Chapter 10
THEO
When I walked into the kitchen, the sight in front of me completely wiped the hour and a half I’d spent with my mother from my mind.
Simon and Delilah were both sitting at the table, heads bent together, poring over papers and making notes in the margins. In what looked like perfect harmony.
If I’d been asked to imagine a less likely scenario, I might have added the tooth fairy or Bigfoot. Anything short of that seemed much more believable.
Before I could say anything—before I could figure out what I could possibly say—Simon looked up. The smile that broke over his face as soon as he saw me made the tension holding my shoulders up around my ears melt all at once.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said as I took a step closer. I almost stumbled, catching myself at the last second.
After the conversation I’d just had with Mom, the idea of falling into Simon’s arms and not ever leaving had never been more appealing.
Delilah looked up before I could respond, squaring her shoulders, eyes narrowed at me. She shuffled an inch closer to Theo. If she’d been a dog, she would’ve been making a warning growl.
Of course she’d want Simon now that she thought I had him. I’d never been able to have anything without her taking it. That was why she was marrying Corey, wasn’t it?
Well, she couldn’t have him. Anything else, fine. I’d given up arguing with her over taking things from me twenty years ago.
Not Simon. Simon was worth fighting over, and I’d claw her eyes out before I let her have him.
I closed the distance to the table in three strides, cupped Simon’s cheek to turn his face toward me, and bent to kiss him.
The moment our lips made contact, something settled in my chest. Mom had ruffled me, like she always did, but as Simon let me kiss him, let me have whatever I wanted from him, like he always did, it was like having all my feathers stroked back into order by a big, gentle hand.
“Hi,” I murmured, pulling back just far enough to look him in the eyes.
The way the light was streaming into the kitchen lit them up like dark amber, as though they were glowing from the inside.
It was just a trick of the light, but I was feeling needy enough to let myself believe Simon was looking at me like that because he meant it.
I had him for the weekend, and I was just realizing that a smart man would make the most of that. Since I’d never have him like this again.
“Project?” I asked, glancing at the spread papers.
“Simon’s helping me,” Delilah spoke up. “He’s really smart.”
“Smart, handsome, sexy, great in bed…” I said, smirking as I trailed off. I didn’t look at Delilah—the hint of color rising across Simon’s nose and cheeks was much more interesting. I could imagine the look on her face anytime I wanted. Simon didn’t blush like this for me.
In the spirit of making the most of it, I kissed him again, letting a happy sound I might have held back otherwise escape me. Simon would take it as all for show. He’d agreed to all over each other.
I’d apologize later.
“He’s helping me,” Delilah repeated, firmer this time.
I pulled back again to look Simon in the eyes. The look in them almost made me forget what Delilah had said a second before.
“That’s because he’s too nice,” I said when I remembered. Part of me wanted to be mad he was helping my sister—who was marrying my ex-boyfriend—but Simon wouldn’t have been Simon if he wasn’t helping. Even Delilah.
I loved him. I loved him so much.
I pulled back before I could do or say anything stupid.
“What did your mom want?” Simon asked, looking up at me with a smile still lingering on his lips.
“Tell you later,” I said, glancing at Delilah.
“I think we’re just about done here?” Simon turned back to the papers spread over the table.
“One last place card,” Delilah said, holding up a finger as she grabbed a pen with her other hand.
T-H-E-O.
Of course I was last.
“You sure you want him next to you?” Delilah asked Simon with a glossy pink smirk.
“Always.”
There was so much warmth in Simon’s voice that my knees weakened. He was good at this.
Letting myself get a taste of what it’d be like if Simon really was my boyfriend was definitely a mistake. I’d made it now, though. Might as well enjoy it while it lasted.
Delilah shrugged. “No accounting for taste, I guess,” she said, setting the card on a pile on top of one that said Simon.
Then she leaned over and pressed a dramatic kiss to Simon’s cheek, leaving a smear of lip gloss behind.
I bit my tongue so I wouldn’t react. She was doing it to get a rise out of me, and we still had most of the long weekend stretching in front of us. If I let her start getting to me now, she’d only take it as encouragement.
“Thank you,” Delilah said, putting her hand over Simon’s on the table and squeezing it. “You’re amazing. How did Theo ever convince you to date him?”
