Page 61 of Tobias

She nods curtly. “You must be Tobias.”

“I am, yes.” I offer her my hand, and she shakes it firmly.

“Thank you for being on time.”

“Absolutely.”

We head into the restaurant and move to the waiting area on the side.

“Did you memorize the information I gave you?” she asks, all business-like.

“I sure did. Of course, it’ll all make more sense when I put their names to faces.”

She hums a sound of approval, and I can already see what kind of night this will be.

Dull. Monotonous.Boring.

But hey, I can get through almost anything for my hourly rate.

Her eyes stay glued to her phone until men in stuffy suits start showing up with glamorous women on their arms, and then we’re all being led to a long table in the back. The women are all in elegant evening gowns, and either my date has noidea what guys like to see, or she doesn’t care. One of the men stays standing as the rest of us take our seats.

“Good evening, and thank you for attending our annual Holiday dinner. I will start off by introducing myself, and then hopefully everyone else can do the same.” The guy smiles a toothy smile. He looks like some asshole lawyer, but he’s one of the top people at the pharmaceutical company she works at. Not sure which is worse. “I’m Quincy, and this is my lovely wife, Laura.” He points to a woman on the side of him who is wearing a sparkling red dress. She smiles and gives a little wave.

Everyone around the table gives their introductions, the men saying their names and then introducing their wives, not allowing them to speak. Assholes. Finally, when it gets to us, Tiffany introduces herself and then me as her long-time, live-in boyfriend, Tobias. Strange way to introduce someone, but whatever. It’s her coworkers. I smile and wave at everyone, knowing as “the partner” that’s my job.

The coworkers spend most of the night chatting about work while their partners smile and nod, as if they have any idea what’s going on. I do my best to get into the conversation when I can, but there isn’t much room for me to talk. So, I guess sitting here and looking good is my duty for the night. Fine by me. At least it’s easy, because I fucking hate dates like this. This isn’t my scene, and suddenly I appreciate Theo so much more for how he is as a person. He easily could have turned out like one of these guys.

Is this the way his parents act? God, that’s awful. How the hell did he turn out so normal?

When dinner is done, we take our time leaving so we’re the last ones out.

“Thank you for this evening,” Tiffany says with a curt nod before walking away. My mouth is still open, about to say, “you’re welcome,” but she’s too far away at this point, so I just close it.

Okay, then…

With a shake of my head, I hide under the awning, away from the rain, as I pull out my phone to order a ride. There’s a text waiting for me.

She left. Want to come over?

I already have his address from when I picked him up, so I order a car to take me there, then go back and respond to him, telling him yes.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Theodore

Tobias is on a date, so as I wait for him to answer me, I clean my house. It’s not dirty, since I got into the habit of cleaning as I go, but it could use some tidying. When he responds, my heart does a flip in my chest.Finally.

I have no idea where he is, but he said yes, he’s coming over, so he should be here soon. His date must be over, so I go into overdrive and pick up the pieces of lint off my couch and make sure my bed is made properly. Then I stare at it from my doorway and wonder if it’ll look better unmade. Is he going to care about that?

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. Just because he’s coming here doesn’t mean we’re going to hook up. I sure as hell hope we do, but it’s possible that isn’t what he wants to do, and that’ll be okay. I just really,reallywant to.

It feels like forever and no time at all when my doorbell rings. I wipe my sweaty hands on my pants before taking abreath and pulling the door open. He’s handsome as hell in a dark navy suit, white button up, and a maroon tie.

“Damn, you look good.”

He grins. “Really? This is not my favorite suit.”

“Well, you always look good, so…” I respond quickly, hoping he can’t see how red my cheeks are.

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