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“That’s because you haven’t been around anyone in years.”
Of course she’d think that. It wasn’t like he hadn’t had the offers rolling in. “Do you know how many women wrote to me? Found my email, my number, texted me love notes, explicit pictures?”
He waited while she processed his statement.
“They did?”
“Yep. And do you know how many ex-girlfriends reached out?”
But the hesitancy in her features remained. “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like they broke into your home.”
Oliver couldn’t help his smile. “No, only you did that.”
The joke fell flat. Her shoulders drooped. “It’s late. I don’t even know why I went there. Let’s just get some sleep.”
She still didn’t believe him. Still thought that he’d take anyone to his bed, like he was so starved that anyone would have done. But the rest wasn’t something he could share—not his most shameful secret.
Tugging the sheet around her, she inched from the bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He couldn’t let her walk away. Not like this. Dropping his face into his hands, he groaned. Fuck it. He’d tell her. “I didn’t want anyone, no matter how hard I tried, for years. Once, I thought I could remind myself what it was like. Almost hired someone. Couldn’t go through with it. I didn’t want anyone until you showed up at my door.”
As much as he tried, he couldn’t read her expression. Shit. Was she disgusted? Doubtful? Her poker face was too good.
Finally, she responded, her voice soft. “I don’t know how to process that.”
“Well, fucking me neither.”
She laughed at that—the sound filling the room and loosening the knot in his throat. Pulling him back down with her into the pillows, she snuggled into him again. “Thanks for telling me.”
Somewhere beyond the windows, the rain stopped. He’d expected her to be asleep by now, but she lay against him, awake, turning something over in her mind.
Just as he pressed a kiss to her hair, she spoke. “I was engaged once—years ago.”
Of course he’d known that, had learned that when he’d researched her brother. And yet, he wasn’t prepared for the jealousy. It gripped him as sharp and raw as a bear trap.
“JB,” she continued.
He didn’t want to hear the fucker’s name.
“Kyle convinced him to invest in his startup, and JB ended up losing his house. He never looked at me the same way again.”
What did she want him to say? He’d feel the same way JB had. He’d never forget that Yarrow had destroyed his life. No matter how much he wanted to fuck the bastard’s sister.
He stayed quiet, and eventually he slept.
Chapter 29
Addison’s plan for not making it awkward the next morning? Leave for Galway before Oliver woke up. The only obstacle was finding her phone, which he’d yet to return, which meant searching his room with him still in it.
He slept on his back next to her, his soft snore oddly endearing. Keep snoring, buddy. Do not wake up. If he did, it would cause a whole other fight she wasn’t prepared to handle this early.
The storm had died long ago, as did the fire. Outside, birds chirped into a brightening sky.
Sliding off the bed, she tiptoed naked to the table by the window and pulled the drawer open.
The pencil and journal he’d removed from the office earlier lay in the top drawer right next to the car keys. Wrapping her fingers around the metal so it didn’t jangle, she held on to them as she checked the second drawer.
Her laptop.
