Museum curator was almost glamourous enough for him. Junior archivist wasn’t.
“That sounds so interesting!” Audrey said with another broad smile. “I’d love to hear about it. Pencil me in for some time this weekend?”
“Of course,” I agreed, because that was what I was supposed to do. Audrey didn’t care about me.
The way she looked at Theo, though, suggested I had her to thank for that kiss. I wasn’t sure yet whether I owed her one for that.
“Well!” Mrs. Hargrave spoke up, clapping her hands together. “I’m sure Simon and Theo want to freshen up before they join us for welcome drinks—we’re starting at eight,” she said. “With dinner to be served at nine. Simon will need introductions, so we’ll need you on time, honey. Oh, and I’m sorry, but your room was set up assuming you’d be the only one in it! I’ll have someone bring you some extra towels and things.”
By which she meant that attendance was non-negotiable. Not that I expected anything else of her.
I still didn’t know what was going on, but whatever it was, I was all-in on Theo’s side.
“Don’t go to any trouble for my sake,” I said, turning to look at Theo. It took no effort at all to gaze at him as though he was my entire world. Just as well, because I was not a man born for the stage. If this had required any acting skills from me, we’d be in trouble. “Theo and I share everything.”
Theo glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.
The look on his mother’s face made a surge of mischief rise up in the pit of my stomach.
“Come on,” I said, tugging on Theo’s hand. “I haven’t seen you all day and we’ve got forty-five minutes alone.”
I tossed a theatrical wink in Mrs. Hargraves’ direction and dragged Theo toward the house.
6
THEO
“I amsosorry,”I said the moment my bedroom door closed.
The room was almost exactly as I’d left it last time I’d been here—which was to say it looked like a high-end hotel room. White and grey everything, a minimalist vase of beachgrass perched on each of the nightstands. The only new thing was the lone decoration in the room—an abstract painting in greens and blues with a splash of orange hanging over the head of the bed, no doubt by one of my mother’s pet artists. It was the only thing with any soul.
“It’s fine,” Simon said, because he was always too nice, too quick to forgive. He sat down on the edge of the bed, looking up at me.
My lips tingled as I thought back to the kiss outside and I had to resist the urge to touch my fingers to them. Simoncould notknow how much I’d enjoyed that.
I wished I’d thought of that before I kissed him, because now…
“I take it we’re dating?” he asked.
Yeah. That.
I sighed, looking out the window. All the bedrooms in the house looked out onto the same central space. Like a hotel.
It wasn’t the ideal design for privacy, but at least there were blinds.
“And it’s got something to do with Audrey? Who, not for nothing, I think would’ve been happy with an invitation to be a third.”
I snorted, lips twitching despite the panic starting to rise in my stomach. Simoncould not knowhow I felt about him. He was my best friend in the world. My only friend, really. I couldn’t afford to lose him.
Under normal circumstances, keeping my feelings under wraps was easy. I’d been doing it since the day we met.
Under these ones…
“I think my mom’s trying to set me up with her. Or she’s trying to get my mom to set us up, maybe?”
“You know I love you,” Simon said. “And obviously I think you have many great qualities and are objectively an attractive man, so I’m not, y’know, stunned or anything that someone would want to date you. But uh. Why her, and why now?”
I cleared my throat awkwardly. “A single man in possession of a fortune.”
