Page 73 of Green
18
Gemma
We ate an exquisite Pacific Northwest cuisine dinner at a trendy restaurant in the village. Theo looked so hot in his indigo blue jeans that hugged his butt magnificently, and a grey Henley shirt that subtly screamed out “Hey, there are pecs under here!” He smelled like a sexy lumberjack who’d been out chopping wood in an alpine forest all day and was ready to bang some lucky lady in a glamorous cabin all night.
I had consumed only half of my glass of wine because, as Theo pointed out, the high altitude was already making me lightheaded. I pointed out that it was his unparalleled hotness that was making me lightheaded, and while that made him smirk, it wasn’t enough to calm my stupid nerves. Despite being more than ready to do the deed, I was still too in my head about how I’d compare to all the other women he’d been with. As always, Theo was well attuned to my foolish inner dialogue, and suggested that we stop in for a drink somewhere on our way back to the hotel.
If his intentions were to make me so lightheaded that I was no longer in my head, I was fine with that. But, I quickly realized, as he led me into a nightclub, that his intentions did not involve copious amounts of alcohol. He was a genius in so many ways…
I only feel truly confident in two situations—when I’m doing my job, and when I’m singing and dancing around the house. I may have looked like an idiot when he caught me Swiffering to Justin Bieber, but I was a very confident idiot who danced like no one was watching, as long as I thought no one was watching. Or if I’d been drinking.
After half of my first-ever bottle of Moosehead lager, and five seconds of the intro to Justin Timberlake’sSexyBackI was ready to hit the very crowded dance floor and I didn’t even care that most of the people there looked eighteen years old. I hadn’t truly felt like a young twenty-five year old in ages, and I was bringing my sexy back with the sexiest millionaire with dual citizenship on the west coast.
My hips did not lie, and they were telling Theo that they wanted to rock his world. Unfortunately, they may have been broadcasting it to more than just their intended audience. There were a number of drunk dudes around, hooting and hollering. But I was only interested in Theo, and what he was doing with his body. I had never been in a situation where I could see him dance before, and he was in no way disappointing, but he was being such a cool guy, moving as little as possible, that it just made me want to undulate more and dry-hump his thigh. When I kept feeling someone else’s body pushing up against my back, I thought surely he was just accidentally bumping into me because it was so crowded.
Theo, however, thought otherwise. He was glaring at the person behind me, and I’ve never seen him look so intimidating. I didn’t look back, but whoever was there must have moved away because I couldn’t feel anyone else around me anymore. I tried to hold Theo’s attention by running my hands all over the front of his shirt. It wasn’t enough to keep him from staring down the guy behind me. I looked over my shoulder and saw the twentysomething drunk dude, then did a double-take because he looked a lot like Andrew. It wasn’t Andrew. But the guy must have misunderstood my double-take, because when the song transitioned to a slow-jam, Drunk Dude was right behind me again, his hands on my waist, yelling in my ear, asking me to dance.
“Fuck off,” is what Theo said, to my horror. His tone was not casual. He meant business.
“You fuck off, I’m talking toher.”
And that was all it took to incite Theo to move me aside so he could shove that guy. He stumbled back a couple of feet, until one of his buddies caught him, and then they both came lunging towards Theo. I somehow managed to get in front of Theo, between him and those guys.
“Sorry sorry! We’re leaving! Sorry!” Theo’s arm immediately went around my waist, maneuvering me away from the angry drunk dudes, who looked like they were ready to head-butt whoever was in their way. I’m not even sure who was pulling who off the dance floor and out of the club, but I couldn’t wait to get out of there.
I pulled my hand away from his as soon as we were outside, and I stomped off ahead of him.
“Wrong way,” he muttered.
I huffed, then followed him back, in the direction of the resort.
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“Me?He was rubbing up against your ass, Gemma.”
“It was a crowded dance floor!”
“You didn’t see the way he was looking at you.”
“Oh my God, who cares.”
“I do.”
“Well get over it!”
He started to speak, but I held up my hand as I strutted past him up the promenade. “I don’t want to hear it, let’s just get back to the hotel.”
He clenched his jaw, and we were silent except for our heavy breaths, until we got into the hotel elevator. I wasn’t sure who I was more mad at—him for behaving like a jungle beast, or me for being so aroused by it. As soon as the elevator doors shut, I let loose.
“If you’re feeling jealous that isyourproblem to deal with but you don’t get to act like an asshole—to anyone.”
He stepped in, facing me, staring down at me. “We’re on our honeymoon. You’re here with me.” His hands, God help me, were on my hips.
I stared up at him, defiantly. “Right now I’m not surewhoI’m here with because I don’t recognize you at all.”
“I thought that was what you wanted,” he said, pushing me up against the back of the elevator. “I thought you wanted to strip everything away and see what’s left. This is what’s left.” He licked my neck, from my collarbone all the way up to my earlobe, and whispered into my ear, “All that’s left of me is this need to have you. I want you all to myself. Is that such a bad thing?” His breath was so hot on my skin.
“That’s not a fair question when you’re asking my neck with your tongue.”
