Chapter 43 - None of My Business
Sunday, I cooked.
A lot.
Actually, a whole lot.
Enough food to last Adrian at least a week.
Because apparently somewhere between Monday and Sunday, I'd gone from making sure my sick boss didn't die to meal-prepping for a fully functional thirty-eight-year-old man.
I tried not to think too hard about that.
I divided everything into different containers, stuck little notes on top, and arranged them in his refrigerator.
Some had reheating instructions.
One specifically said:
I stared at it.
Then added:
Much better.
Adrian appeared beside me while I was putting the last container away.
"You know I can feed myself."
"I've heard that rumor."
"I've been doing it for thirty-eight years."
"And yet here we are."
He looked inside the refrigerator.
There was enough food in there to survive a minor apocalypse.
"You made too much."
"You'll eat it."
"I will."
I stopped.
Looked at him.
That had been suspiciously easy.
"No argument?"
"No."
"Are you feeling sick again?"
"Angelica."
"Just checking."
I closed the refrigerator.
We had lunch together.
Afterward, I went upstairs to pack.
And that was when I realized exactly how much of myself I'd managed to spread across Adrian's penthouse in one week.
My clothes were in the guest room.
My charger was beside the couch.
My hairbrush was in the bathroom.
A pair of socks had somehow ended up beneath the bed.
My skincare was beside his sink.
There was a hair tie on the kitchen counter.
I walked through the penthouse collecting pieces of myself from rooms I'd had absolutely no business becoming this comfortable in.
Eventually, everything fit back into my bag.
I zipped it.
Looked around the guest room one last time.
Then carried it downstairs.
Adrian was in the living room.
His eyes went immediately to the bag.
"Ready?"
"Yeah."
He stood.
"I can drop you home."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because I'm better now."
I frowned.
"Then how am I supposed to get Candy home?"
"You can take her tomorrow."
I stared at him.
"How?"
"I can take you back here after work."
Silence.
I blinked.
"That makes no sense."
Adrian said nothing.
Because it didn't.
There was absolutely nothing to argue about.
His plan involved him driving me home today so that tomorrow I could go to work without my car, after which he would drive me back to his penthouse so I could retrieve the car I could simply drive home right now.
I waited.
Adrian apparently searched for a logical defense.
None arrived.
I raised an eyebrow.
He looked mildly annoyed.
Probably at mathematics.
"I'll drive Candy."
"Okay."
And that was that.
I picked up my bag.
Adrian walked me down anyway.
A little while later, I drove away.
When I opened the door to my apartment, everything was exactly where I'd left it.
Of course it was.
I stepped inside.
Closed the door behind me.
And stood there.
My apartment.
My couch.
My kitchen.
My things.
My home.
I hadn't been here in almost a week.
It should've felt good to be back.
Familiar.
Comfortable.
Normal.
Instead, I stood in the middle of my own living room with my bag still hanging from my shoulder and felt something I hadn't expected at all.
Empty.
Really empty.
I looked around again.
Nothing was wrong.
That was the problem.
Everything was exactly the same.
Except apparently-
I wasn't.
That night, I couldn't sleep.
At all.
I tossed onto my left side.
Then my right.
Pulled the blanket up.
Pushed it down.
Stared at the ceiling.
Closed my eyes.
Opened them again.
Nothing worked.
My apartment was too quiet.
Which was ridiculous.
It had always been quiet.
I'd lived here before Adrian Vale invaded approximately ninety percent of my thoughts.
But after almost a week of sleeping with another person somewhere nearby-
his breathing.
His ridiculous arguments.
His insomnia.
His hand finding mine in the dark-
the silence felt different.
So I lay there and thought about the past week.
Except it wasn't just the past week.
Because once I started thinking about Adrian, apparently my brain decided we were doing a complete retrospective.
A lot had happened between us.
A lot.
And yet-
Adrian had never actually confessed anything to me.
Nothing.
He had never said he liked me.
Never said he had feelings for me.
Definitely never said he loved me.
Not once.
Instead, he'd done everything except say it.
He'd let me past walls he kept around everyone else.
He'd brought me coffee every morning.
Still knew my exact order, God knew how.
He'd saved me when I was in danger.
Held me in front of everyone like he didn't care who saw.
Been genuinely terrified for me.
Asked me not to leave him.
Dressed as a vampire because I liked it.
Held my hand.
Hugged me.
Slept with his head in my lap.
Kissed me.
I stopped.
Yeah.
He'd kissed me.
And remembered every second of it.
But he'd never said the words.
I like you.
I have feelings for you.
