Chapter 26
Hailey
“Hails?”
My fingers freeze over the keyboard of my MacBook.
I knew he’d wake at any moment, but still, the sound of Theo’s raspy morning voice sends a jolt of electricity straight to my heart, kicking it into overdrive.
It thumps heavily in my chest as I tear my eyes from the blur of words on my screen and swivel around in the chair to look at Theo. Who is in my bed.
“Good morning,” I say with the most confident of smiles I can possibly pull off right now when I’m sleep-deprived, anxious, and so unbearably shy I could honestly die.
Theo stretches out his arms as he sits up, stuffing a stack of pillows between his back and the headboard.
His blond hair is a tousled mess and I fear perhaps I am to blame for that.
He’s also shirtless and his body is a sight to behold on a Sunday morning—every muscle is just so prominent and defined.
“Are you flexing your abs right now?” I ask.
Theo glances down at his body and looks back up at me with a smug grin. “No. I’m really just this hot.”
I’d roll my eyes if I didn’t agree with him. The way he looks right now . . . I may be a writer, but there are not enough words in the dictionary to truly describe how gorgeous Theo is.
He points to my laptop on the desk behind me. “How long have you been awake for?”
“Not that long.”
Theo cocks his head. “Be honest.”
Sheepishly, I admit, “Since five. I couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d get some more writing done, and I think . . . Well, I think I’m there, Theo. I think it’s done.”
“Really? That’s amazing, Hails. What happens now?”
“I’m just doing a final read-through and then I’ll email it over to my agent, and she’ll pass it along to the editor that’s interested.
” As I say it, my body vibrates with nervous energy, because it feels real now.
It’s make or break time, and I’d be a liar if I said I was confident the changes I’ve made this weekend are my best work, because how great a writer can I truly be when under pressure in Las Vegas?
But I’ve done the best I can with the resources I have.
I couldn’t sleep properly last night. My mind was racing and my skin felt clammy even despite the AC cooling me, so I quit the tossing and turning and climbed out of bed.
I showered, got myself ready for the day ahead, and opened my manuscript while I left Theo to sleep soundly.
I’ve smashed out my final edits at rapid speed—faster than I’ve ever written before.
I felt inspired and motivated and quite frankly I had no choice but to throw myself into my manuscript to distract my mind from vividly replaying the events of the night before.
Because I had sex with Theodore. Twice.
“I’m rooting for you,” he says, holding up both hands to show me his crossed fingers. Then he whips back the sheets and exposes everything as he steps out of bed.
“Oh my gosh.” I immediately clamp a hand over my eyes and spin back toward my laptop, feeling the instant flash of heat across my face. “Can you, like, put some underwear on?”
“Oh, c’mon, Hails. Don’t act all cute like your lips weren’t wrapped—”
“Theo.”
I like it when he laughs. With my hand still shielding my eyes, I flinch when I suddenly feel the tender kiss of his lips against the crown of my head. It’s reassuring. The kiss of a guy who isn’t going to disappear just because he finally got what he wanted.
“I better head back to my room,” he murmurs, giving my shoulder a squeeze before I sense him shift away from me. A moment later, his voice comes from the other side of the room, “What’s on Hailey Clark’s itinerary for day three of Addy’s wild bachelorette weekend?”
Slowly, I steal a peek through my fingers at him, then drop my hand from my face completely once he finishes pulling back on his sweatpants from last night.
“We were going to get some cute pictures at the Las Vegas sign, and we have happy hour on the High Roller booked for the afternoon. We also have tickets to a show tonight, but sorry, you guys are not tagging along to that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s Magic Mike Live,” I say, then with a deadpan expression, I clarify: “Male strippers.”
“Yeah, I think we’ll pass on that one,” Theo says as he pulls his shirt over his head. “They don’t, like, give you girls lap dances, do they? Because I’ll be a little jealous, Hails.” He juts out his lower lip at me, dramatically giving me sad puppy dog eyes.
“I do think there’s some audience participation .
. .” I say in a serious tone of voice, just to make him sweat a little, but then I smile and shake my head.
“C’mon, Theo. You know I can’t think of anything worse than performers picking me out of the crowd to go on stage.
Besides, Addy’s the bride on a bachelorette party. If they’re picking anyone, it’s her.”
He mockingly flashes me a thumbs up. “Great. Thanks for that info. You and both my sisters at a strip show . . . I hope it’s terrible, and the guys are all ogres, and the fire alarm goes off and the sprinklers douse you all in water.”
I laugh out loud and toss him his wallet which he smoothly catches one-handed. “Go shower.”
“I’ll let the guys know what the plans are and they can decide if they’re joining. The High Roller sounds fun. I’ll be there, for sure.”
It dawns on me then, as Theo heads for the door, that he’s sharing a room with John and Tyler this weekend, and they’re going to know he spent the night elsewhere.
Is it obvious that he spent it with me? How quickly is that information going to spread through the group?
When Adelaide left last night to be Liam’s caretaker, I got the impression she already knew I’d be spending the evening with Theo.
But spending the night? I’d hate for her to find out that tidbit of info from anyone other than me.
“Theo?” I call, and he pauses at the door. “About last night . . . I think I need to tell Addy.”
He grimaces, but then reluctantly nods in agreement. “I was waiting for you to say that. As much as I don’t like the idea of my sister knowing my business, I get it. She’s your best friend.”
“I just don’t want her to hear about it through the grapevine.”
“Although . . .” He trails off, and I raise an eyebrow at him, prompting him to finish his thought.
“I suppose there’s no point in telling her if last night was just some one-time thing.
What she doesn’t know can’t hurt her. But if this is going to be something more .
. .” He nonchalantly shrugs and averts his gaze, humming.
There’s a question in there somewhere. From my spot in front of the desk, I lean back in the chair and cross my arms. “Are you trying to ask me something right now, Theo?”
Sheepishly, his eyes find their way back to mine and he smiles.
He looks kind of nervous, which is rare for Theodore Sinclair.
“I’m trying to ask you if this is something you could see us continuing when we get home?
And to make it perfectly clear: continuing this is exactly what I want, because I like you, always have, and I’d really like to see if this could turn into something real. ”
He declares his intentions with such confidence, like rejection fears him, rather than the other way around.
And I love that he’s perfectly clear. Sometimes I need things spelled out to me, because I have a bad habit of misreading people.
It’s good to know that, for once, I was right about Theo.
This isn’t some game for him. He’s genuinely interested in me on a level that’s deeper than just sexual attraction and flirty banter, and yes.
Yes, I want to continue this.
I tap my finger against my lips, purposely drawing out my response just to tease him. “Well, that depends,” I say. “What are we doing for our first date back in Boca?”
Theo grins now, because there’s his answer. “Obviously we’ll order takeout and pop champagne to celebrate the book deal you’re about to land.”
“You have too much faith in me, Theo,” I say, rolling my eyes as I unfold my arms and turn back to my laptop screen.
The only way I’ll ever land this book deal is if I get this manuscript emailed over to Samantha pronto.
“Round up the guys and be at the Uber pickup point in an hour. I’ll find Addy and Evie. ”
Theo blows me a kiss and says, “Order received, sweetheart,” before quickly disappearing out of the door before I have the chance to hurl a pillow at him.