If the Shoe Fits

by Rachel Lacey

  Damn him.

  “If you’re sure.” She eyed him over her oatmeal. “But you know you’re going to cause a scene…a good kind of scene, but a scene nonetheless.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her. “I’m aware.”

  “Okay then.”

  So Elle and Theo served breakfast together on that fateful morning, much to the delight of their guests, who gushed and fawned all over him and posed for all manner of selfies with him before Elle finally ushered him back into the kitchen, where Beatrice lingered in the doorway, laughter in her eyes.

  “This is so ridiculous,” Elle said, rubbing at her head. It was sore, as was her neck, her back, her knees, and pretty much every other part of her.

  “Come on, you enjoyed it.” He put a hand at her waist, guiding her toward the counter. They lingered in the kitchen, carrying each course in and out of the dining room until the last guest had finished eating and wandered out into the castle.

  “I need to get back to the hospital,” she murmured to Theo as she carried the last of the dishes back into the kitchen.

  “I’ll drive.”

  You don’t have to do that, she started to say but stopped herself. He wanted to help, wanted to be here for her today, really and sincerely, and she needed to stop questioning it. Just accept his kindness and be glad for it. And above all else, not read too much into it, because it was all coming to an end so friggin’ soon.

  She checked on the cats while he took Louie for another quick walk. She packed fresh clothes and toiletries for Megan and Ruby and then they were on their way. Her chest grew increasingly heavy as he drove. How would Megan look this morning? Because she’d looked pretty damn awful last night. Elle was sick over the possibility of her friend’s beautiful face being permanently scarred.

  “You’re thinking so loud over there I can hear it,” Theo said, breaking in on her internal turmoil.

  “Sorry,” she murmured, loosening the fingers she’d inadvertently clenched into the fabric of her skirt.

  “Don’t apologize. You have every right to be worried.”

  “I’m just so worried about Megan. All those stitches. It must be so painful. Her face…”

  “I know.” Theo reached a hand over to grip hers. “It’s bad, but it happened, and now we’re just going to do the best for her that we can.”

  His words should have been obvious, but she’d needed to hear them more than she realized, because she felt something inside her relax as he spoke them. Yes, it sucked. But they’d get through it. Megan would recover. Scars would fade. She’d still be gorgeous, no matter what that tree had done to her face.

  She exhaled. “You’re right.”

  Theo turned in at the hospital and parked. Elle gathered the bag she’d packed for her friends, and together they walked inside, headed for Megan’s room. As she knocked, she could already hear a murmur of voices from inside. The door swung open, and Elle found herself facing Megan’s mom, Ruth.

  “Oh, Elle, it’s so good to see you.” She pulled Elle in for a big hug.

  “You too.” Elle felt tears welling in her eyes all over again. She’d known Megan’s parents since she was a little girl, so long that Ruth and Elle’s mom had been friends themselves. “I’m so glad you guys are here.”

  “We got on the first flight out this morning,” she said, stepping back to motion Elle and Theo into the room.

  “Theo Langdon,” he said, extending a hand.

  “Ruth Perl, Megan’s mother,” she said, ignoring his hand and giving Theo a warm hug instead. “That’s my husband, David.” She paused, and her eyes widened. “Langdon…oh, you’re the man who owns the castle.”

  “That’s right, ma’am. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Very sorry it had to be under these circumstances.”

  “These are unfortunately the kind of circumstances that tend to bring people together, though, aren’t they?” Ruth said with a sad smile, and Elle felt a surge of affection for this woman she’d known most of her life. Megan’s parents were good people, the best really.

  “And don’t you dare ma’am me,” she added, pointing a finger in Theo’s direction. “It’s Ruth.”

  Theo’s eyes twinkled. “Got it, Ruth.”

  Across the room, Elle could see Ruby sitting in a chair in the corner, squinting at her phone. It was strange to see her without her glasses, but the airbag had completely wrecked them. Megan’s dad sat at her bedside, talking to her. Megan turned toward Elle, and she hurried forward to give her friend a gentle hug, mindful of her bandages.

