CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: CHLOE

“Is that… Stardew Valley?” I peered across at Theo’s laptop screen as a familiar launch page caught my eye. “Did you actually buy it?”

“Mm. Honestly, it’s like my computer knew I’d watched you play and kept suggesting me videos on it.”

I side-eyed him. “Videos?”

“On YouTube. Instead of listening to music like I usually do, I’ve been watching people play this bloody game, and now I have to play, too.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “I can’t believe I’m spending my Saturday night sitting next to my boss playing Stardew.”

“There are other things we could do on this Saturday night,” he murmured, leaning in.

I reached over and pushed his face away from mine. “Everything is better in moderation.”

“Most things are,” he agreed. “But sex is not one of those things.”

Well.

Yeah.

“Tell me,” I said, turning to face him. “Would you work out if your muscles were sore after two back-to-back sessions?”

Theo blinked his grey-blue eyes at me. “No. I’d probably rest them for a day or so.”

“Then please extend that same courtesy to my vagina.”

“Nobody has ever asked me to extend a courtesy to their vagina before.”

“Then take this chance to do something for the first time,” I replied. “Unlike your penis, my vagina is a muscle, and muscles get sore.”

He leant in and rested his cheek against the side of my head. “Chlo. Did I hurt you?”

I paused. “Is that what you took from what I said?”

“You just said you’re sore. How else should I take it?”

Ugh. What a softie.

“Are you really worried you hurt me?” I reached up and patted his cheek. “You didn’t.”

He covered my hand with his, linking his fingers through mine, and pulled my palm down to kiss it. “Again, you said you’re sore.”

“Well… Muscles get sore when they aren’t used regularly.”

He stilled, then quickly relaxed. “I see.”

“You see? What’s that about?”

“Nothing.”

“Theo.”

“I was momentarily struck by the notion that I didn’t like the thought of you having sex with another man,” he admitted, kissing my palm again. “But if I’m understanding what you’re saying, then it’s been a while.”

Why on Earth would he be bothered by me sleeping with someone else?

“Oh? Is that so?” I asked, tilting my face towards his. “You didn’t exactly seem rusty yourself.”

“Don’t even go there. You’ve been running my life for the last ten months. You’d know if I’d been seeing anyone recently.”

“You’re not seeing me, and you slept with me.”

“The circumstances are massively different,” Theo said, releasing my hand and sitting up. “I just wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt you.”

“I promise that you didn’t. If you’re using the fact I’ve been running your life for the better part of a year as an excuse as to why you haven’t been with anyone, then what on Earth makes you think I’ve had the time to sleep with anyone?”

He paused. “That’s an excellent point. I’ll have to keep working you hard. And come up with a way to block your resignation again.”

I knocked my foot against his. “Just when you were making progress and becoming a reasonable boss.”

“I think I’m a very generous boss.”

“You would. You don’t work for you.” I laughed, opening my game. “Are you actually going to play this?”

“Yes. I wouldn’t have bought it otherwise.”

That was it.

Clearly, I’d orgasmed so hard I’d entered an alternate dimension.

“Like I said, I fell down a rabbit hole, and this game is surprisingly addictive to watch people play.”

He didn’t need to tell me that.

“Hey, Chloe?”

I paused. “What?”

“Wanna start a farm together?”

That was not a sentence I’d ever expected to hear from his mouth.

The alternate dimension theory was really starting to gain credibility, wasn’t it?

“I don’t really know how to respond to that,” I said honestly.

“Come on. I don’t know what I’m doing.” He leant against me again, using the top of my head as his own personal cheek rest. “I’m only going to bug you and ask you to teach me how to play, so you might as well play with me.”

I take back the ‘not a puppy’ thoughts.

He was totally a puppy.

A needy, whiny, touchy-feely puppy.

So, why the fuck could I not say no to him?

Was this what being whipped was? And if so, why was I the one whipped? Why was I giving in to this giant softie of a man?

I’d wanted to smack him with both a stone and a box file not that long ago.

He was turning my life upside down.

I sighed. “Fine, but you’re doing all the fishing. And I think you’ll have to download some of my mods, because I can’t play without them.”

“I can do that. Except the mods part, because I don’t know what that means. The fishing is fine. I thought that was fun.”

“Let’s see how cocky you are when you have to catch an octopus,” I muttered, moving my laptop to the side and taking his so I could start the process of adding the necessary mods to his game. “By the way, I needed to talk to you about something.”

“Hm? What’s up?”

“My aunt’s birthday is next weekend. Do you think I can go back to London for her birthday party?”

He peered over at me, reaching out to brush hair from my face. “Of course. Weekends are yours—that was the deal with this trip. Today was only an exception because of the office opening.”

That was true. I’d also been paid a very handsome overtime rate for today’s afternoon of work.

“Okay, thanks. I’ll text Harvey in a bit and let him know.” I finished downloading and installing the mods and handed Theo back his laptop. “I still can’t believe we’re about to do this.”

“Why not? Is it really that crazy?”

“What, is it crazy that we’re about to play a pixel farming simulator game while you’re wearing dinosaur-patterned socks and eating gummy bears?” I raised my eyebrows. “If it’s not crazy, let me take a picture of you.”

“All right.”

I stilled. “Did you just give me permission?”

“Yeah. Go ahead. Take a photo.” Theo grinned. “You can even share it in your exclusive group chat that doesn’t include me.”

He was never going to get over that, was he?

Also, what was going on here?

“I’m going to do it,” I warned, grabbing my phone and standing up.

“I told you to.”

“I’m really going to.” I opened the camera app and showed him the screen to prove it. “I mean it.”

Theo laughed, turning his laptop with the main game screen open. “Then do it. Wait, hold on, get the gummy bears in.”

