Page 79 of The Problem with Falling
When my eyes met his, the bashful grin on his face made me feel things that felt a littlemorethan friendship. He kissed me lightly and closed his eyes, resting his forehead against mine. He was out of breath but in pure bliss as he said, “This is the best friendship of my life.” I giggled as I brushed a few pieces of hair out of my face. They kept falling back into my eyesight until Theo brushed them behind my ear. The gentle touch felt extra sensational. Then he said six words that would make me smile for the remainder of the week. “Die Hardis a Christmas movie.”
Then we showered together—again, and again, andagain.
Theoand I had officially crossed into the friends-with-benefits realm. And those benefits? Remarkable. Ten out of ten. No notes.
I didn’t know why, but after we broke the barrier into having sex with one another, that wall stayed shattered, and we kept finding ourselves with roaming hands and thrusting hips. During all times of the day and night. I couldn’t keep my hands off him, and something was so comforting in knowing he couldn’t keep himself away from me, either. It was as if some magnetic pull drew us toward one another.
It even happened when we’d go to Molly and Harry’s for dinner. When it was time for dessert, I offered to bring it to the dining room. Theo offered to get another bottle of wine, too. When I walked into the pantry, I turned around to find Theo standing behind me. He had a devilish smirk on his face.
“Oh, hi there.” I smiled.
“Oh, hi there,” he replied. He stepped in closer, and his fingers grazed the fabric of my thin dusty-blue dress. “I like this color on you.”
“You like all colors on me,” I joked.
He nodded. “I do.” He paused for a second. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“I love secrets.”
“It’s hard to be near you.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, Willow, that’s so.”
Theo stepped in closer. I stepped back. He inched in even more. My back hit the wall.
“What are you doing?” I fluttered out, my words stumbling off my tongue as my heart beat faster and faster with every inch he grew toward me.
“Boxing you in,” he said, his voice deep and his eyes locked with mine.
“Why? I thought you said it was hard to be near me,” I spat out, instantly turned on. Everything about Theo turned me on in a way I’d never even known possible. From his muscular physique to his grumpy demeanor. From his permanent frown to his deep, robust growls. Theo Langford was painfully attractive, and I struggled not to want to rip his clothes off on the regular—which was exactly why I’d been ripping his clothes off on the regular.
“Itishard to be around you,” he agreed, his mouth inching closer and closer as my back rested against the back of the chilled pantry wall.
“And why is that again?”
His mouth brushed the edge of my earlobe before he parted his lips and sucked gently on my ear. “Because I get so fucking hard being around you.”
My whole body sizzled from his words and the thickness of him brushing against my inner thigh. My mind and my heart were at war with one another, uncertain how to ever feel around that man. How was it possible to long for someone all the time? How did I miss him so much when he stood right in front of me? Theo Langford was going to be the death of me.
Or maybe, the life of me. Maybe that was what scared me the most.
I swore I understood emotions. I’d studied with some of the greatest shamans across the world. I’d done the inner work. I’d tapped into my higher self and had conversations with my inner child. I was secure in my emotional state my whole life, except for when it came to him.
Whenever Theo was around me, it was as if my whole system went into a reboot mode, and it took forever for said system to recalibrate.
“Don’t forget a knife to cut the cake,” Molly called out from the dining room. Her voice broke up the intense energy betweenTheo and me, which was probably for the best. I didn’t need to screw my friend’s grandson in her pantry that evening.
Though… I did consider it.
The next fewweeks were filled with sex, laughter, and more sex. I should’ve left Westin Lake after the anniversary party and gone on to my next adventure, but for some reason, for the first time in my life, I wanted to keep my feet on solid ground. I didn’t feel like running off to my next stop.
I liked where I’d been a little too much.
Theo and I giggled in the bed after another round of kissing. My favorite part after our hookups was how he held me in his arms. I never felt used after our interactions with one another. If anything, I felt…cherished based on how we talked after sex. Sure, I liked sleeping together. Heck, I loved it. But something was so comforting about the after-sex conversations where we were slightly vulnerable lying there in bed, wrapped around the sheets and each other, talking about any and everything.
“Do you want kids someday?” I randomly asked him.
