I tilt my hips once, and I think—Ithink—I feel his erection—just a little bit—under the way too fluffy pillow.I smile when his lips part almost against his will.Then I roll off him and stand beside the bed.“This will be good for you.It’s not a dating app.It’s a hook-up app.”
I walk to the bathroom, holding up the sweatpants he gave me to wear last night because if I don’t, they’ll fall right off.I’m almost there when he says, “It’s not that Idon’twant you.Ican’thave you.”
I look over my shoulder and smile.“I’m not booze, honey.Youcanhave me.”
And then I let go of the sweats, and they drop to my ankles.He groans like he’s in physical pain, even though the sweatshirt he also lent me is so big it covers me to just below my ass.He’s not seeing anything but my long, bare legs.“Showering!Feel free to join!”
He groans again, and I laugh, knowing full well sober Theo is too good a boy to take me up on that offer.It’s probably for the best.I don’t mess around with hockey players, as a rule, since Ryan.There’s enough of that stupid sport in my life already.
When I’m done showering, I change into my clothes from last night, which I left neatly folded on his vanity because the bathroom is where I changed into his borrowed sweats.I emerge with wet hair and no makeup and find Theo in the kitchen with two cups of coffee in front of him.He hands me one, and I smile gratefully, taking a sip.It’s got just the right amount of sugar and cream in it.“Delicious.Thanks.”
“Your phone has been buzzing,” he says and nods toward my bag.
“Probably Landon checking in,” I tell him.“I should get home.”
“I checked the news, and the roads have all been cleared and salted.”He sips his own coffee, which is black.
“Thank you for last night,” I say quietly.“Not just giving me a place to crash but handling the Pete thing and just, you know, being someone to talk to.”
“Thankyou,” he replies, and his eyes soften, and my heart shifts to fluttering instead of beating.“I think last night would have been really hard on me if I’d been here alone.I’d have thought about booze most of the night.Or all the stupid things I did because of booze.”
“Instead, you got a make-out session and more blue balls.”I raise my hand for a high-five, and he honors it while he laughs.I finish my coffee.
“No blue balls,” he replies a second later when I move to put my empty cup in the sink.“I tapped one out while you showered.”
I spin to stare at him, and he winks, his cheeks a pale shade of guilty pink.“I missed it!”
“It was not my finest moment,” he confesses, finishing his coffee.“It was quick and dirty.”
“Did you at least think of me?”I ask softly, and our eyes meet, but only for a second, and then he looks away, shaking his head.
“I’ll walk you to your car, trouble,” he says.
“We’re doing nicknames?”I ask.
“Yes.And yours is trouble.”
I giggle.“I gotta think of a good one for you.”
The walk to my car is lovely.The sun is shining, and the air is crisp.We make small talk about winter in Maine, and then he asks me if I’m going to the Garrison Thanksgiving in Silver Bay.“I’m supposed to work.”
“At the bar?”he asks.“The bar where that deluded hook-up likes to stalk you?”
I nod.“I’ve been contemplating quitting.Even before the thing with Pete.The money is great, but it was better in the summer with the tourists, and I’m not loving the late nights, and the winter commute is gonna be a problem, as last night showed.”
“Do you need a job?”he asks, and his tone is gentle because he, being the son of rich parents himself, probably knows what a touchy subject it can be.
“I’m still trying to get clients as a Doula,” I tell him honestly.“It’s not a well-known birth option in Maine.Also, I’m already taking enough help from family.My parents paid for school, and Callan lets me live with him rent-free.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Theo says easily.“Family is supposed to help each other.I don’t know where I’d be if mine hadn’t stuck with me.”
We step into the parking garage, and I lead him to my car, which is at the far end.“You can go back home.I’m good now.”
“Nope.I’m not leaving until you’re in your car,” Theo says.“I’m a gentleman.”
“Then it’s good we didn’t sleep together,” I kid.“That sounds boring.”
“One of us has to be boring,” he snarks back.“You promised to be last night but didn’t deliver.”
