Chapter 25
25
Theo
G rant fucking Dawson is hitting on my wife. I should have been at her side this whole time instead of talking to Jonah’s sister. I knew this would happen. Cat’s wearing a bathing suit that must be specifically designed to make me want her, because I can’t stop thinking about yanking it down. Grant is probably thinking the same thing.
I should drag her out of this party so that Grant can never speak to her again. He’s too pretty. My arms go around her waist, and I pull her back into my chest. She fits me. Her head under my chin, her hair tickling my jaw, her waist under my hands, all smooth skin and neat curves. She’s mine. I give him a look that says back the fuck off.
“Your wife is really smart,” Grant says mildly.
“That’s why I married her,” I say, unable to keep the annoyed edge from my voice.
Grant Dawson thinks she’s smart. Have I ever told her she’s smart? No, I told her I couldn’t see her running a company, and now she hates me for it.
“Come with me,” I say in her ear. Cat shivers, but she lets me lead her through the water to the edge of the pool, where no one can overhear us. I back her against the wall, my heart pounding, my head swimming.
“What is this, Theo? I was talking to him.”
Her eyes drift down my body, and I want to flex. Grant Dawson might be a pretty boy pro hockey player with all his teeth, but I’ve never had any complaints. I’m good in bed and rich as fuck. None of it seems to matter to Cat.
I can’t have her, but I crave her approval like I’m a teenager again.
Her lips are parted and her eyes are wide. Tendrils of her dark hair are damp and curling. Her skin is luminous in the moonlight.
“He was hitting on you.” My voice comes out rough.
She narrows her eyes. Fuck , I love when she does that. She doesn’t do that with anyone else.
“So?”
“What were you talking to him about?”
“None of your business.” She looks so irritated at me, with her pink cheeks and the set of her mouth.
My chest is rising and falling with frustration. I’ve never been able to have Cat. She’s always been forbidden. For all of our closeness and the secrets we’ve shared, she’s never been a possibility.
And now Grant can hit on her, and we’re going to be divorced, and she could be with him. He would call her smart, and he would know, because he went to fucking Harvard, while I went to state school. He’s probably good enough for her, because he might look like a player, but he isn’t one, and I am.
“Were you talking to him about the list?” The list is ours, but I know she has another side to it, and who the fuck is she planning to do those items with?
“What?” Cat wrinkles her brow. “No.”
“You sure?”
“You’re being an asshole, Theo.”
I am. I so am, but I can’t stop.
I make a low noise in my throat. “I know there’s another side, Cat. ”
Her eyes flare with surprise. “How?”
“I saw it.” I run a hand through my hair. “A little piece of the paper tore off in my hand.”
“And you think I’d do those things with him?” She raises a brow.
“Would you?” Jealousy is the devil on my shoulder, whipping me into a frenzy.
“Maybe I would.” She throws her hands up. “Why the hell not? Especially since I might drown my darling husband in his own pool.” She bares her teeth.
“You’ll have to divorce me first.”
“Excuse me?” She looks homicidal.
“If you want to do those things with another man, you’ll have to divorce me first.” I’m acting like a caveman, but I can’t help it. In my head, Grant is telling Cat that she’s smart and mysterious and sexy and offering to buy her lingerie and whatever other depraved things are on the list.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You heard me.” I cage her with my arms. “I won’t share you. That bucket list gets done with me or not at all.”
“You’re serious,” she whispers, her dark eyes searching my face. I’m close enough to taste her.
“I am.” I press a hard, hungry kiss to her mouth.
I intend for it to be a mark of ownership, as fucked up as that is, but I should know better. I could never own Cat. Our first kiss was a brand on my soul. I’ll be chasing that high for the rest of my life.
“Fuck,” I mutter. Then I press her into the wall and kiss her again.
She clutches at my shoulders. I grind her into the tile. She meets each press of my lips with eagerness. That, more than anything, is my undoing. I lift her in the water so she’s riding my thigh and slip my tongue into her mouth. She meets me, sliding and stroking, drawing need into my stomach and sending it spiraling through me. Her hands drift, trailing over my shoulders, digging into my arms as I kiss her.
I’m panting, she’s breathing hard, and there’s a party happening around us, but I can’t stop. I can’t fucking stop. I pull her bottom lip between my teeth and kiss her again, trying to show her how much I want her with each press of my mouth. She moves over my thigh. Fuck. I want her higher, where I’m hard and ready for her.
“Theo,” she whispers.
My name on her lips makes me shudder. “Do the list with me. All of it.” I sound desperate. I am desperate.
She pulls back, her chest rising and falling in rapid breaths. She looks wary. I should take the words back, but I don’t. Instead, I wait to see what she says.
“I do want to be the girl who does everything on that list.”
“I want that for you too,” I say quietly. It’s true.
For a moment, we’re the only two people on the roof.
“Theo, there you are. Looking hot as usual.” A woman’s voice comes from behind me, and I groan. Cat’s gaze jerks to her. It’s Evelyn. I know it is. A model friend of Grant’s who always hits on me.
“Cat?” I ask. My heart is galloping in my chest. I don’t want to stop with Cat. I want to kick everyone out of this party and have her all to myself.
“I’ll think about it,” she says, her face shuttering, before she slips out from under my arm.
Evelyn puts a hand on my shoulder, but luckily, Miles calls my name, and I pull away, stalking through the water to his side, making sure my waist stays below the surface so no one can see my waning erection.
“What was that?” he asks when I draw near.
Cat gets out of the pool, and I track her with my eyes.
“Grant was hitting on her.”
