Page 52 of Filthy Rich Temptation

‘But… what about Lottie?’

‘What about her?’ His voice is calm but firm. ‘I’ll watch her.’

I blink at him, thrown by the ease of it – like it’s no big deal. LikeImatter enough to be given this. A breather. A minute to myself.

‘What about your work?’

‘Work can wait.’

I shake my head. ‘Theo… I’ve disrupted your life enough. I’m not messing with your schedule, too.’

‘You haven’t messed with anything.’ His gaze doesn’t waver. ‘And even if you had, it’s my schedule. I’ll tear it up if I want to. And right now, I want you to go outside. Feel the sun on your face, the wind in your hair, and let your brain switch off.’

I swallow.

‘Go,Sadie.Run until the only thing you hear is your own heartbeat. Think about nothing but you. Just this once.’

The urge to cry hits so hard, it’s embarrassing.

‘But if you’re worried, I can have Axel send one of his team over, a woman to accompany you if?—’

‘No. No, you’re right. I should do this. Iwantto. I just…’ I wet my lips. ‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m positive.’

I turn to Lottie. ‘What do you think, sweetheart? Want to play with Uncle Theo while I go for a quick run?’

She lights up like a firecracker. ‘Can we hunt more treasure?’

Theo grins. ‘Sure can. I was thinking…’ his gaze drifts to the living area ‘…my sofa would actually make a great pirate ship.’

She spins on her knees to peek over the back of her chair. ‘Wow, Mummy, look! Our pirate ship’s cool!’

Her joy totally undoes me.

And now I really can’t say no.

She’s happy. She’s safe. She’s practically vibrating with excitement to turn Theo’s apartment into theBlack Pearl,and here I am hovering like an anxious seagull with –withabandonment issues.

Check that, Tay.

But then, I’m not used to this. To someone offering me a break without strings. To the idea that I can just go. For no other reason than it might make me feel good.

Danny would’ve called it selfish.

Hell,Icall it selfish.

But is it? Is it really?

‘Okay then.’ I rise slowly. ‘You be good for Uncle Theo, kiddo.’

I kiss her soft hair. She smells of strawberries and sunshine and I want to cling to it. Even though I need this. A taste of how it used it to be. How it could be again.

‘There’s just one condition,’ Theo says, and I glance at him. ‘You don’t come back until you ache for all the right reasons, you hear?’

My eyebrows shoot up.The right reasons?I almost choke as I nod and walk. Because the only ache I’ve got right now is the one I get whenever a certain look comes over him, or he does things like rearrange his day just for me.

‘I’m already halfway there,’ I mutter under my breath, grabbing my phone and resisting the urge to kiss him goodbye too. ‘Thank you.’