“Fuck, that sounded good, sweetness.”

“It felt good.”

He had not changed clothes from when I saw him on the street and for some reason that thrilled me. Only Adam could get away with going to a semi-fancy restaurant in jeans and a tee. But since he was still wearing the same t-shirt I now got to live out my earlier fantasy and take it off of him. With that in mind, my hands went to the back of his shirt and I started to pull it up.

His phone rang again.

A look of relief mixed with frustration passed over his face.

Not good.

Adam dipped his head and touched his lips to mine before he rolled to the side and fished his phone out of his pocket.

“I need to take this,” he told me as he answered the call. “Yeah?” There was a beat of silence before his face turned to stone and his eyes went to the pillow under my head. “Right. I’m in The Valley. I’ll be there in an hour.”

He disconnected the call. His eyes came back to me and they warmed when he gave me the bad news.

“Gotta go, sweetness. Work.”

Work?

This late?

I didn’t verbalize my thoughts.

I nodded and said, “Okay.”

“I wouldn’t leave if it wasn’t important.”

I wanted to believe that with my whole heart but I didn’t. I saw his relief that we’d been interrupted. I saw it clear as day and I didn’t believe that Adam did anything he didn’t want to do. Which meant if he wanted to stay he’d stay and deal with work later.

“Okay,” I repeated.

“Dinner at my place tomorrow. We’ll go over what I need for the party.”

My heart cracked a little more.

The party.

“I work tomorrow night.”

For a businessman who was as successful as he was, he sure did suck at hiding his emotions. The relief and frustration had vanished, and straight-up anger suffused his features.

“I know our night’s cut short, but I meant what I said earlier.”

He’d said a lot of stuff. Some of it sexy, some of it scary, and some of it confusing.

“You don’t strike me as a man who says things he doesn’t mean but I need you to be a little more specific.”

Adam tossed his phone on my bed and as soon as his hand was free it moved to the side of my neck and settled there. His fingers lightly skimmed the area under my ear as he spoke.

“Meant what I said about not wanting to watch you at the club.”

I immediately stiffened, not sure if I was pleased that he didn’t want to see me with another man or seriously pissed he was one of those control-freak assholes who did whatever they wanted, including screwing other women while they demanded loyalty from their partner.

“You don’t get to make that demand,” I snapped. “I told you I don’t date men who belong to the club, and I meant that. I’m also not the kind of woman who allows a man to boss her around.”