Chapter 25
THEO
“I’ve never been in an Airstream before,” I murmured against Raquel’s hair. Her head rested on my shoulder and my arm was draped around her waist as I looked around.
The bedroom area was surprisingly spacious. Late afternoon sunlight filtered in through the wide windows, and the soft hum of her AC was ridiculously peaceful and relaxing. She traced absentminded patterns across my chest, glancing up at me when I spoke.
“You haven’t?” she asked. “Is that why you were so excited about this one the first time you saw it?”
“Yeah,” I admitted after a beat. “I’ve always loved the idea of them and I’ve never known anyone who lived in one.”
“Well, I’m glad to be your first.” She patted my chest, laid her head back down on my shoulder, and followed my gaze around the space. “What do you think?”
“I think I’d like to take one of these around the country someday. I’d definitely get more use and more pleasure out of it than a private jet, anyway.”
“A private jet?” she asked, letting out a soft chuckle. “I’m not sure you can compare this to that, but okay.”
“Have you ever been in one?” I looked down at her, trying to figure out how much to say, but with Avery and pretty much everyone else now knowing the truth, more was definitely better than less.
Both of her eyebrows swept up when she realized I was seriously asking that question. Then she laughed. “Have I ever been on a private jet? Sure. I keep it at my summer home.”
I grinned, turning my face into her hair and just breathing in the scent of her. “I could take you on one. If you’d like.”
“Oh, you can? Well, why didn’t you say so? Let’s go.”
“Okay.” I chuckled, pulling back to look into her eyes again. “Just give me a few minutes and let me grab my pants. I don’t want to be naked for the conversation I’m about to have.”
She grabbed my arm when I started sitting up, a slight crease furrowing her brow as she looked up at me. “You’re not even kidding, are you?”
“No.” I swallowed hard but lay back down and rolled onto my side to face her. “I’m not kidding. I can make it happen if that’s what you want.”
While I didn’t particularly want to call any of my brothers or cousins, I would if she actually did want to go on a jet. I’d do anything for her, but a small part of me also wanted to show off. To prove that I could—and would—spoil her into oblivion.
She chuckled and reached up to run her fingers through the hair behind my ear. “Maybe someday, but not right now. Care to explain who you would have to call and why they have a jet, though?”
“My family. They’re, uh, well… We’re well off and the business owns the jets.
At least, that’s the official line. Mostly, they just bought them to compete with each other.
That’s what I think, anyway, but whatever the real answer to why, any of my brothers or one of cousins could have his jet here in no time. ”
“His?” Her eyebrows hiked up. “As in, your brothers and your cousins all own actual private jets?”
“Yes.”
“Shit,” she breathed, then shook her head. “Exactly how well off are you?”
I rolled my lips into my mouth and stared into those eyes I couldn’t get enough of, sending up to a prayer to anyone who might listen that she wouldn’t look at me differently from now on. “I’m not sure how to answer that without sounding like an asshole.”
She gave me an exasperated smile. “You already sound like an asshole pretty often and I’m still here.”
I chuckled. “Fair enough, but this is, uh, it’s hard to explain without sounding like a complete dickhead, but we’re wealthy. I’m wealthy.”
“Okay,” she said slowly, her gaze moving from one of my eyes to the other.
I waited for questions, skepticism, or some big reaction, but instead, she simply seemed to absorb the information.
Then she shrugged. “Is that why you’ve been so mysterious?
You didn’t want anyone to know that you have money? ”
“I wasn’t trying to be mysterious,” I objected on a low groan. “It wasn’t about the money either. I’ve just been trying to fly under the radar so I could just be me for a while.”
“I’m not sure what that means. Aren’t you always you?”
“I am, but not the me I’ve been getting to be here,” I said quietly. “Back in Chicago, my family is kind of a big deal. I’m not even really sure why. It’s not like we’re celebrities, but people know us, and for some reason, they’re always interested in what we’re up to.”
“So what do you actually do, then? Why are they so interested in you?”
“I think it’s because we’ve always had money,” I said, drawing patterns with my fingertips along her spine. “Our family business is old. Boring but old.”
“Boring?”
I shrugged. “Yeah. It’s actual business, you know? Acquisitions. Development. The occasional takeover. It’s all spreadsheets and figures.”
Her nose crinkled. “No offense, but that really does sound boring. What do you do there?”
“That’s a little more complicated,” I said, surprised that she didn’t actually seem to care about the money or the public attention. “Honestly, I’ve never really known where I fit in.”
It was the first time I’d ever said it out loud, but it felt good. Even if it did surprise me that I’d actually come out and admitted it.
