Break Me Slowly(28)
He nodded. “Yes, but I want to know for future encounters.”
“Wait, what?” Was the alcohol making me hallucinate? I was certain I hadn’t heard him right. “Adam, I haven’t talked to you in days. You disappeared the last time we…” I didn’t know what word to use. Fucked? Made love? Instead, I just waved my hand in his general direction and went with, “The last time we were together. Now you’re thinking about the future? Assuming I’d even give you that chance?”
“You will. Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”
My ire was rising. “You didn’t give me much of a choice.”
“You always have a choice, Katelyn.” He leaned forward and put his palms on the table behind me, caging me in. “Are you on birth control?”
Yes, I was. I had been since the age of thirteen because my periods got so bad. “Yes. But that doesn’t protect against everything.”
“I have documentation I can show you that I am clean and healthy,” he stated.
I shook my head. “Look, this is a moot point. I came here because I wanted to know why you went out of your way to pursue me if you only intended to retreat immediately. But I realize now that it doesn’t matter.” I swallowed hard and gathered my courage. “This is too much, and I’m done.”
He loomed over me like a predator. “You weren’t honest with me and I admit that I handled it poorly, but you need to be aware that we are not finished.”
“Funny, because disappearing for days would have led me to believe otherwise.”
“I was going to come see you tomorrow.”
“Oh, well then, I guess all this is solved.”
“Don’t be sarcastic.”
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
He moved his hands to grab the edge of the table, pushing himself further into me. I was eye level with his hard torso. The black cotton that lined it stretched over the hard ridges of muscle. I wanted to reach out and touch him. Scratch him. Bite him.
“I thought you liked it when I commanded you.” His voice was rough.
I tried to huff out a breath, but he was too close and his amazing scent was clouding my lungs. He was right, I did like it. I liked how he made me feel. Safe and desired—powerful and submissive all at the same time. He brought out contradicting emotions. High and low. Confused and restless. Manic and depressive.
No. That wouldn’t be me. That would never be me.
“I see you, Katelyn. You run from yourself.”
I couldn’t hold back my hurt any longer. “Is that why you fucked me, then ran?”
“What happened between us was a lot more than fucking.” His breath fanned over my forehead. “And yes, I ran. Because I didn’t know what the hell you had done to me.”
“I did to you?” I looked up at him with all the anger I felt. He was the one who affected me!
“You don’t make sense to me, Katelyn. I’ve spent the last four days trying to figure out how you could be innocent, yet dark. Sexy and maternal. One moment you’re ripping my shirt, the next you’re timid.”
“Exactly. Crazy emotions. You bring them out and that can’t happen.” I shook my head. “We’re done.”
“Oh, we’re nowhere near done. Whatever the hell it is that spooks you, I’ll find out. Then I’ll eliminate it.”
“I’m not giving you one more thing to manipulate me with.”
“Manipulate you?”
“This isn’t just about sex, Adam. That stunt you pulled with my face. What was that?”
“I found it interesting that you trusted me to touch you where you didn’t let others even come close.”
Fury bubbled over. “Interesting? Messing with someone like that is interesting?”
I shot to my feet. He moved just in time before I took out his face with the top of my head.
“I wasn’t messing with you, Katelyn.”
“You left!” I yelled. Those stupid tears I had been holding in rose to the surface. “Not a word, Adam! Not anything. It was like you were some kind of dream. You make me feel crazy.”
Crazy.
The concept danced around my brain. How many times had I heard that word? How many people had said that about my mother? Thought that about me?
I can’t be like her…
He moved in on me, his body pressing into mine. The edge of the table was digging into my backside. I placed my palms behind me for support. Damn it, I shouldn’t have had anything to drink. I knew better. It blurred my shield, let everything that I worked so hard to keep hidden slip out.
“I’m sorry, Katelyn.” He gripped my shoulders and stared down at my face. His eyes were like blue starbursts, wild and flickering with heat. “You confused me. I saw you with your cousin, then later that night—”