31. Theo
THIRTY-ONE
THEO
I knew she’d been watching me the entire time I scoped the perimeter of the property, but she clearly didn’t realize I was aware with the way she jerked back and let the drape drop closed the second I met her eye.
Maybe I wanted her to know what I was up to.
Maybe I wanted her to see right to the middle of me.
Maybe I was a fucking fool who was angling for something that he couldn’t keep.
Because the warning blaring in my mind that I was standing on a crumbling ledge wasn’t loud enough to keep me from crossing the lot.
Boots eating up the ground as I made my way to the lure calling from behind the wall that separated us.
I took one more glance around, still itching with the sense that something had gone faulty. But there’d been zero evidence of anyone lurking around, and Alicia said she hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Still, at Sanctum’s meeting tonight, I was set on talking to my crew about posting an extra guard.
Just in case.
But for now, I had to rest in the fact that Alicia and Lucy were safe. Locked behind closed doors. Soon, we’d get them to their new home so they could start their new lives.
A sensation blazed inside me as I stepped onto the low porch in front of Unit B. Like maybe there was a new life waiting on the other side of it.
One for Piper and her family.
One for me.
The wayward thought slid in, unbidden and unwelcome.
Because it was nothing but treachery.
Guilt smacked me across the face, and I was the bastard who merely scrubbed a palm over the sheen of shame like I could wipe it away.
Heart going haywire as I raised my fist and knocked against the wood.
I could sense the furor of her misgiving, Piper’s apprehension and whatever else had been going through that beautiful, fierce head of hers when she watched me go to Alicia’s cabin.
“Mommy, someone here?” Finn’s adorable voice echoed through the door, and I could feel her presence hover on the other side.
A fuckin’ magnet that made me want to plaster myself against the wood and beg her to let me through.
I heard shuffling before the door finally creaked open, and Piper stepped through.
Wearing that white coat with her white hair raining around her.
Those arctic eyes flayed me open wide.
I tossed her a teasing grin, not sure how I pulled it off. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”
She crossed her arms over her chest, and her head barely shook, silken locks whipping around her gorgeous face.
“I don’t know if I can handle what’s happening between us, Theo.”
Yeah.
She wasn’t alone.
“What do you think is happening?” I grunted.
Her arms tightened like they were shields. “I think I’m setting myself up to get my heart broken.”
“One-star, remember?” I attempted to joke. “Hardly think I’m worthy of a broken heart.”
I didn’t deserve it.
Any piece of her.
I wanted to consume it all, anyway.
Her mouth tipped down at the side. Half in amusement and half in distress. “The problem is, you’re starting to feel like you’re worthy of a whole lot of things. And then…”
She inhaled an unsettled breath and tipped her head in the direction of the cabin sitting at a diagonal across the lot. “Then I saw you go over there…and…I don’t like the way it made me feel.”
My chest tightened, and the words were gritting out, “Are you jealous, Little Liar?”
Did it make me a prick that I liked it?
A twisted satisfaction twining through my insides, all while a punch of lust kicked me in the gut.
She lifted her chin and eyed me down. “Yes.”
I couldn’t do anything but reach out and set my palm against her jaw, cupping it soft, my thumb tracing over her plump bottom lip.
Wanted to do something stupid like tell her it was because she was mine.
Because she was.
At least for a little while.
“Nothing is going on like that with me and Alicia, Piper. Never has been. I was just checking on her and Lucy. They’ve…”
I paused, wondering if it was a betrayal to give her anything at all, but instinct told me I could trust Piper with it. “They’ve had a rough life, and while they’ve been staying here, I’ve been sure to keep an extra eye on them.”
That fierce chin trembled. I felt it glide through my hand on a wave of affection mixed with a bout of anxiety. “You seemed upset.”
Disquiet gusted through. “Just wanted to make sure the area was clear of anyone who shouldn’t be lurking around.”
The anger in my voice was probably revealing too much. The fact that I was far more invested than I should let on. But I found I couldn’t lie to this girl.
