Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Price should be exhausted, but he couldn’t sleep.
He made cocoa and ate cookies by himself.
It was lonely. He’d been on lonely assignments before.
This shouldn’t be any big deal. The problem was he knew how incredible it was to be close to Addie and laugh, tease, and hold her.
He finally lay down and fell asleep around eleven, but by four a.m. he was back up and pacing.
He did a loop through the main area, up the stairs, around the loft, and back down.
Counting the loops to distract himself from wanting to knock on Addie’s door, explain and talk through the mess, he was at loop twenty-seven when he reached the loft and Addie’s door flew open.
She was wearing the same white silk pajamas, and she looked like an angel with her blonde hair flowing around her shoulders. A very upset angel.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, stomping into his space. “I’m all off on my sleep schedule and you marching around the cabin is not helping me one bit.” She poked her finger into his chest.
Price wrapped his hand around hers and held it. His heart raced. Was this his chance?
“Forgive me,” he got out, praying she could forgive him not just for ‘stomping around’ but for all of it.
Addie studied him and, for half a beat, he thought she might agree.
Her blue eyes softened, and she even leaned toward him.
Price’s hopes rose. She might forgive him, kiss him, or slap him again.
He wasn’t sure which was coming, but anything was better than this pain inside his heart and this longing for Addie that no one else could fill.
“No!” she suddenly cried out. She yanked her hand free and backed into the wall behind her. “I will not forgive you. You got me to let my walls down and trust you and then you ripped me apart. Do you know how heartbreaking and humiliating it is to be lied to like that?”
“Addie … I didn’t intend—”
“Don’t!” She held up a hand as if warding off evil spirits, then rushed into the bedroom and slammed the door on him.
Price hung his head. That had not gone the way he’d hoped. Not at all. He knew it was too much to ask for her to forgive him. He wanted to explain and make it right, but he didn’t know how.
Finally, he eased down the stairs and went back to his pacing.
He was careful to stay on the main floor and make his steps silent as if he were on an infiltration mission.
He needed patience and strength to get through this.
Would Addie ever give him a chance to explain? Would it change anything if she did?