21. Theo #2
“Theo Mallin, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” she whisper-shouted.
I reached up and grabbed a fistful of her ass, giving it a good squeeze as I carried her back out into her room.
I tossed her onto the bed.
Bouncing on the mattress, she tried to suppress the giggle that slipped out of her, girl arching back and fighting a grin and looking like the light that had been lost as she wiggled in the middle of the bed.
I dove on top of her, being sure to brace my weight on my elbows so I wouldn’t crush her before I started digging my fingers into her sides.
“This,” I told her as I tickled her into the same disorder that she was.
Piper gasped and writhed.
“Oh my God, Theo, stop,” she rasped, her words just breaking the air, these little adorable screeches coming out of her mouth. “I can’t…I’m gonna…pee.”
“Just meh, huh?” I teased as I kept tickling her.
She squirmed and thrashed, though a pulse of joy burst from her being.
Something so fucking gorgeous it stole my breath.
Her face alight and those eyes dancing with something I had never seen in them before.
And still she was razzing, “Totally meh. The meh’est I’ve ever met. I take it all back. There is no amending that review. A solid one-star.”
A bolt of laughter I kept subdued rolled up my throat. “Is that so?” I muttered into the lapping shadows of her room.
I tickled her more, my chest stretching wide, something trying to break out from the place where I had to keep it contained.
But it was there. Tendrils forcing their way out as she playfully fought against me.
“Absolutely so,” Piper gasped.
“You really are trying to break a man, aren’t you?” I gently pressed my fingertips into her ribs, tickling her a little more before I slowed.
Shifting course as I brushed them over that tattoo on the inside of her forearm.
In sorrow we must stand.
And I wondered if I’d ever really done any of that.
My fingers gentled their assault as I was washed in a deluge of everything that she was.
Her own fear suppressing the joy I could feel wanting to break out from where she kept it trapped.
Hope a bare glimmer that wanted to burst from her spirit.
Held back because she’d never been given the chance to shine.
And that’s what I wanted.
I wanted this woman to shine.
She slowed, too, her hands that had been pressing against my chest and shoulders in defense rising up to softly rest on each side of my neck.
Her palms warm and perfect where my pulse beat frantically against her touch before she let one ride up so she could flutter her fingertips over the angles of my face.
“You are the most beautiful man I’ve ever met, Theo Mallin.
I was scared of you the night I first saw you because of the reaction you provoked in me.
It was something I haven’t felt in so long.
Or if I’m being honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever felt it before.
And now I’m absolutely terrified of the way you make me feel. ”
I gulped around the disorder, and I reached up and took her hand that was tracing my face and held it tight against my cheek.
“I’m not here to hurt you, Piper. I’m here to please you.
Treasure you. I’m here to show you how free you can be.
I don’t want you to be afraid any longer.
I want you to soar. Want to you thrive. I want you to shine all that light I can feel ready to rupture out of you.
You don’t need to keep it hidden anymore. ”
Trepidation bled into her features.
“Let me be the one to fight for you, Piper. Let me set you free. Let me help you establish this life. A safe life. Then we can end whatever this thing is between us, and you can forget all about me.”
Those icy blue eyes blinked an inferno of warmth. “I think the last thing I want is to forget you, and that’s what scares me most.”
“Well, then I’ll try to make sure they’re nothing but good, good memories.” I attempted to wind seduction and ease into the words while the thought of never touching her again made me feel uncaged.
Still, I wanted to give her some lightness to cling to when I could feel her getting sucked out into that ravaging sea.
“I can’t fall for you, Theo.” It was a warning.
I kissed across the knuckles of her hand that I held in mine and murmured, “Don’t worry, baby, I can’t fall for you, either.”
I paused, gazing down at the angles of her stunning face, searching through the rubble. “What do you need from me, Piper? Right now? Right this second?”
Those blue eyes stared up at me.
Open and dragging me down into their depths.
The girl bared and her truth bleeding out.
Her voice was the thinnest it’d ever been. “I want you to hold me, Theo. I want you to hold me. I’m so tired of being alone. Please, take it away, just for a little while.”
My chest tightened, and I gave her a tight nod before I sank down to my side and pulled her against me, one arm under her as I shifted around and drew the covers over us.
Her body nestled into mine and her head rested on my shoulder.
That connection between us hummed in satisfaction, and I exhaled a contented breath as she snuggled against me.
That cherry scent in my nose and her sweet heart pounding around me.
Sleep pulled on my consciousness, something it rarely did. Most of my nights were spent pacing the motel, sleep coming in erratic fits that never offered any real respite.
Exhaustion was my constant partner, though I’d pretty much grown used to it.
But somehow, right then, a strange sense of peace rolled through me.
Comfort that washed and weaved. The horizon not feeling quite so bleak.
Piper’s breaths had evened out, the woman already there, riding on that thick blanket of peace, though she whispered the words against my bare chest. “I should be terrified of you, Theo Mallin, but I’m not.”
I curled my arms tighter around her. “I would never hurt you.”
I prayed it wasn’t a fuckin’ lie.
Because that’s what I did.
I got too close, and I hurt the ones I wanted to protect the most.
I should get up and leave.
But I was held.
Pulled toward slumber.
And somewhere at the beginning of that dream, I tried to remember we’d agreed this was temporary.
Completely temporary.
And I had to wonder exactly who we were lying to.