I love you.
Nothing.
Apparently those words were more difficult for Adrian Vale than all the actions that practically screamed them.
My phone buzzed.
I turned my head toward it.
The screen lit up on the nightstand.
I reached for it.
Adrian.
Of course.
Then smiled despite myself.
His answer came almost immediately.
I looked at the time.
12:07 a.m.
Nothing.
A minute passed.
Then the three dots appeared.
Disappeared.
Appeared again.
Disappeared.
I frowned at the screen.
What on earth was this man typing?
The dots appeared again.
Then finally-
I went still.
Oh.
There it was again.
That thing Adrian did.
He wouldn't say I like you.
Wouldn't say I have feelings for you.
Wouldn't give me any of the straightforward words normal people apparently had access to.
No.
Instead, he said things like-
Because you're not here.
And expected my heart to survive them.
Apparently it wasn't going to.
I stared at the message for several seconds before typing.
His response came quickly.
I stared at it.
Yeah.
Very true.
Apparently he'd figured that out.
I didn't reply.
A few seconds passed.
Then my phone buzzed again.
My heart did something stupid.
Nothing.
One second.
Two.
I waited.
The three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Appeared again.
I watched them.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Gone.
Back.
What was he doing?
Almost a full minute passed.
Then the message arrived.
I stopped breathing.
Just-
stopped.
My phone stayed in my hand.
The words stayed on the screen.
Three of them.
I miss you.
Oh.
Oh, my poor heart.
He'd said it.
Not I love you.
Not I like you.
Not I have feelings for you.
Just-
I miss you.
And somehow, lying there alone in my apartment after spending almost an entire week inside his life, those three words hit harder than any of the others could have.
Because I'd left only hours ago.
Not days.
Not weeks.
Hours.
And Adrian Vale already missed me.
My heart was beating way too freaking fast.
I should answer.
Obviously.
I didn't.
I couldn't.
What was I supposed to say to that?
Thanks?
Absolutely not.
I miss you too?
My fingers hovered over the keyboard.
I couldn't do that either.
Not yet.
So I stared.
And stared.
Until my phone buzzed again.
I swallowed.
A few seconds passed.
Then-
Something about that made my chest hurt in the nicest possible way.
I typed back.
I sent it.
Then lay there staring at our conversation.
At those three words sitting quietly in the middle of it.
I miss you.
I had spent all that time wondering why Adrian Vale couldn't simply tell me how he felt.
Apparently I had been waiting for the wrong words.
Monday morning, I drove to work thinking about three words.
I miss you.
That was it.
Three words.
And somehow they'd managed to stay in my head since midnight.
I'd been waiting for Adrian to say something for what felt like forever.
Anything.
I'd practically forced him into situations where he had no choice.
Don't leave me.
Even that had taken everything.
I'd been leaving.
He'd known I was leaving.
I'd stood there and refused every practical reason he gave me until there was nowhere left for him to hide.
And finally-
Don't leave me.
I'd made him say it because otherwise I was going to walk away.
But last night?
I hadn't asked.
Hadn't pushed.
Hadn't cornered him.
Hadn't demanded an answer.
I'd been lying in my own bed, miles away from him.
And Adrian had deliberately chosen to tell me he missed me.
No emergency.
No resignation.
No fever.
No excuse.
Just Adrian.
Missing me.
And apparently after spending months wanting this impossible man to say something-
anything-
the moment he finally did it voluntarily, I became completely useless.
I hadn't replied.
I hadn't said I miss you too.
Hadn't said anything at all.
Because suddenly it was real.
Not something I could interpret.
Not something I could explain away.
Not coffee.
Not his hand finding mine.
Not him letting me into his home.
Not him sleeping peacefully because I was beside him.
Words.
His words.
And I had absolutely no idea what to do with them.
I pulled into the Vale Architecture parking lot.
Candy went into her usual space.
I turned off the engine.
Then sat there for another few seconds.
Monday morning.
Office.
Normal life.
I could do normal.
Probably.
I grabbed my bag and got out.
I reached the office a little after seven-thirty.
And the first thing I saw when I reached my desk was coffee.
I stopped.
Stared at it.
Then closed my eyes.
"You have got to be kidding me."
My exact order.
Sitting beside my keyboard.
Waiting for me like it had every morning before last week.
Except this morning was different.
Adrian had only just recovered.
Yesterday had been the first full day I'd considered him completely functional, and somehow this idiot had apparently gotten up this morning and gone to get my coffee anyway.
He didn't have to do that.
Actually-
he shouldn't have done that.