Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79938 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
I don’t care where he learned to pour like that. That’s not why I’m here.
Theo slid one glass across the counter in her direction, but she didn’t move from her spot by the door. To walk farther into the apartment was to run the risk of memories overriding what little good sense she had. She carefully looked around, studying the shadows lurking in the far corners of the room. Empty. Of course they were empty. She didn’t know what she was thinking—that Galen would hide there and jump out at the opportune time? Even knowing the bare minimum when it came to these men, she knew that wasn’t how he operated.
No, if he was in the apartment, he’d be in her face. Meg turned back to face Theo. “Where’s Galen?”
The edges of his lips quirked up. “He’ll be back in the morning. He doesn’t like to leave me alone for long stretches of time.”
“Considering the bullshit you’ve gotten up to since he left to run whatever errand he’s on, I don’t blame him.” The feeling blossoming in her stomach most definitely wasn’t disappointment that this situation would be resolved and she’d be long gone before Galen got back. He was a prickly asshole, but a perverse part of her enjoyed poking at him.
More importantly, he had the same expectations of their night together that she had. He would agree that Theo crossed the line, and while Meg didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of getting the former Crown Prince of Thalania to do what she wanted, Galen probably could convince Theo to take the money back.
Theo leaned back against the counter, the move causing the lights to catch the ripples of his muscles. They were very nice muscles. They looked even better when they flexed as he moved inside her…
Oh my god, stop.
Meg marched over to the counter and downed the whiskey. It burned her throat and warmed her stomach, leaving her with the faintly spicy aftertaste. “Take the money back, Theo. I mean it.”
“Impossible. It’s paid. Your semester is set. End of story.” The playful edge she’d seen when he showed up in the bar was nowhere in evidence tonight. This Theo was intense enough to send her rocking back on her heels. Meg was in over her head and sinking fast, but she was determined to keep her eye on the prize.
She set the glass on the counter with a soft clink. “I’m not a whore.”
“I’m aware of that.” Not even a flicker of surprise or outrage. “If you were a sex worker, you would have made ten times that much for the night we spent together.”
Her jaw dropped. Meg couldn’t decide if he’d just complimented or insulted her, but she didn’t like it one bit. A tiny voice inside her marveled at what she could do with twenty grand, but she shut it down. Having sex for money was—No. She didn’t care if other people did it. It wasn’t her business. But Meg had been accused of being a whore her entire life, and she’d be damned before she lived up to the slur.
Theo sipped his drink as if he had all the time in the world. “Why does it bother you so much to let someone else help?”
His words too closely mirrored Cara’s from earlier. If she explained her situation to Cara, her friend would understand. She’d flirted with true poverty enough times that she’d be able to put herself in Meg’s shoes and empathize. Trying to explain her realities to Theo… she might as well have tried to describe red to a blind man. His world and hers were so different, they were on different planets.
Meg straightened her spine. “I don’t need your help.”
“On the contrary. Unless you had a stash of money in your mattress for just this occasion, you did need my help.” Nothing showed in those blue eyes—nothing except a heat she did everything in her power to ignore. Theo drained half his whiskey. “Your degree is important to you. I don’t have to know you well to know that. Just like I know that you weren’t going to be able to make the remainder of that payment. I have more money than one person can spend in a lifetime. It’s nothing to donate it to a worthy cause.”
She stood there and let the words wash over her. They picked at the shields she worked so hard to keep in place, burrowing deep and spreading their poison through her entire being. All of it boiled down to one word. Charity. She wasn’t a person to Theo, not really. She was a broken thing he thought his money could fix.
If she had any whiskey left, she would have thrown it in his face.
If she was Cara, she would have thrown the glass, too.