My heart was beating so fast I was sure Theo would hear it. Wouldfeelit.
Maybe that didn’t matter. Maybe it was time to tell him how I felt, once and for all.
“Theo,” I began, breathless, my vision closing in at the edges as though I was about to pass out. “I?—”
Theo’s finger pressed to my lips stopped me in my tracks.
“Just be with me,” he murmured, eyes glinting uncertainly as he held my gaze.
Had he known what I was going to say?
I couldn’t be sure. Did it matter?
He was asking me for something. Anyone who knew me would have said I did anything he asked me. That was true, but Theo so rarely asked anyone for anything. He didn’t accept help or favors or even consideration if he could possibly avoid it. It was an honor when he asked for things.
I nodded. I could tell him later. It’d waited a decade already—it could wait another few hours. Days. Weeks, months,yearsif that was how long it took him to want to hear it.
I already had more than I’d ever expected. The rest could go at Theo’s pace.
Relief broke over his face, a wavering little smile spreading over his lips.
He surged forward to kiss me again as though he’d just won a prize, and when he backed off, his smile was wide enough to make his eyes crinkle at the corners.
Anything was worth it for a smile like that. Patience was almost nothing to ask.
“One more dance?” Theo asked, glancing around. The dance floor was packed now, half the wedding or more squeezed into the space. We’d been exposed when I first pulled him out here, but now we were anonymous in the crowd.
“Always.”
22
THEO
“Thank you for coming.”
Corey’s voice behind me was more sincere than I’d ever heard it in the entire time I’d known him. I turned, surprised he was anywhere near me, and even more surprised once I parsed what he’d said.
That must’ve shown on my face, because he laughed. It was a nice, soft laugh.
He looked… good, honestly. The white suit Delilah had insisted on worked for him, showing off his no-doubt carefully crafted summer tan. I’d never known a man—or for that matter, a woman—who had more steps in their skincare routine than he did. Mornings with Corey had been a source of awe to me that someone could go to so much trouble for something that, to me, seemed so unimportant.
“Uhh,” I said, wishing Simon was still here instead of on a bathroom trip. I should’ve gone with him.
Corey smiled wryly. “I know you’re here because you don’t want to face your mother’s disappointment,” he said. “Which, by the way, is stupid. She’s a lost cause. You’ve gotta forget what she thinks.”
“Advice noted,” I said. We’d had this conversation about her before. I seemed to have this conversation about her with anyone who knew me for more than a few weeks.
“But Iamglad you came,” he continued. “Honestly. It’s… nice. To see you.”
That sounded a lot more sincere than I would’ve expected it to. “You’re… not permanently mad at me?”
The corner of Corey’s lips twitched. “If I was ever mad at you, it was because I was frustrated that instead of doing the thing youwantedto, you were putting up with me.”
I licked my lips. That…
“That’s not fair,” I said, before I could think better of it. Apparently, I was fully committed to channeling Simon this weekend. “To you, I mean. You’re not… you’re fine.”
“I’m just not Simon,” Corey said. My stomach plummeted, and I looked over my shoulder reflexively to make sure he wasn’t near enough to hear us.
