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I open my mouth to tell her I’m not above bribing a jury to vote in my favor, but I don’t get the words out before she pulls herself up and plants her lips on mine. The kiss is harsh and desperate, all her fears from the last three days pouring from her soul into mine. I welcome the burden of her worry, anything to ease her way in this life.
“Don’t you ever disappear on me like that again.”
My heart swells at the concern in her voice. “I won’t.”
“I mean it,” Charity huffs, her eyes locked on mine. “I get a text or a call. Something, anything, do you understand?”
“I understand.”
Her head shakes as if she doesn’t believe what I’m saying. “You scared me, Theo.”
I’ve never heard her voice so full of quiet pain. It’s barely loud enough for me to hear over the noise of the room around us. “I know. I’m sorry, Viper.”
She shakes her head, tightening her grip around my neck. “Not good enough.”
“What would be good enough?” I’m not sure what she’s going to say, but I know I’ll give it to her. I’ll bear my soul to the devil’s judgment and find a way to crawl back to her if that’s what she asks of me.
“I don’t know yet.”
Our noses bump together when I tip her chin up, looking directly into her eyes. “Well then, it’s a good thing I’ll do anything for you, Charity Lawson.”
TWO MONTHS LATER
CHARITY
“You are not very trusting.”
“No shit, Dickbag,” I snap, stumbling over the curb he just warned me was there. “It’s kind of my thing.”
Theo laughs, mumbling something under his breath that I can’t hear. “Okay, right here.”
He grabs my shoulders, shifting my body around as I stare at the inside of the blindfold he slapped over my eyes. I can’t see anything but the black fabric pressing against my eyelashes, and I’m about over it.
“Theo!” I huff, crossing my arms as he subtly adjusts my shoulders again.
“Sorry, sorry,” he mumbles, but I can hear the smile in his voice. “Are you ready?”
I nod, suddenly worried about what I’ll see when he removes the blindfold. I wouldn’t put it past the big idiot to have done something insane like buy me a different car for every day of the week or build us a ten-story mansion with his bare hands. He tends to go over the top with things, and I’ve heard him grumbling about the house being “too small for it” more than once over the last month. The house isn’t too small for anything. It’s the perfect size for us, and I don’t want to live anywhere else.
The blindfold loosens, and I close my eyes on instinct. I’m not ready to see it. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not prepared to find out.
“Ta-da!” Theo proudly exclaims from behind me. He must look at my face when I don’t react because one massive, gentle hand runs across my cheek before he mumbles, “You have to open your eyes, Viper.”
“I’m afraid to,” I admit, leaning into the warmth of his touch.
Theo chuckles, his thumb rubbing softly along my jaw. “It’s a good thing, I promise.”
One eye cracks open just enough to see we’re standing on the sidewalk outside a strip center in Forest Falls. Confusion causes my other eye to open as I look at the businesses in front of us. There’s a thrift store to the right and a bakery to the left, but the storefront directly before us is empty.
“What are we doing here?”
“Checking out your studio. Or gallery? I wasn’t sure how you wanted to use it. You could probably do both. I thought you might use the room at the back to paint. It’s a little small, but the entire ceiling and one of the walls is made of glass, so it feels bigger than it is, and there’s tons of natural light.” Theo keeps talking as he walks to the door, pulling out a set of keys to unlock it. He doesn’t realize I’m not following him until he turns to hold the door open for me.
Chuckling, he jogs toward me, scooping me off my feet. I yelp, grabbing his shoulders as he carries me into the empty business cradled against his chest. Theo sets me down in the middle of the room, pressing a kiss to my temple before he steps back.
“I’m no artist, so I don’t know how you would best use the space, but I figured you’d have some ideas once you saw it.”
He moves away, walking toward the back of the room as I take in my surroundings. The ceilings are much higher than they looked from the outside, and the front windows let in lots of soft, early morning light. The walls are flat and painted a generic white, and the floors appear to be hardwood. They look like they’re in decent condition, too.
