“So it’s a threat-to-follow-if-you-hurt-her situation?”
“Yep.”
I laughed, feeling myself relax a little. Avery knew and he wasn’t pissed about it, which meant Theo and I had no reason to hide. Unless we wanted to.
The rest of the drive passed by too fast. Before I even knew it, we were pulling into town and I headed to the motel to drop him off. Theo climbed out and grabbed his bag, but then he came around to my side of the truck and stuck his head in through the open window.
“What are you doing at your house today?” he asked.
“Painting one of the bedrooms,” I said. “I’m still not sure if I’m going to sell the place, but I’ve decided to keep fixing it up until we know more.”
He grinned. “I’ll see you in a few hours, then. As it happens, I’ve become a very skilled painter.”
He pushed off the truck, turned, and walked away. I was already looking forward to seeing him again, despite just having spent an entire weekend together.
It really was crazy, but I honestly couldn’t get enough of this guy. Maybe it was just because I didn’t know how much I would actually get of him before he had to leave. Whatever heartbreak might be coming my way, this time with him was worth it.
CHAPTER 23
THEO
There were several universal truths in life. The first was that coffee helped for a hangover, but time helped more, and if all else failed, manual labor could usually be counted upon to beat it into submission.
Back in Chicago, manual labor had usually meant joining Zach and Colin on the golf course or, God forbid, going running when forced to, but here, it meant driving a truck full of renovation supplies over to Raquel’s house.
At least my head wasn’t killing me anymore. It wasn’t exactly thriving either, but I’d had worse. Apparently, Avery, his friends, and I had reached an age where we could no longer drink like college students and not expect to feel the wrath of the liquor gods the next day.
Last night, we’d all believed we were invincible, but the hangover and the stinging scrapes all over my body had proven once and for all that consequences were real. As I turned onto the dirt road leading to her property though, I wasn’t dreading having to spend the whole afternoon painting.
Endless blue skies stretched overhead, and as soon as her house came into view, so did she.My girl.
She was standing on a ladder near one of the front windows, painting a gutter in a white tank top and work pants, both garments already spattered in paint. Her dark hair was twisted up off her neck, showing off the elongated curve of her throat, and the tank revealed a thin strip of her lower back.
I nearly drove into a fence post.God, she’s sexy.
I’d been attracted to her from the word go, but after Friday night, I couldn’t look at her and not remember that curvy body writhing under mine. I couldn’tnotthink about the tiny crease that appeared between her eyebrows when she was close or the way she’d swiped her tongue across her lips just seconds before she’d come.
Jesus. I haven’t even parked yet and I’m already hard as a fucking rock. This girl is going to kill me. Dead.
As I got closer, she climbed down from the ladder and turned to face me, smirking. I climbed out of the truck.
“You survived.”
“Barely,” I said honestly. “I think the shower tried to kill me.”
She laughed. “You should be at home, suffering in silence.”
I snorted. “Not a chance. There’s no better cure than being busy.”
“I’m not sure that’s true,” she said. “What about electrolytes or sleep?”
“What about pointing me in the direction of the bedroom that needs painting?”
“You’re just all about the bedrooms suddenly, aren’t you?” she teased, motioning for me to follow her.
I smirked, not even trying to deny the truth of her statement. “Don’t pretend you don’t like it. You did invite me over here to paint said bedroom.”
“Oh, I invited you now?”
