Page 103 of Yellow
“Don’t be mad,” I said and unlocked the door.
“Cleo, who is the gentleman, are you two a couple?” The sound of cameras made me turn my head and see the two photographers coming up behind us.
I gave a strained smile and hurried inside while Tony asked the media to back away before he followed me.
Adam stumped up the stairs, my head pounded mercilessly, and I bit my tongue until we were inside my apartment.
“You’re the one who said we could never be anything but a one-night fling,” I threw at him.
He ignored that as he kicked his shoes off and then he turned. “I never said that you were a one-time thing.”
“Then do tell how I’m supposed to interpret ‘I don’t want a relationship with you.’ Does that mean something else in your world than it does in mine?”
He took a broad stance and folded his arms. “First of all, we already had sex multiple times, so it definitely wasn’t a one-fuck thing, was it? And secondly, why would you even sleep with me if you thought I didn’t want more than sex?”
I hated the way he was scolding me and threw my hands in the air. “We all make mistakes, I guess.”
“Oh, so now I’m a mistake.”
“If you’re going to be an ass to me and yell at me, then yeah.”
Adam moved fast and was in my face before he spoke again. “Why did you sleep with me?”
I swallowed hard, feeling electricity spread in my body. “Because I’ve wanted you from the first moment I saw you.”
He arched a brow. “I wanted you too.”
“No, you didn’t. You despised me.”
Adam shook his head and paced the floor. “It’s not that I despised you, Chloe, it’s just that…” He broke off.
“What?”
He stopped and looked at me with a haunted expression. “You wouldn’t understand it if I explained it to you.”
“Why? Because I’m a dumb blonde?”
“No. Of course not.” He scrunched up his face.
“Then what?”
“Chloe, you and I… we’re so different. We live in different worlds.”
“Are you freaking kidding me, Adam? Do you know how lame an excuse that is? I’m right here, you’re right here – don’t give me shit about being too far apart.”
“I told you, you wouldn’t understand.” He looked away.
“Then explain it to me.”
Adam kept his eyes down when he started to talk in a low voice. “When I was a boy I had a picture on my wall of a woman who looked a lot like you.”
“So?”
“She was the first thing I saw in the morning and the last before I went to bed. I wished for nothing more than to grow up and marry her.”
“How old was she?”
“At least ten years older than me, but I didn’t think about that part. I’d just never seen a more beautiful woman than her and she represented the life I wanted for myself. I wanted to get out of the claustrophobic trailer and be successful like my father, the hotshot doctor.”
