Page 35 of Tempt

Like he kind of believed it.

And to be honest, I had an image in my mind of what to expect if and when I finally saw Theo’s office. I imagined a massive room with floor to ceiling windows. A large wood desk with a giant leather chair. I assumed there might be leather couches and a coffee table. Maybe bookcases.

And that was basically what I saw when I stepped inside, aside from one major difference. In my mind Theo’s office was as clean and sterile as his flat. In reality, Theo’s office was the complete opposite. His desk was covered in stacks and layers upon layers of books, sketch pads, blueprints, and drawings. His coffee table was cluttered with…well, I’m not quite sure. But they were electronics. There were wires, metal things, and tools. Lots of tools. His couch. Wow. It was clear where he sat. That cushion was exposed. The rest either had a week’s worth of clothes piled on it, or more papers.

So many papers.

When Martin said he hadn’t left the office in two weeks I hadn’t realized that he literally meant Theo hadn’t left the office in two weeks. It looked like he ate, slept, and worked here twenty-four, seven.

Theo stepped into the middle of the room and held out one hand while shoving the other in his pants pocket. “Welcome to the madness.”

I wondered what he expected me to do. Was he hoping I’d make comments about how cluttered he was? Maybe refuse to stay? Turn up my nose?

That wasn’t my style.

I set my purse and coat down on the floor beside the coffee table and leafed through the papers.

Schematics.

Formulas.

Sketches.

Theo really was a mad genius. I wasn’t a math wiz, but I’d managed my way through Advanced Calculus. I had a basic understanding of what I was seeing—a beautiful meeting of math and art. “You see it in your head, yes? And then try to make it real?”

His eyebrows rose and the faintest light appeared in his eyes. “Yes.”

“It comes all at once and you lock yourself up here getting it all out.” He hadn’t been avoiding me at all. He was so damn sexy and normal when we were together that I’d forgotten he ran an empire. That his mind worked on a completely different level than mine. And here I’d been eating fried food and drinking beer while he was solving, what? I walked to the far end of the room where he had a small workout center of a weight bench and a treadmill. On the wall beyond it were whiteboards filled with formulas and drawings. I realized there was a retractable wall that normally kept this section of his office blocked off.

Theo shuffled behind me as I walked around. “I don’t know how else to do it. I can’t sleep—there are too many thoughts in my head.”

I stopped and turned to face him. “I understand. I can be that way when a design finally comes together for me.” Although what I did seemed infinitely more simplistic compared to this. “What are you working on?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Technically I’m working on a new generation of high speed rail to connect all of Europe. It’s ten times more energy efficient and twice as fast as anything operating today.”

That’s when I saw the twinkle in his eyes.

“And what are youreallyworking on?” There were sketches of train stations and connection hubs. Cities and marketplaces. Two tiered rail lines. Theo was working on an entire urban concept, if I were to guess.

But he didn’t answer me right way, as if he were weighing how much to divulge.

“You know you remind me a lot of my best friend,” I said. “She’s a freaky minimalist at home. And I mean super minimalist. She doesn’t even have a TV. It weirds me out. Sometimes I buy her things and make her keep them.”

Theo chuckled and relaxed a little. His shoulders lost that hunch and his chin tipped up. “You’re very bossy, aren’t you?”

I smiled. “Occasionally. When I need to be.” I took a step toward him and stopped. “But the thing is, I think she likes to keep things simple at home for a bunch of reasons—especially because at work she can get crazy. When she’s doing research it consumes her. It’s all she thinks about. There are books and journals and sticky noteseverywhere. I think she likes being able to go home and have it be simple. Different. Safe. Work stays at work. And because of that she can really let it all go and do what she needs to do.”

His eyes sharpened. “Sounds like I’d like your friend.”

Funny how I found myself gravitating towards the same kind of people over and over again. I ran my finger over the edge of the treadmill. “So I came here because I needed some exercise, but it looks to me like you could use it more.”

I took the last step and closed the gap between us, running my hands up his chest. He felt so warm and strong despite the lack of sleep. He was different—that was clear—but he was also exactly the same.

“I could stand to think about something else for a bit.” His eyes bored into mine, searching. For what, I wasn’t sure, but it was sexy as hell. Like he was already inside me, moving around, pleasing me.

I was hot and wet immediately from that one look. So I started to unbutton his shirt, moving slowly and deliberately, running my fingers along his skin. His breathing grew deeper and by the time I reached his pants I could see the erection growing behind his zipper.

I bit my lip and looked up. “Have you ever had sex in your office?”

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