I took a breath to speak despite having just resolved not to take the bait, but Simon caught my gaze and broke into a smile that made the corners of his eyes crinkle.
“You know when I fell in love with Theo?” he asked, keeping his eyes on me. “I’ve never told him this, actually. It was the second time we met.”
I frowned. Simon was making this up, obviously, but I couldn’t think of anything special about the second time…
“You have to understand,” he continued, twisting to look at Delilah for a second before turning back to me.
“The first time I saw him, I was late for a lecture and the seat next to him was the nearest empty one to the door. So not only was I walking in late on my first day of college, but I was going to have to sit next to the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. ”
Delilah rolled her eyes, but Simon didn’t see it. He was looking at me.
My breath hitched as he took my hand, curling the tips of his fingers gently around mine.
“He was all in black, as usual, and he was lounging like he owned the place. Sitting by himself, away from everyone else. I figured he was too cool for everyone else in the room, and I was terrified, but I didn’t have a choice. He didn’t even look at me when I sat down.”
All of that was true—except that I was too cool for everyone else. I’d been sitting alone because I always sat alone. I hadn’t looked at Simon because even at the glance I’d gotten when he walked in—late, which in my mind gave him an air of confidence—he seemed too cool for me.
“I was scared of you,” I said. It seemed ridiculous now. No one in the world could be intimidated by Simon.
I’d grown up a lot since then, but I still remembered the way my stomach swooped when his knee bumped against mine as he sat down.
Delilah raised an eyebrow. “Of him?”
Simon laughed, eyes glinting in the light as he looked over my face. “You never told me that.”
I shrugged. “I was scared of everyone back then,” I said. “And then you made it worse—”
“—by passing you a little note that said Hi. Complete with smiley face.”
My lips twitched at the memory. At the time, my heartrate had sped up so much I’d been afraid I might pass out. I’d had no idea how to respond to something like that.
To someone wanting to be my friend.
“Which I thought you were ignoring because it made me look like the biggest dork who’d ever breathed the same air as you,” Simon went on. “But then—”
“I kept it,” I interrupted, a swell of fuzzy warmth rising under my ribs. “I-I… I still have it,” I admitted, looking down at the kitchen table instead of at Simon’s face.
I’d never told him that.
I’d never told him that the moment I fell in love with him was when he passed me that note.
“Really?” Simon asked. The wonder in his voice made me glance at him, and the smile on his face when I did made my lips twitch.
If I’d told anyone else that, I would have been terrified about what they’d think of me.
Not Simon, though. I trusted him. I could be… me, around him. I’d almost forgotten what a rare thing that was.
“Really,” I confirmed, smile widening as his did, as his eyes glittered up at me. He really was gorgeous.
Delilah made a gagging sound, tearing my attention away from Simon.
“Gross,” she said. “Get a room.”
Simon laughed. Then he raised my hand to his lips and kissed my knuckles, making a dramatic mwah sound as he did so.
Heat rushed to my cheeks so fast the room spun a little, my knees weakening at the same time.
It was all for show. I knew that.
It was also maybe the most casually romantic thing anyone had ever done for me.
“We’ve got a room,” Simon said. “And if I play my cards right, I figure we might get to make use of it. Anyway. I fell in love with him when he sat down beside me at the next lecture and I saw he still had the note tucked into his notebook. I saw that note and I knew then I wanted him in my life forever. And here we are.”
“Here we are,” I said, voice faint even to my own ears.
I wished all that had been true.
“Ew,” Delilah said, nose wrinkled again. “Cute, though.”
Simon laughed again, turning his attention back to me. “Now that I’ve embarrassed you in front of your sister, did you want something?”
You, I didn’t say. I want you.
Before I could say what I’d actually been looking for him to tell him, footsteps interrupted me.
I turned just in time to see Corey swing around the doorway. He was wearing sunglasses indoors, and I wished more than anything for a heartbeat that Mom would come in, too, and catch him. He’d never hear the end of it if she did.
Or maybe that was just me.
“Just the man I’m after,” he said, taking the sunglasses off with a flourish. “You softened him up for me, yet?”
Dammit. I’d come in here to warn Simon, but now it was too late.
I opened my mouth to intervene, but Corey beat me to it.
“Hi, Simon,” he said, giving a wave with his sunglasses. “Will you do me the honor of being my best man?”