Page 66 of Such A Bad Girl

“I want to go home,” I said. “I couldn’t sleep. I need my own bed.”

“I understand.” He nodded, slowly raking his eyes over me, igniting a spark that I was trying so hard to snuff out. I watched him sip his coffee, his lips pressing against the ceramic of the cup. I swallowed hard, biting my lip.

“West won’t want you to be alone.” His voice was low and gruff, and seemed to cut right through me.

“No,” I whispered, the tension between us thickening. I pulled my gaze from his lips, but it only landed on his flexing forearm as he held the cup to his lips. “Charlie will be there,” I replied, barely getting the words out.

“West fired him.” His words made me feel terrible. That was my fault and my responsibility to fix.

“Then I’ll hire him back. I lied to him.”

He nodded, slowly sipping his coffee. His gaze stayed glued to me, his eyes seductive, and dark, and hypnotizing. He knew what he was doing, looking at me like that. How could he not? My nipples were diamonds under the t-shirt I’d borrowed from Kaylee, my pussy soaked.

I wondered if this is what it would be like from now on around Theo. I was sure I’d never be able to keep my hands off of him, which meant we’d have a whole different secret to deal with.

How would we ever be able to survive being in the same room together?

“Might take a while for him to come back,” he quipped, with a shrug.

I sighed, trying to fight off all the feelings swirling around inside of me.

Theo was making it hard to draw breath. I wanted to insist he put on a shirt, but then he’d know for sure how he was making me feel this morning. Maybe he already did. Maybe that’s why his shirt was missing in the first place.

We stood there, sparring wordlessly, like each of us were daring the other to take a step closer. If the kitchen island hadn’t been between us, I may have caved and thrown myself into his arms. Begged him to take me right there on West’s custom cut Italian marble counter.

“I don’t care how long it takes. I gotta get out of here, soon,” I muttered.

He smirked, then raked his eyes down to my chest and back up quickly. “Right,” he said, with a knowing wink.

When I heard West and Kaylee coming down the hall, I sighed with relief for a distraction.

Kaylee ran over and gave me a hug. West flashed me a tentative smile. He looked a little less stressed today, and I was grateful for that.

“Good morning,” he said, barely looking at Theo. I wondered if they’d talked last night. The tension was still thick between them. I knew West was upset about Theo keeping our secret. He was going to have to find a way to forgive him, though. They were practically brothers. They couldn’t go on like this.

“You doing okay?” Kaylee asked me.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just can’t sleep in your bed, West. I’m going to go home so I can rest in my own bed.”

“Everleigh, I don’t think that’s a good —.”

“—I’ll take her,” Theo interrupted.

All eyes snapped over to him and he lifted his chin confidently.

I didn’t dare utter a word. What was he up to? Part of the reason I wanted to go home was to get away from him. And yet, my pussy spasmed at his words, and the idea of being alone with him.

“She shouldn’t be alone, obviously,” Theo went on. “And Charlie isn’t there. We can keep in touch, and I’ll let you know as soon as I get any more info from whoever this asshole is.”

West and Kaylee exchanged a glance. West shrugged. “I guess that’s okay. But I really don’t want her alone, not for a minute. And Everleigh, promise you won’t run off again by yourself?”

“I promise,” I muttered, confused as to how I suddenly was assigned to being alone with Theo all day now. How was I supposed to breathe around him? I couldn’t. I would probably die from oxygen deprivation.

I was definitely going to insist he wear a fucking shirt.

“Great, it’s settled,” Theo said, with a satisfied, shit-eating grin. “I’ll go get dressed.”

I flashed him a fake smile that told him I knew what he was up to. “Yeah, you do that.”