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“Yeah,” I whispered with a growl. “Not yet. As I said, we need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk.”
Picking Theo up quickly off the floor, I moved him to the bed and threw him there. That probably wasn’t the best idea if I wanted to cool things down. “Stop. For now.”
“What is this? Are you playing with me?”
“No,” I sighed as I sat beside him. “I’m not playing, but like I said, I don’t want you for just this. Until that’s established, I need to keep it…nonsexual.”
“Great,” he drawled. “What the fuck do you want from me?”
Honest to a fault, sometimes, that was me. “I want everything from you, and more than that, I want to give you everything.”
He moved to sit on the edge of the bed but kept a good few inches between us. “What are you talking about?”
“I’m falling for you, Theo, and don’t ask me how. You’re annoying, rude, headstrong, and everything I never thought I could love in a guy. Still, though, here you are, in my heart, holding on with your teeth. Those sharp teeth of yours that aren’t nearly as sharp as your tongue.”
“You’re speaking gibberish.”
Laughing, I said, “I guess I am. You bring that out in me. I turn into a mess around you. It’s made it so I can’t properly do my job, so as soon as I give him the word, Burke’s sending someone else to be your security.”
“Don’t…leave me,” he begged, and it tore at my heart.
“I’m not. I told you; I want to stay here. If you don’t want me in the house, I’ll find somewhere close, and we can…start to see where this is going with us.”
“Where is this going? I thought…we were…”
“What, Theo? What do you think we are? You’ve thought all this time I was only here because I was being paid to be, and while that is partially true, it isn’t wholly true. I could have quit the first time you screamed in my face.”
“Why didn’t you? I’m a terrible person, and you know that!”
“No,” I whispered as I turned more to him. I crooked my leg between us and settled in, knowing the conversation wouldn’t be easy or quick. “You’re not. You’re smart and likable when you’re not being rude, and there’s so much hiding under all that silk.”
He smiled as he touched his shirt. “Shut up.”
“Theo, I see you. There’s not much more we can wish for in this life than someone taking the time to see us. I see you, and what I see makes me want to see more. That’s the best start of anything I’ve ever had.”
“I see you too!”
“Oh, yeah? What do you see?”
Those long dark lashes lay over his cheeks as he closed his eyes. “I see someone strong, smart, that likes people, and people like him, right away, without even trying hard.” When his eyes opened, they were soft, like the squall had finally calmed. “Can you teach me that?”
“How to make people like you? Theo, you already do. You have everyone here, and they like you. Theo, you have a wall around you, and I think I know how it got there. I get it, okay? I can help you tug that down, but it’s gonna take time. You’ve got to realize that there are many people out there for what they can get from each other, but some, like the men here, aren’t like that.”
“Everyone wants something,” he said with certainty, and I realized he was right.
“Sure. Joel wants friends. He wants people to like him, to be friends with and understand him because Burke told me what a hard time he’s had with that too. He didn’t make friends easily. People judged him for his sexuality, for his accent.”
“Like I did,” he confirmed miserably.
“But you don’t now. You treat Joel like a friend.”
“He’s…sweet. He’s never asked for anything from me. I thought it strange, but…”
I touched his face softly. “Theo, you took down a few stones in that wall you’ve built with him. You thought all these years you were only good for paying people for things and for fucking. None of that is true. You’ve shown me you’re so much more.”
“Will you…stay here with me?”
