She turned her attention to Theo and me. “You two should go. Andrew and I have a lot to discuss.”
Theo didn’t hesitate. He took my hand and pulled me along, away from his father. At the doorway, Miranda stepped to the side, but she touched Theo’s arm to stop him.
“You will never have anything to worry about. Both of you. I’ll take care of this.” She gave me a fast hug, then patted my shoulders. “Madeline would want that. She would adore the two of you together. So, go, be in love, and don’t worry for even a second.”
“Thank you,” I whispered, my throat tight with emotion. Madswoulddefinitely adore Theo.
Taking Miranda at her word, we ran to the front door, and kept running, past Theo’s car, down the driveway, and through a narrow passage between houses to a set of wooden steps that led down to the beach.
We didn’t stop until we hit wet sand, then Theo fell on his butt, pulling me down on top of him to straddle his thighs. This stretch of beach was private and deserted, so it was just the two of us and the roar of the ocean.
He held my face in his hands. “Never, ever scare me like that again. Find another way.”
I nodded as much as I could with him holding me. “I’m sorry, so sorry. I had to think on the fly, and that was the best I came up with. I couldn’t let him do that to us. I just couldn’t.”
He dropped his forehead to mine and exhaled. “Jesus, baby, I love you so much. You went to battle for me. For us.”
“Of course I did. You’re mine, Theo. I’ll always protect you and what we have. No one gets to decide our future except for you and me.” I touched my mouth to his and sighed. “Do you think he’s done?”
“I think Miranda will make sure he is.”
I thought he was very right. I was almost certain Andrew Whitlock was being flayed alive by his wife, and he deserved every second of it.
Scooting closer, I wrapped my arms and legs around him, hugging him with all the fierceness I possessed. “I really am sorry I hurt you, Theodore. I couldn’t look at you when I was doing it or I would have broken. I just...I love you. I never want you to doubt that.”
“Love you too, Tiger. Believe me, after that, I’ll never doubt you again.Never.”
He held me with the same ferocity edged with his Theo tenderness that settled my soul against his. We stayed like that, two wounded, world-weary people who had taken down our walls for each other, baring all our soft places, knowing we’d be safe.
To think, I could have missed this if I hadn’t had my Mads’s words in my head. I would have still been sinking under the weight of my pain instead of swimming with Theo in the light.
Life hurt. It took and took. I’d learned that way too young. It took me longer to see the flip side. Sometimes life offered up something so big, it didn’t erase the past, but it overshadowed it. It made the hard, painful past seem a lot less important than the soft, safe present.
That was Theo and me.
He was the good, necessary kind of trouble I could keep getting into for a long, long time.
He nipped at my jaw and pressed a sweet kiss to my cheek. “Love you, Tiger.”
“Love you too, Theodore.”
Mmm...yeah. This just might be forever.