Chapter 12 – Theo
12
THEO
T he moment Allegra walks out the door, my brain is still trying to keep up with everything that has happened. Raine lied, and there was no guy. And I came up with the entire fake boyfriend plan to gain more control over my schedule and menu.
I look at Raine. I probably need to buy him something, like a car. His actions started reactions from both Allegra and me. There’s a good chance we would have never discovered our feelings otherwise.
Or at least, I know my feelings.
Hers, I’m not too sure of.
“Listen, we didn’t think it would go that far, and if we messed with you two, that wasn’t our intention,” Raine said.
I look at each of them and see varying degrees of apology until I get to Sully. I just can’t get a handle on him, but from what Allegra has said about him, that must be normal. She described him as one of those “deep waters” kinds of guys.
“Is this where you ask me my intentions?”
“I have a feeling I know what those intentions are,” Sully says.
And at the moment, from one second to another, I know without a shadow of a doubt, I can’t let her go. All these months of fighting her, I was fighting myself, trying to keep a barrier between us. And the moment that barrier was down? I couldn’t keep my hands off her. The whole reason I used for doing this was to get her off my back and gain some control. I haven’t even done that. Not once did I try to get her to change her mind about things. I was too interested in making her food to eat, and fuck, I was wooing her. I was using every one of my skills to show her what a good match we would be.
And I didn’t even realize it.
Then it hits me even harder that I’m not just in lust with Allegra. I freaking love her. Like, never want her to leave me, always in my bed, having my babies, love. Capital “L” love.
Damn. All these months of arguing, I thought it was because I tried my best to avoid any romantic situation. But it was beyond that. I think I might have fallen in love with her the moment we met.
“You look…strange. I think he looks strange,” Raine says.
Alyx chuckles. “That’s the look of a man who just felt the trap snap shut.”
I look at him, and a smile spreads over my lips. “Yeah, and I am freaking happy about it.”
“So, what are you going to do about it?” Tyler asks.
“I’m going to tell her just where we stand.”
“Tell?” Sully asks.
I look at him. “Yeah. I can’t be sweet with her. She’d see that as a weakness.”
Raine laughs and claps his hands. “Damn, Theo, you do know Five.”
“I would suggest you stop calling her that.”
He continues smiling at me but says nothing as I push my way through the brothers. “Y’all need to go back to the apartment or at least clear out of here.”
“Don’t hurt her, Darling. We know where you live, and we can make you disappear,” Sully says.
I meet his gaze. “I have a feeling I’ll be left bruised and bloody if I hurt that woman because she won’t stand for it. It’s one of the things I love most about her.”
“She plays tough, but remember, she has a soft heart.”
We stare at each other, and then I nod to him. He’s right. Allegra’s got a sweet side she hides away, but she shows it in the way she handles the staff. Any other food and beverage manager would have left Bea at the mercy of Rachel. She did not. Allegra has taken the hits. She would not let Rachel abuse Bea.
“Yeah. I know.”
Then I leave them, hurrying down the hallway. I can hear Rachel screeching about her fiancé, but it quickly changes to her demanding the money back on the reception. Now, anyone else would get a partial refund. Being left at the altar isn’t fun, and we would charge for the food. But this is Rachel, and she wasn’t welcome here in the first place. She went around the family to get her wedding set here. She’s always been like that, and right now, I don’t care what is going on with her. What I care about is that she is staring daggers at the woman I love.
Allegra isn’t losing her cool, mainly because she rocks. The woman only loses her cool with her brothers and me—another thing I didn’t realize until now.
“I understand that, but since you signed a contract, you are beholden to that contract. There will be no refund for your event. You are more than welcome to carry on and have a party, but we will not be giving you a refund.”
“We’ll see about that. I’m going to talk to the Darlings. They’ll understand.” Rachel smiles smugly, and it’s time to set her straight. I step forward.
“Actually, Rachel, we will not be giving you a refund.”
Her eyes narrow on me.
“Your brother?—”
“Wants nothing to do with you, and you will not bother him. You can deal with me, or with the manager of this hotel. I can tell you one thing is for sure: we will not be giving you a refund. We stand behind Ms. Sullivan.”
“Theo.”
I hate women who whine. Especially the ones who think it makes them sexy. It’s an annoying trait.
“You signed the contract. You’re stuck with it.”
Her entire face turns as red as a tomato, and I know her history. I grew up in the same circles, and she’s nasty and a bit on the abusive side. More than once, I’ve heard about her abusing staff at other places. She’s never tried it here, but I have a feeling all bets might be off. I look around at all the people in the room. “I need all my employees out of here. As I said, you can stay, or you can go. We will be holding the reception either way.”
