Page 12 of He's the One

“My modelling career is safe then.”

“Are you a model as well as working here?”

“Me? No.” Theo laughed. He found his folder being pushed into his hands. “Thank you.”You are lovely. You and me, sitting in a tree, k.i.s.s—

“Theo! What on earth are you doing?” Dastardly’s voice cut into the fantasy.

“I tripped.”

“You’re supposed to be taking money at the gate. Get down there right now and do your job.”

Fuck off!He didn’t move.

“Now,” Dastardly repeated.

“In a moment.”

Dastardly glanced from Theo to Theo’s saviour, then walked away.

“You should have told him what happened,” the guy said. “He can’t blame you for a falling stone.”

“He’d have found a way, believe me.” Theo exhaled. “You could have been seriously injured. Are you okay?”Are you gay? Do you think I’m gay? How can I tell if you’re gay? Should I ask you? How would you feel about fucking me?Theo could feel himself beginning to drown.

“Anyone hurt?” someone shouted from above them.

“No,” Theo’s knight called back. Then he looked Theo up and down. “Sure you’re not injured? Apart from your cheek.”

Theo wanted to believe that his knight in dusty clothes might be imagining him naked because he was looking anywhere but his face, but… He managed to nod. His knight took off his hard hat and ran his fingers through very dark, silky-looking hair.

“I’m fine, thanks to you, Sir Knight,” Theo managed. “Is your charger okay?”

The man laughed. “Galloped away.”

Theo was relieved his insaneandinane comment had been understood. And laughed at! But why couldn’t he say something sensible? That did not include—would you like to marry me?“You saved my life.”Shit. You really did.“No one’s ever saved my life before.” Theo looked at the large pieces of rubble and started to breathe more rapidly.Fuck! I could have died.Crap as his life was, he didn’t want it to end under a stone. Apart from a gravestone.

“You might have been fine.”

“Not with my luck. I’d have stepped the wrong way, smack into trouble. Not pretty. Not that I’m saying I’m pretty now.”Shut up!

“Maybe your luck just changed.”

The guy’s smile twisted something inside Theo and not in a bad way. He had to have the longest eyelashes he’d ever seen. A head taller than him, not as skinny, though not bulky and…Stop staring!

“I’m Theo.”

“Shit, shit, shit.” Another man in a hard hat slid down the last few rungs of the ladder and ran up to them. “Either of you hurt? You okay, Col?”

“He saved me,” Theo blurted.Col’s a lovely name.

“Christ.” The new arrival looked up, then down at the remains of the block.

“What happened, Bez?” Col asked. “How the hell did that fall?”

“An accident,” Bez said.

Theo brushed the dust from his trousers and emptied his pockets of broken dog biscuits.Sorry, Isla.“Well, yes. That’s reassuring. I had hoped no one had deliberately dropped the block hoping to flatten me. Though plenty might want to. Thank you again for the…er…timely shove.”

He beat a hasty retreat before he said something even more stupid or did something as crazy as make a pass at Col. He wondered if he’d ever make a pass at anyone. Definitely ought to make sure the guy was gay first and Col was probably straight. Even if he was gay, would he be interested? Especially when Theo confessed he was a…I hate the word…virgin.Would he have to confess? Would it be obvious?

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