Chapter 11
Theo closed the pool-house blinds while I fetched some towels for the mystery woman to dry off. She took herself to the bathroom at the back of the pool house, leaving me and Theo alone in the main open-plan living area.
“What do we do with her?” I asked, towel-drying my own hair.
Theo tossed me a shirt from the spares he kept in small set of drawers beside the fold-down bed.
“She can stay here, I guess,” he said, leaning against the back of the couch. “Until her memory comes back.”
“That’s . . . kind.”
“I can do kind, you know.”
I unbuttoned my wet shirt, peeled it off, and towel-dried my arms and chest. Theo watched openly.
His warm gaze made my skin heat. I knew he was bi, knew he liked to enjoy good things and was a hopeless flirt.
He’d said a few things that had sounded like flirting, but it was just a game to him.
And I could not afford any games. Still, I didn’t mind being admired.
I fumbled the buttons on the clean shirt, trying to get them open so I could actually put the damn thing on. Who washed a shirt and buttoned it up before folding it away?
He came over to help, and took the shirt from my fingers to quickly unbutton it.
I looked up, watching his face as he focused on the buttons.
The way his eyebrows creased in concentration, and how his dark lashes fluttered.
That mouth, and its quirky almost-smiles.
Soft lips, ripe for biting. I could have watched him all night, I realized, and looked away.
Oh, hello . . . not going there. I needed to calm the heck down right now.
“I can unbutton a shirt,” I mumbled.
“Just looked like your stumpy human fingers were having trouble, is all.”
Because I’d been distracted by his stare-fest.
“What you did, diving into the pool earlier. That was a good thing.” He handed the shirt back. Our fingers brushed.
My heart started to race again. Was he going to step back? I thrust my arms into the shirt and shrugged it on. The cool, clean, expensive fabric kissed my skin. Theo’s shirt, on me.
“It suits you,” Theo said, finally turning away. His low drawl suggested this shirt would look better off me.
Stop it.
I had more important things to be thinking about than getting my hands on Theo. “Why didn’t you pull her out of the pool? She’s alive, somehow, but she might have died.”
“I don’t know.” He flopped onto the couch in his default pose, taking up both cushions. Arms spread, knees parted. Sprawling. “I panicked, maybe? I knew she was alive.”
“Was there something in the pool?”
His gaze flicked up. “That is a weirdly specific question.”
How to explain my possibly imaginary near-death experience with next door’s pool? “It’s just, next door—”
I cut off as the mystery woman emerged from the bathroom, her hair now a damp, frizzled mop. She wore one of the gowns Theo kept in the pool house and carried her clothes bundled over her arm. “Hey, so, thank you, guys, I guess.”
Theo straightened, going from relaxed and calm to tight and wary. He stood and offered her the couch, but his gaze caught mine, sending out silent questions.
She sat and looked around her. “Where am I, exactly?” Her gaze settled on Theo.
“Coconut Grove, outside Miami,” he replied. “You really don’t remember anything? You don’t know how you got in my pool?”
“I have no idea. I’m so sorry, though. It seems like I maybe ruined your day?”
“Not really.” Theo smiled. “Had you died, then yeah. But you’re alive, so that takes the pressure off.” He crossed the room to the mini fridge and took out a couple of beers. He offered the mystery woman one, but she shook her head. He crossed to me, held out the beer. I took it without thinking.
“At least you guys seem nice. I could have woken up with some weirdos.” She laughed nervously.
Were we weirdos? Probably only when you got to know us.
“What was the whole ‘foul beast’, you mentioned?” Theo asked, as he leaned against the table and casually drank his beer. Or tried to appear casual. He clearly didn’t trust her or her answers.
“I don’t know, honestly. It was just there, in my head, when I saw you. Sorry, it’s kinda rude, I guess. You must get it a lot, being a vampire.” She glanced at me, looking for answers. “Maybe we should call the police?”
Theo glanced at me then too. Why was everyone looking to me for answers? “Uh, we could do that?” I said. “Or you’ll probably remember everything soon, so we don’t need to waste their time? I’m sure they’re super busy. And you’re safe here. Theo said you can stay, if you like.”
“Really?”
“Sure,” he said. “Nobody comes out here. Avoid my family and you’ll be fine. Take as long as you need.”
“Oh, that’s a relief.” She puffed out a sigh. “Have you got any food?”
“Sure, stay here,” Theo said. “I’ll grab you something. Any allergies? Don’t wanna kill you with a peanut after saving your life just now.”
“Uhm, I kinda don’t know?”
Theo headed toward the door. “No worries.” He waved me over. We left Mystery Girl and headed into the main house.
