Chapter 16

“I heard about your sales,” Kade said softly as he watched her for reaction. This past month, watching her every interview, looking for any sign that she might miss him, had been nothing but torture for him.

Her face gave nothing away, and truth punched him in the gut. She finally realized that he was a bastard, and she wanted nothing to do with him. When she didn’t say anything, he nodded. “I shouldn’t be here. I’m sorry.”

As he turned away from him, her voice stopped him. “Is that all you came here for? To tell me that you heard about my sales? Did you want to congratulate me, because you could have done that over the phone.”

“I just—“ Feeling helpless, he turned to her. “Do you want me here, Addilyn?”

Still, her expression betrayed nothing. Pulling her keys from her purse, she glanced around. “Come inside,” she said easily. “I don’t imagine it will go over very well if the press finds you outside my door. We’re not working together anymore, so I can’t keep using that excuse.”

He should have stayed away, but he couldn’t. Instead, he followed her inside and tried to think of what he should say. The speech that he’d practiced all morning was wiped from his memory, and he couldn’t even remember what excuse he was going to give.

He’d just wanted to see her.

Addilyn unlocked her door and held it open. Inside, he looked around with a frown. Gone was the classy white furniture. Gone were the albums covering her walls. The new couch was a bold purple with fluffy cream pillows, and the walls were covered with pictures. “You redecorated.”

“I’ve changed a few things in my life. I’m doing things my way now.” She tossed her purse on the chair and crossed the floor to close the blinds. “You didn’t leave Nashville to see me, Kade. What are you doing here?”

“Christopher called. It seems that my contract with you has opened a lot of doors. There are people that he wants me to meet.” The excuse sounded hollow to his ears, but what could he say? That he couldn’t spend another single second away from her? That her face was all, he saw whenever he closed his eyes? That he couldn’t sleep at night because he was too busy longing to have her body curled up next to him?

“Congratulations,” she said tartly. “I’d offer a champagne toast, but I remember how that went last time.”

Pain swept over him. “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t great with apologies, but he didn’t know what else he could say.

She shrugged. “Apologies aren’t necessary, Kade. I’m a big girl. I should have known what I was getting into when I got into bed with you.”

“You asked me a question, and I should have given you an answer. I just didn’t want to make things more complicated than it already was. Ask me again. I’ll tell you the truth, this time. I swear it.” Is it really so easy for you to walk away?

For the first time since he’d walked into her apartment, she seemed shaken. “Maybe this time I don’t care.”

Kade hesitated. Part of him wanted to blurt it out. It nearly killed him to walk away. “Then tell me,” he demanded. “Tell me that you don’t care.”

Her hands balled into a fist. “I should tell you goodbye. Leave you hanging. Make you wonder what the answer might have been.”

She cared.

In three steps, he reached for her and jerked her into his arms. She didn’t resist as her arms wound around his neck. There were things he needed to say to her. Wrongs that he needed to make right, but when her mouth opened under his, he could only think about loving her.

“Damn you, Kade,” she whispered as she tugged his shirt. Her knuckles brushed against his skin as she lifted it, and he shuddered. Her mouth pressed against his chest, and he was lost.

Fighting with their clothes, they stumbled across the room until they sank on her new couch. Blind with lust, he whispered her name over and over again until he could part her legs and sink into her. He wanted it slow and sensual, but she bucked under him, and all he could think about were the nights that he’d spent without her.

Need drove him in her hard and fast, and until their cries of need mingled with sounds of their bodies coming together. He was desperate to know that she felt the same, and short of getting a confession from her, he’d have to settle for knowing that he could possess her body. When she arched her back and screamed his name, he pulled her up and kissed her hard as though to remind her that he was the only one that could do this for her.

She urged him on, begging for more, and he barely managed to hold on until she convulsed once again in his arms. A primal sound of need and possession caught in his throat as he emptied himself inside her.

“I can’t stay away,” he managed as she collapsed on her. “God, I just can’t.”

“Then don’t.”