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"Uh, yes I do." Her eyebrows go up. "You have no idea how I live, Tobias."
Teagan might have a point, but it doesn't matter. How she's living now is not how she will be living when she's with me. I wave at her food again, coaxing her to eat, and she finally continues to do so, giving me a second to think about what my next move is going to be.
"I have a proposition for you, Teagan."
She scoffs. "Oh yeah? What's that?"
"Come and stay with me for the next few weeks." I lean back and give her a slow smile. “I’ve got this big place and seeing you there would…satisfy me.”
Her jaw drops. "You're joking, right?"
"No, not at all. I've got the space. Then you won't have to go back to that fucking nasty diner again and can take your time figuring things out. Plus I don’t like the idea of retaliation from your piece of shit manager.”
She flushes. "Tobias, we barely know each other. And Ricky..."
I hold up a hand. "Stop. Don't say his name. He's not here and that's all that matters."
"It's not just that," she protests. "I share an apartment with another girl at the diner. I can't just leave her hanging."
"You won't," I assure her. "I'll take care of everything. We'll go to your place, you can get some things, and come stay with me."
Teagan seems lost in thought as she eats her French toast, picking up a piece of bacon and crunching it between her teeth. It’s an insane proposition. I’m not so blinded by my need for her that I can’t see that, but at this point, I’m sure our connection goes both ways.
That, and I just strangled her boss a considerable amount. So maybe she’ll want some time away from all that.
"I don’t have a lot of family," she admits quietly. "Not a lot of friends, either, if I’m being honest. So I don’t really know how terrible of an idea this really is because…Well, I really want to agree."
She flushes red at the confession—at least her cheeks do. It’s hard not to think about what other parts of her might be flushed too. “Then do it. When was the last time you’ve made a decision all on your own, just for yourself?”
Before she can see it coming, I reach across the table, spearing a piece of her toast, dipping it in the syrup, and holding it up for her to eat. Teagan’s eyes go wide, but she’s an obedient little thing and leans forward. Her pink lips part, tongue darting out to catch the syrup before it drips, and gingerly takes the bite off the fork.
Fuck, I don’t think I’ve ever been harder than I am right now. I could fuck through a steel beam.
“Say yes,” I command her. “Say it, Teagan.”
She swallows but, after a breath, nods. “Okay. Yes.”
“Good girl. Good, sweet girl,” I rumble, setting the fork down to wipe a phantom drop of syrup off her bottom lip just to feel her soft skin. “Now finish up and let’s get out of here.”
“Don’t you have to go to work today?” she asks, dazed.
I chuckle. “No, doll. That’s the perk of being the boss. I go in when I want, and today…well, I’ve got more interesting plans.”
5
TEAGAN
The lake is crystal blue, the enormous historic house overlooking it like a guardian.
We've just come around the bend, and the sight of it takes my breath away. It's not what I ever would have pictured Tobias living in, but now that I see it, I can't get over how beautiful the entire estate is.
"It's stunning, Tobias."
"Yeah, well, we'll see if it's as beautiful once we're inside."
He parks and turns the engine off, and I have to sit for a second and gather my thoughts before I can climb out of the car. My head is swimming, and the fact that the house is just so stunning is only making the anxiety worse. This is the world Tobias is from. How the heck am I supposed to keep up with a man like him?
"I've had the entire inside gutted and redone," he tells me, grabbing my backpack out of the backseat before I can. "Had a designer come and fix the place up. I don't have much of an eye for those things, so if it looks horrible, don't bother telling me."
