15. Theo
15
Theo
S elene has no idea what she’s started.
She thinks she’s teasing, thinks she’s setting the pace, but she doesn’t realize just how much I enjoy a challenge. And when she leans in, all soft confidence and quiet fire, telling me I need to keep up —yeah, I feel that hit somewhere deep, somewhere reckless.
So I take my time.
I watch her, lingering in the tension, letting the air between us tighten like a wire pulled taut. She’s still leaning in, waiting for my response, and I let my gaze flick to her lips for just a second before meeting her eyes again.
“You really think I’m the one who needs to keep up?” I murmur, just low enough to make her breath catch.
Her pupils dilate—just a little—but I catch it.
She recovers fast, tilting her head, considering me like she’s debating her next move in a game I didn’t realize we were playing. “I don’t know,” she says, voice smooth as silk. “Guess we’ll find out.”
Damn.
I grin, closing the distance another inch, just enough to feel the warmth of her body, to make sure she’s completely aware of how little space is left between us. “I like a little mystery,” I admit, letting my fingers skim the edge of the counter beside her. “But just so you know, I don’t play games I don’t intend to win.”
She exhales a laugh, shaking her head. “Oh, Sweetheart, you have no idea what you just started.”
It’s the exact thing I said to her minutes ago, and hearing it thrown back at me in that sweetly taunting voice makes my chest tighten with emotion.
I should kiss her.
I reach out, slow and deliberate, brushing my fingers against hers where they rest on the counter. She inhales sharply but doesn’t move away, staring into my eyes. Her head tilts up as I trail the tips of my fingers across her jaw. Once she’s at the perfect angle I close the distance between us, slowly lowering my mouth to hers.
Then I—
BANG
The front door slams open so hard it ricochets off the wall.
“Marco!”
I jerk back like I’ve been electrocuted, my heart still racing for an entirely different reason.
Selene lets out a long, very frustrated sigh, her eyes snapping shut. “Polo” she practically growls, her voice flat.
I barely have time to step back before Orion strides into the room like he owns the place, hawk-eyed, blue gaze locking onto me with laser focus.
A step behind him, Celeste waltzes in, hands stuffed in her pockets, looking… sheepish.
I glance at Selene, who pinches the bridge of her nose like she’s debating whether or not to commit a crime.
“What. The. Hell. ” she grits out.
Orion crosses his arms. “Just thought I’d drop by.”
Selene levels him with a glare. “You are staying with me while you are in town, Dumbass. There is no dropping by—you were already gone!”
He shrugs. “And now I’m back.”
Celeste clears her throat, looking suspiciously guilty for someone who was definitely in on this. “In my defense, I tried to keep him away longer. But you know how he gets when he’s on a mission.”
Orion ignores her, his stare never leaving mine. “I was just making sure everything’s, you know, appropriate.”
Running a hand through my hair I exhale slowly. “Uh-huh.”
Celeste leans against the counter, grinning. “We gave you so much alone time. A whole hour. That’s generous knowing Orion, don’t you think?”
Selene glares at Orion, hands on her hips. “You do realize I’m an adult right? At my big age of twenty-seven don’t you think I can make my own decisions?”
“Wait—you’re twenty-seven?” I ask.
“Yes?” She questions. “How old did you think I was?”
Laughing I respond, “That is a trap if I ever heard one, but let’s just say I wasn’t expecting you to be older than I am.”
Selene turns to me, eyes narrowing. “I’m sorry, what?”
Celeste gasps dramatically, “Ohh, Selene is a cougar.” She ends the statement with a growl and a slashing movement with her hand like she’s clawing at someone.
Silence. We all just stare at her.
Selene finally breaks it. “You really let him come back just for this?”
Shrugging Celeste winces. “In my defense, I also thought it’d be funny.”
With a groan, Selene says, “You guys need to leave, go check out the trails or take a walk.”
Celeste places a hand on her chest, offended. “Would you really cast out your only sister to go check out the trails at night? Even after everything Orion said?”
I frown. “The trails are safe, if you need bear mace I keep extra in my truck if you want some.”
“Bear mace won’t keep me safe from a serial killer.”
A heavy beat of silence.
A what now?
