To Hate Adam Connor

“Can I speak to Lucy?”

“Of course. Uh, we were in her room, would you like me to get her?”

“Would you mind if I steal her from you for a bit? I only need a few minutes.”

Giving me a curious look, she smiled softly. “Of course. She is yours to steal.”

Frowning at her choice of words, I walked away.

When I reached Lucy’s room, the door was wide open, so I went inside and closed it behind me.

“Adam? What are you doing here?” Lucy asked as she came out of the bathroom.

“Didn’t you invite me?”

She came closer and smiled mischievously. “Yeah, well, it was Olive really, but I didn’t object too strongly, so that should count for something.”

I nodded. “I expected that much.”

“I’ll change my question then. Why are we holed up in here? I’d say you wanted to get in an afternoon quickie, but your face tells me something else is going on.”

“We need to talk.”

“We need to talk about…” She crossed her arms and waited for me to go on.

“I was going to give you time, Lucy. Instead of trying to knock down your walls, I was going to wait until you were ready to lower them on your own, but we just ran out of time.”

She dropped her arms and straightened, her expression unreadable.

I took a step toward her, but still held my distance. “Something’s going on here. There is something about you, something between us…I can’t figure out what it is exactly, but I want you in my life. I know you—at least I feel like I know you, and I want you to give me more of yourself. I asked you to give me a chance to take care of your heart last night, and I’m afraid I need an answer now.”

She was standing completely still in front of me, her eyes unreadable. As always, I had no idea what she was going to say, and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like that she was keeping me out.

“What’s going on here?” she asked finally. “You just said you didn’t want to push me, yet here you are, doing exactly that.”

I stepped into her, and her back hit the wall. Keeping her gaze, I dropped my forehead on hers and breathed in her scent to try and calm my suddenly racing heart. She couldn’t leave.

“Your ex is here. In LA. Jason is bringing him here.”

She stepped back from me, her brows drawing in together in confusion. “Jameson? He’s here?”

I nodded. “I can only assume he is here for the baby…and you.”

“Adam, there is no—”

“No. I need you to give me an answer before you see him.”

“I doubt he is here for me, Adam. You’re being ridiculous. When I told him I was pregnant he asked me what I was planning to do with the baby. That’s not a question someone who cares would ask.”

“Lucy,” I said softly, holding her chin between my fingers. “No guy would fly to another city for a girl they didn’t care about.”

I ran my finger down her jaw and watched her lips part for me. Leaning down, I stole a soft kiss. “You’re gonna make me pull out the big guns, aren’t you?”

“I have no idea what guns you’re talking about, but sure, let’s see them. Pull them out.”

“I’m just a boy…standing in front of a girl, asking her to love him.”

A wary smile surfaced on her lips.

“Quoting ‘Notting Hill’, huh? That is a big gun, you’re right. You think that will get to me? That it will make my heart beat faster to hear you say that to me?”

She reached for my hand and pressed my palm against her heart where I could feel how fast her heart was beating for me.

We stared at each other for a long moment, standing just like that.

Skin to skin.

Heart to heart.

“I heard some girls melt away when they hear a guy quoting movie lines, so I thought I should give it a try on this girl.”

Her hands dropped from mine, so I curled my hand around her neck, feeling her pulse beating.

“You make me crazy, Lucy.”

Slowly, her smile disappeared. “You’re scaring me, Adam.”

“That’s good. I don’t mind scaring you if it’ll make you accept that we’re feeling something for each other.”

“I can’t love you,” she returned before the words were even out of my mouth. “I can’t give you those words. You may not believe me when I say I’m cursed, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am.”

I pulled her closer to me, her chest against mine.

“Lucy, tell me you hate me. I don’t care. I’d rather have you lie and say you hate me than have someone else who lies by saying I love you.”

“If I say I hate you, it really means I hate you. I’m not lying. And you do piss me off, so I really do hate you actually.”

“Okay.” I buried my nose in her neck and smiled. “You’re mine then? He doesn’t get to come back here and have you?”

The knock on the door interrupted us before Lucy could give me a real answer.

“Lucy? Uh…Jameson is here. He is waiting for you.”

I looked down at her and found her looking up at me.

“I’ll be there in a minute. Thank you, Olive.”

Olive’s voice was a low murmur on the other side of the door. “Of course.”

I let my lips rest against hers and sighed.

“I’ll let you have your way with me. Every night.”

“Fine. Okay. I’ll try.”

“I knew bumping uglies would be the thing that would get to you. I’m contemplating if I should be worried about how much you love my cock.”

She let out a small laugh and rested both her palms on my chest as I curled my arms around her waist and forced her to get even closer to me.

“Well, I do love that thing. And you’re not that bad with it. An okay kisser, but not so bad in bed.”

Finally, I released a long breath and relaxed. This felt right. I smiled against her lips. “Good. I’ll let you play with it as soon as we’re alone.”

I pulled back and after giving me a smile, she moved toward the door. “I think I should go out there.”

I put her hand in mine. “We can do it together. If he is interested in being in the baby’s life, it means I’ll be seeing him around.”

She snorted and shook her head. “You’re so sure I’ll keep you around for that long, huh?”

“I plan to be and don’t worry, I won’t be kicked out that easily. I know how to take care of what’s mine. You won’t want to lose me.”

With her hand still on the doorknob, she gave me a long look.

“You want me and the baby? You’re not even worried that I’ll be pregnant and gigantic? Just asking to make sure.”

“Baby or not, you’re still the same, and I want you. I want you and everything else that comes with you—even your little curse.”

Just as I’d promised her the night she’d come to me, I would heal her heart and be the one who broke her curse if that’s what it would take for her to believe in me.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Lucy

So I said okay. So I broke my own rules and gave in to him. Rules are meant to be broken, aren’t they? And this time I wouldn’t say those words. I wouldn’t show him how much I cared, how hard I was falling. I would pretend. He wouldn’t see so he couldn’t hurt me.