Two Months Later
CHARITY
“You are not very trusting.”
“No shit, Dickbag,” I snap, stumbling over the curb he just warned me was there. “It’s kind of my thing.”
Theo laughs, mumbling something under his breath that I can’t hear. “Okay, right here.”
He grabs my shoulders, shifting my body around as I stare at the inside of the blindfold he slapped over my eyes. I can’t see anything but the black fabric pressing against my eyelashes, and I’m about over it.
“Theo!” I huff, crossing my arms as he subtly adjusts my shoulders again.
“Sorry, sorry,” he mumbles, but I can hear the smile in his voice. “Are you ready?”
I nod, suddenly worried about what I’ll see when he removes the blindfold. I wouldn’t put it past the big idiot to have done something insane like buy me a different car for every day of the week or build us a ten-story mansion with his bare hands. He tends to go over the top with things, and I’ve heard him grumbling about the house being “too small for it” more than once over the last month. The house isn’t too small for anything. It’s the perfect size for us, and I don’t want to live anywhere else.
The blindfold loosens, and I close my eyes on instinct. I’m not ready to see it. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not prepared to find out.
“Ta-da!” Theo proudly exclaims from behind me. He must look at my face when I don’t react because one massive, gentle hand runs across my cheek before he mumbles, “You have to open your eyes, Viper.”
“I’m afraid to,” I admit, leaning into the warmth of his touch.
Theo chuckles, his thumb rubbing softly along my jaw. “It’s a good thing, I promise.”
One eye cracks open just enough to see we’re standing on the sidewalk outside a strip center in Forest Falls. Confusion causes my other eye to open as I look at the businesses in front of us. There’s a thrift store to the right and a bakery to the left, but the storefront directly before us is empty.
“What are we doing here?”
“Checking out your studio. Or gallery? I wasn’t sure how you wanted to use it. You could probably do both. I thought you might use the room at the back to paint. It’s a little small, but the entire ceiling and one of the walls is made of glass, so it feels bigger than it is, and there’s tons of natural light.” Theo keeps talking as he walks to the door, pulling out a set of keys to unlock it. He doesn’t realize I’m not following him until he turns to hold the door open for me.
Chuckling, he jogs toward me, scooping me off my feet. I yelp, grabbing his shoulders as he carries me into the empty business cradled against his chest. Theo sets me down in the middle of the room, pressing a kiss to my temple before he steps back.
“I’m no artist, so I don’t know how you would best use the space, but I figured you’d have some ideas once you saw it.”
He moves away, walking toward the back of the room as I take in my surroundings. The ceilings are much higher than they looked from the outside, and the front windows let in lots of soft, early morning light. The walls are flat and painted a generic white, and the floors appear to be hardwood. They look like they’re in decent condition, too.
“If you need anything built, just let me know. Tables, cabinets, shelves, I can do it all, baby.” He winks at me when I roll my eyes, but I know he’s serious. This fucking man found me a perfect spot for my art. He made sure it was a place I could use as a gallery or a studio, whichever I wanted, and he’s offering to build whatever I need to fill the space.
My mind races, thoughts tumbling over one another in their attempt to get to the front of my brain fastest. Theo doesn’t just choose me; he loves me. He shows me every minute of every day, and how do I repay him for that love? I make jokes about his dick being too big and roll my eyes when he does something kind.
I’m fucking this all up.
“I love you.”
And now I’m fucking it up in a whole new way! What the Hell was that?
Theo goes very still, his eyes widening past the point I thought possible. “You...what?”
Fuck it. In for a penny, in for a pound, or whatever the ridiculous saying is. “I love you. I know I haven’t been the best at showing it because I’m not good at this stuff like you are, but I want you to know I love you.”
He continues to stare at me as if I might disappear if he blinks. Thinking he just needs more time to process, I make the potentially terrible decision to keep talking.
