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The sound of movement made him straighten, and he found Tessa sitting at the vanity, digging through various drawers for whatever she needed. How long had she been sitting there? Had she watched that entire thing? That thought was enough to make his spent cock twitch.

Gods-fucking-damnit.

He finished showering quickly, and when he shut the water off, she waited until he had a towel wrapped around his waist before meeting his eyes in the vanity mirror. If she’d witnessed anything, she didn’t let on.

“I feel like there’s a catch,” she said.

“No catch,” he replied, coming up behind her. “This makes sure of that.” He ran his thumb along the sun on her skin, once again unable to resist touching her. When she didn’t reply, he started moving to the dressing room. “I’ll set a dress out for you.”

“Can I pick it out?” she asked in a rush. He paused, looking over his shoulder at her. “Let me pick it out. If you don’t like it, I’ll change,” she pushed.

“All right,” he conceded. “You have an hour.”

He left her to it and got dressed in black pants and a black button-down shirt. He was rolling the sleeves back as he wandered back to the main room. The staff had come by and already cleared the lunch dishes. He pulled his laptop from his bag, standing at the kitchen island going through correspondence. There were several from other heirs, and he clicked open one from Tana Aithne, the Anala Heir. He was reading through the email when Luka and Axel returned, the door clicking shut behind them.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Axel demanded after doing a quick scan of the room and finding Tessa not present.

Theon glanced up from his computer. “I was thinking I need submission and forcing it wasn’t working.”

“You don’t think you should have run this by us first?” Axel asked, making his way over to where Theon stood.

“I wasn’t aware I needed to,” Theon replied slowly, his tone holding a warning. “Besides, you’re the one who said you wanted it to go back to how it was. This way that can happen.”

Axel turned to Luka. “What do you think of this?”

Luka rubbed the back of his neck. “Actually, I think it’s a good idea.”

Axel was about to argue when the bedroom door opened. They all turned to face it and found Tessa standing there looking like a dark goddess. She wore a long, black lace dress that hugged her hips and had a deep slit up the front of the right thigh. The front dipped low between her breasts and tight sleeves ran the length of her arms. She had blood red rubies around her neck and hanging from her ears, and her golden hair was curled and pinned over one shoulder. Black heels made her a couple inches taller, and when she slowly turned, the open back of the dress made Theon grip the edge of the counter. It stopped just above the swell of her ass, and his fingers itched to run her spine. That would definitely be happening at some point this evening. His release in the shower was, once again, utterly pointless.

She glanced back at him over her shoulder. “Is this sufficient?”

He met her gaze and found her cosmetics as dark as her dress. She had dark color on her eyes and thick liner around them. Her lips matched the rubies at her throat.

“Tessa, you look like darkness itself,” he managed to get out, his voice thick and gravelly.

“How fitting that I am the Source of the Arius Heir then,” she replied, slowly coming towards them. She stopped beside him and reached up to brush a lock of his hair back.

Luka cleared his throat. “We should get going.”

“You know what is required of you to have that phone call?” Theon asked, his eyes roving down the front of her dress again. Always somewhere to be when she was like this.

“I know exactly what I need to do, Theon,” she replied, her hand sliding down the front of his shirt, her fingers brushing along his belt.

And fuck. The way she said his name with that sensual lilt had his hand shooting out when she made to turn away from him. His fingers closed around her wrist, and he tugged her back to him. She peered up at him from beneath long lashes, a slight pout on her full lips.

“I am glad to hear that, beautiful,” he said softly into her ear, and she shivered against him. His lips lifted into a satisfied smile. “But I will be expected to treat you a certain way.”

“You said you didn’t want me to be like Eviana,” she protested.

“I did, but my father will still find a need to punish you if you are too…disobedient,” he continued. “I need you to be careful. Be smart about this and know that how I speak of you to him is not how I feel about you. Understand that any actions I take are to protect you, not punish you.” She nodded, but doubt flickered in her grey eyes. “Keep your eyes on me. I will warn you if things are going in a direction we do not want to travel.”

“The last time you told me to keep my eyes on you, I ended up kneeling at your feet,” she retorted, and he tugged her into him further, pressing his front to hers.

His tone dropped an octave as he whispered into her ear, “Would it make you feel better to keep your eyes on me while I kneel at your feet later tonight?” She sucked in a sharp breath and tried to move back from him, but he held firm. “Our agreement allows you freedom in the privacy of my company or that of Luka or Axel, but in front of others, appropriate behavior is still required.”

“So that’s the catch?” she breathed.

“No, beautiful, that is just the bargain we agreed to,” he replied. He stepped back from her as he said, “Shall we?”