I kissed his cheek. “Okay, show me your video game skills.
His face lit up as he grabbed another controller out of a drawer and handed it to me.
After half an hour of him destroying me in some shooting game where I couldn’t even move my character, he shut the game off.
“Tell me why you like Star Wars so much,” I asked.
“Are you kidding? It’s only the best saga ever. And the Princess Leia fantasy is hot, too.”
“The Jabba the Hutt thing, where she’s dressed as a slave?” I asked, scrunching my nose at him. “He looks like a giant slug.”
“Well, he wouldn’t be involved in the fantasy, but, yeah.” He rubbed at the back of his neck with his right hand.
“Let me get this straight, you want a girl to dress in that getup?”
“Fuck yeah, I do.”
I laughed as he smiled. I enjoyed hanging out with him.
“Oh ok, I’ll try to remember that then.”
“Yeah write it down, take a picture. What about you? Any wild fantasies I can help fulfill?” His eyebrows arched as a slow smile spread along his gorgeous face.
I leaned back and kicked my feet up on his lap. “Yeah, imagine a beach. Late at night, with a stranger.”
His thumb traced lazy circles on my ankle. “Oh, I imagine that night all the time.”
“Me too. You think about my boobs?” The question slipped out of my still rubbery lips. I really needed to sober up, but I was having a hard time of it.
“Your boobs?” He smirked.
“I know you think about them. I saw your list.”
He sat up straighter. “My list?”
“Yeah. The day of the interviews. I saw the list you left on your precious clipboard.”
“Fuck,” he ran a hand down his beard, “you weren’t supposed to see that.”
“Just how many lists do you have?”
He glimpsed up to the ceiling briefly before answering, “Quite a few.”
“What about? Are there any about me?”
He shook his head, eyes trained on the floor as he smiled. “Penny, they’re all about you.”
“I’m going to need to see these lists.” I smiled as our eyes met. He had lists, and many about me. Along with the picture, these lists would be my most prized possession. I was falling for this man.
“Maybe someday.” He gazed at me through hooded lashes.
For a few hours Theo and I talked about my father and everything we could think of to get me out of my impending doom. He begged me over and over to tell my father to shove it. But, I couldn’t tell him the real reason why I agreed to my father’s demands.
Sober by the time Theo dropped me off, I left him with a promise to think of a plan.
I prayed we would.
The next morning when I stepped into the kitchen, the rich smell of coffee and Margo’s sour expression greeted me.