Page 142 of Make Me Mean It

The word catches. Theo looks up at me, waiting and I could leave, I should. Instead, I kiss him again.

“I could maybe stay,” I murmur against his mouth, his lips twitching beneath mine.“To study,” I add quickly.

Theo actually smiles now, and I narrow my eyes. “Shut up.”

“Haven’t said anything, princess.”

“You’re thinking it loudly.”

His arm loops around my waist and pulls me closer, his mouth brushing mine again.

“Please,” he murmurs.

That fucking word.

Just please.

It shivers straight down my spine.

I’m staying.

I kiss him once more before forcing myself away, my hands dragging reluctantly over his chest as I sit back.

“If I’m staying, you’re getting dressed.”

Theo’s face falls.

I reach blindly toward the floor, grab the first pair of joggers my hand finds and shove them into his chest.

“Get dressed.”

My voice comes out lower, probably because I’m looking at him again.

And I really shouldn’t be.

His green eyes are too fucking bright for this time in the morning, watching me with lazy amusement.

Then my gaze drops.

His chest is still flushed, broad and tanned and covered in marks that make heat creep straight up my neck because I know exactly how they got there.

My eyes catch on one near his collarbone.

Mine.

Another lower down.

Also mine.

The sheet is tangled low around his waist, doing a useless job of covering him, and my gaze follows the dark trail of hair disappearing beneath it before I realise what I’m doing.

Too late.

“Keep looking at me like that,” Theo drawls, my eyes snapping back to his as he pushes up onto his elbows, the sheet slipping lower.

“And getting dressed is the last thing I’ll be doing.”

His voice has gone thick, and heat curls in my stomach.