Chapter 44
RAQUEL
At Zach’s house, I sat cross-legged on the hardwood floor, building a blanket fort with Adeline’s girls while doing my best to remain calm.
It wasn’t easy, though. Their fort was nothing like I remembered building with Avery, spanning the entirety of the massive living room with more and more blankets being delivered by the housekeeping team every so often.
A housekeeping team. How ridiculous is that?
Then again, it’d become clear to me over the last twenty-four hours that Theo was really, really rich. Despite how nice everyone had been to me so far—and they seriously had been—they were a whole different breed.
The house was insane and the cars that kept coming and going were a testament to the fact that this family was in a class all of its own.
They drove Rolls Royces, and Maybachs, and Aston Martins, tossing the keys down on the side table whenever they walked in like they thought of those vehicles as no more than ordinary run-arounds.
Food was ordered from restaurants I’d read about in magazines while I’d been looking for inspiration for my kitchen at home, and all the wives seemed to be on a first-name basis with whoever answered the phones at those restaurants.
While I hadn’t seen any of Theo’s brothers again, I’d been in Chicago for a full day now, the collective Westwood wives taking it upon themselves to entertain me. They were all incredibly gracious and friendly, but none of them had known about me until recently.
To be more specific, none of them had known about me until Theo had texted Adeline to pick me up from the airport. Even so, they’d welcomed me in with open arms, not a single one commenting about my clothes, my job, or the fact that I stuck out around here like a sore thumb.
“Raquel,” Lu snapped, her eyes wide and exasperated when I blinked myself out of my thoughts. “Did you hear me? I asked what we’re going to do about the snack station.”
I almost laughed, but she was gravely serious. Apparently, a snack station inside the blanket fort was a requirement if you lived in a house like this. “To be honest, my brother and I just used to grab a bag of chips and some marshmallows for ours.”
“A bag of chips and some marshmallows,” she repeated somberly, but then lit up and shot to her feet with the speed of a tiny bullet. “I think we’ve got all that.”
“Uh-uh,” Adeline called from where she was sitting on one of the last remaining armchairs that hadn’t been draped in some kind of linen. “You can have your snacks after dinner, but not before, and Raquel is right. Chips and marshmallows are enough.”
Jennifer had been arranging a legion of stuffed animals in the fort, but she looked up at me and smiled. “I didn’t know you liked marshmallows. I like them too.”
“They’re the best,” I said authoritatively, prompting Lu to launch into a lecture about the pros and cons of other sweets when compared to marshmallows.
I tried to listen, but eventually, my gaze drifted to one of the wall-sized windows overlooking the grounds. Everything about Theo’s world felt massive. Enormous. Overwhelming.
It made me feel so damn small that I was seriously starting to wonder if I’d made a mistake, coming here. Maybe I should just go home.
Theo was clearly in trouble with his oldest brother. I hadn’t seen Alex since Jesse had spilled the beans about the secret mission Theo had launched himself into. The man had simply vanished into the depths of the house with his brothers, looking like he was preparing for war.
When I heard the front door opening, I barely even registered it at first. People were constantly coming and going in this house, children thundering through hallways and the dog, Bear, wandering around.
For every bit of silence back home, there was noise here, activity, and something happening all the time, and while I was enjoying it, it was also just making me feel more out of place. I was still staring out the window when Lu suddenly gasped and scrambled to her feet.
“Uncle Theo! You’re home.”
Everything inside me stopped as I looked up and saw him standing in the foyer. He seemed travel worn, his dark hair messy and a leather jacket slung over his shoulder where he was talking to Zach in hushed tones.
A moment later though, he turned away from his brother, his eyes sweeping the room. The second they met mine, everything changed. The constant noise faded and the anxiety I’d been feeling disappeared.
He looked different than he had back in Quartz Pass, his hair shorter and his expression sharper, but his shoulders dropped when he saw me, like he’d been carrying the weight of the world and had finally allowed himself to toss it off.
I stood up, but neither of us moved toward the other at first. Instead, we just stared at each other, and in that moment I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that this hadn’t been some foolish mistake.
The certainty sank into me like something I’d known all my life and just hadn’t been consciously aware of until right now.
Maybe our feelings weren’t logical and maybe a relationship wouldn’t be practical or convenient, but it was right.
Theo’s gaze softened as it held mine, a relieved smile appearing on his lips.
The way he looked at me made me feel like he’d finally found his way home and my heart swelled in response. I felt exactly the same.
It suddenly felt like I could breathe again for the first time since he’d left and I knew then that no matter how different our worlds seemed, he and I were meant to be. This was right. Hell, it was everything.
