Page 52 of What Comes After

“You bought it a week ago,” I repeated.

He nodded.

I tore my attention away from him for a moment, twisted my neck, and looked out the window. My eyes roamed over the exterior of the home. It was exceptionally gorgeous. It was huge.

Focusing my gaze back on his, I said, “I don’t understand. What made you buy a house here?”

“You needed a comfortable place to recuperate,” he announced, his voice nonchalant.

Was he kidding me?

He was acting like it was no big deal.

“I’m sorry. What?”

Theo’s features softened. “Your body is healing from something traumatic, Devyn. You need a place to do that, so I made sure I had one where that could happen.”

“I have an apartment.”

“From what I recall, that’s a one-bedroom, right?”

I jerked my chin down. “Yeah.”

“So, were you planning on having me join you in your bed, or were you going to make me sleep on the couch?” he countered.

I ignored the way my body wanted to react to the thought of him joining me in bed and asked, “Why would you be doing either one of those?”

“Did you have someone else lined up to come and take care of you?”

I moved my head back and forth. “No.”

He grinned. “There’s your answer.”

Before I could respond, he was out of the car and making his way around to my side. I was still in a state of disbelief by the time he opened my door.

I was convinced Theo was crazy.

Who did something like this? Who went and purchased a home just so somebody else would be able to recover from a traumatic ordeal? Not only that, who did that for someone else and purchased a home ofthissize?

Apparently, that person was Theo McCormick.

“Theo, I can’t stay with you,” I argued when he held his hand out to mine.

“Yes, you can,” he replied. “I insist. Come on. Let’s go inside.”

Still feeling entirely too much shock over it all—the purchase of the house and that he wanted me to stay with him—I found myself at a loss for words. Did he know what I would have given for him to tell me he wanted us to move in together years ago?

Not, of course, that I believed I was officially moving in with him. This was obviously just some temporary arrangement he’d come up with on his own, something I was eventually going to have to speak to him about before he got his hopes up.

Since he seemed eager to take me inside, and I liked the idea of being able to see where he was going to live, I placed my hand in his and stepped out of the vehicle.

Theo closed the door behind me and didn’t let go of my hand as he led me to the front door. The next thing I knew, we’d stepped inside.

Even though I was still experiencing some soreness from the swelling and bruising on my face, my mouth dropped open.

It had been roughly twelve years since Theo went out to the west coast to pursue his dream of becoming an actor. He’d done it with ease, because he was just that good. And he’d stayed there all that time. Sure, he’d come back to Tennessee on several occasions throughout the years, but Theo’s home had been in California all this time.

I’d never seen it.

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