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“Very recently,” I said. “Like, an hour ago.”
Carly looked relieved. “Awww, cute. Well, I don’t know much about Theo Walker, but I do know that if he’s stuck with you for years then it’s saying a lot.” There was no hint of malice in her tone.
“It’s saying this girl is incredibly tolerant of me,” Theo said.
Sean asked Theo if he could chat with him about a potential collaboration, and Theo politely told him he’d love to talk about it with him tomorrow but he promised his date he’d get her some more food. We all looked down at my full plate of food.
“I have an eating disorder,” was what came out of my mouth.
They bought it. Theo just blinked and shook his head. Fortunately, the DJ and his band started making a lot of noise, so we didn’t have to dwell on this.
He didn’t want to leave me alone to talk with Carly. It was considerate, I thought, that he didn’t want to put me in an awkward situation, although it was also possible that he didn’t want Carly and me talking for his own reasons. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.
“Wow. You’re so easy-breezy with the people you used to have sex with,” I said, after they’d walked away.
He took my hand and squeezed it. “Don’t waste your time and energy comparing yourself to anyone else that I’ve dated. It’s not the same thing. You mean the world to me. No other girl comes close. You get that, right?”
Did I? When he put it out there so simply like that, it was difficult not to.Don’t stop. Don’t stop being so handsome and looking at me like that and saying all the perfect things.
“If you want to leave, we can.”
“It’s okay. We can go after one more glass of wine.”
“You didn’t eat anything.”
“I’m fun. I mean fine. I’m fine and I’m fun and I’m having fun.” I curtsied. “Hope I’m being confident and not too goddamn hot to your liking.”
He frowned at me.
“What?”
He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him.
“Are we leaving?”
He kept looking around. He nodded at people as they called out to him. He pulled me away from where people were hanging out, to the perimeter of the New York street set, saw the railing for the subway steps and headed for it. He peeked down at the darkened stairwell and took a step.
“Watch your step,” he said. “Keep quiet.”
When we got to the bottom of the stairwell, he pressed me up against the cool cement wall, staring at my mouth and sending shivers all through me. “Everything about you is to my liking,” he whispered.
I was up on my tiptoes, lifting my chin, but he just kept staring at my mouth and it was killing me.
“Baby, you make me harder than the P versus NP problem.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“It’s considered the hardest math problem in the world. It’s a theoretical computer science joke.”
I snort-laughed. But in a really sexy way. “You’re such a nerd.”
“You’re such a fox.”
“Shut up. I’m not.”
“I wish I could develop the technology for you to see yourself the way I see you.”
“I’d rather look at you.”
