Chapter 40 #2
I glance at him. “You’re not proposing.”
“Not right now.” His arm wraps tighter around me. “Doesn’t mean if this goes well that I never will. I do have a deadline to win you over by the end of summer, and I’m pretty sure I’ve done a good job so far. Can’t take proposing off the table.”
I study the rule, my heart beating faster.
“You okay with that?” he asks, his voice soft, understanding.
“I mean, how could I really stop you from proposing? If you want to, you can, but it doesn’t mean I’ll say yes.”
“You will,” he says with enough confidence to make your head burst. “All in good time, Renley.”
Ignoring him and the way my heart is fluttering, I continue on.
Rule Number Six: Renley hopes that Theo helps her with her candy shop, because she understands what it means to feel proud of something.
I’m your main man; you need anything, I’m there for you. I want this just as much as you, and I can’t wait to see you succeed.
“Thank you,” I say softly.
“I mean it,” he replies, and I know he does. He’s been one of my biggest supporters this entire time. In fact, if I’m honest, I wouldn’t have the store anywhere near ready had Theo not been here. Even though I’ve had to teach and direct him, it’s still saved me a lot of time.
Rule Number Seven: Theo and Renley need to practice healthy communication. Meaning she will answer his texts, but he needs to also be upfront and honest.
Theo and Renley are nailing this. Renley needed a little help opening up, but for the most part, healthy communication is the only communication they know.
“Thank you for pushing me to open up.”
“I’m here for you, love.” He kisses me again.
With this kind of attention, how could I possibly not develop feelings for him?
He’s saying all the right things, doing all the right things, teaching me that I’m important and what I do or create matters.
He’s showing me what it is to trust myself and love myself, even with the baggage I carry.
And he’s doing it through charm, joking, and an understanding of who I am as a person. I wouldn’t have expected such behavior from him when I first met him. I guess that’s why you never judge a book by its cover.
Rule Number Eight: The candy shop is the most important thing in Renley’s life right now and she can’t be distracted from pursuing her goal of making it a success. Theo needs to know that the candy shop comes first.
Theo understands this more than anything.
He’s also hoping that when the candy shop opens and Renley is feeling comfortable, she can put their relationship in line with the candy shop, because he likes her a lot and wants to spend time with her as much as he can.
Also, he doesn’t want to sneak around much longer.
I turn toward him, feeling so guilty. “I’m sorry.”
He shakes his head. “No, don’t apologize.
There is no need to apologize. I understand the purpose of putting the shop first. I want you to put it first right now.
It’s important. But when it’s open and you’re putting smiles on people’s faces, I hope you can shift your thought process just a little to include me as a priority. ”
I nod, cupping his cheek. “I can.” Then I press my lips to his and he sighs as his hand around my waist tightens.
When I pull away, he groans, but I say, “I have three more rules to get through.”
Rule Number Nine: Renley has a tough time forming bonds with men given her relationship with past men in her life.
She has a hard time trusting them and giving them a chance to have any part in her life.
Theo needs to know her reluctance is not against him, but from having to mend the scars left on her heart—not really a rule, just an understanding.
Theo is here to help mend those scars. Tell him what you need, and he’s there for you.
“I just need you,” I say, leaning into him. “That’s all.”
“You got it, Gossy.”
Rule Number Ten: Renley doesn’t want to be hurt by Theo.
Theo has zero intention of doing this. He’d rather hurt himself before he hurts Renley. Renley needs to trust that Theo likes her a lot and wants to see where this goes and is just asking Renley to give him a chance and to stay open and honest with him.
“I do trust you,” I say, almost surprising myself.
But if I were to truly think about it, I do.
I trust him. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have let him into my world of renovating, I wouldn’t have brought him to my pond, I definitely wouldn’t have let my guard down and cried in front of him, and I wouldn’t be sitting here on his bed, developing strong feelings for him.
“You do?” he asks with a breath of surprise.
I nod. “I really do.”
“Thank you.”
I kiss him one more time and then focus in on rule number eleven.
Rule Number Eleven: Renley and Theo should just be friends.
Yeah, this is not going to work for Theo. Sorry. Sure, he’d like to be friends, because relationships should always have friendship in them, but what Theo really wants is to ask Renley if she’d be his girlfriend.
My eyes snap to him in surprise as he slides off the bed and gets down on one knee.
“What are you doing?” I ask as he takes my hand and slides our palms together.
“Renley Lynn Gossage, will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?”