The cavernous kitchen opened around us, feeling bigger for being mostly empty, and clearly not used that much.
“There’s a whole lot of fanfiction out there about slayers and me,” Theo said, walking me through his living room and into the enormous kitchen, with its shiny granite surfaces and backlit cabinets.
“Foul beast is like a thing . . . You know the sort, vampire slayer meets sexy vampire. It gets pretty spicy.”
“You think she’s remembering fanfiction?”
He opened the fridge and grabbed armfuls of fruit and vegetables, then dumped them on the countertop. “It’s kinky. I’m just sayin’ . . .”
I tried not to smile. “You read your own fanfiction?”
He snorted. “C’mon man, like you wouldn’t.”
Seeing as I was a nobody, there wasn’t anyone out there likely to write fanfiction about me. Unless #Thowen stuck. Oh heck, what if Thowen had already become a thing? Was there already fanfiction out there about Theo and me? I almost asked, then realized I didn’t want to know.
Theo grabbed a loaf of bread and tossed it onto the counter beside the fruit. He paused, frowning at the odd collection.
“You making a mango sandwich?” I asked.
He huffed and spread his hands, encompassing the mismatched collection of food. “I have no idea what to do with this.”
Now I really did laugh, and stepped around the island counter. “Get outta the way, pretty boy. I’ve got this.”
“You cook?”
“I get by. I don’t have chefs to cook for me, and I don’t dine out.
But I gotta eat. Normal and boring, remember.
” I checked his fridge again and grabbed some cheese, then searched his cupboards for any sauces.
Ingredients gathered, I got to work. Theo watched, hip propped against the cabinets, arms crossed.
His staring should have made things awkward, but it felt good, felt like company.
“There’s something fuckin’ hot about a guy who saves a drowning woman, then makes a cheese sandwich like nothing happened.”
And I was going to pretend I didn’t hear the hot part, because if I had heard it, then I would not know what to do with it. Was he teasing? Probably.
“She’ll probably get her memory back soon. True amnesia doesn’t last long.”
“How do you know that?”
I shrugged. “I dunno, man. I just google things a lot and the information sticks, I guess.” Sandwich made, I plated it up then worked on the fruit, selecting a string of grapes and cutting the pineapple like my mother used to do.
“I’m glad you’re here, Owen,” he said quietly. “Alone, I mostly fuck things up.”
“Yeah, I googled your headlines.”
“Ouch,” he snorted.
“My personal favorite was Local Vampire Theo Witherborne Fights Valet and Loses.”
“Yeah, I did that.” He chuckled. “The guy was a dick.”
“What about the Fountain Incident?” I asked, which had been another moment in Theo’s many public spectacles that the press had gone wild over, spending weeks discussing his antics. They’d mostly determined he was a hot mess celebrity who’d had a public meltdown for no reason.
“I was very drunk. The fountain was there. Not my fault.”
According to the many online posts, he’d stood in a fountain at a charity event, fully clothed in a designer suit, and delivered a speech about how nobody knew him, then he’d tried to knight the security guard with a breadstick.
He’d stayed in the fountain for forty minutes, refusing to leave.
Nobody had been able to get him out. He’d only left when the crowd had eventually petered out.
“You’re not as bad as the press make out.” I could give him that much. “Just misunderstood.”
He shifted closer, still leaning against the countertop, then plucked a grape from the bowl and tossed it into his mouth. He crunched and swallowed in a single, smooth movement. “Are you coming around to the idea of me, Freckles?” he asked, eyebrow lifting.
“I may have been too quick to judge you when we met. Doesn’t mean I like you, though. Just so we’re clear.”
He was close enough now that, when I turned my head, I had to look up to meet his eyes. His gaze pulled me in. He didn’t shy away from direct eye contact, he held it, and with it came the sense that he was holding himself back.
Theo smiled. “Better than hating me, which is where we began, huh?”
That smirk. Be still my fluttering heart.
“Ugh, gay eye-fucking.” Bentley’s grating tone announced his unwanted arrival. “Don’t deny it, pool boy is wearing your shirt.”
Theo flashed me the last of that grin, then scowled at his brother as he approached the island counter and us.
Bentley had on a cream business suit, paired with brown loafers and a brown tie. On anyone else, the outfit would have made the wearer look like a used car salesman. On him, with his white-blond hair and pale blue eyes, it worked. If he wasn’t such an asshole, he’d have been stunning.
“Benny, did you have anyone stay last night?” Theo asked.
Bentley frowned, and his lip lifted at the corner in a small sneer. “I wasn’t here. Why, what did I miss?”
“You didn’t have anyone over?” Theo pressed.