Page 71 of Run to Ground
“I am.” Even now, an hour after Theo had left to pick up Viggy and get ready for work, she felt almost giddy. She sang to herself—sang and smiled and stared blankly into the pantry. She was supposed to be thinking about dinner options but couldn’t think about anything except Theo. As silly as it was, Jules was stupidly happy.
“Why?”
“Why not?”
Dee considered this. “Because the water heater is broken, so we have to take really cold showers?”
That did dim Jules’s happiness. Until she’d actually experienced one herself, Jules hadn’t realized how very, very cold a shower could be. She’d figured not having hot water would be annoying, but endurable. It was not endurable. She could stand the spray only for a few seconds before her lungs stopped working.
“I’m going to have to call someone to fix that.” She dreaded the thought only slightly less than she dreaded taking another icy shower. Not only would it cut a significant hole in their dwindling supply of cash, but having a stranger in the house felt risky.
“Your landlord should fix that,” a testy voice said from the doorway, and Jules spun to face Theo. It felt like her blood was carbonated, filled with tiny bubbles of excitement that rose to her brain whenever he appeared.
“Hey!” she said, trying to keep her giddiness under control. When he smiled at her, though, all her efforts were for naught. “How’d you get in?”
“Ty let me in.”
“Did you forget something?”
“No.”
“Then…” She paused, but Theo didn’t fill in the blank. “Why’d you come back? I thought you had a shift tonight.”
“I do. I wanted to see you first.” He held her gaze as he spoke without coyness or shyness or anything except flat-out honesty.
She couldn’t stop staring at him with what was probably a very silly grin on her face.
“Hi, Theo.” Dee’s voice snapped Jules out of her daze. “Is Viggy here?”
“He’s in the car.” At his answer, Jules realized Theo was dressed for work. She also realized he looked really, really nice in his uniform, even if it reminded her of why the two of them would never, ever work. “You can go see him if you want.”
Dee’s enthusiastic squeal made both of them wince as she ran from the kitchen, her feet pounding down the hallway in a rowdy, very un-Dee-like way. Jules loved it. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me.” Theo moved toward her, his smile slipping away as an intense look took its place. “I have an ulterior motive.”
“Yeah?” Suddenly, inhaling was difficult, which would explain why the word came out sounding so breathless. “What’s that?”
He was in front of her now, a uniformed wall of muscle and lustful intentions that made the bubbles of excitement in her stomach go a little crazy. “I wanted to see you. Alone.”
“What?” she teased. “You used Viggy for nefarious purposes? Officer Bosco, how could you?”
“Easily.” Cupping her face in both hands, he lowered his lips to hers.
It was immediately apparent that her brain hadn’t exaggerated how wonderful this was. He backed her into the curved surface of the ancient fridge, kissing her with an almost frantic edge, as if he needed it for his survival. Making a small sound, she pressed closer, her fingers grasping the stiff material of his starched shirt on either side of his waist. She felt like she needed to hold on to something, needed him to anchor her before arousal and happiness launched her into space.
“G-g-get off of h-h-her!”
At the sound of Sam’s voice, she crashed down to earth as quickly as she’d rocketed away from it. Sam swung for Theo, but Theo caught Sam’s wrist before the blow could land. He pulled it behind his back and turned Sam, gently but firmly pressing him against the wall in a motion so quick that it stunned Jules.
“Let him go,” she said, and Theo did, although he stayed between them. Sam lurched back several steps, and Jules shifted so she could see her brother. He looked…stunned. Stunned and gutted.
“Theo…” Moving around so she could face him, she saw she didn’t need to finish the sentence. She could tell by Theo’s expression that he already understood.
After a sharp, assessing look at Sam, he said, “I need to head to work. See you tomorrow morning.”
“Okay. Be careful.”
Sending her a warm, tender glance that was almost as good as a good-bye kiss, Theo left the kitchen.