  “How are you feeling this morning?” she asked.

  If anything, Megan looked a little worse than she had last night. Her wounds had been so fresh then, but now they’d had time to swell and bruise, leaving the left side of her face puffy and discolored, her eye swollen almost shut. “Sore,” she said quietly. “Pissed.”

  Elle squeezed her hand. “They still letting you out this morning?”

  “Yeah.”

  Something inside Elle’s chest felt like it had broken, hearing the subdued, defeated tone of Megan’s voice. Megan, who always found something to laugh about, to joke about, who always made difficult situations brighter, looked like she might cry, and now Elle was choking back tears of her own. “Whatever you need, we’re here for you.”

  “I’m going home for a while,” Megan said.

  Ruth came and sat beside them. “We’re going to drive her back to Orlando tomorrow. She needs to rest and take it easy on those stitches.”

  “Definitely,” Elle agreed, as her chest constricted with sadness that Megan was leaving the castle. Of course, it made sense. She couldn’t work right now, and they all had to leave in a week and a half anyway. In fact, Megan probably wouldn’t be back. This was the beginning of the end of their time here together.

  Elle fought the urge to bury her face on Megan’s shoulder and cry.

  “Sometimes a girl just needs her mother.” Ruth bent to kiss the undamaged side of Megan’s face, before turning to Elle with a stricken look. “I’m sorry. That was tactless of me.”

  “No, it wasn’t,” Elle assured her with a smile, although Ruth’s words had indeed poked at the sore spot in her heart that still missed her mom, but she wasn’t fragile about it and had never wanted or expected people to tiptoe around the subject with her. “I’m going to miss the hell out of you here in Virginia, though, Meg.”

  Megan gave her a withering look that fell a little flat.

  “We’ll be happy to put you up at the castle for as long as you need before you return to Orlando,” Theo said, speaking to Megan’s parents.

  “Thank you. We really appreciate that,” David told him.

  “I’m glad we’ll get a chance to see it,” Ruth said with a smile. “We’ve heard so much about it from Megan the last few months.”

  “The room closest to Megan’s is open right now,” Elle told them, grateful Theo had made the offer she’d wanted to make on her own. “I’ll get you set up there as soon as we get back.”

  “Sounds wonderful. Thank you, Elle.”

  They spent a few more minutes talking. Elle gave Megan and Ruby the stuff she’d brought for them, and Ruby went into the bathroom to get dressed. She’d changed into scrubs at some point overnight and was very glad to have a clean set of her own clothes to put on. Since Megan’s parents were there to drive her back to the castle after she’d been discharged, Elle and Theo left with Ruby.

  “I’m going to be wearing these for a while,” Ruby said, sliding on the prescription sunglasses Elle had brought her as they walked outside.

  “Don’t you have another pair?”

  “I have an old pair I use as a backup, but the prescription’s a little out of date. I’ll order a new pair this afternoon.”

  “How’s your arm?” Elle asked her as they climbed into Theo’s car.

  “Sore.” Ruby looked down at the bandage on her right arm. “I can only imagine how Megan’s feeling.”

  “Just you and me for our l
ast week here.” Elle looked over her shoulder at her friend before shifting her gaze to Theo. “Not how we imagined our time here ending.”

  He kept his eyes on the road as he pulled out of the parking lot, his expression unreadable.

  “No,” Ruby agreed. “But then again, things rarely end the way we’re expecting them to, do they?”

  20

  Theo laced his fingers with Elle’s as they walked down the path toward the guest house. The basset hound, Louie, loped at his side, head down, nose twitching as he sniffed each brick that passed beneath his paws.

  “What a day.” Elle leaned against Theo, exhaustion evident in the weight of her words.

  “It has been.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer. He’d spent the afternoon playing catch-up on work while Elle got Megan and her family settled into the castle for the night and took care of their guests. “You’re stiff,” he commented, feeling the tension in her muscles beneath his fingers.

