The Flight of the Silvers (Silvers #1)(117)

“Theo, it’s fine. Seriously. I’ve been at both ends of this process. I get it.”

“So you’re not mad.”

Hannah aimed a sly grin at the ceiling. She didn’t get mad in these situations. She got ruthless.

On Sunday, the actress began her formal assault on Theo’s better judgment. She hit the boutiques for a sleek haircut and a bag full of seduction supplies. That afternoon, she entered the hot tub in her new swimsuit: a shiny silver one-piece with a neckline plunge that derailed even David’s train of thought. At dinner, she reached past Theo for the salt shaker, filling his nose with a strawberry scent that pushed him another step closer to madness. At midnight, she showered with the door slightly open, singing a rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” that was beautiful enough to make Theo wince. She emerged from the bathroom in a chest-hugging half shirt and boy shorts, then asked him if there was anything he felt like doing.

Theo now understood why she’d been so cavalier last night. She saw the inevitability of his surrender long before he did. She wasn’t just the confident one in this duo, she was the augur.

“You sure know how to make a guy feel stupid for turning you down.”

“I haven’t said a word about it,” she coyly replied.

“You think I wasn’t already tempted?”

“I have no idea what’s going on in your head, Theo.”

Frustrated, he dropped his book on the nightstand. “Convince me that a fling won’t end with us hating each other.”

“Convince me that it will.”

“I could spend an hour listing all the dark possibilities.”

“I could spend a week listing all the better things we can do with that hour.”

After a few silent moments, their tight faces cracked away in laughter. Theo shook his head at himself. “I’m trying to talk a beautiful woman out of sleeping with me. It’s come to this.”

Hannah turned off the overhead light and sat at Theo’s side. In the soft haze of the night lamp, she held her palm against his cheek.

“Look, I’m sorry for the way I offered myself to you last night. I shouldn’t have been so cold about it. If I wanted a meaningless encounter, I’d go to the bar and pick up a stranger. I’m coming to you because I want intimacy with a man I know and trust. We’re both adults, Theo. We can be affectionate without falling in love or hating each other later. We can make each other feel good on every level. But in order to do that, you need to stop worrying about the future, just for a little while. Can you do that? Can you put it all aside and just be with me?”

Caught between his doubts and desires, the inevitable regrets of his yes and no answers, Theo ran a cautious hand down her arm.

“When you are in your element, Hannah Given, you’re a force to behold.”

Smiling in victory, she reached for the lamp. “Sweetie, I haven’t even started.”

Sunday was a great night for both of them. At 5:23 and four Admiral Johns, they finally agreed to rest their elated bodies. Hannah pressed against Theo’s side as he drifted off to sleep, enjoying the rhythmic sound of his heartbeat. The thump thump thump— (of a brand-new chump)

—was hypnotic, almost enough to clear the turmoil in her thoughts. She wanted to burrow a hole in Theo and hide inside him until everything was right with the universe again.

They spent the next four days like newlyweds, devouring each other at every turn. In daylight hours, when the others embarked on their missions, they frolicked through the suite—kissing in the kitchen, spooning on the sofas, basking in the balcony hot tub. It was only during their evenings of mixed company that they kept their hands off each other. They agreed to keep their arrangement hidden, if only to spare themselves from Zack’s jokes, Amanda’s concerns, and David’s awkwardly intrusive questions.

With each secret act of pleasure, their emotional cords became tangled in ways that were both subtle and obvious. By Wednesday, their conversations had become as intimate as their lovemaking.

“I don’t miss my parents,” Theo confessed. “I was only their son when they could brag about me. The moment I stopped being the glowing prodigy, I simply stopped existing. They never even visited me in the hospital after I tried to kill myself.”

Hannah held him in bed, somberly staring at the wall as she traced a finger across his chest. “That might be a blessing. Amanda visited me and it only made things worse.”

“How so?”

“She sat next to my mother and looked at me like I was some kind of criminal, like I’d tried to kill some other girl. It made me want to die all over again. I mean I still love her but . . . I don’t know. If she hadn’t gotten a silver bracelet, I’d probably be telling you now in all honesty that I don’t miss her.”

In the predawn hours of Friday, they reached the peak of their union. Their fifth encounter of the night had turned so passionate that all they could do was stare at each other in astonishment as they fought to catch their breath.

“Hannah . . .”

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t say anything that’s going to change things.”

He eyed her with hot resentment. “I wasn’t going to tell you I love you.”

“I didn’t say you were.”