Chapter five: The morning after

Evelyn’s POV

I was so close to kissing him.

So close that I could see the tiny flecks of silver in his grey eyes, and for one ridiculous second, I genuinely believed Adrian Vale was going to let me.

Then he stepped back and my hands slipped from his shoulders.

“Don’t, Evelyn.”

I blinked at him. “What?”

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m aware.” I couldn’t keep my eyes away from him.

“Then you should understand why this isn’t happening.”

I stared at him, trying to process his words through the alcohol swimming around my head.

“You’re rejecting me?”

Adrian sighed. “That’s not what I said.”

“But you moved away.”

“Because you’re drunk.”

“So?”

“So you’re not thinking clearly.”

I frowned. “I think perfectly clearly.”

“You just spent twenty minutes rearranging my stationery and drinking rum that costs more than your monthly rent.”

“Your pens were boring.”

“Evelyn.”

“And your rum tastes like shit.”

He pressed his fingers against the bridge of his nose.

I took a step closer, he took another step back and something inside me cracked. “Oh.”

His expression changed. “Evelyn—”

“No, I get it.”

“You don’t.”

“I do.” I laughed, but my throat was suddenly tight. “Of course you don’t want to kiss me.”

He went still. “That’s not what this is.”

“Then what is it?” I eagerly asked.

“You’re upset, intoxicated, and you’ve just had one of the worst nights of your life.”

I stared at him. “And?”

“And I’m not taking advantage of that.”

I should have understood, maybe somewhere in my head, I probably did but all I could see was Daniel choosing Sienna, and now Adrian moving away from me as though touching me was something he couldn’t bear.

My eyes filled with tears. “Oh, God.”

Adrian’s face tightened. “What?”

“I’m ugly.”

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

“That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Evelyn, what the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m ugly, boring or maybe both.”

He looked genuinely stunned but I laughed through the tears gathering in my eyes.

“That explains everything.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

“Daniel probably got tired of looking at me. Six years is a long time, you know. Maybe he wanted someone prettier. Someone more interesting. Someone who doesn’t spend half her life fixing financial projections.”

“Evelyn.”

“And Sienna is beautiful.”

My voice broke. “She’s so fucking beautiful, Adrian.”

He moved toward me, but I shook my head.

“She knows how to dress. She’s funny. She always knows what to say. Men notice her when she walks into a room.”

“So?”

“So maybe Daniel realized he could do better!”

The words exploded out of me and then I was crying, it was not the occasional tear I’d been fighting all evening, I was sobbing so hard I could barely breathe.

“I gave him everything.”

Adrian caught my arms as my knees weakened “Easy.”

“I thought he loved me!”

His expression hardened, but his voice remained gentle. “Look at me, Evelyn.”

I couldn’t. “Please.”

That did it, Adrian Vale had just said please and so I looked up through my tears.

“There’s nothing wrong with you.”

I shook my head.

“Nothing,” he repeated.

“Then why?”

His jaw tightened. “Because some people are selfish enough to destroy something good without understanding what they had.”

I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. “That’s a very billionaire thing to say.”

He gave a humourless laugh then pulled me against him, I froze for half a second before burying my face in his chest.

And God, that made everything worse.

Because he was warm, and he smelled good, and his arms felt so safe that I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been held like that.

He didn’t tell me to stop crying or complain about my mascara staining his shirt he simply held me while I fell apart.

“I’m so stupid,” I whispered.

“You’re not stupid.”

“I trusted them.”

“That doesn’t make you stupid.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Because you weren’t looking for betrayal from people you loved.”

I cried harder and his hand moved slowly over my back.

“Let it out.”

“I hate them.”

“I know.”

“I hate him so much.”

“I know.”

“And I hate her.”

“Understandable.”

I pulled back enough to look at him. “Do you think I’m boring?”

“No.”

“Ugly?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Annoying?”

He hesitated and I gasped. “Adrian!”

“Occasionally.”

I slapped his chest weakly but he caught my hand before I could do it again.

“You’re also intelligent, beautiful, infuriatingly stubborn, and the only person in this company who regularly tells me to go to hell.”

I sniffled. “You deserve someone who recognizes all of that.”

I stared at him. “Do you really think I’m beautiful?”

His expression softened. “Yes.”

“Prettier than your ex?”

Adrian looked almost amused.

“Are we seriously having this conversation again ?”

“Answer me.”

He studied my face for a moment. “Ten times over.”

My mouth fell open. “Really?”

“Really.”

“You’re not just saying that because I’m crying?”

“No.”

“Or because I stole your eleven-thousand-dollar rum?”

“That actually makes me considerably less inclined to compliment you.”

I laughed. “You’re nice,” I whispered.

“Don’t spread that around.”

“Nobody would believe me anyway.”

“Exactly.”

I rested my forehead against him again as my eyelids suddenly felt heavy.

The room was spinning less now, but exhaustion had settled into my bones.

“Adrian?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you think someone will ever love me again?”

His hand stopped moving against my back and for a long moment, he said nothing and his voice came quietly above my head.

“Evelyn, any man who gets the chance to love you and wastes it is a complete fool.”

I smiled against his shirt. “And for what it’s worth,” he continued, even more softly, “there’s someone who’s been trying very hard not to fall in love with you for years.”

But I never heard that part because I was already asleep.

***

The first thing I noticed the following morning was the bed, it was enormous, like ridiculously enormous.

The kind of bed that could comfortably accommodate an entire family and possibly their extended relatives.

The second thing I noticed was that I was lying on sheets that felt like clouds.

I opened one eye and then other to see a chandelier hung above me.

Beyond the enormous windows, morning sunlight spilled across a bedroom that looked like something from an architectural magazine.

“What the…”

I sat up which was a terrible decision because my head immediately threatened to explode.

“Jesus Christ!”

I grabbed my forehead, where the hell was I? This wasn’t my apartment and it certainly wasn’t a hotel I’d ever been able to afford.

I looked around frantically and that was when I noticed men clothes, a black suit jacket hung over a chair and a watch sat on the bedside table.

I looked down at myself to see I was wearing dark blue silk pajamas that definitely was not mine.

My heart stopped and I pulled the covers back.

My clothes were gone, I was wearing a pajama shirt and matching trousers that were several sizes too big.

“Oh, fuck.”

My memories came rushing back in broken pieces of what happened in Adrian’s office.

Oh, God, I’d tried to kiss him.

I covered my face. “Kill me.”

“Tempting, but I doubt HR would approve.”

I screamed in terror and a deep chuckle came from the other side of the room.

I turned so quickly that my neck protested, Adrian Vale stood beside the open bedroom door, holding a cup of coffee, he was wearing black trousers and a white shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

His hair was slightly messy which was unfair because apparently the man looked even better when he wasn’t trying.

“Guess the princess is finally awake.”

I stared at him then at the bed. “Adrian?”

“Good morning, Evelyn.”

I pulled the covers up to my chest and asked the one question that was currently threatening to end my entire existence.

“Did we sleep together ?”