Page 77 of Tempt

He stared at me for a moment. “Stick to the plan. It will still work.”

I cocked my head to the side. “It doesn’t look like it’s working so great.”

“On the contrary,” he huffed as he tried to sit up. Martin shook his head and came back over to wrap Theo’s ribs. “Everything is working perfectly.”

He carefully removed his t-shirt, giving me a good look at how bruised and battered he was. I tried not to visibly cringe. “How is this perfect?”

He grinned and it was delightfully, reassuringly cocky. “Darlin’, how else do I find out exactly how deep this goes? These idiots just revealed their hand.”

Theo had done this on purpose to get information. To make it look like he was on the defensive. “You’re tricking them into believing they have the upper hand.”

He nodded and his eyes lit up. “People like Dan and Toni are notoriously sloppy when they think they have all the power. It goes to their heads.”

“As long as they’re not doing the same thing to you.”

“Good point.” Then he winced as Martin tied off the bandage. “Thank you field nurse.”

Martin shook his head before turning to me. “You should know he had half a bottle of bourbon on the way here.”

That explained the cockiness. “Got it.”

“Now, unless you need anything else, I’ll leave him in your hands.”

Martin let himself out and I finally got up the courage to sit down beside Theo. “How do you feel?”

“Like ass. Butsallgood.”

“It’s not all good, Theo. You’re getting in deeper.”

He didn’t reply right away. “I know. This is what happens. You never really leave.” He slid his hand across the table to cover mine.

“If you never really leave then what are you doing?” Dan Christie wasn’t going anywhere. “You can’t pay off everyone he hires to kill you.”

“He’ll run out of money before I do.”

Cocky.“Theo…I’m scared and you aren’t helping.”

He squeezed my hand. “What if it was a choice? Me or them? What if the only way we could ever be together was for me to have them killed? What would you say?” His gaze was steady and deadly serious despite the alcohol flooding his veins.

“I don’t know.” I honestly didn’t. I could never, ever wish death on anyone, but it was starting to feel like an inevitability.

His eyes never left mine—holding and hoping. “Would you still love me ifIkilled them?”

“I don’t know,” I said honestly.

Doubt flickered in his eyes. “Well then, my plan had better work.”

I examined his stitches. Martin was very good. “How are you going to explain all of this tomorrow?”

Theo winced, then pulled me closer so that our knees were threaded together. “I box at the gym regularly. I’ll just tell them I got into a bare fist match.”

I arched an eyebrow. “And they’ll believe that?”

He shrugged. “People will generally believe anything if you say it with enough conviction.” His words only slurred a little.

“Is that how you convinced me to fall in love with you?” I was joking, desperate to make things lighter.

“No,” he replied. “That’s how you made me fall in love with you.”