“Is this a new kink of yours?” I pant out, fingers trailing his chest.
“Yeah. Acts of service make me feral.” He nips my earlobe. “Where’s your bodyguard?”
The question stops me in my tracks. “Outside…on the couch.”
“You’ll have to be really quiet then,” he whispers in my mouth. “This door isn’t soundproof.”
As much as I crave to have his hands on me, I can’t get sidetracked.
“Wait… I have to tell you something.” I gather all the courage I have, but he’s looking at me like he’s a second away from spreading me over his desk.
The words fly out before I second-guess myself again. “You were telling the truth.”
Adam stills, searching my face, then tilts his head, confused. “I never lied to you—”
“Before I left. The other…” I trail off, my mouth dry, “women. I know they didn’t exist. I got proof.”
His lips part, slightly moving like he wants to say something, but the words are silent. Then shock twists his features. “You hacked my accounts…”
Adam drops his arms, inching away from me, all the color drained from his face.
I clasp my hands to stop them from shaking. “Not only yours.” Because admitting to several counts of felony clearly makes things better.
All playfulness evaporates, replaced by tense frown lines. “So that’s what all this is about? You’re trying to feel less guilty?”
I shake my head violently. “No. The grants have been in the works since we came back from your parents’ place. I only got confirmation about…” I can’t even say it. I’m so ashamed I accused him of being a liar and a cheater. “Only recently.”
A trace of hurt shadows his beautiful face, and his shoulders drop. “In Italy?”
I can’t blame him for thinking the night in Venice only happened because I finally got my proof.
My gaze never wavers from his. “The day before we flew there.”
“Ah.” The sound is dry, brittle. “That explains the apology.” He chuckles darkly. “And there I was thinking maybe you’d realized on your own that I could never have done that to you.”
His chest heaves, fists clenched at his sides. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting his reaction to be, but rendering him speechless was not on my list. I don’t know what to do with silence.
Adam’s jaw tenses, and my pulse picks up speed with every step he takes toward me. For a terrifying second, I think this is where we end.
The edge of his desk bites into my backside as he cages me between his arms. He hasn’t yelled at me to leave yet, and I don’t know if I should take it as a good sign.
He regards me for a long moment, and I hold my breath. Maybe I should leave. He knows now, and probably needs some time to think.
But a flicker in his green eyes makes me stay put.
Then he rests his forehead on my chest. A deep sigh shuddering his large frame above me.
“I should be furious,” he murmurs.
The words feel like absolution before I register how resigned he sounds. And somehow that’s worse. Will I lose him for good this time?
Outside his door, the murmur of people passing by and muffled voices rings too loud in the silence pulsing between us.
When he shifts his head, I brace myself. He has every right to tell me to disappear and never cross his path again. But his mouth hovers over the patch of skin peeking out of my shirt and plants a warm kiss, sending my senses into overdrive. He follows it with a light bite, then moves up, kissing and biting my collarbone.
Heat blooms across my skin, seeping into my bloodstream, as confusion and want battle in my chest.
“You couldn’t just trust me, could you?” His voice is velvet, but he can’t hide the tension pulling beneath the surface.
