Page 82 of Monster

I furrowed my brow. “Teo?”

He sat on the edge of the bed. “Come this way. There’s more room on this side of the bed.”

I felt him scooting me toward him before his arm slid against my waist. He rolled me out of the mess we made before he slid back into bed next to me, smelling of soap and freshwater. I wrinkled my nose as I turned to face him. His arm draped around my waist as he pulled the covers over our bodies. The sun had long since set, blanketing the world around us in darkness as the sound of lazy waves brushing against the sand backdropped the beauty of Teo’s sparkling brown eyes.

He has golden flakes in his eyes.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

He grinned. “Making sure you stay put now that you’ve had your way with me.”

“Me? Having my way with you?”

He shrugged. “Or, I could simply tie you to this bed so you can have your way with me again.”

I giggled. “You’re insane, you know that?”

He smiled softly. “And you’re remarkable, no matter what your mother thinks.”

Maybe my mother was cold and dispassionate. Maybe she wasn’t the person I had made her out to be. Maybe she did value work and her own schedule over literally anything else in her life. And maybe—just maybe—she really did expect me to fight my way out of this on my own. But, none of that changed the fact that the longer I stayed with Teo, the more I came to understand that this wasn’t the worst place I could be. And if I made the best of this situation, I could benefit just as much as Teo.

Guard your heart, Charlotte. This man isn’t someone you want to be tangled up with.

Because I knew it would be way too easy to lose something so precious to a man like him.

Especially a man who knew all the right things to say and when.

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