Page 15 of Filthy Rich Temptation

4

THEO

Note to self: next time you suggest going out in the car, get in the front with Shaun.

It turns out the rear seat is no place for two adults and a booster. Not if you want to keep more than an inch between you and the woman you can’t look at without wondering what her lips taste like now.

Who knew a kid’s car seat took up more space than Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson? No wonder Sadie glanced at me all wide-eyed when I followed her in. And it wasn’t like I did it out of habit either.

I did it to reassure her that Iwantto be doing this. That I want to spend time in their orbit – and that they’re welcome in mine – even if I haven’t exactly shown it to date.

But judging by the way her legs are pressed tight together, her palms stuck between them, and her eyes stare resolutely ahead, she’s finding this about as easy as I am.

‘You really didn’t have to do this,’ she says through her teeth.

Lottie glances between us, not really hearing her mother but sensing her speaking. Her true focus is on the tablet Aunt Tay-Tay bought her. She grips its neon-pink case like it might vanish if she blinks, while her glittery headphones mercifully muffle whatever high-pitched drama the animated blobs are unleashing.

‘I’m sure you have better things to be doing with your Sunday.’

‘I wanted to do it,’ I say, and I can practically hear her silent scoff.

‘I did, Sades.’

She turns to me, one brow raised, and I strip my sunglasses to hold her gaze.

‘I swear it.’

Tension coils through her frame. Her blue eyes bright as they dig into mine, hunting for the lie, but I’m too hooked on hers to care. I could sit here for days. Work be damned.

‘So…’ Her tongue flicks across her bottom lip – something I reallydidn’tneed to witness this close.‘Taylor didn’t put you up to it?’

Fuck.

‘It’s too nice a weekend to spend it indoors,’ I hedge. ‘And if I’m being totally honest, I feel bad that I didn’t offer to take you out sooner.’

All true.

‘You feel bad?’ she huffs out. ‘Pull the other one.’

I choke on a laugh. More surprised that she’s calling me out on it. No one calls me out on anything. Save for Taylor and Axel, who know me better than I know myself at times. But then, this is Sadie, the girl who always saw right through me…

‘Why is that so hard to believe?’

She hesitates, her blue eyes sweeping over my face. Then she shakes her head and turns away, and the scent of her shampoo – sweet and subtle, cherry, if I had to guess – rises in the air like a hit of high-end perfume. One my body’s all too eager to enjoy, even as my brain labels it:Bad Idea No. 5.

‘You shouldn’t feel bad. You’re a busy man doing us a favour by giving us a place to stay,’ she murmurs, her eyes now fixed on Lottie’s screen. ‘But you can quit with the babysitting, okay?’

‘Thebabysitting?’

She might as well have kicked me in my overly stoked balls for the sickening roll in my gut.

‘You think I don’t know that she asked you to take us in so that you could keep an eye on us? That she didn’t guilt trip you into this now so that she could make sure we’re getting out and about, having fun, living life’ – she does finger quotes around the words – ‘so that she can feel better about this whole situation?’

‘It’s not aboutherfeeling better,’ I say tightly. ‘It’s aboutyoufeeling better.’

‘Perhaps.’

‘There’s no “perhaps” about it. She loves you. She loves you both. She wants you to be able to put the past behind you and get on with your life. Is that really so bad?’