“Shadow Grove does not have a serial killer.”
Celeste rolls her eyes at me. “Yeah, yeah, we all know a serial killer is someone who kills more than three people over a significant period of time. You said it yourself—there’ve been at least four murders over the past twenty-seven years, and only two happened at the same time. That sounds like a serial killer to me.”
I turn to Orion, who is now running a hand down his face like he’s already regretting this conversation. “I didn’t say serial killer,” he corrects. “I just said that there were murders that could be linked that have happened here over the past thirty years.”
“Yeah,” I say, watching him carefully now. “Mo and I figured it out a couple of weeks ago.”
There’s a shift in Orion’s posture. A flicker of sharpness behind his expression. I don’t like the way he looks at me now—like he’s sizing me up, reassessing his view of me.
And suddenly, it clicks.
I straighten, I can’t believe I didn’t put it together when Selene told me her brother is the one that was at Mo’s the other night. “Wait. You’re the one Mo caught hacking into the sheriff’s database?”
Orion’s gaze hardens. The room goes still.
“How do you know about that?”
Selene’s head jerks toward me, then Orion. “What is he talking about? What are all of you talking about?”
Celeste claps her hands together, delighted to deliver the chaos. “Oreo here wanted to look into Theo to make sure he wasn’t like your last boyfriend—”
Orion’s jaw tightens. “ Celeste. ”
“— and while he was looking into him, he found an old police statement Theo made when he was nine that seemed suspicious, so he started digging into his parents’ deaths. And guess what? They weren’t just in a car accident—well, I mean, technically that’s what actually killed them, but before that? Poison.”
My stomach twists, but not in shock. I already knew . I just wasn’t expecting to hear someone say it so bluntly.
Celeste barrels on, voice picking up speed. “So then Orion looked into why they were out late, at night, in a storm—turns out, they were visiting Theo’s aunt. And you wanna know what happened to her latest husband?” She waits a fraction of a second, then answers her question. “ Dead. He was in a coma for a while, but guess what put him there? Poison. And before that? She had another husband who also died in a freak accident, do you know what was found in his autopsy—say it with me—poison!”
The air has been sucked from my lungs.
Orion claps his hands together once, breaking the thick silence. “All right. That was a lot, but Barbie here summed it up perfectly, if a little ungracefully.”
Groaning, Celeste whines, “You know I loathe that nickname.”
The air feels heavier now.
Orion speaks up, cutting through the tension. “If you already know about the murders, then you know this isn’t just a coincidence.”
I nod slowly. “Mo and I have already started looking into it. But we don’t have enough yet.”
Orion exhales, rubbing his jaw. “Then we work together.”
I blink. “What?”
“You, me, and Morgan,” Orion lists. “Tomorrow night. We lay everything out, compare notes, figure out what we’re missing.”
I exhale slowly. “Fine. Tomorrow night. But we all share what we know.”
Orion nods once, satisfied.
Selene folds her arms. “I can’t believe I’m the only one that was left in the dark. Celeste, when did you find out?”
Celeste grins. “Oh, sweet sister , I’ve known for a week .”
Selene glares at her, and for once, Celeste wisely shuts up.
Just like that the mood is successfully ruined.
Orion stretches, seemingly satisfied with the chaos he’s caused. “I’ll leave you two to it. Theo, I’ll call you tomorrow with the time and place.”
I nod, and he turns to Selene, giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head before giving me a look that clearly says I’m watching you. Then he’s gone.
The silence that follows is heavy. A lingering weight of everything Orion just dumped on us.
I glance at Selene. She’s leaning against the counter, her arms wrapped around herself, staring at the floor. Her teeth tug at her bottom lip, and I can feel the frustration radiating off her.
The timer for the cookies goes off. She moves automatically, pulling them from the oven and setting them on the cooling rack with precise, practiced motions.
“You okay?” I ask softly, stepping closer.
She lifts her eyes to mine, and even though she nods, I can see the uncertainty still clinging to her. “Yeah. I hate being the last one to know things. It’s also… it’s a lot.”
“It is,” I agree, keeping my tone light, trying to ease the weight in the room. “But we’ll figure it out. Together.”
She manages a faint smile, but it’s not quite there.
