Chapter 18
Eighteen
THEO
The only part of my past life I hadn’t given up was Mayfair.
My flat on Half Moon Street was an uncomfortably close twenty-minute walk from my father’s townhouse on leafy Wilton Crescent. But the flat had belonged to my mother. She’d left it to me, and I couldn’t bear to part with it.
Sarah stared around wide-eyed as we stepped almost directly into the living area of the Georgian townhome that had been split into apartments.
The living room was to the left of the main entrance and was the largest space in the house with massive symmetrical windows that let lots of light into the flat.
I’d taken a wall down so the kitchen and sitting area were one space.
It wasn’t a huge kitchen, but I enjoyed cooking in it.
To the right of the entrance was the only bedroom.
It was a suite with an attached bathroom and walk-in closet.
My taste ran toward midcentury modern, and my décor was decidedly masculine.
I watched Sarah as she toured the flat, eyeing the books on the shelves in the living room with curiosity and then the rowing machine that took up too much space.
I itched to use it after weeks without the familiar exercise.
“It’s a great flat,” Sarah offered softly.
“It was my mother’s,” I blurted out.
Sarah turned to look at me. “The flat?”
I nodded, scrubbing a hand down my cheek.
I could probably do with a shave, but I’d noticed Sarah liked the bristles against her skin.
Therefore, I was reluctant to get rid of it.
“She had an entire real estate portfolio my father didn’t even know about.
He was just as astonished as Sebastian and me to discover it after her death.
” I smirked sadly. “Her parents died when she was nineteen, leaving her their fortune. Sometimes I wonder if that’s why she clung on to my father so quickly. ”
“Looking for an anchor,” she whispered, her sympathy genuine and moving and frightening. Because I worried about how easily Sarah could be hurt when she cared this much for people she didn’t even know.
“Exactly.” My voice sounded hoarse, so I cleared it. “Anyway, I think she must have hidden from my father what she was worth. Maybe a tiny part of her knew that she needed to protect that. And she built a real estate business behind his back.”
“Good for her.”
I grinned. “Yes, it was rather a lovely surprise.” Gesturing to the flat, I continued, “She left me this and four other properties. All in Mayfair. All worth quite a bit. I kept this one for myself and rent out the others.”
“You don’t want to sell them?”
My throat tightened at the thought. “I can’t,” I choked out.
She nodded in understanding and then did me the favor of changing the subject. “I love the high ceilings and windows. It’s gorgeous.”
“Yes,” I murmured, watching her as she kicked off her shoes and curled up on the sofa beneath a window.
She rested her chin on her arm as she stared out at the world passing below.
Her silky hair slid across her shoulders, and I suddenly imagined her naked with soft morning light spilling across her smooth skin.
I’d never had a woman stay in my flat before.
I preferred to fuck them at their place so I could leave.
Guilt flickered through me, and I was reminded of the moment at the airport with the flight attendant. I hated the idea of Sarah finding something abhorrent in me. I wanted to be better for her, but an insidious voice reminded me of the truth.
I wasn’t good enough for this woman.
Then she turned and smiled at me, and my selfishness won out. “Let’s freshen up. I want to take you somewhere.”
An hour later we were in a restaurant having dinner when Sarah’s phone buzzed and mine rang. It was an unfamiliar London number again, so I silenced it as Sarah peered at her phone screen.
Swallowing a bite of pasta, I asked, “Anything interesting?”
She nodded, smiling. “An email. You got the same one. It’s from Liz. She says the contract is almost ready and will be back with you by the end of the week.”
“Wow. They certainly pushed that through.”
“You did ask her to.”
“Yes, but I wasn’t quite expecting it this soon. Good for her.”
“I’m going to ask her about meeting up while I’m in London.” Her fingers flew over the keys as she responded to the email. “Who was calling you?”
“I don’t know …,” I trailed off as my gaze returned to my phone, and I noted the voicemail notification.
Sighing, I put the thing to my ear to check who it was.
Unsurprisingly, it was DCI Rick English sounding more urgent now as he again asked me to return his call.
“No one.” I hung up annoyed. “Just my brother acting insane.”
Hopefully, news of my return to London would put a stop to this nonsense.
“Anyway, my team should be able to get the contract back to Liz within a week or so. It’ll probably take a few more back-and-forths from there, but we should see it finalized by the end of January, I would think.”
“Aye?” Sarah’s excitement was palpable.
It reminded me of what I was like when I stepped on my first film set, and it just hit me how fun it was going to be to make this thing with her.
I had to have her on set, at least for the first episode.
“Once that’s done, we’ll cast Juno and Peter and shop it out to Skylark.
If they don’t want it—which seems unlikely—we’ll try some streaming services. ”
She bit her lip, eyes alight. “It’s getting so real now.”
I grinned. “We’ll need permits to film in Dundee and Edinburgh.” The first book split its time between the two cities. “And then you’ll get to be there while we film.”
“I can’t wait.”
