WHAT WAS THAT? Oh, heavens. What had just happened? Bonnie stared after Theo as he strode down the hall, his dark head and broad shoulders lit by the soft glow of the hotel’s tasteful wall sconces. He reached the door to his room and paused. Bonnie sucked in a breath and held it. He’d said he wasn’t going to look back, but still, she waited for him to turn and look at her. See if she planned to take him up on his invitation. Maybe hold his door open for her.
But he didn’t. As promised, he reached into his pocket, retrieved his key, and entered his room without a backward glance.
His door snicked shut, and she exhaled, all but melting into a puddle on the floor. Her right hand still gripped the door handle. With effort, she unwrapped her fingers and stumbled into her room. Dropping her purse on the desk, Bonnie began to pace. He wasn’t serious, was he?
She replayed the press of his body against hers, the way he’d possessed her with his mouth, stealing her breath, her thoughts, and quite possibly her soul … but not her ability to choose. It was up to her, he’d said. Her choice. He wanted her. Did she want him?
God, yes. Ever since she first saw him standing next to Logan on that boat. He’d smiled at her, dimples turning her knees to water, and she’d debated jumping into the Thames. Instead, she’d armed herself with attitude, using cold aloofness as a life preserver, attempting to distance herself from the emotions swirling through her every time he caught her eye and made her have feelings she should not be having.
With each flicker of awareness that passed between them, Bonnie doubled her efforts to pretend the charming Brit didn’t exist … or at least the things she was feeling for him didn’t. She was determined to remain loyal to her fiancé back home, the man she thought was working hard on his doctorate, going to bed alone each night while she frolicked the summer away on vacation with her friends. Turned out, he’d been doing some frolicking of his own last summer, and he was hardly alone.
No. She pulled the plug on that thought. Not going there. She wasn’t thinking about Gabe now. She’d turned the page, started a new chapter—a new story. And why couldn’t Theo play a leading role, even for a little while, in this plot twist in her life?
Being around Theo put all her senses on high alert, waiting to absorb any bit of him she could get. Whether it was his voice, his scent, his touch … his taste. She licked her lips, the taste of his kiss still on her tongue. Yikes, she probably tasted like ketchup. She scurried to the bathroom and brushed her teeth. Her reflection stared back, curls wild, cheeks flushed, eyes wide and a little shell-shocked.
“Are you really going to do this?” she asked herself.
The question was only half-ludicrous. If her reflection answered back, then maybe she had a problem. But she did need an answer. Was she going to do this? He wanted her. She wanted him.
Could she let it be that simple?
Casual sex was not something Bonnie had ever considered. She didn’t have a problem with the concept, she’d just never thought it was for her. For one, the only guy she’d ever been with was Gabe, and she’d planned on marrying him from the time she was eight, and even then, they hadn’t officially “done it” until she was eighteen.
Also, Bonnie had a secret. Something she’d never told anyone, not even Cassie. Something she’d barely admitted to herself, even. But the truth was, as much as she loved Gabe, she’d never wanted him. Not that way. She wanted his attention, his kisses and cuddles … and when they’d had sex, she’d enjoyed it—mostly—it had been nice. But honestly, she could just as readily gone without it. She’d never felt this ache, this need.
If she did go to Theo’s room, she had no idea what to do. Should she change? She’d packed up most of her clothes today, but didn’t really have any sexy lingerie, just some comfy pajamas and her teacup robe. He’d seen the robe before, back in the hotel in London, and her teacup slippers too. Okay, even she knew those were not sexy. So no, she wouldn’t change. Wait, did that mean she was going?
Bonnie ran her fingers through her hair, a useless attempt to tame the untamable. She needed to stop stalling. Was she going or not? Theo was leaving tomorrow. If things went terribly (translation: if she was terrible in bed), then at least she wouldn’t have to face him—not for several months until they saw each other for the wedding stuff later this summer. And by then, it would be no big deal, right? Just this thing that happened one night.
Stop overthinking this. She looked in the mirror one more time, trying to channel Sadie or Ana, the two most confident women she knew. She distinctly recalled how Sadie had flirted with Theo when they’d all met that night on the boat. Sadie wouldn’t be having this silly little internal debate right now, she’d already be in Theo’s room, stripped down to one of her outrageously expensive bra and panty sets. Bonnie still gagged a little at the memory of how much money Cassie had spent on underwear during a pre-vacation shopping trip with Sadie.
