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“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, kid.”
I snort. “That’s becoming abundantly clear.” There’s a pause as I swallow my food. “You’re not gonna like, lecture me about last night, are you?”
“Do youwanta lecture?” Theo asks, coming over to sit beside me on the couch.
“Not particularly.”
“Then no.” He takes a bite of food. “I do have one question, though.”
Uh oh. “Yeah?” I ask, trying not to catastrophize.
Theo turns to me, his gray eyes scrutinizing. “You said you and Callie were out celebrating,” he says, and there’s a hint of caution in his voice. “What exactly were you celebrating?”
I pause mid-bite, mind racing. My first instinct is to play it off as a post-wedding ladies’ night—he doesn’t know about the Sterling job—but somehow, the idea of him thinking I’m actuallyenjoyingbeing married to his brother is too much to stomach.
I swallow and look down at my lap. “She may have... found me a job opportunity. At one of Craig Sterling’s galleries.”
Now it’s Theo’s turn to raise his eyebrows. “I didn’t know you were looking for a job.”
“Me neither, until about twenty-four hours ago,” I quip. “And, uh... neither does Lucas.”
“Mm.” Theo looks ahead as he eats, and I can practically see the wheels turning in his head. “Well, that’s quite the opportunity,” he says finally. Sterling’s a major player on the London art scene.”
“You know of him?” I ask, a little surprised.
“Of course,” Theo replies, giving me a half-smirk that makes a burst of heat travel through my stomach. “Almost as big a player as our two families.”
I stare at him for a long moment as I put together the pieces. “You’re talking about money laundering,” I say finally, my mind returning to the memory of the painting my dad bought.
“Among other things,” Theo says after a pause. “You’ve got to clean the books somehow. Art’s one of the best ways to do it. You’d be surprised just how many Sterling pieces our family has bought and sold over the years. It’s what lets us run our business without too many questions from the cops. That and all the shell companies, of course.” He grins.
“How do you know so much about this, anyway?” I ask, genuinely intrigued now.
Theo laughs. “It’s kind of my job, kid. What I want to know is...” He leans forward, his bright eyes intense as they lock onto mine, and I’m helpless to look away. “Why would you want to be working for an asshole like Craig Sterling?”
“He could be the biggest douchebag in the world and I wouldn’t care,” I reply without missing a beat. “This is the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“You like art, then?”
“Like it?” I reply. “I love it. I’m an art history major, did you know that?”
“No.” His smile disappears, and this time, there’s no humor in his voice. “I didn’t.”
I shrug and take another bite of French toast. “Neither does Lucas.”
“Jesus, kid,” Theo suddenly bursts out, turning to me. “You guys really don’t know anything about each other, do you?”
“That’s kind of the whole point of an arranged marriage,” I gripe. “It’s a business transaction, nothing more. My job is to suck it up and deal with it, and that’s all I can do. That’s all any of us can do.”
It’s a whole moment before I realize I just parroted exactly what Dad said to me at the wedding. My stomach drops, and suddenly I’m not hungry anymore.
Theo’s eyes burn into me, and I look away, my heart racing in my chest. But then he reaches out, taking my chin in his hand and making me meet his eyes. He’s so close now, I feel like I’m buzzing in my seat. His thumb strokes along my cheek, his eyes roaming my face, like he’s looking for something I can’t identify. He doesn’t lean in, doesn’t try to kiss me. All he does is hold my face and stare down at me like he wants to devour me. “Do you really believe that?” he asks after a long moment, his voice low and husky.
“I...” I breathe, my breath catching in my throat with longing.
But then Theo lets me go, and the instant he does, I wish he hadn’t. “You should get some shut-eye, kid,” he says as he gets up from the couch. “You look like you could use it.”
With that, he walks away, leaving me alone with nothing but my swirling thoughts.
