Chapter 23

Theo's POV I hung up the phone and set it on my desk, exhaling slowly. My office felt unusually confining this morning, the familiar space somehow inadequate to contain the turmoil within me. Claire. I couldn't stop thinking about her. My fingers moved unconsciously to my lips, still able to feel the warmth of her kiss, the softness of her skin beneath my hands. The memory of her scent—honeysuckle and rain, now inextricably mingled with my own—lingered in my senses despite the hours and miles between us. But reason screamed that last night never should have happened. I shouldn't have kissed her. I shouldn't have let things go that far. I certainly shouldn't have lost control the way I did. My actions contradicted everything I've stood for all these years—the principles I've built my life around. Professional boundaries. Emotional restraint. Complete control. I've maintained these walls for years, and in one night, Claire had somehow bypassed them all, leaving me exposed in ways I hadn'