Chapter 22 - Day 4 Bonus Features
At 9:10 Saturday morning, someone knocked on my door.
I was in pajamas.
Not cute girl in a romantic comedy pajamas.
Actual pajamas.
Soft shorts.
An oversized T-shirt.
Bare feet.
My hair had spent the night making independent decisions.
And I was standing in my kitchen waiting for the coffee machine to finish when someone knocked again.
I frowned.
Nobody was supposed to be here.
Maya would text.
My building wasn't on fire.
And Amazon had developed the very useful habit of abandoning packages outside without requiring human interaction.
I walked toward the door and looked through the peephole.
Then stared.
No.
I looked again.
Adrian.
I immediately looked at the clock.
9:10.
Then back through the peephole.
Still Adrian.
I opened the door.
"What are you doing here?"
He looked at me.
And stopped.
Completely.
His eyes moved over me once.
Not slowly.
Not inappropriately.
Just-
surprised.
Then back to my face.
I became painfully aware of my bare legs.
And my pajamas.
And my hair.
And the fact that Adrian Vale was standing outside my apartment fifty minutes before he was supposed to exist here.
Then I actually looked at him.
Oh.
Oh, no.
Adrian Vale was wearing a yellow T-shirt.
A yellow graphic T-shirt.
With blue jeans.
And white sneakers.
I had seen this man in black shirts.
White shirts.
Gray shirts.
Suits that probably cost more than my monthly rent.
I had seen him with his sleeves rolled up and his tie gone.
I had never seen him look like this.
Casual.
Young.
Almost-
cute.
My heart skipped.
Oh, absolutely not.
He had never seen me in pajamas.
I had never seen him in a T-shirt.
Apparently Saturday was already getting out of hand.
Adrian looked at me.
I looked at him.
Then I remembered why I was angry.
"You're fifty minutes early."
"I know."
"You spent all day yesterday telling me ten."
"Yes."
"Ten means ten."
"Usually."
I stared at him.
"Usually?"
"Yes."
"You threatened my punctuality."
"I questioned your punctuality."
"You invented an imaginary version of me who was late."
His mouth moved.
Barely.
"And then," I continued, "you arrived fifty minutes early."
"Yes."
"Why?"
A pause.
"I was ready."
I blinked.
"So?"
"So I came."
"That is not how time works."
His eyebrows pulled together.
"I know how time works."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
"Because we agreed on ten."
"I remember."
"It is nine-ten."
"I can see that."
"Then why are you here?"
He looked at me for a second.
"I told you. I was ready."
That was apparently the entire explanation.
I folded my arms.
His eyes dropped for approximately half a second.
Then immediately returned to my face.
Interesting.
I narrowed my eyes.
He narrowed his.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"I'm adjusting to the yellow."
He looked down at his shirt.
"What's wrong with yellow?"
"Nothing. I just didn't know you knew it existed."
His mouth twitched.
"Are you going to let me in?"
I stared at him.
"You arrive fifty minutes early and now you're demanding entry?"
"I didn't demand anything."
"You have a demanding face."
"Angelica."
I stepped aside.
"Fine."
He walked in.
And suddenly Adrian Vale was standing inside my apartment.
That was-
weird.
Very weird.
I closed the door.
He looked around.
Not nosily.
Just taking it in.
My couch.
My plants.
The throw blanket I'd left half folded.
The books on the side table.
The stupid ceramic bowl Maya had bought me because apparently every adult woman needed a decorative bowl with absolutely no purpose.
My shoes near the door.
A framed photograph on the shelf.
My life.
Adrian had never been inside any part of it before.
"You can sit."
He looked at the couch.
Then at me.
"I can wait."
"You can also sit while waiting. It's a revolutionary concept."
He sat.
I pointed at him.
"Do not judge my apartment."
"I wasn't."
"You were looking."
"That's generally how vision works."
I stared at him.
He stared back.
Oh God.
Casual Adrian was still an asshole.
Good.
That helped.
"I need to get ready."
"I assumed."
I looked down at myself.
Then at him.
"You're the one who came at nine-ten."
"I know."
"You could've waited until ten."
"I could have."
"But you didn't."
"No."
"Why?"
He leaned back against my couch.
"I was ready."
I closed my eyes.
We were apparently never getting beyond that.
"Fine. Sit there."
"I am."
"And don't touch anything."
His eyebrows lifted.
"What exactly do you think I'm going to do?"
"I don't know. You're unsupervised."
"In your living room."
"Yes."
"For approximately twenty minutes."
"That's plenty of time."
"For what?"
"I don't know. CEO things."
He stared at me.
I walked toward my bedroom.
"Twenty minutes."
"Take your time."
I stopped.
Turned.
"Who are you?"
His eyebrows pulled together.
"What?"
"Nothing."
I disappeared into my bedroom.
Twenty-eight minutes later, I came back out.
Adrian was exactly where I'd left him.
