understand, they should have told me the truth and let me make my own decision. They took away my choices, Theo. I spent the last twenty years wondering what was wrong with me, why Aunt Evie didn’t want me and couldn’t love me. Now I’m supposed to believe she did all this for me? I didn’t even have the chance to make peace with her, to say goodbye. That’s what I can’t forgive.”
“I wish I could take away your pain.” He stroked her face.
“I don’t believe they ever loved me… my dad, Aunt Evie, Mags. If they did, they would never have hurt me like this.” She released a slow breath. “I don’t know… there must just be something fundamentally unlovable about me.”
“That’s not true,” he murmured. “I love you.”
