Total pages in book: 197
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199143 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 996(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Throw cushions on the couch.
A decorative rug.
Bright, colorful artwork on the walls.
Flowers on the table.
Although, to be fair, the flowers were from him to her.
Theo didn’t think he would be the kind of man to bring flowers home, but he couldn’t resist the pink roses he’d noticed in a flower shop window the day before. Evelina’s smile, her quiet thanks, and her hard kiss had made the flowers worth it.
He’d probably bring a few more home.
Once Evelina was finished prepping her tea, and she was satisfied it had steeped long enough, she tucked herself into Theo’s side without a word. She sipped on her tea, and put her head to his shoulder.
Theo grinned, glancing down to see the content, pleased smile his girl wore. She didn’t say anything, just snuggled in closer, and let him wrap an arm around her shoulders. Theo put his mouth to the top of her head, and gave her a kiss.
Evelina sighed.
Yeah, he still liked mornings the best.
But they were better with Evelina.
It was the quietest time between them. She rarely asked his plans for the day, but Theo always made sure to call her every once in a while to let her know things were fine.
She’d worry otherwise.
He didn’t think that would be fair.
It took him a little while to figure it out, but love wasn’t all that hard to explain.
People liked to say it was many things entangled into a giant mess of something huge.
It wasn’t all that big to Theo.
But it was still everything.
Love was in the little details.
Evelina’s smile.
Her happy silence.
His warm apartment touched by her.
Her hands tucked against his chest as she slept.
Silent mornings.
Sugar and milk in her tea.
His love was in the details.
Evelina wasn’t the kind of woman who needed words to know.
She just did.
*
“Hey,” Evelina said softly.
Theo shrugged on his blazer, and turned on his heel to face his lover. She leaned against the hallway wall, watching him and he stepped into his leather shoes.
“I shouldn’t be gone all day,” he told her. “Nothing too busy.”
Evelina nodded. “Sure.”
“Don’t worry about me, okay.”
“Kind of hard to do.”
“But easy to say,” Theo said, finishing her unspoken words.
“Yeah, Theo.”
He didn’t want her fretting and worried all damn day while he was gone. There was still a lot of unhappy people in the Outfit causing trouble, and they weren’t mixed up with those people. He refused to take sides—Evelina just wanted to be happy.
He wanted her happy, too.
Still, Theo could plainly see the worry in Evelina’s eyes.
“Why don’t we do something tonight?” Theo asked. “Dinner, movie, a show. Whatever you want, babe.”
He didn’t really want to go out.
But if it would make Evelina smile, he would do it.
Evelina made a face. “How about I cook us something, you grab a movie on the way home, and we can make a night in?”
Theo laughed. “You know me well.”
“Of course.”
Her words had been spoken quietly, but surely.
Almost as if she wanted to say, Did you expect anything else, Theo?
He didn’t.
She just ... knew.
“Night in then,” Theo said, smirking.
“Sounds perfect,” Evelina replied. “Get going so you can get home faster. And Theo?”
“Hmm?”
“Be careful.”
Theo blinked, his smirk melting away. “You know I’ll be fine, right? Nobody is coming after me, now, Eve.”
Or them.
And that was most important.
Evelina’s stare dropped down to the floor. “Seems more bystanders end up being hurt when something happens rather than the people who are intended to be hurt. I just don’t want you to be one of them. That’s all.”
Theo took a step forward, and then another. Before he knew it, he had Evelina wrapped in his arms, a hand holding her back tight, and another wrapped up in her wavy hair. She shuddered against his strong hold, but stayed quiet.
His girl ...
God, he loved this woman.
“I’m always going to come home,” he promised.
Evelina nodded.
“Every night, Eve.”
She nodded again.
“To you,” he finished firmly.
Finally, she seemed to relax at his words. Theo took that as a battle won. He knew she worried a hell of a lot, but there was only so much he could do to calm her concerns. Which most times, wasn’t a whole hell of a lot.
“What can I do, huh?” he asked.
Evelina glanced up, her brow furrowing. “What do you mean?”
“So that you know I’m always coming home to you, no matter what happens.”
“I know you will, Theo.”
“Do you?”
“Yes,” she whispered.
He still wondered ...
Theo thought about the morning he’d spent with Evelina, from the moment he woke up and watched her sleep, to the tea he helped her make without even being asked.
Every morning was the same.
Each one.
And he loved it.
Theo smiled, cupped Evelina’s face in his hands, and swept his thumbs over her cheeks. “I want to keep doing this with you, Eve.”
“Do what, Theo?”
“This,” he said, waving one hand at the hallway. “Waking you up in the morning, watching you put on one of my shirts to be lazy in, helping you make your tea the way you like, and seeing you at the end of the hall before I leave. Every single morning. I want to keep doing this with you. Don’t you know that? Forever, Eve.”