“And yet here I am, in your apartment.”
I sigh. “And the lease was in your company name, so your argument is invalid. They just don’t let anyone in here.”
He tips his head to one side, acknowledging I’m right. First for everything.
Reaching out, he captures my chin and tips my head back. “I will not take chances when it comes to you.”
Lila swings her glance between the two of us. “I’ll, uh, just be inside.”
With that, she’s gone.
For a moment, I consider arguing with Blackwell, about boundaries or normalcy or how I don’t need a twenty-four seven digital fortress.
But his eyes have darkened. His look says, Fight me. See what happens.
The Hawkeye guys have continued to work, pretending nothing is going on around them.
“Say thank you.”
I glare.
“Want to settle this another way?”
My tummy plummets. No.
“I didn’t think so.” He leans in closer.
“I…” How does he always get his way?
“Say thank you, Seraphina.”
Before I’m incapable of thinking straight and allow him to kiss me as senseless, I dash inside, searching for Lila.
When I cross the threshold, I freeze. What the heck?
He couldn’t have done all this.
He absolutely could not have.
My new apartment has exposed brick walls and floor-to-ceiling windows that pour Houston’s humid glow straight into a living room that is now full of plush leather furniture.
On the dining room table is a massive fruit basket. Beside it sits a tiered metal stand, the kind I saw at the one high tea my mother had dragged me to as a young girl.
There are scones, rows of tiny petit fours with jewel-bright frosting, a selection of brownies, and several kinds of truffles. Nearby is a small dish of clotted cream tucked in next to miniature jars of preserves.
He’s also provided a bowl filled with my favorite, bright-colored chocolates that I eat by the handful, trays of sandwiches and chunks of cheese, bottled waters, and sodas. This is everything Lila and I, as well as the moving crew and the Hawkeye team, need to get through the rest of the day.
But the thing that takes my breath are the fresh flowers and the balloons that say Welcome Home.
I don’t know how to respond.
No one has ever done anything like this for me before.
Tears sting my eyes, and I have to look away from him before I start to cry. Dear God, the man is impossible.
And for the dozenth time, I wonder, why me?
Because I’m the only one who’s ever said no?