Cassie had been determined to have a foreign fling during their trip, and the purchase had been part of the plan. Considering what happened with Logan, it had worked, though Bonnie couldn’t say how much could be attributed to expensive underthings.
Actually, the success of Cassie’s endeavor was more likely due to Bonnie. She’d been the one to encourage her friend to spend more time with the “sexy Scot,” after Cassie had first met him under rather unusual circumstances inside Edinburgh Castle. And after what could have been only a one-night stand, it was Bonnie who’d given Cassie’s cell number to Logan. It was even Bonnie who’d suggested Logan meet them on that fateful supper cruise on the Thames.
A one-night stand. That was what she was considering with Theo, wasn’t it? Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. After all, look what had happened for Cassie and …
Whoa. Bonnie disembarked from that boat before it could head for trouble island. She’d only just officially broken off her engagement this morning. She was not ready to jump into another relationship, and she certainly wasn’t going to contemplate marriage to someone else already. Did she want to get married? Sure. But she was not so desperate for a husband she was going to start planning a wedding with a man she hadn’t even slept with. Yet.
One more time, Bon. Are you going to do this?
All Bonnie’s stalling, all her mental games, were for naught. She’d known the answer all along; she’d just needed a little time to talk herself into it.
Of course she was going. She grabbed her key card, screwed her courage to the sticking place, and headed down the hall.
Minutes later, Bonnie stared out the window of Theo’s suite, hiding her nervousness as she gazed upon the Chicago night. They both knew what her presence here meant. He’d spelled it out pretty clearly. Theo’s room was on the same side of the hotel as hers and commanded an impressive view of the lake. The lights of the city twinkled all along the dark curve of the Gold Coast.
In the reflection of the window’s glass, she saw Theo pull his sweater over his head and hang it on the desk chair. Her back to him, she continued to watch the ghost of his movements as he turned to approach her, rolling up the sleeves of the dress shirt he’d worn underneath. Bonnie’s skin began to tingle, anticipating his touch well before he reached her side.
Finally, Theo stood next to her, the fingers of his right hand entwining with her left. “Lovely,” he said, his crisp voice cutting through the silence of the room. He squeezed her fingers.
Bonnie smiled, glancing up at him. Was he talking about her or the view? “When I was little, I used to think Lake Michigan was an ocean.”
“Well, I can understand that. It’s bloody big.” Theo chuckled. “One of the Great Lakes, correct?”
She nodded, the tingling intensifying as he lifted her hand to his mouth and brushed a featherlight kiss across her knuckles.
“How many Great Lakes are there?” he asked, his breath warm on her skin.
“Five,” she croaked, watching as he held her hand out and spread her fingers apart.
“Lake Michigan is one,” he said, wiggling her pinky. “Remind me what the others are?”
“Lake Ontario.” That one was easy. Her grandfather owned a fishing cottage very near the Canadian side of the lake, and she’d spent many childhood summers visiting him there, pretending she was Anne on Prince Edward Island.
He pressed her thumb to his lips. “That’s two,” he said, his mouth moving beneath her thumb.
“Then there’s Lake Erie,” she continued, while he guided her thumb across the soft curve of his mouth.
“Three,” he murmured, nibbling on her index finger.
“Uh…” Bonnie paused, swallowing hard as his teeth grazed her skin. “And Lake Huron.”
“Four,” Theo said before dipping his head to lick her middle finger.
The sensation tickled, but rather than make her laugh, it made her nipples tighten, and she groaned.
His smile was wicked. Confident. Pleased. “That leaves one more. What’s it called?”
“Hmm?” she asked, her brain feeling like a balloon detached from her body and floating somewhere overhead.
“The last Great Lake,” he reminded her, his voice a gentle tease as he raised her ring finger to his mouth, eyes on her face. His eyes were as blue as any lake, and just as beautiful, the swirl of indigo around his pupils expanding as he continued to stare down at her.
“Uh…” she stammered, her brain-balloon floating farther away, over the wide expanse of the night-shadowed lake beyond the window.
Theo parted his lips and took her finger into his mouth. He began to suck on the tip, his tongue stroking up and down.
This didn’t tickle. Not at all. And if her brain was floating away, her body was grounded. Tied hard and fast to the point of contact between them. It was as if a wire had been strung from her fingertip to her core, creating a direct line of sensation. With each wet hot tug on her finger, an answering pulse came from deep inside her.
