Chapter 14
THEODORE
The front feed is already on my screen before the driver reaches the house.
The security app has been lighting up since we left the airport.
Driveway motion. Vehicle detected. Front door activity.
Person detected. Doorbell. Another vehicle.
More movement outside my house. By the third alert, I had the live feed open on my phone, watching people with no damn business being there gather around my front door at this hour.
Desiree stands at the center of it, barefoot on the porch.
Her hair is pulled back, her shoulders are squared, and even through the grain of the night-vision camera, I can see my woman’s face.
Calm enough to scare a smarter man.
Bryce should have been smarter. And from the looks of things, that applies to Linden too.
I intended to surprise my Honey with roses, sunflowers, and dinner from her favorite spot, Latha on E. Adams in Phoenix. However, my home seemed to have more pressing matters that required my presence.
When we get to the front of the house, everybody on the porch goes still.
The headlights sweep over Bryce first, then Linden, then the stone steps and white columns Desiree spent three months choosing because the first set looked too cold for the house.
She argued with the contractor over those columns.
Stood right there in the middle of a half-finished porch with her hands on her hips, telling a man twice her size that luxury was supposed to feel inviting, not sterile.
Now, I’m coming home to both Mr. Kinsley as well as Mr. Ellis standing under lights with women they have no right being anywhere near.
The driver stops behind Bryce’s car, close enough to make leaving difficult.
I step out, button my jacket, and take to the porch without rushing. I want them to feel every second of the distance between where I stand and where they are.
Desiree’s eyes find mine first.
She’s mad as hell. But also relieved. She can hold her own because that‘s who she is. My woman doesn’t fold just because a man gets bold.
I walk past Bryce without giving him one word. Yet.
“Lizzie,” I say.
She swallows before she answers. “Theo.”
“Jetta.”
Her eyes flick to Desiree before they come back to me. “Mr. Kelly.”
I look at Bryce.
Then Linden.
“Gentlemen.” The word only mannerable, which is more than they deserve.
Whatever nerve they had moments ago is gone because neither one says a thing.
I walk up the stone steps and go straight to Desiree. She watches me the whole way, and the closer I get, the more I see what the camera could not give me; her keeping herself between the men and the women without making it obvious enough for anybody to call it protection.
I place a palm at the side of her neck and kiss her.
When I pull back, I keep my forehead close to hers for one breath.
“You alright, Honey?”
“With you here, yeah. I am now.”
That answer tells me what kind of night this has been and is going to be.
I turn enough for everyone to hear me, but I keep my hand on Desiree a second longer.
“I was going to surprise you with dinner. Then my phone started showing me the driveway, the front door, and a porch full of people I’m sure you didn’t invite outside of Lizzie. No disrespect intended to you, Jetta.”
Jetta smooths one hand down the front of her blouse before she answers. “None taken, Mr. Kelly.”
Desiree’s eyes narrow toward me, offended I was watching. “You saw all that?”
“I saw enough.”
“Then you already know this is a mess.”
“I knew that when Bryce made it to the front door.”
Bryce moves a little behind me.
I let go of Desiree and turn around.
I look at both men. “I’m certain one, if not both of you, can explain why two temporary contract partners are standing on my porch with my Honey’s best friend and one of her employees.”
Linden cuts his eyes over to Bryce.
“Oh no. Let’s not do that, Mr. Ellis. Don’t look at Mr. Kinsley. Look at Jetta. She’s the one you brought here.”
Linden clears his throat. His hand drops to his pocket, then away from it, which tells me he’s about to spit some weak-ass lie trying to weasel his way out of this.
“Jetta, I didn’t know this was her house when Bryce
sent me the address.”
Desiree laughs in disgust at Linden’s lie. “So you’re really going to—”
I take her hand, letting her know this is not her moment.
“Oh really?” Jetta asks, unamused.
Linden’s eyes move to mine and back to hers. “I figured it out when we got closer.”
“Meaning you knew this house. You knew who lived here. And you kept driving?”
He has nothing for that.
Neither does Bryce.
Desiree starts to get antsy, ready to take the whole thing back into her hands, and I can absolutely understand the urge. This is her best friend. Her employee. Her life that these piss-poor excuses for men have tried to insert themselves into a space not made for them.
I turn to Desiree. “Let’s all go inside.”
Her head snaps toward me.