We chatted a little more about the script and after dinner, I led her out to find a cab.
“Where are we going?” Sarah asked for the fifth time as the cab tried valiantly to get through London evening traffic.
“It’s a surprise,” I insisted.
She didn’t seem too bothered as she gaped out the window, taking in everything. It reminded me that this was her first time out of Scotland, never mind her first time in London. I wanted to show her everything, and it was a bit like seeing it all through new eyes.
Finally, about fifteen minutes longer than it should normally take, we arrived at Kew Road.
I paid the driver and helped Sarah out. People were already filing into the gardens. Tightening my hand around hers, I guided her through the black decorative wrought iron gates situated between four stone pillars.
“Where …?”
“Welcome to Kew Gardens, Ms. McCulloch.” I gestured as we entered a Christmas wonderland.
Sarah’s mouth parted as she took in all the lights.
“This is nothing,” I promised in her ear.
It had been years since I’d visited Kew Gardens, but Christmastime was quite the spectacle.
Trees and hedges wrapped in fairy lights, others aglow in rainbow hues cast by light shows, and archways made entirely of light.
The illuminations were a little magical, and Sarah needed a little magic this year.
She took in the sights with wonderment in her eyes, clinging to my arm, gasping, smiling up at me like a girl seeing Santa for the first time.
It amazed me she could have reached this age and still be filled with awe by things I’d grown used to overlooking.
I was somewhat jealous. But my overarching emotion was protectiveness.
For the first time in years, I wanted to protect someone else.
I didn’t want anyone to break her or take that wonder from her.
And I especially didn’t want that person to be me.
Under a cathedral of lights, uncaring of the people walking through it with us, I halted and pulled Sarah up onto her tiptoes to reach my lips. I kissed her like it would save me.
Like it might save her from me.
A voice in the back of my head told me I needed to let her go.
But I couldn’t.
Why couldn’t I?
My grip on her tightened, my kisses hard and hungry, and I might have stayed there with her forever if someone hadn’t wolf-whistled.
I reluctantly released her and she stared up at me, lips swollen, dazed, the twinkle lights reflected in those spectacular eyes of hers.
“There are children here,” a woman practically spat at us as she passed.
“Are there?” I drawled, tucking Sarah into my side. “I thought they were poorly dressed elves.”
Sarah muffled a snort, and I grinned harder.
The woman huffed and strode off.
“That there is a woman in desperate need of good sex.”
“Theo!” Sarah slapped my chest, hushing me even as her lips trembled around a smile.
“I only speak the truth.” I shrugged. “Fancy some hot mini doughnuts?”
She shook her head at me like I was a naughty schoolboy.
“No to hot doughnuts?” I gasped in teasing outrage.
“No to your nonsense.” She tugged on my hand with a roll of her eyes. “But aye to doughnuts.”
For the next hour, I led Sarah around the gardens, taking pictures, watching her as she contemplated one light display after another.
“Believe it or not,” she said after swallowing a bite of hot, sugary pastry, “this is giving me a great idea for a scene in the next book. I could take Juno to London at Christmastime. Can you imagine her being stalked through Kew Gardens by her latest suspect?”
I chuckled. “Only you, sweet Sarah, could think of a thriller scene amid a Christmas wonderland.”
She laughed, and I couldn’t help myself. I bent down to kiss her, licking at the sugar on her lips. The way her breath hitched caused an immediate tightening in my balls. “Fuck,” I murmured. “Are you ready to get out of here?”
Understanding flushed her cheeks and she nodded.
It was a tense cab ride back to my flat. I held her hand between mine, stroking my fingertips over her palm. She shivered and the blood thundered in my ears.
I barely remembered the ride or paying the driver.
My sole focus was on getting privacy with Sarah.
My desperation for her was such that I couldn’t even take a few more steps into the bedroom.
Instead, as soon as we stepped inside the flat, I used our bodies to close the door and I pressed her into it.
She gasped into my kisses as I undulated against her, fumbling frantically for the zipper on her coat.
Past that barricade, next were her jeans and mine.
There was just enough presence of mind left to pull a condom out of my wallet and don it before I thrust inside her snug heat.
I groaned in utter relief as she cried out, her features tight with pleasure.
Then I fucked her against my front door, watching her unravel, getting off on the fact that I could make her lose her mind too.
My release followed on the heels of her climax.
“We’re not done,” I warned her gruffly as I ground into her, wanting more. “I plan on keeping you up all night, little darling.”
She panted for breath, eyelashes fluttering, cheeks flushed delightfully. “No arguments here, Mr. Cavendish.”
I grinned against her throat. “There’s my good girl.”
Her inner muscles throbbed around me and I could feel myself growing hard again. My Sarah was a dichotomy. Fucking hated it when I said anything so patronizing like good girl outside of the bedroom, but when I was inside her, those words definitely hit the spot.
“Come.” I reluctantly withdrew from her. “Let’s christen my bed before I take you against the door again.”