Bonnie squeezed her eyes shut. Michigan, she muttered silently, struggling to focus as he increased his tempo. Ontario, Erie … Huron. He sucked harder and the pulsing intensified within her. Suddenly, he bit down, and she gasped, “Superior!”
He laughed, a rich warm sound that dusted her skin with magic, made her whole body tingle. Again, with the tingling. She was a ball of nerves around this man, every sense heightened. And she loved it. She already knew by the way he’d kissed her last night that sleeping with Theo would be different from anything she’d ever experienced with Gabe.
At the thought of her ex-fiancé, Bonnie glanced at her finger, the one that had so recently worn an engagement ring—and even more recently been inside a hot British guy’s mouth.
“Don’t,” Theo said, his voice quiet but commanding.
She tore her gaze away from her naked ring finger and met his eyes. She didn’t pretend to misunderstand. Theo read her too well. How such a thing was possible, as they’d only spent a handful of days together, she didn’t know, but he did, he knew her.
“Tonight is for you and me alone. No one else.” He lifted her hand to his mouth and placed a kiss on the inside of her wrist.
His mouth hovered over her hand, breath warm on her skin. His eyes traveled up her body, as if mapping the route he intended to take. When his gaze landed on her face, Theo paused. Everything inside Bonnie paused too. Her breath caught, her heart stalled, her mind went blank.
“Are you okay?” he asked. “With me? With this?”
“Uh…” She wet her lips, pulled air into her lungs, willed her heart to start pumping again. When her brain finally kicked back into gear, it was in full panic mode. This is a mistake, I’m making a mistake. I can’t do this. But I want to do this. Why shouldn’t I do this? The thoughts fired off lighting fast, circling around on themselves in nanoseconds.
Theo gently squeezed the hand he was still holding. “Perhaps this is a bad idea.”
“No!” she exclaimed, the denial coming out in a desperate hiccup of sound.
He raised his eyebrows.
She dropped her gaze and stared at their joined hands. She wanted him to go back to what he’d been doing. Touching her, kissing her, licking and sucking and not talking.
She flexed her fingers and gripped his hand. “No,” she repeated, more calmly this time. “I don’t think we should stop, I don’t want to stop.” She rotated her wrist, flipping the position of their hands, so his was on top. “And no, I’m not one hundred percent okay with this, but not in the way that sounds … I’m not…” She paused, what she said next could ruin her chance with him, could end this night right now, but it needed to be said. “I’m not okay myself. Does that make sense?”
“I think so,” he murmured, brow furrowing, “I don’t wish to take advantage of the situation, of what you’re going through right now. Which is why maybe we shouldn’t—”
“No,” she cut him off again. “You’re not taking advantage of me. I’m afraid I’ll be taking advantage of you. I just broke up with the man I’ve been dating since before I hit puberty, the man I was going to marry. And I can’t be one hundred percent sure that this”—she waved her free hand between their bodies—“isn’t my way of dealing with all that.” She let her hand rest on top of his, sandwiching his palm between both her own. There. She said it. It was out there, between them now.
“Let me ask you one thing,” Theo said, lashes dark against his cheeks as he stared down at their joined hands. “Are you one hundred percent sure you want this?” His lashes lifted, blue eyes meeting hers. “Are you sure you want me?”
“Yes,” she said, instantly, breathlessly.
He pulled his hand from her grip and tucked a finger under her chin. He leaned in, eyes still intent on hers. She was unmoored, adrift in the penetrating ocean-blue depths.
“That’s all that matters,” he said, smiling.
Those dimples appeared, and Bonnie was a goner. Call in the Coast Guard, she was going under. She reached up, gripping his shoulders for support, and pulled him closer.
Smile still curving his lips, Theo bent his head and kissed her. He took his time, giving her mouth the same detailed attention he’d given her fingers. His hands came around her, roving up her back and threading through her hair as he deepened the kiss, tongue stroking over her lips. And then he was thrusting inside, delving deep into her mouth. He groaned, low in his throat, making that raspy, rumbling animal sound she felt as much as heard.
She shivered, and if she’d thought she was drowning before, it was nothing to the sensations battering her senses now. She was caught in a whirlpool, and he was the vortex, sucking her tongue into his mouth, pulling her down, down, down.
