It’s such aTheosolution, one that hopes money will solve everything and ignores the fact that this kid needs family.
“Don’t you think maybe he needs more than money? I’d have killed to have someone from my mother’s side around when I was growing up. And I’d kill to have some tiny version of Bronwyn around, to see even a few hints of her in someone else.”
“All so I can get close to this kid and have Pen decide to cut us off? Or watch him turn into a troubled, suicidal teenager? I’ve warned my mother, and she just doesn’t listen.”
My heart aches for him, unexpectedly. I’d assumed he was just being thoughtless in not meeting his nephew. But that’s not it at all.
He just doesn’t want to love someone and lose them. He doesn’t want to love someone and have him jump off a balcony. He doesn’t want to love someone and discover she isn’t who he thought.
And that’s all too easy to understand. I don’t want to start caring for someone and discover it was a mistake either.
My dad adored Theo but thought he was a player, a guy having too much fun with a million different women to ever commit to just one. I’d thought it was douchiness. Maybe Theo was just scared, likeme.
“Maybe it doesn’t always turn out badly,” I tell him, my voice soft.
His gaze brushes over me, hesitating. “Perhaps it doesn’t.”
We complete our twelfth mile—thank god—and walk back to the hotel. The sweat on my skin has dried down toliteralsalt—I’m actually brushing it off my skin. I want to eat sixteen cheeseburgers, and I would cut off my own foot for a cold drink.
We enter the hotel lobby and groan in relief as the cool air hits us. By the time we’re on the elevator, my soaking wet running clothes are icy. My teeth chatter as I hobble to the room. Now I would cut off my own foot for a blanket. I’d cut off the other foot for a nap. Ultimately, it’s for the best that no one especially wants my feet, because I’d regret those decisions later.
I shower and emerge from my bathroom just as he’s emerging from his—shirtless, in nothing but shorts. As exhausted as I am, the sight makes my stomach clench.
Other muscles clench too.
His sleepy gaze drops to the T-shirt I’m wearing—his—then jerks away. It definitely has not escaped his attention that I’ve skipped the bra.
“I’m desperate for a nap,” I tell him.
“Me too,” he says. “Unfortunately, housekeeping already stripped the bedding from the pull-out couch.”
“Just sleep in mine,” I tell him groggily. “How much damage could you do in two hours?”
He laughs under his breath. “A lot, but I’m too tired at present.”
A lot.As tired as I am, a thrill races up my spine at that.
We both stumble to the bedroom and pull the thick duvetdown. I sigh as my bare legs slide against the cool sheets, and then I pull the blankets over me while he wedges another pillow betweenus.
“Worried you might justslip right inby accident?” I tease.
“It wouldn’t slip right in,” he replies. “It would require some effort.”
Oh. Jesus.“You’ve come a long way from lecturing me about how you and your friends don’t discuss sex.”
He offers me a sleepy smile. “Except I’m not out with my friends. I’m in bed with mywife.”
Why is that hot to me? The more he calls me his wife, the more I want to make this thing between us a little more real than itis.
“I fear I’ve been a bad influence on you,” I say, reaching across the pillow and resting my hand on his arm.
He’s smiling as he yawns. He does not ask me to remove my hand.
• • •
I’ve never been someone who wanted to sleep like two spoons—with Brian, I’d detach myself as soon as possible—but when my alarm wakes us, I’m curled right up against him, and that pillow he wedged between us is nowhere to be found. His arm is tucked beneath my head, his other arm draped around my waist, and while there’s no repeat of this morning’s raging erection incident, there’s definitelysomethingagainst my ass.
Eventually, we have to get up. He lets me have the bedroom to get ready for tonight’s outing, which was planned entirely by Lars and is a little ridiculous. We will be drinking champagne at the Eiffel Tower, which is a lot of effort when I could just drink champagne here in my pajamas instead.