“I love that you make me laugh. Every day. I love that you care about the people in your life and would do anything for them. I love that you’re smart, but you don’t shove it in other people’s faces when they don’t understand things as quickly as you do. I love that you cook. I love that you never complain when I warm my toes against your thighs at night. I love that you stalked me for years to make sure I was safe, even though it was definitely creepy.”
A smile tugs at his lips, but he still doesn’t move.
“I love that you are always kind, even when you’re frustrated with me. I love that you’re fucking standing here, staring at me like I’m saying something insane when you’ve spent every minute of the last two months showing me how much you love me. You told me you wanted everything, and I don’t think I realized what that actually meant, but now I do. Your love is big and all-encompassing, and I’m so fucking lucky to be on the receiving end of even an ounce of that love. So, I wanted you to know I feel it, and I love you, too.”
Theo takes a step toward me, then another, moving slowly through the space until he’s standing directly in front of me. He still hasn’t said anything, but that little smile is back, threatening to break across his face at any moment.
“Are you done saying all the things you love about me?” My eyebrows drop as I give him an are you fucking kidding glare, but he just laughs. “I love you, too. If that wasn’t obvious.”
“It was,” I huff, wrapping my arms around his stomach. His fingers slide through my hair, tipping my head back so he can press our lips together. The kiss quickly gets out of hand, the feel of his body pressed so tightly to mine driving me crazy. “Hurry up and show me the rest so we can go home.”
Theo smirks, giving me one more kiss before stepping away. He laces our fingers together, pulling me toward the back of the building. We step through one of the doors in the back hall, and I suck in a breath. The room is small, with plain white walls and the same wood floors that run through the rest of the place, but the entire ceiling and back wall are made of two large sheets of glass. There’s nothing but forest outside the window, making it feel like we’ve entered another world.
My fingers twitch, itching for my sketch pad or a canvas to capture the sudden flood of ideas. I can’t wait to set up my easel in here, and I’m already planning what shelves I’ll need Theo to build when he wraps his arms around me, pressing his chest against my back.
“This is where I thought you might want to paint.”
“It’s perfect, Theo.”
“I’m glad you like it, Viper.”
“I don’t like it,” I correct, spinning in his arms. I take him by surprise, shoving against his chest until he stumbles into the wall behind him. “I love it.”
“Charity, what—” his question cuts off when I drop to my knees, quickly working open the button on his jeans. I don’t normally catch him off guard enough to let me do this. The last two times I’ve tried, he has flipped us around and ended up with his head between my thighs.
Not that I’m complaining. I’m just not letting it happen this time.
“Viper—”
“No.” I shake my head, pulling his jeans and underwear down to reveal his rapidly hardening cock. “You’re going to let me choke on your dick, Theodore.”
“Jesus,” he laughs, running a hand through my hair as I shift closer between his spread legs. “If that’s what you want.”
“It is.” I run my hand along his shaft, mentally estimating how much I’m going to be able to fit and what I’ll have to make up for with my hand. Saliva pools in my mouth at the thought of him pushing against the back of my throat, and I bite back a groan. “I swear I’ve been dreaming about getting your cock in my mouth.”
Theo makes a noise that sounds almost like pained laughter. Looking up, I meet his wide gaze with my own. “Pretty sure I’ve had those dreams, too.”
Narrowing my eyes, I lean forward, licking a stripe up the underside of his dick. Theo hisses, his fingers tightening in my hair. “One of these days, we’re going to have a serious conversation about your issues with accepting pleasure.”
“Whatever you want, Viper.” He groans when my tongue swirls around the head of his cock, but it’s nothing compared to the sound he makes when I suck him into my mouth. His breath hitches, short bursts of air hissing through his teeth as I pull him to the back of my throat. “Fuck. Fuck! Viper, can I help you? Can I, fuck, sweet girl, can I do something?”
Pulling back, I glare up at him. “Am I doing something wrong?”
“What? No!”
“Then stop offering to help me, asshole.”
“I just,” he sighs when my lips close around the tip again. “Fuck, I just want to make it easy on you. I know it’s not exactly an, uh, easy task.”
