I opened my pale-blue door, and Theo followed me. I placed a hand on his chest.
“Stay here.”
He grinned wolfishly, taking another step, pushing me back into my room. I stumbled over my own feet.
“I want it to be a surprise,” I all but begged.
His eyes gleamed, but he raised his hand, stepping back onto the whitewashed porch that wrapped around the motel.
I fished around my room, looking for my box. Despite being a motel, the room was beautiful, with a weathered seaside decor, queen bed, and valet if you needed. In any other town, it would be a four-star hotel, but this was Crowne Point.
Theo was leaning against a railing overlooking the ocean, arms folded. When he saw me come out, he stood off it.
“My mom told me to take what I wanted from my room…” I said, suddenly nervous. “This is the only thing worth saving.”
His green eyes flickered from my eyes to what I held in my hands.
Too silent.
The waves too loud.
“I fixed it…” I trailed off, fiddling with the bracelet. I still felt hopelessly vulnerable. I’d fixed it without any certainty he would come through and catch me. Holding it in my hands reminded me of when my heart beat raw.
Theo wrapped his arm around my waist, thrusting me to him.
His lips were on mine, sucking my breath from my body, thrusting his tongue into my mouth. Any inch I gave him he took and demanded more. More breath. More tongue. More lips. More.
He finished with a quick bite of my lower lip.
I could barely breathe.
“Do I get to wear it?” He arched a brow. I could only nod at his beautiful face, sliding the bracelet on his wrist.
Seeing those restrung pastel pieces back on his wrist, only missing the one F now on my bracelet, something clicked into place. The final broken part of us fit back together.
He kissed me again, pushing me back into my room. The door slammed shut behind us on a seaside summer night. I wrapped my arms around Theo as he carried me to bed.
My best friend. My tormentor. My bodyguard. Now my fiancé.
My everything.
Epilogue
ABIGAIL
Two months later
I tried to focus on the girl talking to me as we walked to our next class. I had just finished my first of the semester, attending the college Theo had applied to for me. College. I was mid-conversation with her when all of a sudden I was yanked by the wrist into the girls’ bathroom.
I stared at the door a moment, lips parted, before turning into the eyes of Theo. He leaned against the sink, one leg propped, green eyes bored.
“I was talking to someone,” I said at last.
“Tough shit, Reject.” He snatched my wrist, spinning me around so I was pressed between him and the sink.
I looked around at the pink tiles. “Did you go in the wrong bathroom, dog?”
He kneed open my legs. “No one’s going to think twice about your bodyguard accompanying you.”