“Wow, that’s exactly what I want to hear first thing in the morning from the guy I’m sleeping with.” This would’ve made anyone else at least flinch, but Theo Ganas was made of stronger mettle than that.

“I hate to point out the obvious, preciosa.” God, whenever he said that it was like my bones turned into marshmallow fluff. “But you haven’t been doing much sleeping.” The way he was looking at me indicated that he was not referring to the sex we’d been having in between me pulling all-nighters.

“I’ll rest when this is over, Theo,” I told him, annoyed. Because between him and Julia I was getting lectured on working myself too hard every hour on the hour and it was starting to piss me off. “Don’t you think I want to relax? How I am supposed to do that?” I asked, heated and frustratingly close to tears from sheer exhaustion. “Half the time I’m trying to fix Kayla’s interference on the show and the other I’m attempting to keep up with my business, and this Smithson-Napa collection thing?” I tried not to sound bitter because I knew my problems were ones a lot of people wished they had. But these once-in-a-lifetime opportunities had all turned into soul-killing ordeals I almost wished I could just walk away from. Not that I would ever say it out loud.

“If you’d let me talk to Tina, or to the executives about Chase—”

“No.” I cut him off before he could start on that again. My eyes prickled, but I squeezed them shut and gulped from my coffee mug. I didn’t want to look at him, because I’d see the worry in his face, and the frustration. “We’re almost done, we’re literally at the finish line. I just want to keep my head down until it’s over.” I hated that this was how things had ended up with the show, but it was what it was. Chase and Kayla had turned something that could’ve been a dream into a nightmare. “It’s not like it’ll do any good. Chase will just gaslight everyone.” Theo clearly did not agree with me, given the death grip he had on his mug and the “I want to make a murder” expression on his face.

And this was exactly what I’d been afraid of. That Theo would get into the cage fight that was my life with me and that it would wear him out too. By this point he had to know that getting me in bed for a few weeks was not worth dealing with the unending drama of my life.

“Why are you here, Theo?” My voice was harsh and breathy, like air was barely squeezing out of my clogged throat.