Laughing with a mouthful of dick is not advised. “Theodore Grady, are you saying you don’t want me to suck your dick because it’s too big?”
“You’re the one always calling it a monster,” he reminds me, and I have to roll my eyes to keep from laughing at his accusatory tone.
“Just shut up and fuck my throat, you idiot.”
He makes a sound like I punched him in the gut but doesn’t argue when I pull him back into my mouth. His fingers dig into my hair as I bob along his shaft, using one hand to work the parts I can’t reach while the other gently caresses his balls. I’ve just found a decent rhythm when Theo’s hands grip either side of my head.
“I need to fuck you, Viper.”
My entire body shudders at the words, but I refuse to break my rhythm. Theo curses, his fingers scraping against my temples as he tries to encourage me off of his dick.
“Charity, I can’t, I’m not, fuck, I have to move and I don’t want to choke you.”
The idea of choking on his cock makes me moan deep in my throat, and Theo hisses in response. I move my hands to his hips, pulling them forward when I sink down so he knows I’m one hundred percent on board for him fucking my throat.
“JesusfuckingChrist, Viper.” His hips move gently forward to meet my lips, and I hum in encouragement. “If it’s too much, tap my thigh, and I’ll stop. Okay?”
I do my best to nod with his dick pressed to the back of my throat, but I’m not sure how effective the motion is, so I give him a thumbs-up as well. Theo’s loud laugh bounces around the room, filling it with more sunshine than the windows could ever hope to let in.
His feet shuffle further apart, knees bending as he presses his hips forward. It’s further than the last time, and my throat spasms when he pushes against my gag reflex. I pull back slightly but quickly sink forward again, meeting his thrust eagerly. It isn’t long before he’s pushing into my throat with each thrust, and I think I might pass out from how fucking turned on I am. I’m desperate for release, but my hands are busy, and I refuse to stop sucking Theo’s dick until he comes.
“Fuck, Viper.” Theo’s gruff voice fills my ears as he hits the back of my throat again. I know that voice; it’s the one he uses when he’s about to come, and it’s my favorite sound in the world. “I’m gonna come. You want it, sweet girl? You want Daddy to come down your throat?”
I’m not sure which one of us moans louder. His cock swells against my tongue, the pace of his hips fucking into my mouth getting quicker with each passing second. Theo sighs, and I pull away quickly, feeling his cum hit the back of my throat, filling my mouth.
“That’s it, Viper. Take it all, sweet girl.”
I nod, running the tip of my tongue against the underside of his crown gently. Theo shudders, pulling away until his dick falls from my mouth. I’m not ready for the move, and some of his cum drips over my lips before I can stop it.
Theo drops to his knees in front of me, grabbing my jaw on either side to hold my mouth open as he watches the cum slip down my chin. “You are so fucking beautiful with my cum on your lips, sweet girl.”
He leans forward, sealing our mouths together. His tongue is instantly pressing past my lips, a groan rumbling between us when he tastes himself in my mouth. “I will never get over how good we taste together, Viper.”
I can’t do much more than nod, my hands balling into fists against his thighs.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Something,” he argues, pulling back enough to look at my face. I’m not sure what he sees there, but a knowing smile spreads across his face. “Did sucking my dick turn you on, sweet girl?”
There’s no use denying it when my hips have started rocking against the air of their own accord. “Yes.”
“You need me to take care of you?”
“Yes, please,” I beg, not caring how desperate I sound. “I want you.”
“How do you want me, sweet girl?” Theo runs his nose along my jaw, biting gently at my ear as his hand drops to cup my pussy. “You want me to bury my face in this perfect cunt until you cover me in your cum?”
Fuck, I’m going to die. “Yes.”
Theo chuckles, kissing my throat before carefully maneuvering me onto my back. He pauses momentarily, hovering over me, his sharp blue eyes roaming across my body before finally meeting my gaze. When he speaks, I hear the words in a whole new way. He says them often, but this time, I finally understand what he’s really saying.
“Anything for you, Charity Lawson.”