Maybe we needed to have sex again.

Would another orgasm send me back to where this guy was cold-hearted and demanding?

He grinned, and I snapped the picture of him, making sure to get his t-rex socks in.

This was wild.

“Was it a good pic?” He leant over as soon as I sat back down. “Oh, I look good in that.”

He did.

Irritatingly good.

Which was ridiculous, considering he’d not long showered and his hair was a mess.

Seriously, was there anything this man couldn’t do?

Look at that. I’d found a new reason to mentally beat him with my box file.

Actually, there was plenty he couldn’t do. Like laundry, cooking, and wearing a shirt.

Speaking of… “I can’t actually share this photo, you know.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“Because you’re not wearing a t-shirt in it.”

Theo tilted my phone towards him. “You’re right. I forgot because you didn’t yell at me to put one on after I showered.”

My gaze trailed over his bare stomach. “I’ve decided to embrace your half-nakedness outside of working hours.”

“Only half-nakedness?”

“Full nakedness, too, I suppose.”

He grinned, leaning close to me. “You know, I think everyone at the office would be just as shocked by this side of you as they would be the dinosaur-sock-wearing side of me.”

I wrinkled up my face. He was probably right. For all of Theo’s reputation as the demanding bastard of a boss, I myself had one as a picky, cool perfectionist.

And I was.

I absolutely was a picky, cool perfectionist, so I didn’t much care if people thought that about that. It was a label I was happy to embrace.

So, the sex-confident, Stardew Valley playing Chloe St. James would probably really take people by surprise.

“Either way, this picture is a bust. I can’t share it with anyone,” I said, putting my phone away and bringing my laptop back to my legs.

“Are you going to delete it?”

“No. I can’t use it now, but that doesn’t mean I can’t ever use it in the future.”

“Just admit it.” Theo touched his lips to my bare shoulder. “You just want a shirtless picture of me.”

“Your self-confidence is astounding. How did you jump to such a conclusion?”

“It was the logical one to arrive at given the evidence.”

I turned my head so I could meet his eyes. “Theo?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up and open your parsnip seeds.”

***

The next few days seemed to drag.

Theo and I split our time between the cottage and the Adair Travel office, depending on what was on the schedule. Neither option was enjoyable for me—when we were at the cottage, I was all too conscious of him on the other side of the room, and when we were at the Adair Travel office, I had to deal with Anne-Marie and her endless flirting.

It bothered me more than it should. More than I should have allowed it to.

I had no business letting it bug me.

Especially not since I was the one on the receiving end of his attention the second the clock ticked over to seven p.m.

He’d kept his word and stuck to my boundary of not crossing the line during working hours. As far as work went, nothing had changed. He wasn’t as demanding as he had been in London, but that’d been the case since we’d arrived in Buckley Heath, so I was somewhat used to it by now.

I was just thankful he was happy to keep that work-life separation, even if he had grumbled a little about it last night.

There was no reason for his grumbling. He’d just done it because he wanted to, and he’d admitted as much.

“Oh, good afternoon, Miss St. James.”

I peered up from my laptop and smiled at Lennon. “Hi, Lennon. Are you just starting?”

“Yes, I had the morning off to take my mum to the hospital.”

“Oh, I hope everything is all right.”

“Just a routine appointment.” He smiled warmly. “How are you? Would you like a drink?”

I waved my water bottle at him by way of explanation. “I’m fine, thank you. Yourself?”

“Yeah, good. I wasn’t expecting to find you in here.”

“Ah. Mr Black is in the monthly meeting with the directors of Black Ink Corporation, so I excused myself out here.”

Lennon frowned. “Strange place for him to have the meeting here, isn’t it?”

“Yes, well, it was supposed to be tomorrow, but it was moved up. We were already here when I got the call, so we just had to make do.”

“That explains why Anne-Marie is pouting out there. She can’t knock on the door for unnecessary things.”

“I’m sure Mr Black is grateful for the break,” I said flatly.

Lennon chuckled. “I’m sure it’s not an issue you deal with in London, is it? The constant interruptions?”

“Not particularly. There are three of us in the secretarial office, so everyone who wishes to see him has to go through us first.”

“That seems like an efficient way to do things.” He smiled. “Do you mind if I sit with you?”

“Not if you don’t mind that I’m working.”

“Of course not.” He sat opposite me at the table with his cup of tea and pulled out his phone.

I turned my full attention back to my laptop and my bursting email inbox, but Theo’s words from last weekend fluttered through my mind.

Did Lennon really have a crush on me?

No. That was ridiculous. He’d never once shown any signs of seeing me as anything other than a coworker, so where the hell had that crazy man gotten that idea?

Pfft.

Look at me letting him get to me.

I opened the next email on the list and paused. “Was there something you needed?”

Lennon turned his head and coughed into his hand. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you.”

“It’s all right. If you’ve got something on your mind, I’d rather you just say it.”

“You’re so straightforward.” He chuckled. “Actually, I was going to ask if you were free this weekend.”

Huh.

Theo was right.

I could absolutely never tell him that he was right, and I was wrong. I’d never hear the end of it.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m travelling back to London for a family event this weekend.”

“Oh, right. No worries.”

“And, um, Lennon? It would be best to leave it at that.” I smiled softly. “I’m… seeing someone.”

His eyes briefly widened, but he smiled, dropping his head. “Of course, you are. I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”

Ah, shit.

Now I felt bad for lying.

“Not at all. You didn’t know,” I said. “Please don’t worry.”

He raised his head again, but before he could reply, the staff room door swung open, and Theo stuck his head inside the room.

“Chloe.” He pinned his gaze on me. “I need you.”