“You’re protective of them,” Piper whispered, gaze flitting over my face like she was searching for the truth written in the lines.
“Yeah,” I admitted, wavering, stomach a toil before I offered her a little more of myself. “Take it upon myself to protect those who sometimes can’t protect themselves.”
Something passed through her expression. Something that told me she was contemplating. Maybe adding up everything she’d learned about me and trying to bring herself to a conclusion.
Got the sense that she knew I was dangerous.
But she didn’t know every vile, horrible sin I’d committed.
The trauma I’d inflicted.
Couldn’t come close to seeing the secrets that I had to keep locked down so deep there was no chance of them ever being exposed.
She wouldn’t be standing here in front of me if she did, and there was some foolish part of me that wanted to show her all of them, anyway.
“Like us,” she whispered.
I kept tracing my thumb across that delicious lip. “No. Not quite like you. You’re the only one who makes me want to keep coming back to your door day after day. Only one who makes me want to walk through it so I can get to you.”
Every word left me on a coarse rasp of possession.
“The entire day, I haven’t stopped thinking about having this sweet mouth wrapped around my cock for one second. Haven’t been able to erase your taste from my tongue. Driving me out of my mind, Piper Whittman. The way I want to peel you apart and sink right into you. In a way I never do.”
A tremble rocked through her, and her delicate throat bobbed before she whispered, “And that is why I’m terrified. Because I want that, too.”
Leaning in, I let my nose brush across hers.
Inhaling her delicious cherry scent.
Fuck, I wanted to devour everything that she was.
“Theo,” Piper breathed, and her hands found their way through the opening of my jacket and to my tee underneath.
Fisting and holding on.
Begging for this thing we both knew better than to give ourselves over to.
I spread my hands around her waist and pulled her hot body against mine.
A sweltering of need blistered between us.
“Mommy?” Little thuds suddenly vibrated the door as the tiny tot pounded on the wood.
Piper exhaled heavily, and I couldn’t stop my smile as my forehead dropped against hers. “Sounds like someone needs you.”
She peeked up in my direction. “Yeah, I’d better head back inside.”
“What, you aren’t going to invite me in?” I repeated the same question I issued from the get-go as I eased back to gaze down at her gorgeous face.
Her gaze dipped for a moment, those lashes sending a shadow over her cheeks before she looked back up at me. “I do want you to come inside, Theo.”
There was no playfulness to it.
My nod was slow. “Yeah, Piper, I do, too.”
Hers was shaky before she shifted around and went for the door handle.
Then she huffed out a breath. “Crap. I left my keycard inside.”
I dug into my pocket and pulled out the one that granted me access to every room at the motel.
Reaching around her, I pressed it to the reader.
When it unlatched, she sent me an accusing grin from over her shoulder. “Convenient.”
I buried my face in her hair at the side of her head. “Seemed like you didn’t mind so much last night.”
Could feel her smile as she carefully nudged open the door since Finn was directly on the other side.
The little man jumped high as he called, “Peek-a-boo, I see you!” through the crack she made.
There was no missing the weight of her love pouring out at the sight of her son, and she sang, “And I see you, too.”
That chaos shuddered through me. Hands of guilt and grief trying to shove me back by the chest. Stop me from whatever the fuck I thought I was doing.
Piper widened the door so we could step through.
“ Feo ?!” The kid’s precious face lit up when he saw me.
My spirit clutched. So fierce that it nearly dropped me to my knees.
“Hey, Little Man Finn.” My voice was hoarse.
He beamed, the little dimple lighting on his cheek. He patted a hand on his chest. “You come see me?”
“That’s right,” I told him, words shaking. There was nothing I could do but scoop him up when he lifted his arms.
I held him to my chest. My chest that was getting stretched wide.
Over-fucking-capacity.
“Well, look who’s here,” Nelly tsked from where she was at the stove in the kitchen. “Bet you smelled the soup I’m whipping up and came running. Or maybe you were just runnin’ this way for somethin’ else.”
