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The crunch of his shoes on the leaves signaled his return. “I need a minute—I’ll be fine. Just have a lot on my mind.”
Like Dublin. My home. My life in ten weeks. Not to mention the text from Jax today.
Oh and him, too, of course. Adam McGregor.
I shouldn’t have ever met him outside of work, and I had no business developing feelings for him. Yet, as much as I wanted to brush off whatever was going on inside me as a purely physical reaction to a handsome man, to call it lust because he was muscular and sexy and gorgeous, I couldn’t. There was more to it than that. But I couldn’t even allow myself to find out whatever that was.
“I don’t think staring into that fire will give you whatever answers you’re looking for.”
“Where can I get them?” I faced him.
The back of his hand came toward me, and I flinched a little and took a step back. His eyes narrowed at me, and he angled his head to the side. “Anna.”
“What?” I folded my arms across my chest.
“Who hit you?” His jaw tightened, his eyes intensely blue despite the darkness.
My stomach shriveled at his words. “What are you talking about? Are you nuts?”
“Someone hurt you before,” he said with conviction in his voice.
All I could do was take a step back and spin away. I couldn’t let him read the emotions I knew would be painted thickly over my face.
“I should get to bed. Like you said, early day.”
“Anna, wait.” His gruff call sailed through the cool air, but I didn’t dare turn. I rushed back to the house, my body shivering as my mind dragged up images of my past.
After a quick check on the kids, I went to my room. I locked the door and leaned against it, lowering my head, shutting my eyes.
I’m not sure how long I stood there before a slight dizziness compelled me to lie down.
A few minutes later, I sat up at the sound of steps in the neighboring room. Light appeared beneath the bathroom door.
Not long after, there was a quiet rap at the door.
Adam wasn’t giving up.
I stood up and walked over, not sure what I wanted to do. I pressed my palm to it. “Yeah?” My bottom lip tucked between my teeth as I tried to lower my heart rate.
“Please talk to me.” His voice was soft. Pleading.
Tempting.
God, I would love to open up to someone, I thought. To pour my problems out after all this time. But if I couldn’t tell my best friend back in Kentucky, how could I tell a man who was practically a stranger?
The knob was twisting, and I dropped my hand to my side and stared down. “I’m coming in.”
I could turn the lock to keep him out, but I didn’t. My mouth parted open with the door, and I stared at the man in front of me. A rush of adrenaline spiraled through me, despite the pain that clawed at my chest.
I was beginning to feel as if I was blindfolded on a roller coaster and had no clue when I would fall, flip, or be jerked to a complete stop. Yet it didn’t bother me—the feeling of not knowing was almost seductive. The feeling I had around Adam, never knowing what might happen even though I knew what I should and shouldn’t do, was a natural high, and one I’d never experienced before.
Adam was standing in the doorframe wearing gray sweats and a white tee. His eyes were a storm of blue, the kind that pulls together right before lightning strikes—a dangerous, threatening blue. But I knew the anger wasn’t intended for me. It was to whomever he thought had hurt me.
“Tonight wasn’t the first time you pulled away from my touch. Or flinched when my hands came near you.” He cleared his throat, and I averted my attention to the floor, but he tipped my gaze back up with his hand. “I’ve seen it before. Someone hurt my sister when she was younger . . .” I watched him swallow, and the flash of anger in his eyes grew even more intense. I hadn’t thought that was possible.
If Adam could trust me with something personal like that about his sister, then maybe I could . . .
No. Don’t.
