The Love I Need

Chapter 34

I try to tell Owen that Theo and I aren't together but he doesn't believe me.

"Right," he answers sarcastically, "Theo Morrison has a hot woman over for breakfast that isn't his girlfriend. He just decided he was into random hookups after lecturing me for the past two years. So what, you needed to get away from the old man and let loose for a night but didn't want to take it any further than drinks and flirting? I guess I can understand that..." His eyes move to the empty bottle of whiskey I had taken with me from his place last night. "You took that here? Damn, Emilia. What did the guy do to make you that mad?"

Shit, shit, shit. How do I answer? Do I let Owen believe Theo has sacrificed his morals and had a one night stand or do I allow him to think Theo is dating a fucking crazy woman—AKA me?

I'm saved from having to decide when Theo walks back into the kitchen. He walks up to me to take the flipper from my hand and looks down at the eggs in the pan. "You sure you don't want any, Milia?"

I shake my head and start backing away to the living room. "Uh, no. I'm good. I'm going to—"

"Your toast is ready," Theo cuts me off while he flips the eggs.

There's no way I'm sticking around to eat with Owen here. I give a small shake of my head but can't think of a reasonable excuse to give so I retreat from the room without saying anything else.

Theo catches up to me while I'm putting my shoes on.

"Emilia, wait." His hand hovers awkwardly near my arm like he's resisting the urge to hold onto me. "I'm sorry for inviting Owen in. I didn't realize it would make you uncomfortable."

"It's fine, Theodore." I purposefully use his non-name to try and show him that everything is normal. "It's not really him. I'm just not hungry, and I think we gave your worker the wrong idea."

"The wrong idea?" he repeats with a quizzical look.

"Yeah." I can't believe I have to spell it out for him. "He thinks we slept together last night."

A small grin pulls at his lips and he goes ahead and lies his hand on my arm now. His fingers lightly skirt across my skin as they gently wrap around my forearm to keep me from sidling off to the front door. "Well... we sort of did," he replies in a low rumble, barely louder than a whisper.

"No. We didn't. Not like what he's imagining. You shot me down, remember?"

But if you keep talking to me like that with your big hand on my arm, I might not give you a chance to say no next time...

Another smile moves across his dark features. "I remember. I'm a little surprised you do though."

"I remember plenty."

"Yeah?" His fingertips slightly skim back and forth against the underside of my forearm. "So you remember then that I said sleeping together would be a terrible idea... that it wasn't an option?"

"Right now," I add softly. Feeling flustered, I move my eyes away from his hand on my arm to look towards the door.

"Hmm?"

I look back at Theo to see a puzzled expression on his face.

"Last night, you said fucking me wasn't an option right now. That means it will be an option later."

Now Theo's the one who seems flustered. He releases my arm and drops his hand to his side again. "Uh, no. That's not, uh, what I—"

"Shh." I step closer to him to press a finger to his lips, having a new sense of power come over me now that Theo's the one stumbling over his words again. "I'll see you later, big guy."