Chapter 11
Mia
Whenever I wake up at Theo’s, there is no way of knowing what time it is because Theo’s room is a dark cave at all times. At first, the dark foreboding look to his bedroom was off-putting, but now, it feels cozy and intimate like I’ve been invited into his private lair.
I glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was still early, only a little after midnight. The breathtaking emerald and diamond necklace lay in front of the clock. The warm white light from the digital clock shone through, illuminating the necklace into an otherworldly, almost alien artifact. It was that beautiful.
And it was mine.
Picking it up, I marveled at the intense magnificence of it. Theo had outdone himself. Gently laying the necklace back down, I marveled at the spectacular night we had together.
Recalling the night, I couldn’t remember how I’d gotten upstairs into Theo’s room. I must have fallen asleep sometime during the movie. Such a gentleman again, Theo carried me upstairs. The fatigue of my busy week still lingered in my bones.
Theo wasn’t lying next to me. Stretching my limbs in the bed, I wondered where Theo had gone.
A sinking feeling hit my stomach.
How long had he been gone? Had he left? What was he doing sneaking off when I’d fallen asleep?
A horrible thorny thought came to mind. Was there someone else in the picture? Had the necklace been some kind of admission of guilt? Or worse? A parting gift?
All of Theo’s past girls were beautiful, thin actresses and models. Who was I kidding? I looked nothing like them with my curves, gigantic breasts, and huge ass.
An even worse thought came over me. Everyone at Pictogram had been so nice and welcoming to me except for one person. Penny.
Why? What did she have against me?
Penny was absolutely gorgeous and so put together, but she hated me from the very beginning before I even had a chance to offend her. Was there something going on between Penny and Theo?
My negative thoughts were piling onto each other at a ridiculous speed. I stopped myself from jumping to conclusions and letting my self-doubt poison what a wonderful night I’d had with Theo.
It had been a truly magical night in every way. There was no reason to spin out of control when Theo had most likely only been out of bed for a few minutes.
Why was I so hung up on Penny? Was I threatened by her?
It was stupid of me to be even a tiny bit worried about Penny. Theo had given me no reason to believe their relationship was anything more than professional.
Besides, a plausible explanation for Penny’s attitude toward me could be simply because she was a bitter bitch. Any time someone didn’t like me, I always blamed myself, fearing that I’d wronged them somehow. Penny hadn’t even given me a chance to offend her.
To allay my fears, I got out of bed putting on one of Theo’s shirts. He was probably up late working. Walking out into the hall, Theo’s voice trailed from his home office.
“You can’t be serious, Warren!” Theo bellowed.
I crept down the hall carefully listening.
“I’m sorry, but I’m dead serious. The Board is going to take a vote on whether or not you should stay on as CEO,” Warren, Theo’s COO, replied gravely on speakerphone.
Seeing Theo at his desk with the strain of worry on his face made all my doubts about his feelings for me rush away. This had nothing to do with another woman. This had nothing to do with me. It all had to do with Theo’s company.
“I’m not giving up,” Theo said firmly before looking up and seeing me in the doorway.
His face lit up into a smile and my chest exploded in happiness at the warmth I saw there. He really did care for me. I’d been so stupid to let my negative thoughts almost get the best of me.
“I’ve got to go, Warren,” Theo said hanging up. He came over to me and scooped me up in his arms. “Did I wake you?”
“No, I just couldn’t sleep without you,” I stammered.
“You want a snack?” he asked, kissing me on the top of my head.
“Sure. I always want a snack,” I said.
“Great. I’m starving,” he said, giving me another kiss, this time on my nose.
I’d always dreamed of the day a man cared for me enough to kiss me on my nose. A nose kiss was such a sweet delicate gesture and Theo did it with such casual grace. I was the luckiest woman on Earth.
He held my hand as we walked downstairs. “You ever have a waffle BLT?”
“No, but it sounds delicious!” I answered, intrigued.
In the kitchen, Theo was upbeat and cheerful, but I knew there was so much on his mind. Warren didn’t sound optimistic on the phone.
Opening the freezer, he pulled out frozen waffles. “Waffle BLT’s are so good and incredibly easy to make. You’ll love them.”
“Can’t wait!” I paused, reluctant to spoil the mood. “Um. So, who were you talking to?”
Theo’s face tensed as he took out a frying pan from a cupboard and bacon from the fridge. “Warren.”
It was best to not reveal how much of the conversation was overheard, so I played stupid. “Oh? Something important? You two were talking so late. Everything, okay?”
Theo clicked on the stove. His face was conflicted before he said, “I don’t want to worry you.” He took my hands in his. “Nor do I want you to feel responsible for any of this.”
It was too late. I already did.
He turned back to the stove and placed four pieces of bacon in the pan. “But, because of everything that’s happened, the Board is going to vote on whether I can stay on as CEO.”
I hugged him from behind, squeezing him tight. “Can they do that?”
He clasped my hand on his stomach and just nodded.
I felt awful. “There must be something that can be done. Something that I can do? I’m the one that started this whole thing any way.”
My rogue activism as Anonimo could cost Theo his company. Pictogram meant everything to Theo. If he lost it, it would be all my fault.
The bacon sizzled and crisped in the pan. The salty, savory smells of mouth watering bacon wafted throughout the kitchen.
“Can you pop some waffles into the toaster?” Theo asked me.
Regretfully, I pulled away from him. Worries that our relationship could be in jeopardy stirred back up inside me. How would Theo ever forgive me if he lost Pictogram?
With shaky hands, I took the waffles out of the package and put them in the toaster. What could I do to help him? Pictogram was everything to Theo.
He held me from behind. “I don’t want you to feel responsible for any of this. The Board had already questioned my leadership long before any of the pics came out.
Tears fell from my eyes. “I shouldn’t have been such an asshole and posted those photos and violated your privacy.”
He turned me around to face him and touched his nose to mine, holding my face in his hands. “If you hadn’t posted those photos, we wouldn’t be here right now together. Everything happens for a reason. If those leaked photos led me to you, I would do it all over again. A hundred times over.”
Wiping my tears from my cheeks, he kissed me on the lips. The bacon cracked and sizzled. Abruptly, he turned back to the stove. “The bacon! I hope you like them extra crispy!”
“I love extra crispy,” I said, sniffling and wiping my tears away.
My love for Theo made my heart burst. I couldn’t let him lose the community he built from his heart, especially since it was without a doubt all my fault.