not. At least not any more than I think is a healthy amount.”
“Hm.” He looked down, thinking on it some.
His pulse raced, and he wanted to wrap his arms around Adison and draw her close. Her presence was knocking down a surprising number of walls, but he couldn’t change that fast. He couldn’t believe he was a mess one day and then suddenly see himself differently the next.
But maybe, slowly and bit by bit, he could come to believe he could be better. No. That he already was better.
“Hey, Ken.”
“Yes?” His breath came out ragged. Their faces were only inches apart, her sky-blue eyes piercing his gaze and heart.
“Are you trying to tell me that you want to date me for real?” One corner of her mouth twitched into a sly grin.
“What if I was?” He tilted his head and looked down at her.
“I might like that.”
“Might?” He moved a little closer. His exhale washed across her cheek. “Or you would?”
“Okay. Fine.” There was that cheeky grin. “I absolutely would.”
“That’s the answer I want to hear,” he said, right before his lips crushed hers.
Chapter 22
Adison
The sound of the heat kicking on woke Adison. From her comfy burrow of blankets and pillows on the couch, she blinked open her eyes.
A log glowed orange in the fireplace, most of it burnt up already. Light streamed in through cracks in the curtains, and there was a chill in the air that the fireplace hadn’t been able to combat.
“Good morning,” she murmured, sitting up.
There was no response, and she looked over her shoulder at the other couch. Instead of Ken, there were only quilts and a pillow.
“Oh,” she said.
Wrapping one of the blankets around her shoulders, she left the den and went on a hunt for Ken. It seemed like half the time she spent in this house was eaten up by searching for him.
Except this time was different. They’d opened up to each other last night, and everything had changed.
She smiled at the memory of his hands in her hair and his lips on hers. She could still feel the heat of his chest and the comfort of his embrace.
“Ken?”
“In here,” he called from the kitchen.
At the sight of him, her heartbeat picked up. She’d seen him dressed nice plenty of times, in tailored suits with his hair slicked back, but the bedhead-with-sweatpants look was definitely her favorite.
“What are you smiling at?” he teased.
“Nothing.” She sidled up to the stove, where he had a pan heating up. “What are you doing?”
“Making a beautiful woman breakfast.” His arms slinked around her, and the feel of them was almost too good to believe.
“Are you now?” She tilted her head back in order to look up at him.
“If she’ll have it.”
Adison giggled. “Yes, definitely. Whatever it is. I’m starving. I didn’t finish my lasagna last night.”
“What, were you distracted or something?” He ran his lips across her ear.
“Don’t act so innocent.” Burying her face in his neck, she allowed herself a minute of escape before pulling away. It was the twenty-third, the day of the party, and she had so much to do that she was dizzy thinking about it.
Ken read her well. “I know. You have to get to party stuff. You should eat first, though.”
“I will.” She nodded vigorously. “Just…I need to call around and make sure everyone is on for tonight, due to the bad weather and outage. The caterers, the valet…”
“Okay. I’ll have breakfast ready for you when you get back.”
“Thanks.”
He kissed her cheek and she left the kitchen walking on cloud nine.
It was hard to remember where she’d put her phone. Her purse was in the front living room, but her cell nowhere to be seen. It wasn’t in the den, either.
“Shoot,” she muttered. Losing something in this house meant you could spend all day looking for it.
She was just about to go back in the kitchen and ask Ken to call her phone when she remembered she had it when she went into the upstairs library.
Pushing the library door open, she spotted the phone on the desk. She’d set it there without even realizing it. She must have been distracted by the hottie behind the desk.
Smirking, she went around the table to grab her phone. Ken had left his laptop up there as well, and in that moment it pinged with a message. In a reflexive move, Adison glanced at the screen. A message bubble floated at the top of it.
Thea: “Can’t wait for tonight.”
Adison froze, her fingers on her