CHAPTER 12 #3
“No. I just don’t like to discuss the past.”
He was silent for a moment. “He wasn’t mean to you, was he?”
“Oh, God no,” she said, the hilarity of her ex being anything but indifferent flashing in her mind.
“No, Eric was”—she lifted her hand horizontally in front of her face and waved it steadily from left to right before dropping it—“baseline. Apathetic. Nothing really bothered or annoyed him. That said, nothing excited him either. He was very robotic about his job and in other areas of his life.”
“I see. He didn’t get excited about the work?”
“Not really. I mean, he was happy when our team won, but he wouldn’t ever show it. He was just… not very expressive, you know? Like, instead of laughing, he would say ‘that’s funny,’ or when he was upset he would say something like ‘I’m disappointed.’” She paused. “He was disappointed a lot.”
“Why?”
“I couldn’t tell you. He never discussed it. In fact, when I would ask, he’d either tell me not to worry about it, or he would ignore me. Change the subject, leave the room. That sort of thing. Whichever was more effective in that moment.”
Theo frowned. “That’s not very helpful.”
“No. It wasn’t. But then again, it wasn’t really an issue when we broke up, either.
Because he’d never opened up and shared his opinions or feelings, I didn’t have a person to be sad over losing.
You can’t mourn someone you didn’t know.
” She glanced up. “Strong, silent type to the extreme, I guess you could say.”
Theo stared at her for a long moment before speaking. “I didn’t know you dated your boss.”
Scarlett blanched. Shit. Why had she let that slip?
“Oh, right. No one does, actually. Um. If you could keep that quiet, I’d appreciate it. I don’t need anyone knowing about that.”
He was silent for a moment, and she was sure that he might say something snarky. But to her surprise, he said something entirely out of the blue.
“My last girlfriend cheated on me.”
Scarlett stared at him for a moment, bewildered by the confession as well as shocked that anyone under the sun would cheat on Theo Ross. Not only did he seem devotedly loyal to his team and friends, he was smart, and beautiful, and all growly in the best sort of way.
“Why?” she asked before she could stop herself. “I mean, I’m sorry to hear that.”
He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “It is what it is.”
“Why on earth would she cheat on you? I can’t comprehend it.”
That gentle smirk lifted the corner of his mouth. “That’s kind of you to say, but I can be a bit of a bastard.”
“I’m not saying you can’t be, but I’m genuinely asking. What could have possessed her to do that?”
“To be honest, I wasn’t the best of boyfriends.”
Scarlett made a face and leaned forward. “Oh God, did you cheat on her too?”
“No,” he said instantly. “I mean, I worked too much. I wasn’t ever around when she needed me.”
“Oh,” Scarlett said, pressing her back against the wall. “Well, still. That’s not a reason to cheat on someone. To break up, sure, unless you were willing to change. Were you? Willing to change, that is?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Hmm…”
“Hmm, indeed.”
Kicking off one of her heels, Scarlett winced. Sliding her ankle up and over her other leg, she began to massage the aching sole of her foot. Theo watched her, and for some reason, she felt a tingling sensation creep up her spine.
“Why do you wear those heels if they hurt your feet?”
“Because I look good in them.”
He chuckled. “No argument there.” That made her blush, but then he shook his head. “You’re doing that wrong, you know.”
“Doing what wrong?”
“That,” he said, then rolled onto his knees and scooted closer to her. “Here, give me your foot.”
“No way.”
“Come on. I’m not going to bite you.”
Granted, while it was obvious that he was trying to soothe whatever apprehension she had, the idea of him biting her toes suddenly popped in her head, and she fought to remain still, but shivered. Shaking her head to dislodge the ridiculous mental image, she stuck her foot out at him.
“Fine, whatever,” she said, trying to sound nonchalant.
But the second his large, warm hands wrapped around her foot and he began to gently knead at the arch, her muscles melted to mush, and she relaxed against the wall behind her.
