Page 9 of Filthy Rich Temptation

‘I kissed you back!’

‘So? I— I love you Theo.’

His eyes flare. ‘No. No, you don’t.’

‘I do. I’ve loved you for?—’

‘You don’t love me,’ he snaps back. ‘You can’t.’

‘But I do.’

‘You only think you do. You’re too young, you’re?—’

A laugh tears through my throat. ‘I’m old enough to know my own heart.’

‘Not when you think you’re in love with me.’

‘Why is it so hard to believe?’

‘Because I’m the one guy you’ve had in your life since you were five. I was the one you came to when you scraped your knee in the park. Or fell out with your friends at school. I was the one you came to when you needed a man to make it all better.’

‘Jesus.’ I stumble back a step, the meaning of his words landing with a sickening thud. ‘You think I have daddy issues?’

‘No—Jesus, fuck, no.’ He slams another hand through his hair, face pinched and pale. ‘Hell, maybe. I don’t know. Even before he died, your father was never?—’

‘What thefuck, Theo?’

‘I’m not trying to be a dick, Sadie. But you’re eighteen. You’re?—’

‘Stop.’ I cut him off, my voice trembling, my eyes burning. ‘It’s bad enough that Taylor still talks to me like I’m some helpless kid, but you?’ My voice cracks. ‘I thought you saw me.’

‘I do,’ he says softly. ‘I do see you.’

‘No.’ I shake my head, tears stinging at my eyes. ‘You don’t.’

He opens his mouth to say something, but I don’t want to hear it, and so I run as fast as my heart is breaking.

He doesn’t come after me.

Not then. Not in all the years since.

And I don’t look back… or at least, I try not to.

3

THEO

‘How are things?’

I can sense the frown in Taylor’s voice all the way down the phone.

‘Things are fine,’ I lie, plucking a stuffed narwhal off my desk and studying its fluffy, pink tusk with a bemused smile.

‘Then why isn’t she answering her phone?’

‘You’re asking the wrong person.’

‘Theo, I’m serious. I think she’s avoiding my calls.’