“So?” He sips his drink and gives me a look that says I’m being unreasonable. “It’s not a real marriage. Unless—”
“Don’t start,” I say shortly. “Grant hitting on her is bad for our image.”
Miles laughs. Yeah, even I don’t believe me.
I find Cat in the living room later, curled up on the couch she prefers. Her head is buried in a textbook, and she’s making neat little notes on the paper next to her. She’s wearing pajamas and she looks unbearably pretty with her damp hair and her face free of makeup.
“Studying?” I ask from the doorway. I’ve changed too, and I’m in my favorite sweats.
“Yep,” she says, making another note before she looks up at me. “Come to yell at me more?”
“Nah.” I grin at her. “I came to see the rest of the list.”
“Don’t you have women to flirt with upstairs?” she asks tartly. Her cheeks redden while I watch her.
Something expands in my chest. “You were jealous,” I say.
“You’re dreaming.”
“I was talking to Jonah’s sister earlier,” I say conversationally. “She and her wife do our PR.” My smile grows at Cat’s pinched expression. “And Evelyn is a model friend of Grant’s. I’ve never slept with her.”
“Well,” she says primly. “I didn’t know that.”
I laugh, and she glares.
“Just show me the list, Cat.”
She shakes her head. “No. We said we wouldn’t sleep together, and that hasn’t changed.”
“ That’s what’s on it?” My pulse speeds. Cat was going to do that with someone else.
“Not just that,” she retorts. “Give me some credit.”
“What else?” I ask.
She shuts her eyes and tips her head back on the arm of the couch. “Fine. Buy myself nice lingerie is the first item.”
“You don’t want it bought for you.”
“Then I can get whatever I want.” Her face is pink, but her chin is lifted.
I dig in my pocket for the little slip of paper that I’ve kept in my nightstand since it ripped in my hand. I pass it to her, and Cat sucks in a breath.
“You saved it. ”
“Saved it? I’ve obsessed over it. What do you think I’m doing in my bedroom every morning?”
Her cheeks flush to a darker pink. “Plotting how to finally let Satan into the mortal realm?” she says.
I bark a laugh, and warmth fills me. Cat might have planned to sleep with someone else, but she only does this with me.
“Stop avoiding the question. What else is on the list?”
“Use your imagination,” she retorts.
I spear her with a look. “I am,” I say. “That’s the problem. My imagination doesn’t need any more fuel.”
She huffs. “Fine. Have a one-night stand.”
I freeze. “I assume you crossed that one off.”
“I haven’t crossed any of them off.”
Something that feels uncomfortably like relief floods me. “Why not?”
“What do you mean why not ? Not all of us think about sex fourteen hours a day.”
I cock my head. “More like sixteen. Except Thursdays. Too many meetings.”
Cat rolls her eyes. “I just couldn’t find the right guy. The list is stupid. Probably things you’ve done a million times. I’ve just never done them, and they seemed fun. Like something a really bold girl would do.”
“Bold?” My eyes lift to hers. I don’t know how bold a one-night stand is. Something fierce in her gaze makes me swallow the mocking words. This means something to her.
Suddenly, it’s imperative that I be the man to do this. Not some stranger.
“Let me do this with you, Cat.”
She glares at me.
“Come on, doing these things with someone else would be bad for our image.”
“Should have thought of that before we agreed not to sleep together,” she retorts.
Something ugly claws at me. “I know we agreed we could sleep with other people. But I haven’t been with anyone since that night I saw you at the bar.”
“Oh.” She hesitates. “Well, me neither.”
Satisfaction rushes through me. “Good,” I say. “So let me help.” I give her a cheeky smile. “After all, I’ve been training for this my whole life.”
She smiles reluctantly back. “Maybe just one. Do you know where I can get good lingerie? But nothing too expensive. I’ve been saving from the bar now that I don’t have to pay rent, but I don’t want to be too frivolous. I have to say, saving is not a skill that comes naturally to me.”
It wouldn’t be. This is probably the first time Cat has ever had to save. I swallow down my frustrated response and focus on her face. Cat is sharing with me. She’s being open. I won’t lash out at her.
“How much do you have saved?”
She names a number that won’t get her even one month of rent.
“Where’s it all going?”
Her mouth parts. “What do you mean where’s it all going ?” She stands. “God, Theo, you’re such an asshole. Have you seen me shop at all since I’ve been here? Have you seen me eat out? Have you seen me do anything except tend bar in a low-cut shirt so I can make sure my tips are high and go to school? I bought my own groceries so I wouldn’t eat yours and be indebted to you, for fuck’s sake. The money pays for my tuition.”
She’s shaking with the force of her anger. All I can think is she wears a low-cut shirt to get more tips. My stomach churns uncomfortably. “You won’t be indebted to me.”
“I’m not taking that chance,” she says, crossing her arms. “You could turn on me at any moment. I’ll pay my own way.”
“I won’t turn on you.” What the hell led Cat to think the worst of people?
She gives me a skeptical look.
I stare her down. “Let me buy the lingerie.”
“No,” she says.
“Yes.” I dig my wallet out of my pants and pass her my credit card. I force her fingers to close around it. “Consider it payment for all the events I’m about to make you attend. I don’t need the money.”
“I suppose you don’t,” she says slowly.
“Exactly. I’m your doting husband, remember? Buy the lingerie and make sure the tabloids see it. Make sure someone knows I’m the one buying it. And wear the ring while you’re at it.”
There’s still wariness in her gaze, but she nods before she heads upstairs.
I feel like I just boxed ten rounds with Jonah, but at least I’m getting her to trust me.
And why the hell does that matter so much?