All I Ever Need Is You (The Sullivans #14)(38)

He ran a hand over his face, through his hair. “I didn’t get enough sleep to understand what you’re talking about.”

“Hotels. We agreed to meet in hotels. Neutral ground without all of our things, without personal stuff around.”

“Fine.” He bit the word out, hard and fast. “We’ll make sure we stay in hotels from now on.”

“Good.”

“Great,” he said, even though he didn’t look like he thought it was great at all.

God, having this conversation shouldn’t make her chest clench. And she shouldn’t dread getting out the rest of it. But they couldn’t move forward until they got one other big thing cleared up.

“Yesterday, at the house, I didn’t exactly give you a chance to say no to helping me with it.”

“There was no gun to my head. I want to restore it. You want to live in it. So what’s the problem?”

She’d seen Adam flirt. She’d seen him tease. She’d seen him care. She’d even seen him angry at her sister. But she’d never seen him—or felt him—be angry at her before. And because it stung, she stung back.

“The problem is that you and I will have to work together on the house.”

“You’ve changed your mind about working with me?”

“No. You’re the best. Of course I want to work with you.” She was as frustrated as he was, couldn’t he see that? She sighed, knowing she was doing this, saying things all wrong. “But if working on the house together ends up extending past all of this”—she gestured to the bed where they’d had such wild, fabulous sex—“it might get messy.”

“You like having sex with me, right?”

She nodded. “Of course I do. You know I do.”

“Good, because I like having sex with you. And I can’t see that changing anytime soon.”

“But what if you—” She stopped herself, hoping he hadn’t noticed her slip. “But what if some reason pops up where we both decide we’re done having sex, and then we have to keep seeing each other because of the house?”

“You’re worrying about nothing, Kerry. We’re both adults. It’s not going to get messy.”

“So you’re saying that you think we can keep things totally compartmentalized, and that the sex we’re currently meeting up for in hotels will in no way impact the work we’ll do together on the house?”

His dark eyes held hers for a long moment before he finally said, through what sounded like gritted teeth, “Sure.”

“Great,” she forced herself to say past the lump in her throat. “I’m glad we’ve talked through any potential issues.” Through sheer force of will, she finally managed to move away. “I should get my dress from the car so that I can head out.”

“I’ll get it.” His words were more clipped than usual. “Go take a shower. Your clothes will be here when you’re done.”

He had on a pair of jeans and was walking out the door before she could figure out how to say she’d had a great time with him the night before and was sorry that she’d made such a mess of the morning. Which, she figured as she headed into the bathroom, was probably all for the best, given that she couldn’t get anything right this morning anyway.

* * *

Adam needed to get a grip.

But, damn it, the conversation he and Kerry had just had in his bedroom had thoroughly pissed him off.

He yanked open the door to his garage, hard enough that it nearly came off its hinges, then did the same to his car door.

Why did Kerry always have to look for problems?

He grabbed her dress, her shoes and bag, but left her bra and panties because those were unsalvageable.

Why couldn’t she just go with the flow?

He slammed his car door shut.

Why couldn’t she just let her hair down and have fun for once in her life?

He slammed the door to the garage shut, too.

Why did she keep assuming he was going to be a jerk about everything?

He headed back through the entryway and kitchen, still fuming as he headed up the stairs.

Couldn’t she see that she was his friend and he didn’t screw over his friends?

Adam stopped halfway up the stairs, cursing again as he finally realized that, while she might have played things wrong this morning, he sure as hell hadn’t done much better by snapping at her as soon as she brought up her worries.

Kerry had been clear from the start about meeting at hotels and keeping sex separate from everything else. First it was his family and the wedding that she hadn’t wanted to be affected by their hooking up. Now, they’d added in a house.

She was right. Things could get complicated if they let them.

So they wouldn’t let them.

He put her bag on the seat of the leather chair by the fireplace, laid out her dress along the back, and put her shoes down beside it, then headed into the kitchen to make some coffee and wait for her. When she came out fifteen minutes later, looking and smelling fresh and beautiful, he didn’t waste any time in handing her a cup of coffee—or getting straight to the point.

“I’m sorry.”

She had the cup halfway to her mouth when she froze. “You’re sorry?”

“Very.” His parents had taught him loads of important things over the years, but one of the most important was knowing how to apologize sincerely, and not to feel like less of a man for it. “I like you, Kerry. I like you a lot.”