“Dude,” I whispered, giving him hell.
“Tiger.” He outlined the curve of my hips with his hands. “What me being your man means is I would never want to take the skater out of you. What it means is I’m going to take care of you in all the ways you need and that I see fit. It means sometimes I’m going to make love to you, and sometimes I’m going to spank your ass and fuck you dirty.” He leaned over my back, brushing my hair over my shoulder. I shivered from his touch and the things he was saying. “It means everyone is going to know you’re with me and I’m all about you. As your man, if anyone fucks with you, I will end them. I love you.”
“I love you too, Theodore.” I was panting from the seductive promises he’d whispered and almost swooning from the sweet. God, this man did it for me.
Theo’s erection slotted between my cheeks, and I groaned, my toes already curling. Then he smacked me between my legs, and I almost shot through the ceiling.
“My baby wants to play,” he crooned.
“I want my man to play with me.”
“Gladly.”
My eyes rolled back in my head when he started his version of playtime. Yeah, this whole being in love and having a boyfriend thing was going to work for me. It was going to work for me in every way.
Chapter Thirty-one
Theo
We had a week before we were summoned to the Wellstein-Whitlock manor. I was almost relieved when I’d gotten the text from Miranda. I’d known it was coming. Too much had gone down for me not to have to answer for it, including making it official with Helen, which Miranda somehow knew about. Then again, she had her finger on the pulse of campus, and I’d very publicly claimed my girl against every brick wall I could find. Word had gotten around.
The week had been fucking fantastic, though, even with the inevitable summons hanging over my head. I’d spent almost all my time I wasn’t working or in class with Helen. She was good for me, and I liked to think I was good for her too. She made it easy to want to try and keep trying until I got it right.
I had told her I could breathe for the first time when I met her, but since we got back from Vegas, it was like I had new lungs. The breaths I took were full and clean, and my chest was no longer weighed down by the past I’d been unable to face.
“Holy shit, Theo.”
I laughed. “I told you it was a mansion in Malibu. Did you not believe me?”
Helen peered up at the glass house Miranda’s money had bought when she and Andrew got married. It wasn’t quite on the beach, but it was on the right side of the highway and had ocean views from the roof deck.
“I did, but still, holy shit.”
I walked around to her side of the car and helped her out. Helen was wearing a dress. I’d seen her in a gown, and she’d been absolutely stunning, but this was the first time she’d worn a casual dress around me. This was...almost sweet, if she hadn’t made it sexy with her curves. Short and red with little white flowers, there was a ruffle at the hem, and a tie at the side I planned on tugging when I took her home as soon as possible.
Like the green gown at the banquet, she’d inherited this one from Mads too.
“You saw where I grew up. Imagine moving in here at sixteen after living in a dump my whole life.”
She elbowed my side. “Okay, I see why you leaned in hard to the whole laissez-faire, rich-boy lifestyle. If I’d lived in a place like this when I was sixteen, I wouldn’t have known what to do with myself.”
I peered down at her with narrowed eyes. “You wouldn’t have changed.”
She lifted a shoulder. “We’ll never know.”
Stopping her at the front door, I pulled her into my chest. “We can still make a break for it.”
“Nope. Let’s get this over with. I’m actually looking forward to speaking to Miranda again anyway. Your dad, you can handle.”
“That isn’t very encouraging, Tiger.”
She curled her fingers on the sides of my neck. “I’ll be your buffer, okay? If your dad gets to be too much, I’ll bring up my dead friend—that always stops people in their tracks.”
Even with as much as I was dreading walking through the door, she still made me laugh. “This is why I love you. You’re always coming up with brilliant ideas.”
Once I stole a quick kiss and Helen wiped the red off my lips, we went inside. Miranda greeted us first, pulling us both into tight hugs. Andrew followed, shaking my hand like we were acquaintances instead of father and son, then gave Helen a warm peck on the cheek.
Miranda stole Helen almost immediately, offering her a tour. I tried to follow, but my father held me back with a clawed hand on my shoulder.
“I’ve heard your grades are improving.”
I nodded, not even a little surprised he’d been checking. “Yeah. I have Helen to thank for that.”
He folded his arms. “In what way?”
“She was as unimpressed as you with my commitment to school, and she let me know.”
“I suppose that’s admirable for a girl like that.”
I slanted my head. “What does that mean?”
He flicked his wrist. “I think you know. She comes from nothing, barely graduated high school. If not for Madeline McGarvey’s influence, and let’s face it, her money, who knows where she would be?” He clucked his tongue. “I’d be careful with that one. She already sucked Madeline dry. She might think she found another target in you.”
Heat suffused my skin as boiling blood surged through my veins. He’d been so interested in her at the banquet. Either he’d looked into her background afterward, or he’d been putting on a good show. With him, it could’ve gone either way. It wasn’t a surprise he’d turned on her. I’d been expecting it. I was just relieved Helen hadn’t been around to hear it.
“That’s my girlfriend, Andrew. Never say anything like that about her again. I won’t go into all the ways what you just said is untrue, but you have no idea what you’re talking about. None at all.”
“Girlfriend? Hmph.”
The doorbell rang before either of us could say anything else, which was for the best. If I had to spend another minute with him, one of us would end up bloody, and I highly doubted it would be me.
While Andrew was getting the door, I poured myself a Bloody Mary from the pitcher Miranda had set out in the kitchen, adding my own extra dose of vodka. I’d need it to get through brunch with my father and whoever else they’d invited to join us.
A hand lay between my bunched shoulders. I spun, expecting Helen, and was severely disappointed. “Abby, what the hell are you doing here?”
She kept her hand on me, sliding to my bicep. “That’s some greeting, The. Wow.”
“It wasn’t a greeting, it was a question. Why are you here?”
She didn’t drop her hand, but a fraction of the spark in her eyes faded. “Andrew and Miranda invited my parents and me for brunch. I didn’t think it would be a problem since we’ve both moved on.”