  “Sore. Tired. Stressed.” She rolled her neck, and it popped beneath his fingers.

  “I know what you need,” he said.

  “Is that so?” She tossed a suggestive look in his direction.

  “Actually, I wasn’t talking about sex, but that sounds good too. I was going to suggest a hot bath and a glass of wine.”

  “Oh.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “That sounds heavenly, now that you mention it.”

  “I don’t think you’ve tried out my tub yet.”

  “I haven’t.” She leaned against the side of the house while he opened the door for them and then headed straight down the hall in the direction of the bathroom. “Care to join me?”

  “Sure would. You get started while I pour us some wine.” He unclipped Louie’s leash, and the dog promptly curled up on the living room floor and went to sleep. Laziest dog of all time, but hey, it made him the perfect houseguest, as far as Theo was concerned. He walked to the bar, opened a bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon, and poured two glasses, which he carried with him to the bathroom.

  Elle sat perched on the edge of the tub, watching the water as it ran from the faucet. “I guess I’ll forgive you for not having any bath bombs or anything to put in it.”

  “Bath bombs?” He frowned. “Is that like bubble bath?”

  She gave him an amused look. “Bubble bath is for kids. Bath bombs are for adults. They have oils to moisturize your skin and for aromatherapy. They’re lovely. You should try them sometime.”

  “I’ll take your word for it. I do have Epsom salts, though. They’re good for muscle aches.”

  “Oh, perfect.”

  He set down the wineglasses and rummaged through the cabinet until he came up with the bag of Epsom salt, then dumped a small amount into the bath. Elle reached behind her back to unzip her dress. It fell to the floor, leaving her in a flesh-toned bra and panties, which soon joined the dress in a heap on the tile as she sank into the tub.

  “God, that feels good.” She leaned back, propping a towel behind her head.

  Theo was getting aroused just watching her. He shucked his clothes and slid in opposite her, their legs tangling in the center of the tub. “Can’t remember the last time I took a bath.”

  “I take them often, but my tub isn’t nearly as nice as yours. I do have lots of nice bath accessories, though.” She gave him a coy look as she reached for her glass of wine.

  “What kind of accessories?” he asked, because something about the way she said it sounded sexier than bath bombs.

  “Oils and bath bombs and scented candles,” she said, sliding lower in the water. “My little tub up at the castle doesn’t have jets, which can be nice for, you know…”

  Was she talking about masturbating in the tub, or had his mind just taken a wide turn and fallen into the gutter? Either way, his dick rose to the challenge, hardening beneath the water.

  Elle glanced at it, and a flush spread across her cheeks. “But my vibrator is waterproof. I took a lot of baths before we started sleeping together.”

  “Fuck.”

  “After our bath,” she said with a wicked wink. “I’m supposed to be relaxing right now.”

  He pressed the button to turn on the jets and motioned for her to come toward him. He spun her so that she leaned against his chest and brought his hands to her shoulders, working his fingers into the knots in her muscles.

  “Mmm.” Elle dropped her head to the side. “You have such nice hands.”

  “Keep talking like that, and we might not stay in the tub very long.”

  “Don’t care,” she mumbled. “As long as you keep doing that.”

  “Happy to oblige.” And he was. There was something uniquely satisfying about holding her in his arms, working the tension from a long, stressful day out of her shoulders.

  She reached for her wineglass, making her muscles ripple beneath his fingers. “I still can’t believe you sold the castle.”

  He sank his fingers into a knot between her shoulder blades, drawing a low moan from her lips. “I’m sorry, Elle.”

  “I’m still mad at you. Don’t think just because I’m leaning on you after the car accident that I’ve forgotten.” There was a fierceness in her tone that he hadn’t heard in a while. It reminded him of the way she’d sounded that first afternoon in his office, when he’d told her he planned to sell, and she’d fought so hard to stay.

  “I know you haven’t forgotten.” He kept massaging her neck and shoulders, trying not to feel the weird tightness that took up residence in his chest every time he thought of selling the castle…of hurting Elle…of losing her.

