Page 98 of Last Letters to Ara
“He was, and in a way I think he wanted me to be there with him, sharing his last thoughts.” I smile for the first time tonight. “And within each letter is also a task.”
A hint of surprise marks his features. “What kind of tasks?”
“At first, it was just getting me out of the house and into the world again.” I snort. “He didn’t want me sitting around feeling sorry for him.”
“Is that why you were at the diner that morning?’
I nod. Curiosity gets the best of me. “How did you find me there, by the way?”
“I didn’t know you’d be there that morning, I wasn’tactuallystalking you.”
Theo, despite his talent with words, is a terrible liar. Rather, omitter. There is something that he isn’t telling me, I can feel it. “But how did you end up at that diner?”
He shrugs. “I told you before, I heard they had good waffles.”‘
Interesting. Theo isn’t budging on this and changes the subject.
“What else does he give you in your tasks?”
Since he has been extraordinarily kind to me, I allow it.
“My second task was to help someone else find their happiness, knowing I would’ve shied away from feeling happy myself.” I look over at Theo. “That’s when I took you TPing.”
He laughs. “I’m not sure that’s what he anticipated.”
“But did it make you happy?”
Theo looks down at me. Despite everything I’ve told him tonight, he looks at me like I still have everything in the world to offer him. He reaches up and grabs one of my wild waves which has escaped my bun yet again, giving it a playful tug before tucking it behind my ear. No matter how many times he does this little ritual, it always leaves me feeling worshipped.
“You always make me happy,” he finally says with a brush of his fingers over my ear and down my neck.
This. This right here is what every woman deserves.
I don’t hide what I want, what I’ve been so afraid of until now.
My eyes drop to his lips, every cell in my body screaming for him to close the distance between us. Theo’s eyes, darkening at my attention, drop to my lips in return.
Anticipation shoots through me.
Theo slowly grazes my bottom lip with this thumb. “Soon, but not tonight.”
I reach up and trace around his new tattoo. Maybe it’s because there has been something burning between us since that fake kiss and my body has finally reached its limit, but I drag my finger over his upper arm and jaw line.
I blame it on the sound Theo makes in the back of his throat, and the words are out before I can clamp my mouth shut. “Why aren’t you going to kiss me?”
“You know why.” His throaty whisper sends his breath tickling my face.
Shivers break out despite the warm air. “I do?”
“Mmmhmm…” he says as he moves to nuzzle the hollow beneath my ear.
“What do I know again?”
“That I’m waiting, and that once you say the words there is no going back.” His nose drags down my neck, tracing my collarbone, feather light. “You need time.”
“What if I hate time? What if I said that I’m done waiting?” My confessions tonight have freed me. Now that I’ve braved it once, I feel a million feet tall and want to claim my victory.
He chuckles. “I’d say that I wasn’t.”