I don’t say anything to Allegra as I drag her behind me. Seriously, this is a ridiculous chain of events.
“Theo,” she says, trying to tug on her hand, but I have it locked in mine. I am not letting go of her until I can get her alone.
I still have Sully’s comments ringing in my ears.
I make it to her office, pull her in, shut the door and flick the lock. I lean against the door and look at her. God, she’s gorgeous. Contentment fills me. She might not realize it yet, but she is.
“I see my brothers are gone.”
There’s a thread of nervousness I am not used to hearing from her.
I nod.
“Did you give them hell?”
I shake my head.
“I thanked them.”
Her eyes widen. “What? Why would you do that? The reason we ran with this ruse was because of their stupid prank.”
“First, it was Raine’s prank. The others just went along.”
“I will pay them all back.”
I chuckle.
“So why did you thank them?”
“Because without this weekend, I’m not sure I would have ever come to terms with my feelings for you.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Now there is definitely a thread of panic in her voice and in her expression.
I step forward, and she steps back. I take another step, and she moves back even more. Irritated, I growl as I close the distance between us and grab her. I pull her in and wrap my arms around her.
“I love you, Allegra.”
“No, you don’t.”
I nod, and she shakes her head.
“Woman, I love you. Deal with it.”
Her tongue slips out to lick her lower lip. “I think you might be confused.”
I roll my eyes. “I think I know what I’m about.”
The skeptical look she’s giving me tells me she disagrees with me.
“Why do you think I don’t love you?”
“Theo, you always have a new woman every week. It’s hard to ignore all the tabloids or employee gossip.”
“That might be true, but tell me, when was the last time you heard of me dating anyone?”
She opens her mouth, then snaps it shut.
“You can’t remember, can you? I figured out that it’s been over six months. I was truthful about that last night. And you want to know why?”
“Why?” she whispers.
“You. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I liked arguing with you more than I liked having some model tell me I’m pretty.”
She rolls her eyes, but when she settles her gaze, I see a spark of hope that leaves me breathless.
“You had to slip that in there?”
I chuckle. “You know you think the same thing.”
She purses her lips, and I pull her tighter against me.
“Okay. You’re relatively attractive.”
I laugh, happiness lighting up my soul. “That right there. You give me hell, and that’s what I need.”
She slides her hands up my arms to my shoulders. “I’m excellent at that.”
“You are, love.”
Her eyes soften.
“I love you, Allegra. I love that you give me hell, that you let me know just who is in charge, and I adore that you will breathe fire to protect people you care about. It bodes well for our children.”
Her eyes widen at that. “Children?”
“We can negotiate how many later. You do want children, don’t you?”
She nods.
“Great. Now you can tell me.”
Her brow furrows as she studies me. “Tell you what?”
“Are you kidding me? I lay my heart out to you, and you still give me shit.”
Her lips twitch, then she loses it, laughing in my face. She slips her hands up to cup my face. “I love you, Theodore.”
Even hearing my full name doesn’t irritate me, not when I hear those three little words attached to it. “I would rather you not call me by that name.”
“How about when we’re in bed, and I’m coming.”
And just like that, I am rock hard and contemplating the sturdiness of her desk.
“How were you a virgin until last night?”
Allegra laughs, the joyous sound lifting my heart. “I was waiting for you.”
I’m smiling when she kisses me, her tongue slipping into my mouth. Before the kiss can go anywhere, there is a knock at the door. Nancy steps in without waiting for Allegra to call her in.
“Oh, excuse me.”
Allegra just laughs again, and the idea that I am part of the reason she’s happy has me smiling.
“No worries, Nancy. What’s up?”
“Everyone wants to know what’s going on with the reception.”
I sigh, realizing that my ideas for the desk are going to have to wait.
“We’re going to have a party, and it will be for the staff. I assume BFH has left the premises?”
Nancy nods. “Packed up after she called your mother. That did not go over well.”
Damn. I pull my phone out of my pocket. I had it on silent, but there is a ton of texts from the family.
“I’ll take care of that, and I need to get cooking.”
“Yeah, I would really hate to fire you,” Allegra says.
Happiness like I haven’t felt in years bounces through me. I kiss her, then force myself to let her go. “Let’s go play in the kitchen, Nancy.”
I give Allegra one last look. “Make sure you save a dance for me.”
“Always.”
With that agreement, I set off to the hotel kitchen to get to work.