You, with a View

by Jessica Joyce

And then my heart stops for real. Theo Spencer, the beautiful, infuriating centerfold of Forbes magazine, is staring right at me.

I don’t want it to be true, but the truth is staring at me, wholly unimpressed: my high school adversary is Paul’s grandson, and we’ve been talking all week without realizing it.

“Haven’t seen that smile in a while, Teddy,” Paul says with a grin the same shape as Theo’s, dimple and all.

Looking for something specific, or is this just run-of-the-mill stalking?

Theo’s eyes slip past his granddad to me, and for an extended moment, we stare at each other.

“If anyone can just do things, it’s you, Shepard. You’ve been just doing things as long as I’ve known you.”

“Was my face fresh in your memory, Shep? Been staring at my LinkedIn profile picture every night?” “Please don’t project your fantasies onto me.”

Paul and Kat’s Honeymoon Road Trip

“Us. We realized that first impressions don’t dictate what the final impression will be. Once we opened ourselves up to truly knowing each other, it was easy to fall.”

Time and distance will make you forget, but I’ve never had enough of either to forget the way Theo Spencer can aggravate every nerve in my body with the twist of his mouth.

“Did I mention this to you in high school once or something? Is this some twisted gotcha?”

“What’s truly funny,” Paul says, “is Teddy talked quite a bit about a very accomplished girl in high school. Now, it took me a bit of time to unravel all this after I met you last week, but I realized the name I always heard as Steph was actually Teddy talking about you and calling you Shep.”

“I have a better idea. Like I said, you can take the map. But I’d like you to take me, too.”

You were never my nemesis. You were my . . .” I hate how I hold my breath. “My motivation.”

AHHH!!!

“Have fun.” His smile fades and he pulls off his sunglasses. “For real. I hope you find whatever you’re going after. I’ll be following along with the story.”

“I can’t wait to see you with a camera in your hand tomorrow.” He says it in a rush, then looks down, exhaling slowly. “You’d better be as good as I remember. No crooked photos.”

That’s something I haven’t felt in so long—hope that things will shift into the shape I confidently sketched out when I was young.

Instead, I hear my own voice, assuring me that, though these photos aren’t the best I’ve ever taken, at least I took them. Maybe it doesn’t have to be my best to still be enough.

I undress to the muffled sounds of Theo moving around in the bathroom. Something about it soothes me, that there’s someone in there waiting to take care of me. That he’s willing to, even after I messed up.

There’s a beat of silence. Then, “Don’t do shit like that again, Shepard. We’re going to be walking along much higher drops. I don’t want to watch your body fall off the side of the Grand Canyon.”

“I wouldn’t stop you if you kissed me right now.” I say it quietly in case he changes his mind, but his eyes darken, pupils dilating. He doesn’t move, though his mouth parts like he can already taste it. “Now you.”

His breath dances over my lips. “If I kissed you right now, I wouldn’t stop.”

“You said I could look.” I choke out a laugh. “There’s a lot of nuance between looking and staring, Spencer.” “Sometimes I like to take my time.”

With my heart flying, I press my finger on the shutter release. It’s my first picture of Theo. But I doubt it’ll be my last.

“They slipped briskly into an intimacy from which they never recovered.”

“I would’ve done anything for her.”

He kisses like some people fuck: slow, deep, and dirty, with bitten-off noises that broadcast his need.

I close my eyes, rest my cheek against his shoulder. I swear I feel the sunlight on my back from my grandparents’ backyard when Thomas and I would look in the kitchen window, spying on their impromptu dances.

Was it loud?” “Oh, absolutely.” “And did it get kind of high-pitched at the end?” Where is this going? “Actually, yeah. A little bit.” “Then you can’t forget, because that’s what yours sounds like,” he says. His words clutch at my throat. I stare up at him, gaping, as he moves us to the melody Gram’s laughter drowned out more than once. “I could hear you down the hall most days, Shepard. Your laugh shook the walls until it went into dog whistle mode.”

Theo’s body was made for mine like this;

“I have a secret,” Theo murmurs, his midnight eyes fixed on me, full of starlight. “Tell me.” “Don’t let it go to your head, okay?” “Well, with that disclaimer . . .” His grin is small, but it fades as quickly as it came. “You look so fucking beautiful right now.”

“Theo’s not an open book. It must frustrate you because you are.”

Even with the glower on his face, he’s a light source. I lift toward him like a thirsty flower.

“What?” “I don’t know,” he murmurs. “You.”

“Your sounds,” he says on a laughing groan. “You drive me so fucking wild, Noelle.”

“I love the way you say my last name with all your attitude, so I’m not saying stop calling me Spencer.” He pauses and I open my eyes, holding my breath. “But now that you’ve started calling me Theo, don’t stop that either, okay?”

“Logically, I know that you wore those shorts because they’re functional, but your ass in them is the only thing keeping me going right now.” He reaches out to grasp my spandex-covered hip with firm fingers, his thumb digging into my ass. “Also, the fact that you’re destroying me is hot.”

“And anyway, I’ve always liked watching you kick ass, Shepard. Even if it was mine.”

“Maybe you were annoyed by our competition, but I loved it. Either you were complimenting me in your ass backwards way, or you were killing it. Do you know how fun it is to see you get that homicidal glint in your eyes?”

“You saw me as someone to battle against, and I admit I saw you like that, too. But there were times when you felt like my only equal.”

You’re good, Noelle, and I knew it as soon as you picked up your camera in Yosemite. You had this look on your face—the same look you’d get when you’d volley a ball back and you fucking knew you were going to get that point.

“I want to get to the top. I’m just scared.” He lets out a shaky breath. “Me too. But I’m with you, I want to get to the top.”

I turn to Theo to say something profound, but he cups my cheek in his hand and presses his body and lips to mine. It’s a soft, tender embrace.

“Look at the view,” I say against his mouth when we pull back for a breath. His thumb grazes over the plane of my cheek. “I am.” He holds me in his gaze for a beat, and right then, I know he really sees me. Then he turns, dropping his hand from my face as my chest swells, curling an arm over my shoulders so we can take it in together.

“All right, so what would Theo Spencer do if he were really living?” His shoulder lifts in a sigh. “I’d do this, but for longer. Travel all over the place.”

I’ve never heard his happiness so unrestrained.

“Feels like your body was made for me.”

“I like feeling your heart beat fast for me.”

“That’s how I know you like me.”

“I like you, too.”