Chapter 14 #2
“No.” She exhales. “It’s not just about the book.
Things with my parents have been complicated ever since I left my job to write full-time,” she explains.
“Before that, even. I think I was just … naive to it back then. We don’t really speak the same language.
I don’t think we ever have. My brother is far more their idea of what their child should be. ”
She had thought it would be better once the book came out, and that just showed how naive she still was.
For all her talk of stepping into her own life and being true to herself and finally releasing her expectations, she’s still here, quietly hoping for validation she’ll never receive, because they don’t know how to give it.
“You probably shouldn’t be taking advice from me,” she admits with a self-deprecating laugh.
“I can’t imagine anyone better to take advice from, actually,” Theo responds softly. “You’re quite a force to be reckoned with, Collins.”
She tilts her head up to meet his gaze, her stomach swooping at how close he is. She can see the tangle of his long blond lashes, and the way the firelight reflects in his irises as his eyes dart to her lips then back up.
His brow furrows slightly, his shoulder slipping behind hers as he leans in closer. “I cannot believe you thought I called you a mistake.”
“You literally said—”
“Don’t do that,” he says, and if his tone isn’t enough to have her falling silent, his fingers brushing against her cheek as he moves a strand of her hair out of her face is. His hand slides behind her head, his fingers carding through her strands as he tilts her head back.
Something pulls tight in her stomach as she meets his stare, and in the firelight, she can just make out how his eyes darken beneath her gaze.
Theo’s tongue wets his lips, and Sage …
Sage can’t wait another damn second.
“Never have I ever taken this long to kiss—”
Theo ducks his head and kisses the words straight out of her mouth.
“Bloody hell you are impossible,” he groans, his hands tightening in her hair and tugging her closer.
“So you’ve said,” she says with a breathless laugh before his lips find hers again. She brings her hand to his face, the hint of stubble there scratching against her palm as she cups his cheek and Theo angles her head just so, his tongue sliding against hers.
Sage pushes herself up to her knees so she can get even closer, and Theo uses a hand on her hip to tug, and the next thing she knows she’s in his lap. Her knee hits his beer bottle and sends it rolling, but neither of them care.
She’ll deal with the mess later.
If she bothers to deal with it at all.
Theo’s mouth is on hers again in the next instant, his hands warm as they slide beneath her sweater.
“Fuck,” he bites out breathlessly. His eyes are blazing with want as they meet hers. He ducks his head and kisses down her neck. Sage’s breath stutters from her lungs, a soft moan slipping from her as he sucks a mark into the thin skin at her collarbone.
Desire slams into Sage so hard she can hardly breathe. She grabs his Henley and tugs him closer, buttons be damned, as she finds his lips again.
“What do you want, Collins?” he murmurs against her mouth, his polished vowels drenched in deep, raw desire.
His hips buck up and a shudder rakes down her spine.
“Whatever you want, I’ll—” He cuts himself off with a groan as Sage moves her hips in retaliation.
She feels like her skin is on fire, like her palms are burning as they slip beneath Theo’s shirt and trace his skin.
She pushes his shirt up and over his head, desperate to get closer to him.
“I want you,” she breathes against his lips as she tosses the garment aside.
She can feel his grin before he tugs on her bottom lip.
“I want …” She trails off as he pulls her sweater off, his hands trailing up her sides and to her breasts.
He kneads her through the lace of her bra and Sage can’t help but dig her nails into his chest as she scrambles for something to anchor her.
“Use those words, Collins,” he teases as he slips her breasts free of the cups. “I know you have plenty.”
Sage tries—she really does. But then his tongue is doing something against her nipple and she can hardly think.
He unclasps her bra and tosses it aside, and then they’re chest to chest and Sage is content to let the fire ripping through her consume her entirely as Theo kisses her to within an inch of her life.
He lowers her back onto the pillows beneath them with a gentleness that makes her breath catch, and for a moment, he simply gazes down at her, his hair a mess from where she’s run her fingers through it.
