Page 44 of With Us

“Tina. Ann. Moretti. Shut it before you scare her off.”

Tina just rolled her eyes. “She’s not going anywhere. You saw the way she was eyeing him. Likehewas the ice cream sandwich.”

“Who’s an ice cream sandwich?” Kat yelled loudly.

“Your Uncle Theo, sweetie,” Tina called back even louder.

My eyes snapped to Theo’s as he walked outside. He was trying to hide it, but his lips were tipped up in a small smile, taking away any hope I had that he hadn’t heard Tina.

“I think it’s time we go,” Julie said, climbing out of the hot tub and turning it off, muttering about Tina as she moved.

As I stood, the wicked heat replaced the amusement in Theo’s expression. His eyes travelled my body slowly as he huskily said, “I agree.”

???

A couple hours later, the menu music on the DVD started for the second or twentieth time. I wasn’t sure which.

We’d made it about fifteen minutes into the movie before Theo’s teasing touches had led to the occasional light kiss. Fifteen minutes after that, the movie was totally forgotten, and I was straddling him.

After his family left, I’d used the bathroom right off the kitchen to get changed out of my wet suit as Theo ran upstairs to do the same. When I’d come out of the bathroom, he’d been waiting to bring me farther down the hallway to his entertainment room.

Theo’s setup made his parents’ look like an old black and white TV in a wood paneled and shag carpeted basement. The chairs, including two love seats, were plush and comfortable, all of them reclining. There was a fridge that was bigger than mine at home, a popcorn maker, and a line of four draft beers, and that was just what I’d been able to see before he’d pulled me to sit next to him on one of the loveseats.

It’d been goingsowell. Then not as well. And then just plain frustrating.

And it was all Theo’s fault.

I was sitting on his knees, one leg on each side of his muscular thighs. One of his hands cupped the back of my head, but it was his other hand that was the problem.

Every time I tried to move closer, his hand would go to my hip. He’d tighten his grip, moving me back before trailing up my ribs, down to my thighs, and back again.

It was driving me crazy.

Clutching his t-shirt at his shoulders, I leaned into the kiss. When Theo groaned, the kiss becoming less controlled, I took my opening and tried again to get closer. I’d barely shifted when both of his hands went to my hips, holding me in place.

Breaking our connection, his voice was a rough pant. “Dahlia.”

“Hmm?” I murmured.

“It’s getting late, gattina.”

“What time—” was all I could get out before his mouth dropped to my oversensitive neck.

“Almost eleven,” he said, the words slightly muffled.

Saturday morning meant I didn’t have to get up early for Java Brew, but I would have a long and hectic shift at Weggies.

I was used to operating on little sleep, though.

“Not that late.” I ended on a gasp as Theo bit down lightly.

“You off tomorrow?”

“No, but I don’t go in until ten.”

Theo leaned back, slouching a little to rest his head against the back of the seat. His dark eyes were hooded as he looked at me. Up and down, his large hands stroked from just under my breasts to my thighs, then back again. When he reached the section of exposed skin between my shorts and my top, he skimmed his thumbs along my waistband for a moment before returning to his set path, staying above my shirt. “The drive back is going to take a while.”

In the month we’d been seeing each other, we’d gone on five dates. Five and a half, if I counted the interrupted one. Still, we’d barely done more than kiss.

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