“I’m looking out for your health. The renovations should be done in a month, at which time you’ll have your newly updated apartment back.”
“Is there even black mold?”
His face was like stone. “There was something black on the wall.”
“I’m sure there is. Simon drew on it with crayon two years ago.”
“I felt it needed further investigation.”
I shook my head. “Oh, really? And how does this work now, huh? All my things are in an apartment I can’t get into, because you’re throwing a tantrum about living together.”
He sat back in his chair and threaded his fingers over his lower abdomen. “It looks like you are the one throwing a tantrum. I gave you and Megan plenty of money.”
I clenched my jaw. The check Adam had written could keep both of us living in the penthouse of the Four Seasons for well over a month while dressing in a different designer outfit every day and eating caviar for breakfast. But that wasn’t the point.
“I don’t want your money.”
He shrugged. “Being the owner of the complex, I have insurance for cases like this.”
I threw my hands up. “That’s not the point. I want my home. Not a hotel. What am I supposed to do? And don’t you dare say live with you.”
“Why? It makes sense. It’s a good trial period. You can see that you belong with me, yet retain that false sense of security you have with that apartment.”
“False sense of—” I took a deep breath. My anger was dialed to defcon-freak-the-fuck-out. “How do you not see what you’re doing?”
“I’m going after what I want.”
“You’re strong-arming me.”
This was another moment where I knew that Adam was trying to do something nice—sort of—but going about it the wrong way. He wanted me to move in. It was a big step. Part of me loved that he felt something for me. Something strong enough that it would enable him to share his space with me. But this wasn’t how a normal couple approached things.
“You seem to have a fancy for kicking Gunn women out of their homes,” I snapped.
He stood up quickly and rounded the desk, walking toward me. “I’m not tearing down that complex. You mother can stay. Though everything in my being says I should throw her ass on the street. I don’t want you to ever have to deal with her again. Her rent is taken care of. She can live there indefinitely without a single bill as long as she stays away from you.”
“Are you serious?”
He nodded. “It is not my intention to burden you. Ever. I want you happy. And I want you with me.” He cupped my chin. “What is keeping you from giving in? Why do you choose to fight me on everything?”
“Because you can’t force someone to feel something they don’t.”
He took a step back. “So you feel nothing for me?”
Heat left my cheeks. What I felt for Adam was not nothing, it was everything. I didn’t know if it was the headache or the bombardment of all this new information, but I was exasperated.
“Adam, you drive me nuts, but you’ve also helped me realize that while I have these crazy emotions, it doesn’t make me crazy. I crave you in a way that borders on unhealthy. You know me. You force me to deal with things. You know my secrets, my weaknesses, but I know nothing about you.”
“You know me,” he argued.
I shook my head. “You close yourself off. I don’t know what causes you pain. I don’t know about your past. You demand all this from me, yet keep half of yourself hidden. It’s like walking along a cliff. Any moment you have the power to throw me over and I’ll be left shattered and broken while you escape without a scratch.”
He stared at me for a long moment. “You bring me to my knees, Katelyn. Every damn day you have me ready to beg.”
His words hit my heart. He hadn’t said he loved me. Hadn’t admitted to anything deep or personal, but it was a start. Admitting he was off kilter just as badly as I was.
He swept me up into his arms. I locked my legs around his waist and kissed him with all the breath in me.
Chapter Seventeen
I woke up in Adam’s bed. I’d agreed to stay with him while “renovations” were being done on my apartment. My only other option was to go to my aunt and uncle’s—which would never happen—or use the money Adam had given me to stay at a hotel. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to spend it.
So far, things were going well. We woke up, had coffee and breakfast together. Drove into work together. Convenient, since we worked down the block from each other. He always dropped me off first and kissed me good-bye. A few times we snuck in a quickie in the backseat and I walked around the rest of the day with my skin tingling and smelling like his cologne.