Page 150 of To Hate Adam Connor
He turned around and looked surprised to find me standing so close to him.
“But the papers? The birth certificate?”
He raised his hand and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. “You have no idea what people with so much money and power like my parents can do…can buy. Our publicist, Michel, had his own fixer; that’s one of the reasons he is such a good publicist.”
I shook my head. “It all sounds so crazy.”
“It is.”
“So why did you tell me all of this?”
“There is more than one reason.”
“And they are?”
“I wanted you to know everything because you scare me, Lucy Meyer.”
What the hell?
Giving him a disbelieving look, I asked, “I scare you?”
A nod.
“The other reason is because I want you to know everything. I want you to know that I trust you. I want you to know that the night I had to leave you alone with Aiden, she was threatening to talk to the media and let them know Aiden wasn’t our son. She thought it would be enough to eclipse the sex tape. That’s why I left in a hurry.”
“Why would she do that?”
“To save what is left of her career. To make me look bad. She is making one mistake after another. Up until you and me got photographed with Aiden, she had become the villain of our story. Now that you’re literally in the picture…”
“She wants to make me look like the villain so she can be the good one and slink away into the night.”
“Exactly. But now she can’t. If she talks about Aiden to anyone, I’ll release the video. If she utters one more word about you, I’ll release the video. A blowjob wasn’t the only thing on there, and even though she believes the other guy’s face can’t be seen, she is wrong on that. If the video doesn’t do the job for her, I’ll start giving my own interviews and she really wouldn’t want that.”
“Tell me all of this isn’t happening because of me, Adam.”
He cupped my cheek in his hands. “This isn’t happening because of you, Lucy. If there weren’t those pictures of us together, she’d find something else to get her way. She has no ties to Aiden. He was the reason she wanted a divorce, which is why I was always planning to get sole custody. None of this is happening because of you.”
“Why do I scare you?” I wanted to get back to that because I didn’t get it. I didn’t get how I could scare him, of all people. He, however, was scaring the shit out of me at that moment, and to be honest, I was done talking about the wicked witch.
“Because I said I love you and you never said anything.” His thumb caressed my cheekbone, and he kept his eyes firmly on mine. “I wasn’t expecting to hear it back from you, at least not yet, and I’m okay with that, but you acted like I’d never said anything.”
“I didn’t mention it again because that was adrenaline talking, not you. ”
“Oh? Is that so?”
The way his eyes were moving around my face…it was so tender, so loving that a lump formed in my throat.
“You have nine beauty marks on your face. Did you know that?”
What?
“Um…no, I’ve never counted them.”
“I have. My favorite is this one.” With the tip of his fingertip he touched my skin, right below my eye, and then let his finger trail down to my jaw.
I did nothing but watch his eyes follow his finger as he stopped right at my chin and tipped my face up to his.
Holding my breath, I waited for his kiss, hoped for it, but he held it back from me. Then his eyes met mine.