But he was the one going down. Releasing her mouth, he dropped to his knees in front of her.
Bonnie gasped, gulping air as she stared down at him. Theo trailed his fingers along the backs of her legs, tickling her calves. He gripped the hem of her skirt and slid it up, palms grazing her thighs. The fabric bunched around her hips, and when he began to pull her tights down, Bonnie squeaked.
His hands froze. “Still okay?” he asked, glancing up at her.
She nodded mutely.
He snared his thumbs inside the elastic band of her panties, and then paused, eyebrows raised.
“I’m okay,” she croaked, and attempted to offer him a reassuring smile.
“Okay,” he repeated. “Good.” He tugged her panties and tights all the way down, bending low to pull them off. “Fuck, you’re gorgeous.”
Oh, God. Oh, sweet baby Jesus. Bonnie struggled for balance. Had she ever heard Theo use the f-word? The crisp sophistication of his accent somehow made it sound dirtier. The way it slipped from his lips, raw and gritty, while he was face to face with her, well … that. She swallowed hard. Would he do those things he’d done to her fingers, to her mouth … down there?
“So pretty,” he murmured, still staring at her. “Almost too pretty to eat.”
Oh, please God, yes. Suddenly Bonnie understood why her friend Sadie got all religious sounding when she was horny. A giggle escaped her.
“Something funny?” He rested back on his heels, fingers stroking up her bare legs.
“I’m ticklish,” she evaded, which wasn’t a lie. She giggled again when he curved his hands around her bottom, the featherlight brush of his palms teasing her sensitive skin.
“Everywhere?” he asked, a wicked gleam lighting the depths of his ocean eyes.
“Maybe?” She licked her lips. “Only one way to find out.”
Whoa, did that come out of her mouth?
It must have, because he was grinning, those dimples in full force. The backs of her knees prickled, and she bit her lip. Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall.
He kept his hands firmly planted on her bottom and pulled her toward him.
She flinched, but he didn’t do what she’d expected. Instead, he rained little kisses over the soft curve of her stomach, then dipped his tongue into her belly button.
“Hey!” She burst into a spasm of giggles.
“Hmm,” he mused, face a mask of analytic contemplation. “Definitely ticklish there.”
“Let someone stick a tongue in your belly button and see if you don’t laugh.”
“Is that a challenge?”
Bonnie gulped, but didn’t back down. “Maybe.”
“Tell you what.” He squeezed her bottom, and she realized his hands were still glued to her butt. “If I can make you laugh again, I win. If not, you win.”
“What do I win?” she asked, feeling silly and playful and incredibly turned on all at the same time.
“Whatever you want,” he countered, his confident tone telling her he fully believed she would lose.
“Does this mean, if you win, you get whatever you want?” she asked.
“Indeed.” His hands shifted, drifting down over her hips, thumbs tracing the outline of curls at the juncture of her thighs. That move alone sent shivers pulsing through her, and she almost lost the game before it began.
She schooled her face and stared down at him. Tried to pretend she wasn’t basically naked below the waist, and he had a bird’s eye view of the landscape.
Speaking of landscape, when was the last time she’d trimmed things down there? Why are you even thinking about that right now?
Crouching lower, his lips followed the path of his thumbs. His breath tickled, and she clamped her lips together, determined not to laugh again. When his mouth moved lower, she resisted the urge to clamp her legs together too. She was shaking, her entire body tingling.
He paused, glancing up at her. “Was that a laugh?”
“Nope.” Her throat worked.
He bent his head again, running his tongue along her center while his thumbs slid to the outside of her folds, stroking up and down. She moaned as a glimmer of pleasure flitted through her. Light and quick, like stones skipping across the glassy surface of a lake.
“That’s right, love,” he responded instantly, thumbs spreading her open as his tongue dipped inside. “Christ, you’re sweet.”
Oh God. Oh God. She bit down and breathed through her nose, slow and deep. In and out. In and out. The urge to laugh had completely abandoned her. What he was doing now wasn’t tickling her, it was making her restless, achy. Needy. Her thighs trembled, and she widened her stance, opening herself to him even more.
A low growl erupted from his throat, and it was so unexpected, so masculine and feral and … hot, it made her instantly wet. He growled again, deeper in his chest this time, and Bonnie felt it vibrate all through her. Her knees buckled, and in a flash, she was flat on her back, bare ass scraping against the hotel carpet.