There’s something about the way he’s looking at her that has Sage’s throat clogging, and Theo cocks his head, as if he senses it.
“Do you want to stop?” he asks, his chest rising and falling with his jagged breaths.
She shakes her head. She’s never wanted anything less. “Do you?”
He tugs his bottom lip between his teeth as he gives her a grin, his touch light as it drags from her shoulders to her ribs to the waistline of her jeans.
She shivers as he traces a finger beneath it.
“Quite the opposite. In fact …” His motions are slow and smooth as he flicks open the button of her jeans and drags the zipper down.
“I’d really like to take you apart right here in front of this fire. ”
Distantly, in the gravitational field that the earth has since left, there’s a thought of how this is a horrible decision.
But Theo slips a hand into her jeans and cups her, his fingers pressing firm against the lace that covers her aching core, and she suddenly can’t think of anything at all except more.
“So do it, then,” she taunts breathlessly.
Sage, for all her needing to be prepared for each and every thing in her life, is entirely unprepared for the way Theo rises to the challenge.
His fingers slide against her slick skin, and Sage gasps as he takes up torturously slow circles against her clit. Her fingers dig into his shoulders hard enough that she’s sure to leave marks, but Theo just chuckles breathlessly as he swallows down the whimpers he’s pulling from her.
“Theo,” she pants—pleads. He takes mercy on her by sliding a finger inside of her, but it’s still not enough.
He adds another finger and crooks them just right, and Sage’s breath catches again in her throat.
Her hips rock forward, her hands trembling as she fumbles with the button of his jeans.
A broken sound escapes her as Theo removes his hand to help her, but it’s worth it to see his pale skin in the firelight.
It’s just one more thing she’s unprepared for: how absolutely devastating he looks, all taut skin and lithe muscle as he crawls back on top of her.
Sage instantly reaches between them and takes him in hand. Theo groans at the first touch of her palm against his cock, his hips bucking just the slightest bit, as if he can’t resist.
His lips find hers once more as she begins to stroke him, his inhale sharp against her mouth as she flicks her thumb over the head.
“Not going to last long if you keep doing that,” he pants against her lips. Sage grins, but she releases him, cupping his face instead so she can deepen their kiss.
“Do you have a condom?” she asks, her heart racing in her chest. She wants him, damn near may well need him.
“Does it look presumptuous if I do?” Theo retorts as he reaches for the wallet in the back pocket of his discarded jeans.
He holds up a foil packet between two fingers.
Sage pushes herself up as she takes it from him, her other arm winding around his neck as she meets him in a messy kiss.
“I really don’t care,” she mumbles against his mouth before she pulls away to roll the condom on him.
Theo’s laugh gets choked on another groan, and then he’s guiding her back down against the pillows, his eyes fixed on hers as he slowly slides into her.
Sage’s breath goes full and tight in her chest, her head tilting back as pleasure pulses through her.
“All right?” Theo’s question comes through gritted teeth, but his eyes—dark with pleasure—are fixed on her face, tracking every minuscule reaction.
Sage slides a hand into his hair, her fingers tangling in the strands at the back of his head as she drags him back in for a kiss. It must suffice as an answer, because Theo gives a confident roll of his hips, and Sage …
Sage is lost to the way he feels as he picks up a steady rhythm, a soft Christ falling from his lips before he captures hers again.
Every single one of her senses is focused on Theo, Theo, Theo. From the touch of his hands to the movement of his hips to the solid weight of him above her, he overwhelms her entirely until her only thought is that she can’t remember the last time she felt this good.
Theo brings her to the brink, one hand tight on her hip and the other tangled in her hair, and for a moment he keeps her suspended right there, as if he knows exactly how to draw out her pleasure.
But then he presses his forehead to hers, his voice low as he says, “Let go, Collins.”
She does.
The pleasure that’s been pulling taut in her stomach snaps as she flies over the edge. Theo stills above her, and Sage wraps her arms tight around his trembling shoulders as he follows.