Her eyes closed as his knuckle rolled beneath the sore pads of her foot, and the longer he worked to soothe the twinges, the more she let her mind wander.
Minutes passed, and a weariness began to draw over Scarlett.
She scooched down the wall, allowing him to pull her farther down.
If someone had told her six months ago that she would be locked in a kit closet with Theo Ross and he was going to be giving her a foot massage, she’d have laughed in their face.
“I’m going to fall asleep,” she murmured. “That’s so nice.”
“You can’t fall asleep with only one foot done,” he said, his tone husky as he gently placed her foot on the ground and reached for the other one. He tugged off her other heel and began to work his magic again.
“Ooh,” she said. “I don’t want to fall asleep.”
“You might as well. It’s going to be a long and boring night. Best sleep through the majority of it.”
“No. Talk to me. Tell me something about yourself… Tell me why you like planes so much.”
“Do you really want to know?”
“Mmhmm.”
He was quiet for a moment before he answered.
“My grandfather was a pilot in the Royal Air Force. He was my mother’s father, and he lived with us when I was growing up.
He used to take me to all my football practices and games.
He loved watching me play. We were close, and he would tell me and my sister all sorts of stories about flying, but I was always inherently afraid of it for some reason.
I told him I was afraid of it, but he wouldn’t let me be.
He said it was foolish to be afraid of something I didn’t understand, so he took me up in a friend’s plane, and I fell in love with it.
He taught me everything there was about planes, how they worked, the physics of it all.
I was hooked. Being so far up and away from everything, soaring above the clouds like a bird…
I wish I could stay up there for days sometimes.
It’s when I’m at my most peaceful, I think. ”
Scarlett smiled lazily, touched by his story. “You’re crazy. Flying isn’t peaceful at all.”
“Sure it is. You just haven’t done it enough yet.”
She rocked her head from side to side now that it was flat on the ground. “No way. It’s too lonely.”
“Well, maybe I like to be alone.”
“I don’t. I like being around people.” She yawned and covered her mouth. “Besides, who would you talk to if you were stuck up in the air all the time?”
“That’s a good question.”
“See?” she said softly.
The edge of her subconscious enveloped her as she fell into a semi-dreamlike state. Soon, darkness wrapped its strong arms around her, and she was asleep. A familiar sweet, earthy scent assailed her nose, and when it disappeared, she wanted to follow it.
It wasn’t so bad, sleeping on the floor. She had expected to wake with a crook in her neck and a sore hip, since she often slept on her side, but after what was likely a very long nap, she stirred.
A weight she hadn’t experienced in almost a year was draped over her chest. She realized she was lying on her back when she opened her eyes, but only darkness surrounded her. Where was she? Oh right, the utility room. But then where was…
The weight that was on her chest shifted down to curve around her hip, gathering her close against a warm, firm body. It was a man’s arm.
Theo was sleeping next to her.
The faint scent of him, which had always been too far out of reach for her, was now close, and she couldn’t help but lean closer and inhale deeply.
God, he smelled amazing, and embarrassingly enough, it made her mouth water.
She knew she should try to wake him up, but she couldn’t resist, and she rolled to her side, burying her face in the side of his neck.
She inhaled deeply. Yes, this was where she wanted to be.
In the next moment, however, the pace of his even breath shifted, and she knew that he had woken up. Her own breathing was stilted. Her nose was pressed against his Adam’s apple now. She was mortified, yes, but not so much so that she wanted to pull away, so she pretended that she was still asleep.
But it didn’t work. Under the blanket of darkness, she lifted her face, tilting back enough that the tip of her nose touched the bottom of his chin. She paused, afraid that this was a huge mistake, but then his chin dipped and their mouths hovered millimeters away from each other.
“Simmons,” he said so softly that she barely heard him.
Her breath hitched. “Y–yes?” Her body was trembling.
“I’m going to kiss you.”
This was it. They were actually going to do this.
She dipped her chin, though he couldn’t see. “Yes,” she breathed, and with that, his lips pressed against hers.