There was no awkwardness or tension as he strode toward me, only taking two slow steps before he broke into a run. I barely had time to laugh before he reached me, gathering me up in his arms and lifting me straight off my feet.
The impact knocked the breath out of me, but I didn’t care. Theo was here, burying his face in my hair as I wrapped my arms around his neck. We just held each other for a few long moments, breathing each other in while my heart pounded and my knees felt vaguely weak.
Behind us, I heard Adeline clear her throat. “Would you look at that.”
“Uncle Theo’s home,” Lu announced, as if anyone had needed the confirmation. “I think he likes her.”
Jennifer giggled. “I think she’s his best friend.”
“They’re having a moment,” Adeline said. “Be quiet.”
“It’s a gross moment,” Lu said. “Do you think they’re going to smooch?”
I laughed quietly against Theo’s shoulder, wondering if I should let go and put some space between us considering our audience, but his arms tightened around me like he’d heard the thought and was telling me to stay put.
“Let’s go, young ladies,” Adeline said. “Privacy is a real thing and I think they need a bit of it right now.”
Lu objected immediately. “But Uncle Theo?—”
“Uncle Theo’s going to come find you in a minute,” he said without lifting his face out of my hair. “I heard Zach say something about glitter pens. Maybe you should go find out what that means.”
“Oh, you fucking—” Zach muttered from somewhere nearby, then immediately broke off, but apparently not fast enough.
“You owe us twenty dollars each,” Jennifer announced delightedly.
Zach groaned. “How about twenty minutes with the glitter pens instead?”
“With you?” she asked.
“Sure.”
Someone stomped a foot, presumably Lu, since she spoke up next. “I want to stay.”
“Nope. You’re coming with us, little one,” Zach said firmly. “Let’s go, Lauren.”
“Why?”
“Because Uncle Theo is definitely going to smooch her and you’re not old enough to see that yet. Nor do you want to. It’s going to be super gross.”
Their banter continued as they moved down the hallway, Adeline and Zach ushering the girls out of the room. When I looked up again, Kate and Jacque had disappeared too, and Jane had left earlier after getting a call from Alex.
Once they were gone, Theo finally pulled back and looked into my eyes, but his hands stayed firmly around my waist, like he wasn’t taking any chances of me trying to move away from him. “I’m sorry. I never should’ve left.”
“You had to.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I should’ve done it. I’ve been miserable ever since I got back. I couldn’t even bring myself to say your name, and then I went on this date and?—”
I groaned. “I don’t think I want to hear this part.”
The corners of those gorgeous green eyes crinkled. “Trust me, you do. She was actually pretty cool, and also head over heels in love with someone else, but she made me realize I was done with letting other people dictate what my life should look like.”
“She did?”
“Yeah, and my life has been completely empty without you in it, Raquel. I kept looking for you in rooms you weren’t in, the only person I wanted to talk to not even there.
” His voice cracked a little. “I thought I was doing the right thing, but I wasn’t.
I know that now.” He let out a quiet, bitter laugh. “I was just scared.”
I blinked rapidly at the admission, unable to process the fact that Theo Westwood, the man who’d ridden a motorcycle across the country completely alone, could’ve been scared.
Especially since he came from a family who literally moved billions of dollars around before breakfast. I’d heard Zach on the phone this morning. It was crazy.
“You were scared?” I asked softly.
He shrugged, those green eyes suddenly blazing with determination as they held mine. “Yeah, but I talked to Alex before I came here and I’m not scared anymore.”
“What did he say? He didn’t look happy last night when he met me.”
“That’s a whole other conversation, but we can have it later,” he said firmly, sliding his hands down into mine and squeezing my fingers.
“I told him that I’m doing this regardless of what tradition says.
I told him I wasn’t walking away from you, or the shop, or Quartz Pass.
We’ll make our own traditions from now on. ”
The conviction in his voice left no room for doubt about how serious he was about this. Theo wasn’t hiding anymore. He wasn’t falling in line with what his family wanted, and if it meant having to lose them, he seemed strangely okay with it.
I sucked in a sharp breath. “Are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t, but none of that matters if you don’t want this anymore,” he said, brushing a thumb under my eyes when a tear unexpectedly leaked over. “It’s up to you, Raquel.”
I looked back up at him, letting go of his hands to take his face in mine. “I missed you. I tried to stop, but I can’t.”
As I said it, his eyes slid shut and his forehead dropped against mine. “I missed you too, baby.”
The ache that’d been living in my chest for so long finally stopped when he sealed his lips over mine, holding me like he would never let me go. Theo was here, and for the first time since I’d met him, it didn’t feel like he already had one foot out the door.