Theo was on her in a heartbeat, crouching over her on all fours. His hair was mussed, falling in his face, eyes dark as a midnight sea. Gone was the polite British gentleman who wouldn’t start a meal before she did. In his place was this fierce and hungry animal.
He ducked his head, lapping at her. He devoured her, there was no other word for it. Sucking and biting and thrusting his tongue inside of her again and again until she was clenching her fingers in his hair, rocking her hips back and forth. Faster, harder, more, please more, more.
“Oh,” she gasped as the ripples of pleasure became a tidal wave, sensation rolling through her.
He flipped her onto her stomach and pushed forward, pressing against her, hot and hard and.… oh. Beneath the thin fabric of his pants, the thick head of his erection rubbed between her legs. She could feel him. There.
She bucked backward. She wanted him to move again. Press against her like that again.
Theo lay on top of her, chest to her back, cock nestled between her spread thighs, hips cushioned by the lush pillow of her bum. He pressed himself against her, grinding against her backside. The friction was exquisite torture. He was wearing too many bloody clothes. He needed to get closer, deeper. He rested his hands on either side of her head, palms pressing into the hotel carpet and thrust harder, back and forth, back and forth.
She shuddered beneath him.
“Shit.” He braced himself, taking his weight off her. “Sorry.”
She tilted her head to the side, face in profile, cheek resting in the crook of her arms. “What are you sorry for?” Her words came out in breathy gasps.
“For crushing you.” He pushed himself up to his knees. “You can barely breathe.” He pulled her upright, so she was kneeling as well.
She shifted, leaning back against his chest and tucking her head under his chin. “That’s not why I was out of breath,” she said, voice still husky.
“Is that a fact?”
“That’s a fact,” she purred, rubbing against him like a cat.
“I see,” he rasped, in desperate need of more oxygen himself. Her skirt was still bunched around her hips. He grasped the tangle of fabric in his hands and tugged it off, fingers trailing along her bare thighs.
She shivered.
“Cold?” He hesitated, hands on the hem of her sweater.
She shook her head, curls tickling his neck and chin.
He proceeded to lift her sweater, tugging it up. She raised her arms, helping him pull it off.
Theo tossed the garment aside, then rested on his heels, drinking her in from behind. She glowed in the soft light of the desk lamp, a galaxy of freckles sprinkled across her back and shoulders. “Beautiful,” he murmured, his fingers tracing constellations on her skin before slipping beneath the delicate lace of her bra, “so beautiful.”
He unhooked it, letting it fall off her shoulders and to the floor as he reached around to palm her breasts, thumbs flicking the pointed tips of her dusky pink nipples.
She moaned and leaned back, and he bent his head over her, capturing her mouth, stealing the sounds of her pleasure, taking them into himself. They needed to get off the floor. He needed to get out of these damn clothes. Theo broke the kiss. “Come on,” he said, reluctantly releasing her breasts. He got to his feet and helped her stand.
She turned to face him, cheeks flushed, eyes hazed with lust. “Where are we going?”
“The balcony.”
She frowned and covered her breasts.
“I’m teasing.” He chuckled. “Where else would I take a gorgeous, naked woman?” He nodded his head toward the door of the suite’s bedroom. “My bed.”
“Oh,” she said, still frowning, little rosebud mouth pursed. “You go first. I don’t want you looking at my butt.”
Another chuckle escaped him; he couldn’t help it. But he turned without arguing and headed for the bedroom. “I like looking at your bum,” he said over his shoulder. “It’s a very nice bum.”
She snorted.
He stepped inside the bedroom, then stopped, turning around to face her.
Unprepared for his abrupt change in course, she kept walking and slammed right into him.
Before she could back up, he reached his arms around her and pulled her closer. His hands snaked down her back.
“You’re going to grab my butt, aren’t you?”
He paused. “That was my plan, yes. Do you mind?”
“You are a strange man.” She shook her head.
“Perhaps,” he conceded.
“And this is a strange situation.”
“Definitely.” Theo drummed his fingers on the base of her spine. “Well? Can I grab your bum now?”
Bonnie laughed. An explosion of sound like a Christmas cracker, sprinkling the room in joyful surprises.
He smiled triumphantly. “You laughed. I win.”
