The Dealmaker (Sex & Bonds 1)

His lips twitch. My skin pulses. The music plays, and my heart migrates from my chest to the place where our palms meet. I could pull back. Keep my feelings and my future for myself.

Instead, I find myself handing it all over. My heart. Everything that’s in my head. My hopes too.

It’s all yours.

It’s been yours since—

Since I don’t know when. The time he gave me his first-class seat? Saved me from choking on Chardonnay? Or was it the way he listened to me on our Santa Barbara Shellfish Company date, or the poolside orgasm, or the way Keira told me he stuck up for her during this week’s traders’ meeting?

Or did it just happen now, today, as I watch him love his family and watch them love him back?

Speaking of family love: Shelby elbows Birdie, who falls into Ava, who falls into me. I stumble into Theo and he curses, our boots tangling, but he is there to catch us all, stopping our row of dominoes before we all hit the floor. Theo clamps a hand around my waist and yanks me against him.

“Who started it?” Theo growls.

“She did!” all three of his sisters reply, pointing at each other.

“Shelby wanted to see Nora hump you,” Birdie explains.

“I had to see if your love is real!” Shelby replies.

Ava’s rolling her eyes again. “And you think humping shows that?”

“It does sometimes, yes,” Ree replies.

“Mom,” Theo groans.

“What’s wrong with a little humping?” I say, holding back a laugh. “You kind of hump the air when you do that thing with your hips.”

Theo’s eyes flash. “What thing with my hips? Show me.”

“This thing.” I jerk my pelvis forward, using my arms to dramatize the motion. “See?”

Birdie nods solemnly. “That does indeed look like a hump.”

“Now do it to him,” Shelby says.

Ava makes a face. “Please don’t.”

“Humping should only happen between consenting adults in the privacy of their own homes, by the way,” Ree is saying.

The girls groan in unison. “Please stop,” Ava says.

“I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: consent, condoms, and coming,” Theo adds, cutting his sisters a serious look as he glides a hand into the back pocket of my jeans. “Never settle for anything less, y’all hear me?”

I stare at him. “That’s actually great advice.”

“Thank you. I know I yell a lot—”

“Like, all the time,” Shelby says.

“—but every once in a while, I do have some wisdom to impart.”

“Safe sex is good sex,” I reply.

Theo lets out a pained breath. “I’m going to have to ask you not to elaborate on that right now.”

“Y’all are doing it, aren’t you? The beast with two backs?” Birdie asks with a smile.

“Birdie, so help me God—”

But Waylon is turning down the music and leading the class through the intro to a new dance, so Theo just puts a finger to his lips and silently implores his sisters to be quiet.

His hand stays in my pocket. And my heart stays in his hand.

“Please, Teddy. Please!”

Theo closes the folio that holds the dinner bill and looks at Shelby from across the table. “Not tonight. Nora and I have plans to . . . watch a movie.”

“I can watch a movie with you,” Shelby says. “Movie nights at your house are my favorite. Please just let me sleep over.”

“No.” Theo tucks his AmEx into his wallet and scoots back his chair. “End of discussion.”

Shelby pouts. “Why not? I love the same movies you do.”

“Or maybe I just pretend to love the movies you pick out,” Theo shoots back.

I grin at Shelby. “He really does love them. Especially Hocus Pocus.”

“See! Even Nora said it’s cool if I come over.” Shelby leans her head on my shoulder. “Please?”

We’re at Cabo Fish Taco, a great little Mexican spot in the NoDa neighborhood not far from Theo’s townhouse. We didn’t have plans to grab dinner after our line dancing lesson, but Theo’s sisters said they weren’t ready for our time together to end quite yet. Plus they were hungry.

Now here we are, camped out at the restaurant’s largest table tucked into the bay window that overlooks bustling North Davidson Street. I ate far too many chips with far too much queso, and I’m pleasantly buzzed from two delicious margaritas. Shelby’s on my left and Birdie’s on my right. I must’ve fielded a hundred questions from the two of them over the course of the meal. Everything from how I got my start in finance to where I buy my bras and what my favorite kind of cookie is (they looked chuffed when I said peanut butter).

I meet Theo’s gaze and offer him a drowsy smile. Today really was the best day ever. I’m tired, but I’m also full. Content. I haven’t thought once about work or worried about who might see us. I just let myself get swept up in the chaos of the Morgan family, and now that I’m floating back down to earth, I’m wondering when we get to do it again.