I snort, my hand covering my nose, but at the same time, I feel this hole in my chest that I’ve had for so long finally start to close.
Like I’ve been waiting for this moment, for someone to care about me, to treat me like he does, to show me my true worth, and now that he’s here, kneeling in front of me, it all feels sort of surreal.
“Why are you so ridiculous?” I ask, even though his flair for dramatics is one of the things I like the most about him.
“That’s not the answer I was looking for.” He lifts a brow. “Try again, love.”
Chuckling, I nod. “Of course I’ll be your girlfriend.”
Looking around the room as if it’s full of spectators, he says, “She said yes, everyone. She said yes.” Then he pushes me back on the bed and moves on top of me, takes my cheek in his hand, and starts kissing me, slowly, deliberately, like this was the plan all along.
His mouth parts mine, his tongue swiping as his hand trails up my thigh to the opening of my robe, but I stop him.
“Not so fast.”
“What do you mean, not so fast?” he asks.
“We’re going to play truth or dare, remember?”
He waves me off. “That’s fine, I don’t need to.” Then he tries to kiss me again, but I move away.
“That’s not how this works. We were going to play a game, so we need to play a game.”
“Or I can strip you down and scratch your inner thighs with my scruff before driving my tongue against your clit for an hour.”
“First of all, you and I both know it wouldn’t last for an hour. Second, we said we were going to play, so let’s play.”
I scoot away from him and adjust my robe while he pouts off to the side, his dick already hard in his shorts. I love that he finds me so attractive, that just being around me arouses him. My previous relationship was nothing like that. Not even close.
“Okay, you go first. Truth or dare?” I ask.
“Dare, obviously.” He scratches the back of his head, the movement making his abs flex.
“I dare you to take your shorts off.”
He scoffs. “Not much of a dare, love. I was shedding these anyway.” He removes his shorts and tosses them to the side, leaving him in nothing as his cock stretches up toward his stomach.
I wet my lips as I shamelessly stare at him.
“Jesus, the way you’re looking at me. Keep doing that and we’re going to make it one round.”
My eyes find his. “You’re so hot.”
His expression turns hungry. “Look in the mirror, love.” Then he says, “Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
His mouth falls open in shock. “What happened to dare?”
“You said you were going to be the one picking dare, not me.”
He drags his hand down his face. “Don’t you see what I’m dealing with?” He gestures to his cock.
“I do, and it’s making my mouth water, so hurry up with the truth question.”
“Christ.” He pulls on his neck. “Uhhh…why didn’t you pick dare?”
“Because I’m trying to torture you.”
“Great job, your success rate is incredibly high.”
I laugh. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare.”
I move in front of him and say, “I dare you to take off my robe.”
“Once again, something I planned on doing,” he replies as he undoes the belt on my robe and starts to part the fabric.
“I was going to do it—holy fucking hell.” He pauses as the robe pools on the ground and I stand in front of him wearing a black see-through bra and matching thong that rides high on my hips.
“Fuck, Renley,” he whispers as his hands move to my waist, his fingers playing with the thin string of my thong.
He scoots back on the bed and then tugs me so I’m straddling his legs, and because he’s so hard, I let him explore with his hands for a moment as he runs his fingers over the sheer fabric and toys with my nipples.
“Ask me,” I say.
“I’m busy.” He leans forward, ready to take my nipple in his mouth, but I stop him.
“Theo, ask me or I’ll get up and leave.”
As if I just told him the worst news of his life, his eyes grow large, and his brows turn down. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“Don’t test me.”
“Fine. Truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
He grumbles in frustration. “What is something you want me to do to you sexually?”
“There are so many things. I want you to go down on me because I want you to mark and claim me there.” His eyes go feral. “I want you to take me from behind, and I’ve never been spanked before, but I wouldn’t mind trying it.”
“Jesus.”
“And I’d love for you to use a vibrator on me at some point. Or better yet, let me use one on you.”
“Do you have one?”
I slowly nod.
“With you?” He gulps.
I nod again.
“Fucking hell, love, please.”
I place my hand on his cock, causing him to hiss. “Please what?”
“Please, play with me.”
“I am.” I smirk. “Truth or dare?”
“Dare,” he says so fast, I barely have time to ask him.
“I dare you to go into my bag, take out my vibrator, and press it against your balls.”
He blinks slowly, looking dazed.
“Really?” he asks.
With so much excitement pouring through me, I say, “Really.”