And I get it. Because I feel the same way.
Tonight was supposed to be… different. Better.
I was going to kiss her again. I knew I was. Maybe more. I felt it, she felt it, we were on the same page, the same wavelength. And then Orion had to go and drop a pile of murder conspiracies on us and completely kill the mood.
The worst part? He’s not even wrong.
But I still feel robbed. And frustrated. And if I’m being honest, I’m a little pissed off. I had spent the entire evening reading the room, waiting for the perfect moment, and the second I found it, it was yanked out from under me. Now all I have is a lingering sense of what could have been and a whole lot of pent-up energy with nowhere to go.
The only thing I can think to do is reach for the closest thing that still makes sense.
I nod toward the cookies before grabbing one and taking a bite. “Mind if I take some for the road?”
She blinks up at me then huffs a small laugh. “Go ahead,” she says, waving a hand. “I’d be offended if you didn’t, we made enough for an army.”
“Wouldn’t want to do that,” I tease, grabbing a small bag and starting to fill it with cookies. “You know, these might be the best cookies I’ve ever had. You’ve got a real talent.”
Her cheeks flush pink. “This is your recipe, not mine, so I am pretty sure you’re just saying that because I let you steal half the batch.”
I grin, leaning against the counter as I tie the bag closed. “Maybe. Or maybe I just like seeing you blush.”
She raises an eyebrow, but her smile widens, and I can’t help but admire how beautiful she looks when she lets herself relax. “You’re awfully smooth for a guy who barely got invited here.”
“Barely?” I scoff. “You practically begged me to come over.”
She crosses her arms, a mock glare on her face. “I did not.”
I smirk, stepping closer. “You did. You just don’t want to admit it.”
Her laugh is soft, but there’s a spark of playfulness in her eyes now, the tension from earlier starting to fade. “Maybe,” she says, shaking her head.
Leaving right now feels wrong, unfinished. The quiet hum of the kitchen, the faint smell of sugar and vanilla still hanging in the air. I glance back at her, standing there in the soft glow of the kitchen, her arms crossed loosely, her head tilted slightly as she watches me.
Her lips curve in a small hesitant smile, but there is another layer in her expression, uncertain, yet hopeful. That look does me in.
Screw it.
Before I can second-guess myself, I cross to her in two quick strides. Her eyes widen, and her lips part slightly, but before she can say a word, I reach out and grab the back of her neck, pulling her to me. My lips crash against hers, hard and fast, like I’ve been waiting for this all night. She gasps softly, her hands gripping my arms. Thank God she doesn’t pull away.
The kiss shifts, softening as I tilt my head and deepen it. Her lips move against mine, tentative at first, then more assured, and the taste of her—warm and sweet, like vanilla and sugar—goes straight to my head. Utterly perfect. It’s like tasting the cookies we just baked, only better, more alive, more real. It’s everything I’ve been remembering and more, and I’m already wondering why I didn’t do this sooner.
When we finally pull back, we’re both breathing heavily. Her cheeks are flushed a deep pink, her chest rising and falling with every shaky breath, and her lips—now pink and slightly swollen—are curved in an expression I can only describe as dazed. She blinks up at me, her gaze flickering between my eyes and my mouth like she’s still trying to process what just happened.
“Sorry—actually, I’m not sorry,” I say, my voice rough and a little uneven. “I just didn’t want to take the chance that you’d have another sibling come and interrupt another attempt.”
She blinks up at me again, and this time a soft, breathy, laugh escapes her, “It’s just the three of us, no more siblings.”
“Good,” I murmur, letting my thumb brush against her cheek before I force myself to step back. “Goodnight, Selene.”
She is still processing what just happened, but then a small smile tugs at her lips. “Goodnight, Theo,” she whispers, her voice shaky but warm.
I turn and head for the door, the bag of cookies dangling from one hand, but my mind is no longer on anything but her. My pulse races, my mind spins, and my lips still tingle with the taste of her. As I step outside into the cool night air, the crisp breeze does little to calm the heat simmering in my chest. My heart is a riot in my ribcage, and one thought cuts through all the noise, clear and sharp as a knife.
I’m already counting down the minutes until I can see her again.