Page 48 of Tempt

He closed his eyes. “We’re moving it along.”

* * *

The restof my week went by in a fog of appointments and bodyguards. Theo politely requested I sleep at his flat until they figured out the Toni situation, and I happily obliged. Falling for Theo may not have been my wisest move, but I didn’t have a death wish. I was happy to have the extra protectionandextra time with Theo, but it also meant my world was restricted to places controlled by him. I stayed at work late (which I needed to do anyway) and left with Martin or Joe once the coast was clear. We even fell asleep in Theo’s office one night when we were both too busy to leave the building.

In a way it was nice. I saw more of Theo over those few days than I’d ever seen him before. I actually got ahead on my work and I felt relatively safe.

But I also felt claustrophobic. It wasn’t like I was under lock and key. I had freedom to do as I pleased, it just required advanced planning. Sometimes it was just easier to stick to the flat and the office.

This wasn’t my first time with security issues. As the heir to Riley Cosmetics and the only child of two high-profile families, I’d run across trouble before. I laughed at the memory of the time we had to take an unplanned last-minute vacation to London because Dad had made a deal with the devil and pissed off a rival investor. The dude had gotten so pissed he threatened the whole family and had our house burgled. Dad packed us up and we were gone before dusk fell that night. No one thought the guy would actually hurt us, but as a precaution we left the country for a couple of weeks while the dust settled. And now here I was in trouble in the same town we’d fled to all those years ago.

I wasn’t unfamiliar with high profile threats to my life. I’d just never had one that seemed this real.

So here we were, a late Thursday night at Theo’s flat, relaxing with a bottle of wine and a couple of books, instead of dancing or working the night away. It was the perfect opportunity to see if I could break free of my gilded prison.

“Let’s get out of town for the weekend.” I knew Theo would resist (because he never stopped working) but I thought I had a shot at succeeding given the extenuating circumstances. Besides, everyone took a weekend from time to time.

Didn’t they?

“And where are we going exactly?” He didn’t look up from his book.

I shrugged. “This is your country, not mine. What should I see?”

A slow smile pulled up on his lips and I knew I had him. “A weekend?” I loved the way he said the word as if it were two.

“Yeah, you know,” I looked up over the book in my hands, “those two days after Friday and before Monday. Most people don’t work on those days.”

“We’re not most people.”

“True, however my workaholic tendencies have a limit.”

“And you’ve reached yours, I’m assuming?” He had a full-blown, shit eatin’ grin now.

I nodded and set my book aside. “It’s been a big week for us and I thought it might do us some good to escape.”

He attempted to look like he was thinking very seriously. “You mean being stalked? Or do you mean my factory shutting down for twenty-four hours?”

“Take your fucking pick. We need a change of pace. Even if it’s only for a day. Theo, take me away.”

He looked back down at his book, pulling on his beard in deep, totally fake thought. “I suppose you may have a point.”

“A damn good one.”

“Mmmm… we’ll go to the Lake District.”

That was on my list. “Sounds perfect.”

“Itisperfect.”

“Theo?” Was that really all it took? Me asking?

“Yes, darlin’?”

Oh… he had to go and saydarlin’. It did things to me. The way he curled the “r” and drew out the “a.” It was like Theo was kissing me from three feet away. I rolled out of the chair and pushed his book aside so I could sit in his lap. He tossed the book away and pulled me in close. “You already planned this trip, didn’t you?”

“No.”

Lie. Total and complete, utter bullshit.

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