Heartless Hero (Crowne Point 1)

I nearly lost my breath.

A nursery.

Theo embraced me from behind, surrounding me with his warmth, his palms landing gently on my belly, nearly encapsulating the entire thing. He buried his nose into my neck, lips warm on the flesh when he spoke.

Theo kissed up and down my neck. “It’s gender neutral.”

Gray-and-yellow chevron walls, a softly colored crib with a mobile hanging above, even a fully stocked library next to a rocking chair. Swans dangled from the mobile, laces tied the crib together in pretty bows, and a Crowne Point blanket hung over the rocking chair.

They were little bits and pieces of us, of our relationship, incorporated into our future. I blinked away tears.

“If you don’t like it—”

“I love it.”

Theo, who always acted so uncaring, but always cared the most.

We were so young, and probably not ready in any sense of the word, but nothing had ever made more sense, had never been more right, until that little stick said pregnant. All my insecurities, my need for love, vanished. I said I would give all the love I’d always needed, the attention I’d always craved. I would make sure he or she would grow up never knowing that void.

Theo was the same. That fear of abandonment, that ache of being left, they would never know it. Every hurt lashed on us had been leading us to this moment.

It was perfect and right and whole.

“We’re close to your school, and just two hours from Crowne Point, so you can still visit your family on the holidays and get Crowne Drive-In Diner on the weekend, and when you finish, you can open up that shop you’ve always dreamed about, because you will open up your shop—” He ended abruptly, as if realizing he was rambling.

“How can you—err, we—afford this?”

Theo was quiet, and I pulled out of his embrace, coming to a conclusion. His mom lived in a swanky house, nothing compared to what I’d grown up in—but then, I was the one percent of the one percent.

“Wait…” I bit the inside of my cheek to stop from smiling, but it was pointless, because a mischievous smile lit up my face. “Theo Hound… are you a trust fund kid now?”

He barked a laugh. “Hardly.”

“Theo Hound, who always made fun of us. Theo Hound, who always looked down on us. Theo Hound is now one of us—”

He gripped my cheeks, pulling me in for a harsh kiss, cutting off my words.

When he pulled back, I was dizzy.

“Now I’m the poor one,” I whispered.

He caressed my cheek. “I’ll be sure to treat you as well as you treated me.”

My eyes grew even wider, and he grinned. He pulled me into an embrace, into his chest. I turned my head on his soft shirt, taking in our new apartment.

“This feels like a happily ever after,” I said suspiciously against his chest.

“No way,” Theo said, and I lifted my eyes to his. “This is a happily ever after, Abigail.”

I let that sink in as he wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me tighter against him. Theo’s heartbeat thrummed steadily against my ear.

“Truth or promise?” I asked against it.

He grinned against my forehead. “Promise.”

“Promise you won’t break my heart?” I asked.

“Promise.”