Chapter Four #4
Theo’s eye went wide. He bent down. “Uh, Audrey?” he whispered. “How old are you?” His cheeks above the mask burned in the light spilling through from the food truck’s door.
She bit her lip and swept some of his hair away from his ear, doing her best to strangle a laugh. “Twenty-four,” she whispered back, standing on her tiptoes to reach him. “I’d love a margarita.”
He blew out a sigh of relief from beneath his mask. “Oh, thank god. I panicked for a second.” He turned back to Tío. “Definitely want some, thanks, man.”
Tío winked and shut the door behind him, and Theo winced as he turned back to Audrey.
“I was, uh…shit,” he swore and rubbed the back of his neck. “I worried you might be a little, um…”
“Young for you?” Audrey pressed her lips together even harder to keep from bursting out laughing. He looked so flustered.
“Well, yeah. If you were any younger, I would’ve pitched myself straight off the Brooklyn Bridge for being a total creep.”
“How old are you? You can’t be that much older than me.”
“I’m thirty-two.” He closed his eye, and she didn’t need to be able to see it to know he’d scrunched his face up in shame.
“I think eight years is fine, Theo. I’ll only give you a little bit of grief for being an old man. It explains why you think Humphrey Bogart had such good game, though: turns out he’s your contemporary.”
He groaned and she continued to needle him for a few minutes, but he was saved additional teasing by the door bursting open again and Tío descending the truck’s steps, carrying a heavy paper bag and two drinks nestled into a cardboard carrier.
Theo pulled out his wallet when the older man approached, but he only laughed and shook his head.
“Nah, Teds, put that shit away. Your money’s no good here. It’s on the house.”
“Thanks. And tell Ricky I said hi.”
Tío motioned over his shoulder. “He’s too busy stressing at the plancha to come out right now, but swing by when it’s slow and he’ll want you to test the new recipes.
” Audrey peered around him and spied a tall, lanky blond man frantically slinging steaming tacos on the grill back in the truck.
He did, in fact, look fairly stressed, but she could hardly blame him—the line on the other side of the truck was long.
Tío handed them the food and drinks before fist-bumping Theo again. “Ahí las ves, eh? Don’t be a stranger.”
“Yeah, definitely. Catch you later, Tío.”
Theo waved and led Audrey away from the food truck, turning the corner onto a quieter neighboring street. There was a little alcove behind one of the restaurants with an empty picnic table and benches tucked into it, and he sat down and began spreading the food out on the table.
“This is where the restaurant employees eat sometimes,” he explained as he removed what seemed like box after box of food.
“The owner is a frequent patron of the food truck himself, so he’s cool with it.
Jesus, Tío went nuts tonight, didn’t he?
” he muttered to himself as he sorted through all the boxes.
“Did he give us the whole menu? He must’ve raided some already cooked orders to get us all this so quick. ”
“How do you know him?”
Theo opened one of the boxes to check inside and slid it over to her.
“He’s Diego’s uncle—I grew up with him. And I also did branding work for him and his partner awhile back when they first launched the truck.
They’ve since been featured in a whole helluva lot of magazines and blogs and food write-ups for the city, so my secret spot got outed, but they still like to feed me from time to time.
” He pointed at the box. “Try those first.”
For the second time that night, he unhooked his mask and this time removed it completely, tucking it into his jeans pocket before greedily turning to a box of his own.
The lighting behind the restaurant was dim enough to obscure his face, partially bathing him and his scar in shadow.
But Audrey was just glad he felt this comfortable around her after today.
They tapped their plastic margarita cups together and dug in.
They were the best tacos she’d ever had.
Every bit of that food was incredible.
They stuffed themselves on birria tacos and flautas, chips and salsas, elotes and quesadillas.
Tío had also included some flan for dessert, and despite the fact that Theo inhaled enough food to feed four Audreys (she knew it, he’d been starving, popcorn aside), neither of them even managed to touch the tortas.
When they were finally defeated, he packed up the rest of the food and tucked the leftovers and her bouquet neatly back into the bag, tossing their trash in a nearby bin before replacing his mask and taking her hand in his.
She was so full, she was suddenly having trouble keeping her eyes open.
“Food coma, huh?” Theo snorted. He must’ve noticed her sway on her feet when she tried to get up.
“Oh my god, I’m going to sleep for three days,” she moaned. “Just roll me down the subway stairs. I’ll tumble onto a train headed home eventually.”
“I could never. I’d rather carry you home if I needed to.
” He paused and considered her for a moment before reaching up and untying the scarf from around his neck.
“And it’s getting chilly.” He wrapped it back around her, looping the ends through and tucking it carefully around her neck to lend her maximum warmth. “Let’s get you home.”
Her scarf still radiated his heat, and Audrey closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. It smelled like him too, warm and clean, spiced and woodsy, like a sun-kissed pine forest in autumn. She could burrow into that scent and never leave. The urge to bathe in it was overwhelming.
“All right.”
They made their way to the train and rode back to Brooklyn.
Theo wouldn’t hear of her walking home alone, despite the fact that she did it nearly every day herself and had done it even later than this plenty of times.
He walked her all the way up to her stoop and shifted awkwardly on his feet while she searched her bag for her keys.
“Theo, that was—”
“That was the best day I’ve had in a long time,” he blurted at the same time.
“Yeah.” Audrey beamed up at him. “It was for me too.” She found her keys and wound them between her fingers, trying to delay actually putting them in the lock.
“No, Audrey, you—” He drew in a deep breath. “You don’t understand how good of a day this was for me.” He set the bag of leftovers down on the stoop and buried his face in one wide palm. “I don’t get days like this anymore.”
