Free The Look: Alpha Male, Feisty Female Romance by Blair Aaron Page A

someone had gotten to Theo before she did. She resolve to determine just who exactly it was. “The place is much cleaner than when I found it,” Theo said, a wry smile forming on his lips. Elsa was again struck by the beauty of his smile as well, perfectly aligned teeth, which gave a cat-like impression to anyone watching close enough. She looked around the open area of his cottage, which only one small wall dividing the living area from the kitchen area, and a large window on the back wall of the place, revealing a scenic view of the cliff's edge and the ocean beyond that. Elsa's soul floated out that window into the infinity of the sea, along with Theo. She looked over to him, the connection between him and her sedating her, intoxicating her. Her world faded into black, and she woke up later on his bed, vaguely recalling him gently picking her up from the floor and carrying her into his bedroom, his bed covered with soft downy sheets and cloud-like pillows. Theo was a stranger, yes, but for some reason, Elsa knew him. He sat next to her, his arm propping him up on the side, smiling over her. She breathed in a big waft of his scent, a pleasant mix of freshly cleaned skin, along with faint but heavy dirt and grass. Her ran his thumb across her forehead, caressing the side of her cheek, and her heart shuddered with the gesture. Despite her ever-knowing certainty when it came to their connection, she was still human, with doubts and second guesses about her hunches.
    Theo saw she was awake. “You took quite the fall there. I assumed there was something wrong.”
    “No, just nerves,” she said.
    “I have some work to do outside, if you would like to join me,” he said, getting up and moving toward the door. She got up and followed him outside, where he sat down on the ground, digging a hole with a wooden spade. Elsa sat down with him, and they worked together for a while in silence, in the way a couple might work when they have said everything there is to say between each other. But then Theo said something which suggested Elsa's feelings might not be returned.
    “There's a dance tomorrow, Father O'Grady told me. For me and Lili, commemorating her return and the things I did to help her.”
    “Are you going?” Elsa asked.
    “I think it's necessary. She would be very upset if I didn't, I would think.” He continued digging a hole in the ground, planting red seeds, using a wooden bucket to water the area. Elsa watched his blue eyes to determine if her presence held his interest. He looked at her hands digging along with him, and stopped, seeing the red stain on her dress for the first time.
    “Oh no,” he said. “Did these seeds do this?”
    “Not at all,” she said, anxious to please him, or at the very least unwilling to say anything that might upset him. She walked on a thin sheet of ice with him, terrified of falling through and losing the opportunity. And despite her attempt at hiding that, he could tell.
    “What happened here? There's only one kind of ivy that leaves a red stain like this,” he said. “Where did you find it?” She could tell he was curious about whether she had been into the Forbidden Forest.
    “Well,” she said, “it kind of found me.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “A couple girls gave it to me. They found it around her your head when you were lying unconscious on the edge of town.”
    “I see.” Elsa could not figure out what he thought of the ivy stain. Mentioning Chloe and Sarah brought up the idea in her mind that one of them had visited Theo before Elsa did. That possibility posed a far more optimistic problem for Elsa to solve than the alternative one--namely, that the first visitor was Lili. She wondered if Theo truly desired her, as Lili definitely gave the impression that she desired Theo. While Elsa knew Lili had been through a lot in the past few days, Elsa did not want to give up her connection with Theo. He sat there, continuing his work in the garden, planting the same