That look would have made a lesser man reconsider his entire life.
“Theodore.”
“I know.”
“No, I don’t think you do.”
“I do.” I keep my voice low enough for her, then let the rest of them hear the next part. “But what kind of hosts would we be if we allowed what now appears to be our guests to keep standing outside?”
Lizzie makes a sound that might have become a laugh if she had any humor left in her.
Jetta looks at Desiree like she is waiting to see whether this is safe.
Desiree looks at me like she may curse me out in three languages later, and I’ll deserve at least one of them.
But she knows to trust me because she’s always been first, always been safe with me, and that doesn’t change in this unintended moment.
Inside, I can keep them where guests belong and where every angle has already been considered. They’ll be standing inside the house they tried to reach through women who trusted them.
Desiree turns back to the door. “Fine.”
Bryce’s face relaxes for half a second.
“Don’t mistake this for comfort, Mr. Kinsley.”
I open the door and let Desiree step in first followed by Lizzie. Jetta goes next, but she pauses at the threshold.
“Boss lady,” she says, and I hear the question she doesn’t want to ask in front of everybody.
Desiree turns to her. “Girl, bring your ass in this house.”
Her chin lifts a little, and then she steps inside right behind Lizzie without looking at Linden.
“Come on, gentlemen.” I gesture them through the front door. “You’re already familiar with the space so tonight shouldn’t overwhelm you.”
I don’t move until everyone’s past me.
For the record, I can’t see myself walking into another man’s house under these particular circumstances.
Then again, there’s no version of me violating a contract with consequences I know I’m unable to afford either.
I can only assume these assholes didn’t read the fine print or didn’t care about what happens when the contract is violated.
I close the door, turning the locks under my hand, and both men’s heads whip back before looking at each other.
The foyer is too beautiful for this kind of ugliness. Black and cream marble underfoot. A gold-framed mirror on the wall. Fresh flowers on the console table I bought before leaving.
I point toward the living area off the foyer. “In there.”
The room’s large enough to keep distance where it needs to be.
Two cream sofas. Two leather chairs. Wide black-stained coffee table.
Bar cabinet against the far wall. Glass doors leading to the back patio, curtains open to the dark outside.
Desiree designed this room for grown people to drink, talk, flirt, and relax.
“Ladies,” I say, “sit wherever you feel comfortable.”
Lizzie takes the sofa closest to Desiree.
Jetta chooses the chair near her, crossing one ankle behind the other like she’s trying to put herself back in professional order by force.
The gentlemen remain standing, which I prefer.
Desiree comes to my side, arms folded, eyes on me first, then them. She’s still angry about me bringing this inside, but her trust is bigger than her attitude right now.
I remove my jacket and drape it over the back of a chair, then unfasten one cufflink and set it on the table. The second one follows. Bryce tracks the movement before he remembers to look at my face.
“Now,” I say, looking at both men, “we are going to make this very simple.”
Nobody moves.
“I was on my way home from the airport preparing to grab dinner for my woman. Instead, my security feed showed me Mr. Kinsley at my front door. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Ellis arrives with Jetta. All while my Honey is on the porch with the kind of face that told me both of you had already said or done enough.”
Bryce starts, “Theo—”
“Mr. Kelly.”
His mouth closes.
“That familiarity ended the second you stepped outside the structure that gave you access to my home in the first place.”
Lizzie looks at Desiree.
Jetta looks down at her hands.
Desiree doesn’t look away from me at all.
I turn to the women first. “What I’m about to say is not an invitation into every private part of our life. It’s what you need in order to understand why this is as serious as it is.”
Jetta swallows.
Lizzie’s eyes are on Desiree now, hurt still there, but listening.
“These men were temporary contract partners,” I say. “Four-month terms. Vetted through a private lifestyle concierge. Background checks. Testing. References. Conduct agreements. Confidentiality that doesn’t expire when the term does.”
Both men are still standing, fidgeting enough to make their discomfort obvious. Which is funny considering the confidence they had when they showed up here prior to my unannounced arrival.
“They were allowed into specific rooms under specific terms because Desiree and I allowed it. Their access was temporary. Their discretion was permanent. Their role was clear.”
Linden tries to speak. “We didn’t break confidentiality.”
Desiree’s laugh cuts across the room before mine can.
I lift one hand slightly, and she lets me take this one.