The old lady was full of sass and suggestion, and there was no stopping the chuckle that rolled up my throat.
“Nelly,” Piper warned as she peeled herself out of that coat, the woman still wearing the same soft cream sweater and velvety baby blue pants that matched her eyes that she’d had on earlier.
Didn’t matter.
The sight of all those curves wrapped in the fabric still punched me in the gut.
My mouth went dry, and I attempted to swallow around the need that thickened with each breath I took.
“Might have a couple things bringing me to your door,” I admitted on a gruff breath.
One of Finn’s arms shot for the sky. “Me!”
And there I went.
Fuckin’ falling.
I gave him a gentle bounce as I hooked him onto my hip. “Definitely you. Thought you might need some help getting that tree in its stand so you can decorate it.”
I glanced to where it was still leaning bound against the wall.
“I decorate twee !” Finn bobbed his head, excitement pinking his cheeks.
I ruffled a hand through his hair. “And I bet you’re going to do a good job of it, too.”
“I got owl, Feo .” He kicked his little legs in a bid for me to set him down, and the second I did, he scrambled for the red box that had the owl ornament. He dropped to his knees and held it over his head. “ Wook! ”
Affection rushed. “I thought you might like that one.”
“You get it for me?” he peeped.
“Yeah, buddy.” My voice was soft. “I got it for you.”
Whole time, I could feel the weight of Piper’s gaze. Her reservations woven with the specks of hope that vied for a way out.
I was a bastard for putting them there.
This was temporary.
We all knew it.
And still, I couldn’t force myself from this place if I tried.
“I wuv it!” He hugged it against his chest.
I cleared the heaviness from my throat. “Well, what do you say I put up that tree so you can hang it?”
“I say yes!” His pink bowed lips stretched in delight.
I met Piper’s eyes for a moment.
A thousand things passed between us in that bare moment.
Gratitude and need and knowing.
Questions and uncertainty and fear.
I sent her a knowing smile before I grabbed the tree from the wall. I wrangled it around the furniture as I glanced between Piper and the pile of bags on the floor. “Would you mind grabbing the stand and putting it wherever you want the tree?”
“Sure.” She turned and dug around in the bags. When she found it, she wound around the couch and set it in front of the left window beside the fireplace.
“Good choice,” I murmured as I went to work.
“How about some holiday music to get this party started?” Nelly hollered from the kitchen, and Piper linked her phone with the Bluetooth speaker that sat on the kitchen counter.
A second later, the cabin was filled with festive music.
The mood went light.
The fireplace crackled as the flames leapt in the hearth.
The whole time, Nelly sang from the kitchen as she prepared dinner, while Piper and I strung lights.
Our smiles soft and our gazes long.
Touches not quite covert since the only thing I wanted to do was get my hands all over her gorgeous body.
Laughter rang from Piper and Finn as she held him up so he could place ornaments on the tree, then she spun him around and started dancing with him in her arms when “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” came on.
The sight was nothing but sheer, unmitigated bliss.
Pulling and tugging on me.
Finn squealed, giggling out of control with his head tipped back as she spun him round and round, before Piper danced back my way with her son in her arms.
Their faces flushed and full of happiness.
A vision that punched me straight in the gut.
“Only the topper is left. Can you get it?” she gently asked Finn as she set him onto his feet, and he went tottering for where it sat on the coffee table.
A snow angel.
Raven had been there to help me pick everything out since I’d never ventured into this territory before and I figured I’d screw it all up. I saw it and knew it was perfect.
Reminding me of this girl with white hair and a brand-new joy in her arctic blue eyes.
“Up!” Finn instructed, jumping high in front of me like he was going to reach the top.
I swooped him up and held him high so he could reach the top.
He placed it like a little pro, and I pulled him back down, keeping his back to my chest so we could all inspect our handiwork.
Piper eased up to our side.
For one second, she hesitated, emotion thick and soggy, before she wrapped her arm around my waist and leaned against me as we gazed up at the tree.
And fuck me.
I’d never felt anything more perfect in all my life.