  “We have to talk about it soon, just maybe not tonight.” With a sigh, she leaned back against him, letting her blonde hair spill over his shoulders. It smelled like honey and flowers, everything sweet and beautiful like the woman in his arms. She squirmed against him. “How am I supposed to relax with that thing poking me in the back?”

  “This thing?” He shifted his hips, letting his cock press more firmly against her.

  “Mm hmm,” she said, sounding restless and aroused.

  He let one of his hands drift from her shoulder to her breast, pinching her nipple, before continuing its journey over the soft plane of her stomach. Her breath hitched as he dipped between her legs, brushing against the slickness he found there. “Maybe this will help.”

  In response, she lifted her hips, allowing him better access. He turned his head, kissing her a bit awkwardly due to the angle, their tongues moving clumsily against each other. He pressed one finger inside her while his thumb circled her clit, drawing a breathless gasp from Elle.

  “Don’t stop,” she whispered.

  “Wasn’t planning to.” He added a second finger, stroking in and out, letting his fingers drift up over her clit on each stroke.

  She threw her head back, panting, her hips moving to the rhythm he’d set. “Theo…”

  “I’ve got you.” He brought his free hand down to cup her breast.

  She panted, thrusting her hips against him, and he stroked harder, faster, letting his wrist rub against her clit as he worked, and soon her body was tensing, her inner walls clamping around his fingers as she came. She turned her head, her lips meeting his in a messy, desperate kiss that lit every cell in his body on fire.

  This woman…

  Her body went limp in his arms as he slid his fingers carefully from her body, coming to rest on her stomach. She rested her face against his neck, breathing slow and deep. They stayed like that for a long minute as she caught her breath. She moved first, sitting up and reaching for her towel. She slid out of the water, wrapping the towel around herself with a sated smile on her lips. “Ready to move this into the bedroom?”

  Elle woke in Theo’s bed sometime during the night. Her heart felt full to bursting and painfully broken at the same time. Megan was leaving today, going home to Florida. She wouldn’t be back before they closed the doors on their program here at the castle forever. Elle and Ruby would host their charity b
all without her, pose for their photoshoot for Modern Home and Gardens without her. Before Elle knew it, tears were streaming down her cheeks.

  Theo’s arm came around her, warm and solid. “Shh, it’s okay.”

  “This isn’t how it was supposed to end,” she whispered.

  “I know.”

  “Why does nothing ever work out the way it’s supposed to?” She swiped at her eyes, sinking into his chest as she tried to staunch the flow of tears.

  “Well, some would argue that it does. It’s just not the way you thought it was going to be.”

  She sucked in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She needed to calm down so she could get back to sleep, but she felt like she was suffocating under the weight of all the emotions churning inside her. “It’s so unfair that Megan’s missing our last week here, and the ball, and the photoshoot for the magazine.”

  “You’re right. It’s not fair.”

  “I just feel sick about it.”

  “I know you do.”

  “It just feels like everything in life eventually turns to shit. I’d finally found something amazing here at the castle, and with you. And now Megan’s hurt. I’ve lost my job here, and you’re going back to England…”

  Theo went very still and quiet behind her. “My decision to sell had nothing to do with our relationship. You know that, right?”

  “My head knows it. My heart’s not so sure.” She hated the words as soon as they’d left her mouth. They sounded so small and needy.

  “Elle.” He tugged at her arm. “Turn around and look at me.”

  She did, finding his eyes in the dark. God, why were they doing this now, in the middle of the night? She was so tired. And wired. And hurt. “I’m looking.”

  “He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. What happens between us when it’s time for me to return to London has no bearing on it, okay? You’re important to me, and I don’t want to fuck this up any more than I already have.”

  Her heart squeezed painfully. “What will happen, though, Theo? When it’s time for you go to back.”

  “I don’t know. I had intended to cut ties here in America, but I’m not sure that will be as easy as I’d thought.”