Except his phone was in his hand.
He looked up.
And stopped again.
This time I was ready.
Light-blue fitted top.
White-and-light-blue floral skirt.
White sneakers.
Hair fixed into its proper butterfly layers instead of whatever criminal activity it had been engaged in earlier.
Light makeup.
Bag over my shoulder.
Sunglasses in my hand.
Adrian's eyes stayed on me for a second too long.
Then another.
I lifted my eyebrows.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're staring."
"No, I'm not."
"You absolutely are."
He stood.
"I was waiting."
"With your eyes?"
He picked up his keys.
"Are you ready?"
I smiled.
"Very smooth."
He walked toward the door.
I followed him.
"Also, twenty-eight minutes."
I stopped.
"You timed me?"
"I looked at the clock."
"That's worse."
"How?"
"I don't know yet."
He opened the door.
I stepped past him.
"I haven't made up the reason yet. Stop rushing me."
His mouth twitched.
The Miami sun hit us the second we stepped outside.
I put on my sunglasses.
Adrian already had his on.
Dark Ray-Ban aviators.
No suit.
No tie.
No office.
No terrifying glass-walled kingdom behind him.
Just Adrian in a yellow T-shirt and jeans walking beside me on a Saturday morning.
He looked-
different.
Not less like himself.
Just like a version of himself I had never been allowed to see.
I didn't like how much I liked it.
His car was parked nearby.
Except-
This was not his car.
I knew Adrian's car.
Everybody knew Adrian's car.
The deep blue Tesla was almost as permanently attached to his parking space as the RESERVED sign.
I stopped.
Adrian kept walking for another two steps before noticing I wasn't beside him.
He looked back.
"What?"
I pointed.
"That is not your car."
His eyes moved to the black Corvette.
"It is."
"No. Your car is blue."
"I have more than one."
I stared at him.
Of course he did.
Everybody at Vale Architecture knew Adrian's blue Tesla.
Gorgeous deep blue.
Always parked in the same section of the garage.
License plate: VALE.
You saw that car, you knew Adrian Vale was in the building.
This-
this was a black Corvette.
Low.
Sleek.
Shiny enough to reflect the entire fucking morning.
I looked at the car.
Then at Adrian in his yellow T-shirt and jeans.
Then back at the car.
"Blue Tesla was not enough?"
"Apparently not."
"You have a weekend car?"
His eyebrows pulled together.
"I have a car."
"You have two cars."
"Yes."
"And this is your Saturday car?"
"It's a car, Angelica."
"No. The blue Tesla is a car. This is a personality disorder."
His mouth twitched.
I walked around the Corvette slowly.
Then I saw the license plate.
I stopped.
Looked at it.
Looked at him.
Looked at it again.
"Oh, this just keeps getting better."
"What?"
I pointed at the plate.
"Your Tesla says VALE."
"Yes."
"And your Corvette says ADRIAN."
"Yes."
"Do you label all your belongings in case you forget who you are?"
His mouth twitched again.
"I'm surprised the plate doesn't say MOVE."
"Missed opportunity."
He unlocked it.
I reached for the passenger door.
Then stopped.
"Wait."
Adrian looked at me.
"What?"
"You came fifty minutes early because you were worried I'd be late."
"I didn't say worried."
"And then waited twenty-eight minutes while I got ready."
"Yes."
"So technically, I made you wait."
"Yes."
I smiled.
"And yet somehow we're still early."
He opened the passenger door.
"Get in, Angelica."
I laughed.
There he was.
We had been driving for approximately six minutes when Adrian said-
"Have you eaten?"
I turned toward him.
"What?"
"Breakfast."
"No."
He nodded.
"Neither have I."
I stared at him.
The sunglasses made it harder to read his face.
Which was probably why he liked them.
"Since when did you start having breakfast?"
"Since today."
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're laughing."
"Because yesterday you were a man who apparently considered coffee a food group."
"It is."
"No, it isn't."
"Debatable."
"And today you're suddenly interested in breakfast?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
He looked straight ahead.
"I'm hungry."
Suspicious.
Very suspicious.
"Where are we going?"
"Breakfast."
"Before Solara?"
"Yes."
I checked the time.
9:46.
Then I looked at him.
"Wait."
"What?"
"You were supposed to pick me up at ten."
"Yes."
"But you showed up at nine-ten."
"Yes."
I stared at him.
Then at the road.
Then back at him.
"You came early for breakfast."
"Apparently."
"You could've just asked me to have breakfast with you."
His jaw shifted slightly.
"I could have."
I stared at him.
Well.
That was interesting.
"But instead you showed up fifty minutes early and invaded my morning."
"You let me in."
"That is not a defense."
His mouth twitched.
I pointed at him.
"You planned this."
"Breakfast?"
"Yes."
"I was hungry."
"Since today."
"Correct."
I stared at his profile.
He was impossible.