Page 39 of Stuck With the Billionaire Grump

Then, before I can formulate a game plan to loop around and escape via Miss Maisie’s backyard, something cold and wet explodes between my shoulder blades.

I let out a surprised yelp. A rumble of laughter washes over me.

Theo islaughing.

The idea is so preposterous—the idea that he and I might actually beplayingright now—that I can’t help laughing, too.

I pump my legs faster, grabbing hold of a tree trunk sticky with sap so that I can rapidly change directions.

There’s a dullthump, followed by a curse, signaling that Theo wasn’t expecting that maneuver.

A giggle escapes me. Then another balloon splatters against a tree right beside me, mere inches from my head.

Theo’s snort of laughter makes my heart squeeze. In a good way. Which doesn’t make any sense at all.

It’s just… I don’t think I’ve ever heard him laugh before. I mean, it’s not like he was emotionless and stoic at divorce camp. I occasionally saw him smiling while hanging around his cabin mates, and I’m sure I overheard him chuckling whenever one of the guys told a joke, but it was never laughter like this. Clumsy and unpracticed, released without constraint.

At this point, Elijah and Josie’s new house is far behind us. If we keep going, we’ll end up in the area of town where elegant cottages and million-dollar vacation homes lurk among the brine-soaked pines.

“Lucy!” Theo calls out. “Where are you even going?”

“You’re the one chasing me!”

Still, I don’t really want to end up on the other side of town tonight, so I make another sharp turn and curve back around inthe direction of the house. It doesn’t help that I’m wearing mint green satin, my pale arms and legs bare, because I’m practically glowing in the dark. I can hear the moment when Theo refuses to fall for my trick and easily switches direction.

Suddenly, he’s much closer than I thought. I can feel a wall of warmth at my back, hear the crinkle of the plastic bag full of balloons way too close, and smell the scent of his smoky cologne.

A strong arm wraps around my waist. I shriek before I can choke back the startled sound, but it dissolves into laughter when Theo lets out a half-shout of victory.

And then, with his free hand, he breaks a balloon over the top of my head.

We stumble to a halt together, our legs tangling. I squirm away from him, but he holds on tight. Honestly, I’m grateful for it, because if he let go, I’d probably land on my face in the dirt.

With water trickling over my face, I can no longer clearly see where I’m going. My foot catches on a lump of uneven ground, sending me jerking forward and bringing Theo with me.

I brace myself, preparing to feel the crush of his body on top of mine as we fall to the ground and praying that, at the very least, I won’t have any visible bruises for the wedding tomorrow.

Thankfully, however, Theo is quick to react. He tightens his arm around my waist, plants his feet on the ground, and braces his hand against a branch just above my head to halt our bodies mid-fall. Still, as I try to correct my footing and wriggle away from him before he can pop another water balloon over my head, I nearly careen face-first into the trunk of a maple tree that seemingly comes out of nowhere.

“Can you staystill?” Theo growls in frustration as I twist to avoid smacking my cheekbone into the bark.

My only response is a squeaked “Oof!” as he whirls me around at the last second and my back slams into the tree trunk with a sharp sense of finality and stillness. The back of my headthunks against the wood and I hiss in pain, barely registering the fact that Theo is pressed against me, his sudden and intense proximity due to his attempt to stop me from colliding with a hard surfacetwice.

Technically, that makes him my savior.

Despite that, I’m not certain I’m all that safe right now.

We are chest to chest. Our feet are tangled in the ferns, and our legs are locked together like the teeth of a zipper. The moonlight is barely able to penetrate the dense layers of oak leaves crisscrossing overhead. This part of the woods is thick. I made a miscalculation when I changed directions.

We are both panting for breath. In the distance, I can hear the faint sounds of the water balloon war fading to its conclusion.

He is so close. Soclose.Even closer than he was when we were locked in that closet together at camp. The tip of his nose brushes against my cheek bone as he turns his face and attempts to jerk backwards, away from me. Except, thanks to the density of the trees, he is thwarted by a wall of pine branches, spiny and sharp and thick.

When he tries to fight through them, clearly just as desperate to avoid being in dark, enclosed spaces with me as he always has been, he nearly trips backwards. I just barely manage to grab fistfuls of his shirt and haul him upright before he collapses to the ground.

For a moment, we stand pressed against the maple tree, trying to catch our breath.

“Are you okay?” he whispers. I try not to shiver at the way his breath ghosts against my temple. “You hit your head.”

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