Page 91 of Resurgent

Strong, warm hands wrap around my waist and pull me tighter against him, shooting a shiver up my spine. I’m about to say…something…when he gently lifts me, giving me a clear view into the hall.

Seconds stretch slowly, but when I reach thirty without any signs of my huntress, I decide she must have gone after Emily.

"Coast is clear," I laugh, patting his chest. "You can put me down now, big guy."

"Give me a second," he huffs out, like he’s winded—probably from whatever intense workout keeps him in that kind of shape.

"Aww, poor baby. Did you get a muscle cramp?" I tease, already starting to slide down.

"Annalise, wait—" he protests, but it's too late.

I drag down the front of him—and then freeze.

Oh.

There’s no missing it—the unmistakable, very firm press of him through his basketball shorts, shifting from my thigh to my stomach as I finish sliding to the ground.

For a split second, my body tenses on instinct. But I force myself to stay present—I’m no one’s victim, and Theo isn’t like them.

A fact that is more than confirmed when a low groan breaks from his lips, immediately followed by his face blanching, and his hands—which had been trying to keep me from falling while also putting some distance between us—shoot up to cover his face.

“I—”

Maybe it’s the high I’m still on from getting away from Sasha, or the relief his reaction gives me, but the most unladylike cackle bursts out of me, and before I can get ahold of myself, I’m curled over, fighting to get a full breath in.

“Damn Scout, way to crush a guy's ego,” he says, fingers parting only enough to give him a good look at my extreme reaction.

“I’m sorry! I just wasn’t expecting to get held at freaking gunpoint while you were helping me escape my would-be executioner!” I gasp out, but it’s enough to break through Theo’s embarrassment.

“Executioner, huh? Dare I ask what you did to incur her wrath?” He asks, a sly smile spreading across his face as he shakes his head at the tears still rolling down mine while I try to pull myself together.

“Me?” I spurt in faux innocence. “How could you think I—”

Sasha’s high-pitched threats and Emily’s laughter outside the door cut me off as Theo raises a single, pointed “You were saying?” eyebrow in my direction.

“I swear to the Gods, Theodore Stevens, if you don’t open this door and hand over my best friend right now, I will come in there!”

Quickly, he spins, looking through the peephole at what I can only imagine is a much rougher-looking Sasha and Emily.

It only takes a second before he is facing me once more, laughing and pulling me toward his bed. “Stay quiet and get under there. I’ll get rid of her.”

“Thanks, but I really do need to get ready,” I chuckle, slipping past him and pulling the door open to face my friends.

It’s almost closed behind me before I pop it back open. “Hey, Theo?”

His eyes meet mine, but he stays quiet, waiting…

“Be ready in an hour, or we leave without you…and it’s not a date,” I add quickly before fully stepping out into the hall.

Chapter twenty-six

Annalise

Ishouldn’t be surprised to find both Emily and Sasha staring at me, dumbfounded and grinning like the Cheshire Cat as the door clicks behind me.

“What happened to you not wanting a date?” Emily teases.

“Sasha, what did you do to her?”