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“Well, I don’t think we have time for everything I want.” Theo smirked, kissing my neck. His hands went back to wandering while he looked at me. “But I love a challenge.”

Theo tilted my head back with his thumb on my neck and kissed right behind my ear, sending a shiver down my spine. Heat rose in my belly at the sensation and the expectation of it all.

Theo’s tongue slid into my mouth with no complaint from me; I was liquid in his hands. My whole body felt too sensitive under his touch. His fingers gave a little squeeze on my hip as he urged me closer to him. Everything around us fell away as he muttered praise between each kiss. I let my own hands roam and dug my fingers through his hair, tugging at the root and being rewarded with a deep groan.

“Just can’t help yourself, huh?”

“Not with you,” I gasped out between breaths as he kissed me harder. All I could think about was how much I wanted him, how I have always wanted Theo. Past and present, every single version of him. Theo was the catalyst for my entire life.

“Fuck, Maisey. Do you know what you do to me?” Theo groaned against me. “Do you know how crazy I am for you?”

“Fuck me, Theo.” I met his gaze, his eyes darker and brighter all at once. “Now.”

Theo did not hesitate at my command. A hand dipped between my thighs, finger sliding over my clit. He smirked at me, at the evidence of my mess, at the wetness he brought away before bringing it to his lips and sucking. I felt heat rise as I looked down. He forced my gaze to stay on him with a tip of my chin from a calloused hand. “Eyes on me, Maisey baby.”

He aligned himself, and with another panting breath, Theo was inside me as if we were made for each other, bodies molding together perfectly. Theo’s eyes were blown wide with a look of little restraint crossing over his expression.

“Fuck, baby,” he groaned as he pushed all the way in. He pushed in and out in slow motions, making my heart thump rapidly between breaths as I took him in. The muscles on his arms flexed as he held himself up, veins running down each side. I swore this man was carved from Irish stone itself. He let me adjust to his size before he was kissing me again, picking up his pace. “Absolutely stunning,” he breathed between thrusts. He came all the way out before slamming back into me, and a cry left my lips at the sensation of it all. The room filled with moans and the connecting of bodies. His lips spanned from my own lips down my chest before he was hovering over me, eyes fixed on my own. Tension coiled tighter in my belly as I climbed higher and higher toward an orgasm. Feeling so much at once should have felt overwhelming or scary, but I’d never felt safer than I did with Theo. I wanted to feel every damn second of it. My body clenched around him, making him curse under his breath. He dragged a hand down to circle my clit, teasing and pulsing on the sensitive spot, making everything burst into color.

“Come for me, baby,” he commanded. “That’s right, just like that.” I came on his last words, our surroundings disappearing around me as fireworks exploded in my mind.

I could only muster two words as I came down from my high.

“Holy shit.”

29

MAISEY | PRESENT

Iwoke up warm.

Not just physically warm beneath heavy hotel blankets and tangled sheets, but the kind of deep warmth that settled under your ribs and made your entire body calm.

For a few sleepy seconds, I didn’t open my eyes. I just existed there in the quiet, hovering between sleep and consciousness while the low hum of the city buzzed somewhere far below the hotel windows.

Then I felt it.

Theo.

His arm was wrapped around my waist, heavy and possessive even in sleep, his chest pressed firmly against my back. His warm skin and slow breathing tickled against the back of my neck. One of his large hands spread across my stomach like he had reached for me unconsciously sometime during the night and refused to let go after. My heart folded in on itself instantly. Carefully, I turned slightly in his arms so I could look at him. Morning Theo might’ve been the most dangerous version yet.

His hair was messy from sleep, lashes still resting against his cheeks, face softer than I’d ever seen it. The usual tension he carried around like armor was gone completely. No sharp edges. No guarded expression. Just Theo sleeping peacefully beside me, his body finally relaxed. I studied him quietly while sunlight spilled gold across the bed, catching against the faint freckles over his nose and the small scar near his jaw I remembered him getting after a karting session when we were 14. Back then, he had shown up to our hill furious and bleeding because his father had screamed at him for crashing and had thrown a glass bottle at him, slicing open his jaw. It was only a little cut, but the violence he had to endure left a permanent mark on him that made my heart hurt. I remembered cleaning the cut with bottled water and Theo sitting quietly in the grass letting me touch him like I was the only soft thing he had in his life. Somehow that boy still existed inside this man beside me.

My chest ached.

Because this—this right here—was what I had mourned all those years. Not just losing my best friend, but losing the version of Theo that only existed when we were alone together.

The one who let himself be gentle.

I swallowed hard against the sudden sting of emotion climbing into my throat.

Don’t ruin this.

The thought slipped in before I could stop it, fear curling sharp and ugly beneath all the happiness. Because this was Theo, and Theo had left before, had disappeared when I needed him most, had spent years pretending I didn’t matter because it hurt less than facing whatever existed between us. What if this disappeared too? What if I woke up tomorrow and the walls were back up again? What if last night had just been another moment of weakness before he panicked and ran? I hated how quickly the doubt seeped in, like happiness itself made me brace for impact.

My gaze drifted back to his sleeping face, and something inside me softened anyway. Because even if this ended badly—even if he broke my heart all over again—I thought maybe I would still choose this.

Theo shifted suddenly, his brow furrowing slightly before his eyes blinked open slowly and landed on me. The change in his expression happened instantly. Softness melted through every inch of him.