Raquel stayed quiet, those gray eyes soft on mine. I drew in a deep breath, figuring that I might as well keep being honest now that I’d started. “I liked marketing.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I was actually pretty good at it too.”
“So what happened?”
“Alex happened,” I said. “He’s my oldest brother. He’s been trying to give me exposure to all the different departments in the company and it doesn’t hurt that I’m adaptable. I keep saying yes and then figuring out how to do whatever he needs from me after.”
“That sounds like you,” she said gently. “It’s exactly the same as what you’ve been doing around here, if you really think about it. Whatever Frieda asks, you get it done.”
“Yeah, I suppose that’s true.” I sighed and raked my free hand through my hair. “Maybe that’s just who I am. The guy who’s always going to be trying to figure out something new.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” she murmured. “We don’t always have to fit into a neat little box, Theo. Look at me. I spend my days digging around in engines and my nights dreaming about coming home to a pink bedroom.”
I felt a slow smile spread on my lips. “So what are you saying, that we’re both multi-dimensional?”
“I would never use those words, but sure,” she teased softly, chuckling before she looked at me again. “If you want to keep moving around from department to department, then that’s what you should do. You could even open a little business on the side as a handyman if you really wanted.”
I barked out a dry laugh. “Yeah. No. That won’t work. There’s no way my family would be onboard with Theo the handyman.”
“What about what you want?” she asked. “Doesn’t that matter?”
I shook my head slowly from one side to the other. “It matters. Just not as much as the family’s reputation.”
“What if you didn’t have to worry about that?” she asked. “What would you do?”
As soon as she asked the question, the answer was right at the tip of my tongue. It’d been there for years. No one had just bothered asking before. “I think I’d like to start my own business.”
Raquel propped herself up on one elbow, her eyes wide and excited. “What kind of business?”
“I haven’t quite figured it out yet.”
She smiled. “Well, that’s not particularly helpful, but like you told me earlier, you’ll get there.”
“Maybe,” I said. “It won’t happen if I go back to Chicago, though. There’s no room there for me to be anything other than who I am.”
She blinked a few times in rapid succession, her head tilting to one side as she studied me for a long beat. “Does that mean you’re thinking about not going back?”
I heard the secret hope in her voice, and in that moment, I knew for an absolute fact that she was feeling the same way I was. Despite how fast it had happened, this was right.
This, us, it mattered to her as much as it mattered to me. It meant something. To both of us. It definitely meant too much to just walk away without ever knowing where it could’ve gone.
At first, I’d thought that we could just have some fun together, but all along, I’d known there was more to it. More to her.
God, some people spent their entire lives searching for this and never found it.
Others had it and then lost it only because they didn’t have the balls to fight, but not me. I would give it all I had. Determination was practically coded into the Westwood DNA. We didn’t quit. We didn’t give up.
Hell, Zach had waited eight years for Adeline to come back to him. Despite the fact that she’d gotten married to another man at her family’s demand. Despite the fact that she’d had kids with him.
Jesse had flown to France to steal a dog for Jacqueline. Both he and Will had gone around Alex’s plans for them, and yet, they’d gotten exactly what they’d wanted in the end.
“I’m not going back,” I decided out loud, turning to look into Raquel’s gray eyes and absolutely knowing that this was worth whatever price I might have to pay. “I’m staying.”
I loved my family and I always would. I respected our traditions and I didn’t want to disappoint anyone, but I wouldn’t spend my life being pushed around to wherever someone else thought I fit best. Alex had plans for my future, but so I did.
How can I give up my dream girl just because she doesn’t have a fancy last name? Wasn’t it enough that all of my brothers and our sister had followed the family tradition? Why do I have to fall in line too? Why do I have to give this up?
Besides, the Westwood name wasn’t in any danger of disappearing. My brothers were practically building a small army of children at this point. The family legacy was doing just fine.
Hell, Jesse had married Jacqueline and nobody had seemed particularly concerned about strategic business advantages there. If he could do it, so could I.
Especially as I thought about Raquel smiling at me across the shop floor with grease smudged on her cheek.
Laughing with her while covered in pink paint.
I thought about her ass in her overalls, which really did something for me, and about starting something of my own.
Then I imagined feeling her arms around my waist as we rode into the sunset together once my bike was finally running again.
It was everything I’d never even known I wanted, but I couldn’t give that up.
Not for anyone or anything.
Not even for my family.
Consequences be damned.
For the first time in my life, I knew exactly what I wanted and she was lying right beside me.
“I’m staying,” I repeated, then leaned in and kissed her, feeling her lips spread into a smile against my own.
Yeah. This is definitely right, and for as long as she’ll have me, there’s absolutely no way that I’m leaving her behind.