Theo nodded. “Me, too.”
“Oh, yeah? What did you do there, other than work?”
“Had breakfast with a pretty girl.”
The blood drained from my face, but Theo just smiled, watching my discomfort over the top of his glass as he took another drink.
“Have you taken any time off, or has it been all work and no play?” I asked, ignoring his comment and the way it made my skin heat.
Theo sighed, sinking a little lower in the tub. “I think I discover more and more the older I get that, for me, work is an ever-present part of life. Time off doesn’t exist.”
“Sounds like you need to hire someone to be here traveling with you,” I said. “A Vacation Enforcer.”
He laughed at that. “Oh yeah?”
“I’ve seen you trying to relax,” I commented. “It’s like watching a fish try to fly.”
“So you’ve been watching me, Miss Dawn?”
My smile vanished.
Theo just chuckled, sipping more of his scotch. He sucked his teeth at the burn of it. “To be honest, that’s how it feels for me, too — like I’m out of my element. It’s uncomfortable for me, to rest. I can’t even think about trying to go enjoy a day just being a tourist without breaking into hives.” He shrugged. “But it’s different than what people perceive. I like work. I enjoy it. I worked hard to make it that way. And they say if you love what you do…”
“You’ll never work a day in your life.”
He tilted his glass toward me. “Exactly.”
“I think I can understand,” I said. “I mean, if I ever get to make a living off photography, I don’t think I’ll want a day off, either. It’s hard enough now to put my camera down when I’m not being paid for it.”
“You will,” he said confidently. “Make a living off it, that is. But I hate to be the bearer of bad news — it’ll put pressure on your creativity, once you have financial implications.”
“Does it put pressure on you?”
Theo fell silent for a moment, thinking. “Yes and no. My job is a little less creative, though, and more technical. I used to love to code, but I’m so out of touch with it all now. I’m more focused on strategy, and charming clients for an afternoon and then spending an evening busying my mind with how the next software update could benefit them and us both.”
“It sounds to me like you don’t like to be alone with your thoughts.”
Theo frowned, slowly turning until his eyes met mine. I knew by the way he watched me that no one had ever said anything like that to him before.
I wondered if I’d pegged him down the way he’d done so to me in Nice.
“And,” I added, aiming to lighten the moment. “Like you need a little more fun in your life.”
Theo’s expression relaxed. “That so? And what should I do for fun?”
I shrugged. “Read a book for pleasure instead of work. Watch a movie. Learn an instrument. See a concert. Use your ridiculous amount of money to go shopping or eat at a cool restaurant. Jump off a cliff.”
“Jump off a cliff?” he echoed on a laugh. “Well, that’s one way to tell a person how you feel about them.”
“I mean like cliff diving!”
“Uh-huh, sure. It’s fine. See if I ever offer you an all-expenses paid trip on a yacht through the Mediterranean again.”
I laughed, my head tilting back, and it felt good — the way that sound reverberated through me, the way Theo’s smile widened at the sound.
Then, the laughter faded, and Theo’s smile waned, and in the quiet night with nothing more than the waves washing softly against the boat, I became suddenly and breathlessly aware of the fact that I was half-naked in a hot tub with Theo Whitman.
“So,” he said after a moment. “Should we address the purple elephant in the room?”
My heart stopped in my chest, kicking back to life with a sharp thud. “What elephant is that?”
“Why aren’t you on shore with everyone else?”
I sank deeper into the water on my next exhale. “Oh,” I said, relief flooding me, though I wasn’t sure what else I thought he might have been referring to, instead. “I was just too tired to go party all night,” I said with a shrug. “Honestly, I don’t know how they do it — working all day like that just to hang out all night and get up early to do it all again.”
“It definitely takes a special kind of person,” Theo agreed. Then, he tapped his fingers absentmindedly on the side of his glass, eyes glancing at the stairs behind me. “Joel didn’t stay behind with you?”
My stomach twisted at the reminder of what I’d been trying to forget all night. “No… but it’s okay. He was really excited about getting off the boat and seeing Italy. I don’t blame him.”
“I’m sure you two have spent a lot of time together anyway.”
I smiled.
At least, I think I smiled.
“Yeah.”
Theo tilted his head. “You’re doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Biting your tongue. Denying yourself the satisfaction of saying what you really want.”
I frowned. “I’m not… I wanted him to go. I wanted him to have fun, he deserves it.”
“And what about you?” Theo asked, and though it was only a marginal distance, I felt the heat of him moving closer, like he was the source of the hot tub’s warmth altogether. “What do you deserve?”
My breath caught in my chest, lips parting on a breath as Theo watched me. This close, even in the dark, those blue dusk eyes were so striking they rendered me speechless. And his gaze never wavered, not until so much time had passed that a chuckle left his lips.
“It really does make you uncomfortable, doesn’t it? To think of yourself instead of others.”
I didn’t respond. I was too busy reminding myself how to breathe.
In and out.
Inhale.
Exhale.
“I think I know what it is,” Theo mused. Then, he leaned back, giving me enough space