“No fair!” Bonnie wiggled out of his grasp. “I didn’t know we were still playing that game!”
“Not fair, huh?”
She shook her head emphatically, curls … and other things … bouncing.
“You know what else isn’t fair?” Bonnie narrowed her eyes, catching him in the act of ogling. “I’m standing here naked, and you still have all your clothes on.”
“Well, I do want to win fair and square.” He reached for the top button on his shirt. “Can I claim my prize if I get undressed?”
Her mouth curved. “Maybe.” She tapped her chin in speculation. “Close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“Still want to grab my bum?” she asked, imitating his accent.
He nodded.
“Then do it. Close your eyes.”
“Fine.” The moment he shut his eyes, a flurry of movement sounded around him. What the bloody hell was she up to? “Can I open them now?”
“Not yet.” Her voice had shifted to across the room.
“Now?”
“Almost…” More scurrying sounds. “Now.”
He tentatively cracked one eye open, relaxing when he realized all she’d done was get into bed and crawl under the covers.
The sight of her in his bed, red curls spread out over her bare freckled shoulders, his sheets wrapped around her … Theo swallowed hard.
From her spot on the bed, she called out in a haughty voice, “You may disrobe now.”
Theo grinned, he liked this new game. He bowed low. “Yes, m’lady.”
She giggled as he undid the rest of the buttons on his shirt. She was nervous, he knew that. And if playacting helped her relax, he was up for it. He was bloody up for anything she wanted. He yanked off his belt, cursing under his breath as he tried to work the zipper over his swollen cock. Kicking off his trousers, he moved toward the bed.
“Ahem.” She cleared her throat and eyed him pointedly. “The rest, if you please.”
Well, mate, you wanted her to call your bluff. Theo put a hand on the waistband of his shorts and stepped closer to the bed. If she wanted to look, he would make sure she got a front row seat. He tugged the fabric down, expecting her to grow bashful and look away any second, but damn if she didn’t keep staring at him the whole time.
Heat crept up Theo’s face. Bloody hell, he was blushing. His cock suffered no such embarrassment however, springing forward with such enthusiasm it was almost obscene. He glanced down at himself. Correction. It was definitely obscene.
She didn’t seem to think so, though. Her concentrated gaze took in every last detail. “For someone who didn’t want her bum ogled, you’re quite the ogler yourself,” he observed drily.
“Oh.” A flush crept up her cheeks, and she dropped her gaze. “Sorry.”
Theo immediately regretted his words. He didn’t want her to be sorry. He didn’t want her to feel ashamed. He climbed into bed next to her. “No apologies, princess.”
She smiled, the tension easing out of her. She rolled to her side, facing him across the pillow. “It’s just, I’ve seen only one, um…” She paused. “One of those before. And I was curious.”
“Ah.” He tamped down the surge of jealousy at the thought of those gorgeous eyes resting on some other bloke’s dick. “Well, no comparisons, all right?”
She giggled, then rolled again onto her stomach. “Go ahead.” The softly rounded curves of her bum wobbled temptingly beneath the white linen. “Grab a handful.”
When he didn’t move, she raised herself up on her elbows, propping her chin in her hands. “You weren’t expecting me to hold up my end of the bargain, were you?”
“Uh, no. And now I feel all pervy about it.”
She giggled again. “Come on, you know you want to.” She teased in a singsong voice, scooting closer and wiggling her bum some more.
A moment later her bare bottom brushed against the head of his bare cock, and they both froze. The air became charged, all sense of playfulness vanishing.
“Should I get something?”
“What?”
They were naked. In bed. What did she think he should be getting? Usually she was quite quick-witted. Though admittedly, his own thought process was moving slower than normal. Theo shifted, easing back, putting space between their bodies. Giving them room to think. The condom Logan had forced on him earlier this evening was still in his pocket. He turned and stretched his arm out, grabbing his trousers off the floor and fishing for the foil packet. He held it up.
“Oh,” she said, understanding dawning in her eyes. “Oh!” she said again, brow furrowing. “Do guys just carry those around with them everywhere?”
“Some do.” Lucky for him, Logan was one of them.
“Do you all have sex on the brain twenty-four seven?”
His mouth quirked. “Let me ask you something.” He set the condom on the bedside table. “Are you on the pill?”
Her eyes widened, but she answered him. “Yes.”
