“With you, Theo, there’s a lot I shouldn’t want… but I do.”
He held my shoulder now, thumb at my collarbone. “Like?”
A voice in my head whispered at me to say dirty things. I wanted them, of course. I wanted to do all the dirty things with Theo, but that’s not what I was thinking when I spoke, and if I said that, I would only be pushing him away. The look in his eyes, the gentle way he stroked my collarbone, told me not to push him away.
“I want you to sleep in my bed, Theo,” I said honestly. “I want to wake up in your arms.”
Emotion flitted across his face, too quick to discern. “Sure thing, sweet girl.”
And then he kissed me.
Twenty
ABIGAIL
I woke up in Theo’s arms, warm and safe for the third night in a row. We were in Spain now, having made the two hour flight last night. Now we slept in a custom bed bigger than a king, with soft sheets to complement the softer
air. The room opened up to a wraparound porch with baluster railings overlooking the warm ocean.
I folded my arms on his chest, resting my chin on my hands, and looked up at him. “Why do you call me sweet girl?”
A flicker of a smile. “Because that’s what you are.”
“I’ve been called a lot of things…”
“You’re my sweet girl, Abigail. Just for me.” He pushed the hair out of my face, trailing his caress down to my lips. “You slept with the light off again.”
“I guess I did,” I said. With Theo in my bed, I didn’t feel the need to keep it on. The meaning was clear and I felt too raw, but thankfully Theo didn’t press further.
I angled to kiss him, stretching my arms out from sleep. As I did so, I swiped my arms across the nightstand to our left, accidentally knocking off his backpack. It fell to the floor, and his mom’s diary fell out. With it, the nice moment shattered.
Theo slowly untangled from me, leaving me cold in bed, to put it away.
My gut clenched at the sight. We hadn’t really let each other back in, not really. We’d stepped outside of our walls, into neutral territory. Neither of us had really torn them down.
How long could that last?
“It wasn’t random,” I said, watching him shove it back in. “That night on the beach, I mean. I know I acted like it could have been anyone, but it could only be you.”
The muscles in Theo’s naked back were tight and coiled.
I worked the soft sheets between my fingers.
“It was you I wanted,” I continued. “Theo, it’s always been for a reason, from the very beginning.”
He stood, diary in hand. His jaw was clenched so hard the muscle feathered. He came back to the bed, sitting on the edge. I sat up, resting my chin on his shoulder.
“There’s nothing worth reading in here…” He held the diary out toward me, not quite giving it away. I waited on a heartbeat’s thread, hoping for something I was too afraid to even think.
He feathered a caress along the edge of my cheek. His touch was too nice. Too sweet. Too addicting. You could almost forget the crash that followed such a high.
My phone buzzed on the nightstand. I reached an arm out and grabbed it. An unknown number flared on my screen, followed by a picture of a single gold rose, and a promise: Can’t wait to see you.
I dropped the phone, too shocked to pretend it was nothing. It fell loud and ugly to the floor.
“Is that him?” Gone was Theo’s tender voice, in its place rough words that abraded my spine. My eyes flashed to his.
I’d almost forgotten my stalker in our sweet bubble.