A Profiler's Case for Seduction(88)
He wasn’t sure what Melanie might have heard about him or his brothers, and she appeared to be the cranky sort, but surely they wouldn’t have much interaction if he moved in here.
It was just a room, not a relationship, he reminded himself as he walked back down the stairs. Melanie had remained where he’d left her, at the foot of the stairs and she watched him solemnly as he hit the lower landing.
“We’d share kitchen space,” she said. “You’d get the upper cabinets and I use the lower ones. You buy your own food and cook it and clean up the mess afterward.” She said the words resolutely, as if she’d come to some sort of decision about him while he’d been upstairs. “It would be a month-to-month lease. I can get rid of you or you can move out with thirty days’ notice. If you drink, you’re out. If you’re a messy pig, you’re out, and if you think I’m rude or whatever, then you deal with it or move out.”
He watched her closely, seeking any sign of a sense of humor lurking in her amazing blue eyes, but there didn’t appear to be any. It was almost as if she were daring him to move in, confident that within thirty days he’d either want to move or she’d have a good reason to kick him out.
“I’ll take it,” he replied. “I’m assuming you want first and last months’ rent along with a deposit of an additional month?”
She nodded. “When would you want to move in?”
“Tomorrow morning around nine?”
She released a deep sigh, although Adam couldn’t tell if the sigh was of relief or apprehension. “That would be fine,” she replied as she headed back toward the front door.
He followed behind her, noting how her hair shone in the sunlight that danced in through the windows. As they reached the front door, he turned and faced her once again.
Once again he was struck by her beauty. Her features were classic, high cheekbones emphasizing the slenderness of her face and her straight, perfect nose. She had a generous mouth, which might have been incredibly sexy if the corners weren’t turned downward. Those lips would be inviting if she’d just smile a little bit.
For just a moment as he gazed at her, he saw a hint of vulnerability in the depths of her eyes, and a surge of unexpected protectiveness welled up inside him. How did she manage to live here by herself?
He mentally shook himself. She obviously didn’t need a rescuer and that wasn’t his role here. Besides, he had a feeling that if he expressed any desire to help her, she’d kick him to the curb before he’d managed to hang a shirt in one of the closets upstairs.
“Then I guess I’ll see you in the morning,” she said as they reached the front door. “In the meantime I’ll write up an agreement for you to sign when you come back tomorrow.”
“That sounds good,” he replied agreeably. He started to step out on the porch but paused and turned back to her as she said his name.
“This is all new territory for me, sharing my space. I’m sure we’re going to have some kinks to work out, and I forgot to tell you I don’t allow music. If you must listen to a radio or whatever, then either get earphones or make sure it’s low enough that I can’t hear it down here.”
He placed his hat back on his head and offered her a smile. “I guess we’ll figure it out as we go.”
It wasn’t until he was back in his truck that he wondered if he’d made a mistake. Although she’d agreed to him renting the space, it was obvious she wasn’t thrilled about it. And what was the deal about music? Odd. Very odd.
But the ranch house where he’d been alone for so long now once again held the sounds of a happy family. Nick, Courtney and little Garrett filled the spaces that had been empty for so long, their love lighting areas that had been full of darkness.
The truth of the matter was for the past two years Adam’s heart had been filled with the darkness of loss and betrayal and shame, and he wasn’t at all sure he was ready to leave that darkness behind.
His brother and his family would be better off if Adam wasn’t there. They needed time to build their family without him being a third wheel.
This was the right move to make, he told himself. He clicked the two chips together in his pocket and then started the truck and pulled away from the house and headed down the street toward the Cowboy Café.
All he knew was that he needed a space of his own to figure out who he was aside from a man still grieving for the sister who had been killed in a car accident two years before, a man still fighting the desire to lose himself in the bottom of a bottle of booze.