Good to know. Not that it would prevent him from using a rubber, but still. “You take it every day, right?”
“You’re supposed to.”
“I know. Three sisters, remember?”
She rolled her eyes. “What’s your point?”
“Do you have ‘sex on the brain twenty-four seven’ because you take the pill?”
She scowled at him. “Point made.”
He smiled.
Bonnie sighed.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Your smile,” she said, eyes bright and clear as a rare sunny day in London.
“Hey, no jokes about Brits with bad teeth allowed.”
“It’s not that. Your teeth are fine.” She reached a hand out, running a finger first down one side of his face, then the other. “I’m talking about these.”
“My cheeks?”
“Your dimples.” She sighed again. “They’re my kryptonite.”
“What, like Superman?” His smile grew wider.
“You’re doing that on purpose!” she accused.
“No, I’m not.” He gave her the biggest grin yet. “Okay, maybe I am. A little.” He scooted closer, until their noses almost touched. “Is it working?”
“I’m lying down, so it’s not as bad right now.”
“My dimples make you dizzy?”
She shook her head, and a lock of hair fell across her face. “It’s my knees. When you smile at me … the backs of my knees get all prickly, and my legs turn to water.”
“How extraordinary.” He brushed the curl aside. “And how long have you been suffering from this affliction?”
“Since the first time I saw you,” she confessed, eyes piercing his, pulling him into their endless blue depths.
Theo’s breath caught in his chest, his lungs stalling. He felt—to borrow Bonnie’s description—all prickly. When he was able to breathe again, he realized she was crying. Tears crept from the corners of her eyes. He wiped a thumb across her cheek. “What’s wrong?”
“Am I a bad person?”
“Sorry?”
“I was engaged when I met you.”
“And?”
“And?” She sniffled. “And I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I had…” She dropped her gaze, tear-thickened auburn lashes hiding her eyes. “Dreams about you.”
“You did?” Now this was getting interesting. He wondered if her dreams about him were as vivid as his dreams about her.
She nodded. “I, um…” She rubbed her tear-stained cheek against the pillow. “I couldn’t stop having thoughts about you.”
“Indeed?” His heart began to pound.
“I kept thinking about you. And was so guilty and ashamed, here I was lusting after a stranger while my fiancé waited for me back home—”
“And we both know what he was doing,” Theo growled.
“Yeah.” A bitter laugh escaped her. “But that doesn’t make it okay. My grandpa had a saying, ‘two wrongs don’t make a right.’ And if I had followed through on my feelings for you last summer, if I had been unfaithful to Gabe, the fact he had been unfaithful to me wouldn’t balance the scales. It wouldn’t justify my own infidelity.”
Theo tucked a finger under her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. “But you’re not with Gabe anymore, and you were faithful to him, even if the cheating arsehole didn’t deserve it.”
Bonnie shook her head. “I’m sorry for bringing this up. I don’t even know why I did. I promised myself I wouldn’t dwell in the past.”
“It’s okay.” He brushed more curls away from her face. “Sometimes you need to work through feelings before you can let them go.” He bent his head and said low in her ear, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to hear a bit more about these lustful thoughts you were having.”
She laughed, the tension in her easing, her body relaxing against him. She looked so guilty, so torn up, he decided not to press her. Instead, he brushed his lips across her forehead. “You are not a bad person. Attraction happens. I don’t think you can control it. But you can control what you do about it, and you did.”
Unlike that rat-bastard ex-fiancé of yours. The words lay unspoken between them, but by the storm clouds chasing across her face, he knew they’d both been thinking the same thing.
Theo kissed her on the forehead again, then urged her to roll to her other side. He curled his body around hers, and though his cock protested, it knew better than to argue. His chivalrous side had reared its head. She wasn’t ready. Not yet. He thought he was willing to have her on any terms, take whatever she offered, even if it was just her body.
Now, he knew that wasn’t true. Had likely never been true. Apparently, his moral fiber wasn’t as paper-thin as he’d thought. She snuggled against him, the soft sound of her breath growing slow and deep.
Before he began to drift off himself, Theo slid his hand beneath the covers, fingers trailing over the lush curve of her hip. He reached between them and gave her bum a squeeze.
She shifted in his grip, a sleepy chuckle drifting over her shoulder. “Perv,” she muttered.
He smiled into the soft curtain of her hair, wrapped his arm around her waist, and fell asleep.