“Well, maybe you should. We can have more, you know.”
He uncovered his eye slowly and gazed down at her before stepping closer. “Yeah? You want to do this again?”
“Of course I do.”
“Really?”
She hummed with pleasure. “This was wonderful. I’d do this every day with you if I could.
” Audrey took a step forward too, bridging the gap between them and running a hand along his broad chest, feeling the soft knit of his sweater beneath her fingertips.
“Thank you for planning it so well—and for showing me some of the things you like.” She kept her hand there and waited, wondering what he might do if she lingered.
He answered that question by drawing her into a tight hug, tucking her under his chin and resting his head on top of hers while he enveloped her in his warmth and his scent, more concentrated than what clung to her scarf.
His palm practically covered the entire back of her head, and Audrey closed her eyes as she wrapped her own arms around him, pressing her ear to his chest. His heart raced through his sweater just as fast as her own—if not faster—and she dug her fingers into his back, unwilling to let him go.
“Theo,” she whispered. “I want you to kiss me.”
He’d been gently combing his fingers through her hair, but when she spoke, they stilled. His chest rose and fell faster, but he didn’t say anything for a long moment—until he shifted his hands, drew away slightly, and placed them on either side of her face, tilting her head up to match his gaze.
“Close your eyes,” he finally murmured, his voice rumbling low in his chest. “Don’t open them. No peeking.”
Audrey did as she was told. There was a rush of cool air as he moved, and she heard the elastic release from the mask loops.
His right hand still trembled at her left ear, the tremors tapping softly against her cheek.
There was nothing else but the silence humming in the air and the latent sounds of the New York cityscape permeating the stillness. She waited.
And just when she thought that Theo might have changed his mind, that perhaps she might have scared him off, that her request had been too much, his lips and nose swept across her cheeks.
He drew them so softly against her skin, for a moment she thought it was a petal from one of the roses he’d given her earlier.
But then he pressed them more assuredly, more firmly first to one eyebrow, then the other, before moving them gently across both of her eyelids.
Her mouth went dry, and it dropped open of its own accord as Theo took his time exploring the curves of her face with his lips and his nose, his hands still cradling her head and tilting it softly this way and that.
Shivers ran up and down her spine, and heat grew in the pit of her stomach as her heart raced and her breathing quickened to the point where she thought she might pass out.
No, it was more than that.
She might die if he didn’t properly kiss her.
His lips finally found hers, and as soon as they touched, a wave of sensation burst from the point of contact and rushed through her entire body, tingling all the way from the tips of her fingers down to her toes.
With her eyes still closed, Audrey’s hands searched out his neck, and once she found it, she wrapped her arms around him and stood on the balls of her feet, drawing him closer and deeper.
Her fingers knocked his hat off his head and she buried them in his hair.
Oh no.
It was so much softer and thicker than she’d thought it’d be, and it shifted luxuriously like silk between her fingers.
Suddenly, she was starving again.
Theo pulled away, and Audrey knew he was trying to be sweet. She knew he was being cautious, knew he wouldn’t want to push his luck, knew he probably couldn’t even believe she’d wanted to kiss him in the first place.
But she wasn’t done with him yet.
Audrey yanked his face back down to hers, and as soon as their mouths met again, their cadence increased in intensity, both of them trembling as they moved together as one, broke apart, and then crashed together like waves against a rocky shoreline.
One of Theo’s hands migrated to the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him when he deepened the kiss.
She opened her mouth for him, hoping, inviting, pleading with him to give her what she wanted, and he finally slid his tongue inside, tentatively, questioningly, tasting her and exploring her in the deliberate way he seemed to approach everything.
“Theo,” she gasped when he stopped to catch his breath.
The space between them in that second was too much, and she wrenched her fingers in his hair to pull him back to her, to claim his warmth for her own, nipping at his lips in her determination to devour him.
He made a low, strained noise in his throat, something halfway between a grunt and a growl before he took her mouth with his again, kissing her until their lips were raw and inflamed, swollen and sore.
It was Theo who finally drew definitively away, panting and gasping, his breath ragged and his hands shaking far more than usual. But before Audrey could open her eyes to look at him and get a glimpse of her handiwork, he covered them with one wide palm.
“Eyes still closed, Miss Adams.” He still sounded strained, but resolute.
She huffed indignantly, but kept them shut. “Theodore Sullivan, I think I’ve just made myself pretty clear that I like your face no matter how you feel about it.”
He cupped her chin with his fingertips. “I know. But I need a little more time.” A few seconds later, he was smoothing her hair away from her face and tucking it behind her ears with both hands. “All right: open.”
She did.
He’d retrieved his hat and replaced his mask.
Well, fine.
Audrey supposed Rome couldn’t be built in a day. She shoved the disappointment down and chose to focus on the fact that the man standing before her and wholly intent on hiding his face had just ruined her for any other first kisses. Completely and utterly ruined her.
There would never be another who could compare to what he’d just done.
He bent and pressed his forehead to hers, closing his eye and breathing slowly with her for a moment. “Thank you, Audrey,” he finally murmured, running his hands along her arms to keep her warm. “See you soon?”
“You’d better.”
His eye crinkled, and he stepped back and pressed the bag of leftovers into her hands.
“Good night, sweetheart.”
She took it from him and he stood on the stoop while she unlocked her building’s door and made her way upstairs, only leaving once she’d entered her apartment and turned the light on.
She knew, because she looked for him out the window.
She knew, because she watched him walk back down the street the way they’d come, though one thing was vastly different about his gait.
His now-familiar limp looked rather more like a skip as he turned the corner and disappeared from view.