Jacked (Trent Brothers #1)(72)
I wanted to shove him for playing dumb. “A girlfriend. A wife. I don’t know. Whatever. I got a new roll of toilet paper out of the closet and that’s when… You have an entire box of tampons and shit in there, Adam. Girl’s deodorant and hairspray and stuff. Listen, it’s cool. Thanks for helping me out but I’m in no condition to defend myself when your woman gets home.”
He gave me such an angered look, it shook me a moment. “Do not move,” he ordered harshly before turning for the bathroom. I watched him shove the door out of his way; another sound told me he was in his linen closet.
He walked back with the box gripped in his hand. “This what you found?”
I nodded. “Listen, Adam. It’s cool. You don’t owe me any explanations, really.”
“Well, now I think I do, seeing as you are running out of my bedroom like your ass is on fire, willing to go out in the middle of the night into a blizzard to get away from me.”
He had a point. Blizzard? Shit. Guess I’ll be moving out to a couch for a few hours instead of walking home.
He held the box up and took a deep breath. “Box is still sealed, right?”
I looked at it until he dropped it in my hands. The box was still glued shut. “Yeah. Really though, Adam. Seriously, you don’t have—”
“Still sealed. Untouched. Guess I never thought about it until now, but do those things have an expiration date on them?”
“I don’t know.” I turned the box over, trying to read the small print in the dimmed light and answer the question while he turned this confrontation into a quiz.
“Doesn’t matter. They upset you, they’re gone.” He snatched the box back and tossed it blindly across the room without regard. “They belonged to someone who used to live here. She left. I couldn’t see throwing a new box of anything away, especially since she used my money to buy them. Shit in my bathroom closet is all new, too. Figured it might come in handy one day if somebody was here who needed that stuff.”
“Oh.”
“Oh,” he mimicked and sighed, his frustration waning. “You have any more questions or can we go back to bed now?”
“Adam…” I felt like a fool.
He gazed passively at me. “Bed’s new, too. Bought it the day after she left. That was last June. Only person’s been in it is me… and now you.”
My eyes roamed over his totally cut body and incredible abs, finding that extremely hard to believe.
“You look like you doubt me.”
I waved a hand at him, pointing out the obvious, losing my track of thought when I zeroed in on that delicious “V” that disappeared into those sleep pants. “I don’t want to, but… but you said you’d never lie to me.”
He nodded. “I have no reason to lie. It’s pointless.” He tipped my chin up so I’d meet his eyes. “And know this: if I didn’t want you in my house or in my bed, you wouldn’t be. You need any girl products, there’s some shit in my closet that’s untouched. Use it. Got new toothbrushes in the top drawer, too. But right now I’m tired and you’ve obviously been out partying with a variety of alcohol. I’m not up for arguing over nonsense.”
His warm hand glided up over my cheek. “We good?”
All I could do was nod. “I’m sorry.”
His hand slipped up the back of my neck; his thumb skating along my jaw line. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on my forehead, which warmed my entire body. “Apology accepted. Now let’s go back to bed,” he muttered on my skin. “You can lose the jeans, Doc. No need to sleep in them. I’ll give you some privacy to change again.”
I thought he would try to kiss me, but he let go and stepped back, giving me a heated stare after nudging me toward the side I’d been sleeping on. I watched his sexy ass retreat into the bathroom.
I curled back onto my side under the lukewarm sheets and stared at the window, tracing imaginary patterns in the dark curtains, feeling like an absolute drunken fool filled with regret. The bed dipped when Adam climbed under the covers a few moments later. He had his back to me while he turned out the light.
I heard the sheets shuffle as he got comfortable, breathing out an audible breath from his nose. As we lay there in uncomfortable silence, I actually reconsidered leaving, but the wind was howling outside, rattling the window in its frame, making that thought a very foolish and perilous option. I was stuck here and we both knew it.
I couldn’t blame him for being guarded; after all, I brought this on myself again. At least he was being a gentleman and not tossing me out into the cold and…
He rolled over and slipped his hand over my stomach. “Stop overthinking,” he muttered, honing in on my thoughts so accurately it sent another chill through me. He urged me backward toward the middle of the bed. “C’mere.”
His warm body molded around my back, pulling me into his chest, sending a wash of elation through me. I felt his breath, his chest rising and falling, the confusion and arousal from skin touching ski. My mind whirled from the close proximity of his parts near mine. He placed a soft kiss on the nape of my neck and tightened his arm around me. “I want you here, Erin. That’s all you need to think about.” He snuggled even deeper and slipped his arm under my pillow. “Get some sleep, babe.”