The Beautiful Thief (Stolen Hearts #2)(49)

“Adam, I—”

The door to the motel room opened and Melody immediately jumped back a good foot. Adam was staring intensely in her direction, so Melody focused on Toni and Scott. Adam seemed to think there was something going on between them. Melody had never really considered it, but in fairness, in the time since she’d met Scott, her head hadn’t really been in the game.

Toni took her laptop and set it in her bag, but Scott seemed to be paying more attention to Adam. “How’s the arm?” he asked.

“Good as new,” he lied.

“There are antibiotics in that case,” said Scott. “Make sure to use them.” As he spoke, he pulled his keys out of his jacket pocket.

“Wait, are you going somewhere?”

“Boy Scout actually had a good idea,” said Toni. “We’re going to the police station.”

“That sounds like a horrible idea,” said Adam.

“They framed Melody for murder. If we’re going to get her off those charges, we need to see what fabricated evidence they have,” said Scott.

“But you’re not a cop anymore,” said Melody.

“I can bullshit long enough for Toni to get what we need.”

Great. So Toni was going to work her magic and Scott was going to put all his expertise to use and she was.... “And I’m supposed to sit here and do nothing?”

Toni shot Melody a smile. “Well, you can’t very well walk into a police station, now can you?”

“But I can—”

“Just stay put,” said Scott. “We’ll be back in a few hours at most.”

Toni walked out first and Scott shut the door behind them, leaving her and Adam alone.

“So,” drawled Adam. “I guess you’re stuck with me again.”





“Why are you here?” asked Melody. Damn it. There went her no-talking rule. Scott and Toni had left a whole ten minutes ago and she’d been sure that she could stick to her own rules. If she didn’t want to have any awkward conversations with Adam, she’d just refuse to have any conversations at all. Easy.

But she’d underestimated how loud the silence could be. Which meant now she was back to yapping away.

She sat back in her chair, with the motel notepad in front of her and the pen tapping against the blank page. Even though Toni wasn’t there, she’d planned to brainstorm ideas alone, but thanks to Adam sitting just a few feet away from her on the bed, she hadn’t been able to focus on anything but him.

He’d kicked off his boots but was still in cargo pants and a gray t-shirt. His arm looked swollen, but he didn’t seem fazed by the injury at all. He sat back against the wall, his head tilted back and eyes closed, but she didn’t think for a second that he was asleep.

“I told you why. I was drinking at a bar when Forbes came in and was being a dick. Scott pulled me out before I could kill him.”

“You should’ve left.”

“You never should’ve told me to leave.” His head was still back and eyes closed.

“Stop saying that!” she snapped.

Finally his eyes opened and he lifted his head to look at her. “I’ll stop saying it when it’s not true.”

“Of course I should’ve asked you to leave! There is nothing here for you, Adam. This thing between Forbes and my family has nothing to do with you.”

“It has to do with you. You’re my business.”

She stood up. Suddenly the energy in the room was too much to just stay sitting. “No, I’m not your business. We’re just a thing that happened and now is over.”

“Okay,” was all he said.

Okay? What the hell was okay? He was giving her all this shit and now he was just backing down? “No. Not okay. Admit it, Adam. You barely know me.”

“Yep.”

“And you were never going to go after Forbes before you met me.”

“Yep.”

“And there is no reason for you to be hanging around anymore.”

Adam narrowed his eyes as he got off the bed. But Adam didn’t get off the bed like any run-of-the-mill guy. Every single muscle was controlled as he seemed to use the quickest and most efficient movements to get him from sitting back to standing. He slowly crossed the room with every ounce of his attention on her.

The bravery that had been coursing through her veins a few moments ago suddenly fled, and she took a step back as he approached. She didn’t know why she felt the need to retreat. It wasn’t as if he was going to hurt her. At least not physically. He’d more than proved that by now.

“Melody,” he finally said once he stood in front of her.

She couldn’t bring herself to say anything else, but she was able to look back up at him again. Those blue eyes were so.... She didn’t even know. A few days ago, they had terrified her. She’d had nightmares about those eyes. Now she had this strange sense of comradery and the unshakable attraction she couldn’t seem to get over.

She didn’t say anything, so he continued. “I will admit a lot of things. I will be the first to say how stupid it was to get involved with you. I’ll be the first to say that you and I are two very different creatures. But don’t ask me to say that I have no reason to be here. You’re my reason. You know that. I know that. I’m not going to pretend to make you feel better.”