Page 60 of Isla

Iset down my paintbrush and shake my arm out, looking over my shoulder at Theo to see how he's faring. When I started complaining about having to paint the walls last night at dinner, he immediately offered to help me. Despite my protests, here he is, slapping a deep sage green over ancient plaster walls. He pauses, feeling the heat of my gaze, and looks over at me.

"Are you ready for our date later?" he asks, dipping his brush back into the paint.

"Once I scrub this paint off, I will be." He sets his brush down and walks toward me, stalking me like I’m his prey and he’s an apex predator. I step backward, bumping into the wall.

"This paint?" Before I can protest, he dips his finger into my paint can and draws a line down my forehead and over my nose.

"Theo!"

"Isla!" he whines, mimicking me.

Red bleeds over my vision as I dunk my hands into the paint, planting them on his cheeks and dragging them down over his jaw. The shocked 'o' of his mouth makes me giggle. "No, this paint," I say, my voice as sweet as sugar as I blink up at him innocently.

"You're going to regret that," he growls, grabbing the waistband ofmy bike shorts and holding me still, reaching over to pick up the can of paint. My heart crashes in my chest as he manhandles me onto the drop cloth, lifting the bucket over my head. I hear the threads in my shorts pop as I wrench out of his grip, bolting out the door and across the driveway toward the castle. The crunch of his shoes on the gravel behind me has me changing course. Jack would kill me if I ran through the foyer covered in paint. I run around the side of the building and over the lawn, aiming for the shore of the loch. I kick off my flip-flops as I run, peeling off my T-shirt and diving into the water in my shorts and bra. Re-surfacing fifty feet away, I gasp for breath as I raise my head above the water, scanning the shore for Theo. I spy the paint can sitting on the edge of the firepit, but there's no sign of life anywhere. Did he come in after me? My gaze skims over the water, looking for bubbles. Nothing. Surely he can swim, right? Panic grips my chest as I turn in a circle, desperately searching for him. My heart rises to my throat as fingers wrap around my ankle and tug me beneath the surface. I kick out, connecting with something solid. I breach the surface at the same time as Theo.

"Fucking hell, Isla!" He presses his fingers to a red mark on his cheekbone.

"That's your fault. I thought you drowned!" I splash him before turning and swimming back toward shore, furious.

"Isla!"

I ignore him, not looking back until my feet can touch the bottom.

"Does that mean you were worried about me?" he asks, exploding out of the water next to me, shaking droplets from his hair. I turn away from him, but he circles my wrists with his hands, forcing me to look at him. "That you care?" he whispers, holding my gaze, pulling me closer until we're toe-to-toe.

"I'm going to stop caring if you keep being so goddamned infuriating," I spit out, trying not to notice the way his eyelashes are stuck together or the bead of water sitting in the hollow of his throat or the way his tongue slides over his lips. Goddammit.

"Don't lie. You love it."

"Theo–" he cuts me off by pressing his lips to mine, and everysingle thought in my brain is replaced by red-hot need. I climb him like a tree, wrapping my legs around his waist, capturing those broody features between my palms. "Why are you so fucking annoying all the time?" I breathe against his lips.

"Because I want you to have an outlet for all that emotion you keep bottled up inside," he rasps, dragging his lips down my throat.

"You want me to use you as an emotional outlet?" I ask, lifting one eyebrow. I don't think I ever expected those words to come from a man's mouth.

"Mmhmm." He bites my earlobe, making me shiver. "Tell me what you're feeling right now."

It's hard to think with his lips roaming over me like this. "Bewilderment. Annoyance. Lust."

"Use me, Isla." He captures my face between his hands, a seriousness in his eyes that isn't usually there. "I can take it, I promise."

I shake my head. "You deserve better than that."

"Do I, though?" he asks, tilting his head back, a bitter edge to his laugh.

I pull away from him, wondering how I missed this part of him. Was it hiding beneath the hard exterior, behind the jokes and teasing? "Of course you do, Theo. Everyone deserves to be cherished. To be loved."

"And what about you, Sunflower? Do you love me?"

"It's hard when you won't let me."

"Fair enough."

"So what about this date?"

"Shit. We're going to be late." He scoops me into his arms and carries me toward shore, pushing through the water like it's nothing.

"Where are we going?"

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