"Wake up," his voice was coaxing me back from such a sweet dream.

I grumbled and glared up at him the second I opened my eyes, "what's going on?"

"We're going for a run."

I groaned and stretched my legs in the most unattractive way while I covered my face with my hands, "that's never going to happen, Theo. What time is it?"

I noticed he was wearing a white tee shirt with black basketball shorts.

"It's 7 AM. Come on, love, get up. I've fed that devil cat of yours, I think she's warming up to me. Just a quick run, a few miles..."

"A few miles? It's way too early, let me sleep," I complained, rolling onto my side so my back was to him, the duvet loosely over my body on the couch while I let my eyes close again.

I felt his lips on the back of my shoulder, his hand caressing the curve of my side and pushing down the duvet in the process.

"Just a quick run. Not many people are out this early, so nobody will disturb us," he was telling me, his hot breath fanning my skin and lips brushing against it. It felt all too good.

"Fine. Just fix me up with a cup of coffee..." I gave in, deciding it would be good to get my blood flowing for when I would study today.

__

"There's a park over there, right?" We had just stepped out of my house.

"Yes," I replied, zipping up the hoodie I had on top of a sports bra, "where did you get those clothes from, anyway?"

The sporting clothes he was wearing most definitely hadn't been from inside my house.

Theo turned to me with a grin and a shrug, "I called Alfred to drop them off for me with a fresh set of clothes."

I laughed, "you seem like such a difficult person to work for. Does he get any sleep?"

"Funny," he ran a hand through his hair, "come on, I have training in two hours so we don't have much time."

"You have training yet you want to go for a run?" I raised my brows at him, a smile tugging at the sides of my lips.

"Yes. Now stop trying to talk your way out of this," he grinned, "we're running to the park and through it, then back."

I cursed underneath my breath, wanting so much to be studying right now instead of going on a run. Especially with Theo Black.

__

"Isn't this nice?" He smiled, casually jogging beside me.

It felt like we had been running forever. I couldn't even admire the gorgeous park, lit by the gentle morning light, as I was too busy trying to keep my breathing calm.

"Sure," I managed out, my feet already feeling tired.

"Let's go through the forest and back to yours, sound good?" Theo took a few steps faster until he was able to turn around and jog backwards while watching me.

"Sure," I nodded once, "let's just slow down a bit?"

"I was just suggesting we speed up, but okay..." he laughed a bit, shrugging before turning around again to face the small forest path we were about to go on.

The park was rather empty at this hour with just a few cyclists and dog walkers, none of them seemingly having paid any more attention to Theo than they would have to any other very handsome man.

"My legs are shorter than yours," I reasoned, "and you... you play—oh!"

Just as we'd started the path going through the forest, I tripped on some tree root sticking up from the soft ground.

"Fuck," I muttered, now laying with my cheek down in the mud.

"Shit, Scarlett, are you okay?" I was in no time being lifted up by Theo.

He was standing in front of me, wiping small streaks of dirt out of my hair and off my cheek.

"I'm fine, I'm just really not a runner..." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"You were doing so well, birdie," he gave me a small smile, completely taking me aback for a moment. He looked so incredibly good, way too good for me to handle now as a sweaty and tired mess. And on top of that he had been so sweet to me, running at my pace without commenting anything about it, even when I knew he must usually run more than twice as fast.

"You're very determined, I admired that—" he added, his voice trailing off towards the end when his eyes moved down my body, "you're bleeding."

I looked down as well, adrenaline not having abled me to feel myself scraping the skin just below my knee on something when I'd fallen, hard enough that it had made a cut on my black running leggings and had removed a bit of skin.

"It's just a small cut," I laughed gently, shaking my head and composing myself from the sudden rush of him filling my mind, "I'll clean it once we get ba—"

"Do you need me to carry you?" He was inching closer, voice lowering while he faked concern. His hands were still on my face, no longer cleaning it but now just gently cupping my jaw.

I raised my brows up at him, holding a good idea as to where this was going. A smile began forming onto my lips. He grinned mischievously.

"I'm fine, Theo," I told him again, my hands raising up to place themselves on his wrists, a small part of me wanting to pull his hands away from my face and avoid his delicious lips nearing mine.

Just before his lips could meet mine, I pulled back. Not because most of me didn't want to see him, but because I needed to scan our surroundings. The forest hid us away pretty well, but I was still growing a tad paranoid about where a possible paparazzo could be.

"Nobody's here, love," he was coaxing me to look back at him, thumb moving over my cheekbone in gentle and slow strokes.

I found myself sighing when I met his dark eyes again. My body tingled at the way he was looking at me, my veins filling with electricity and my core clenching.

I hated his ability to make me feel so incredibly hot without even trying to. I hated that I was actually letting him do these things to me. The higher I'd get with him, the further I'd fall.

There was no other option for this, this would end in absolute heartbreak.

I closed up the space between our lips, feeling so weak for a moment because of all this emotional turmoil.

I couldn't stop thinking about the pain I'd feel when he'd no longer be in my life.

He didn't hesitate to kiss back and soon, while my arms looped around his neck, he was deepening our kiss. It was simple, pure and warmed my whole body up. I was completely lost in it and him, never having felt these things that came just from a simple kiss by his lips.

There was a small 'crack' sound from behind him. Like somebody had stepped on a small branch.

It broke the spell and I found myself stumbling back. Theo's brows were furrowed before he grabbed my wrist to stop me from stepping back further.

"Calm down," he murmured, glancing back over his shoulder, "there's no-one there, birdie. See?"

He turned around and stood by me, both of us now facing the direction of the 'crack' -sound.

I felt eerie and uncomfortable. I was sure there was something or someone hiding there; between the trees or in the bushes.

"Let's get back now," I sighed, "before I bleed out."

Theo threw his arm over my shoulders and laughed, pulling me closer to him while we began walking through the forest and towards the street which my house was on.

__

After we arrived back at my house, the rest of the morning really did consist of teasing, flirting, quick kisses and laughs. It was the most simple yet best time I'd had in a while, after I had momentarily let go of all my hesitations and worries.

Theo had insisted on cleaning the small cut just below my knee and also placed a plaster on it.

We ate breakfast together and then he had to leave to go training with England's national football team. For me, now that I'd gotten to know him a bit more, it seemed crazy he was the assistant captain. Definitely said a lot about his personality and who he was; strong-willed, powerful, and in charge.

I was still a little dazed by the bye-kiss he had given to me by my front door before heading to where Alfred was waiting for him.

I almost didn't notice a black hoodie of his which was on the sofa.

I muttered underneath my breath, before grabbing it and realising it had the logo of his original football team - the team he played for when there wasn't any World Cups coming up.

I quickly texted him.

To: Theo: You left you're hoodie at mine. I'll bring it with me when I see you tonight x

From: Theo: Keep it. I'll see you tonight xx

Oh.