Flawed Perfection (An Eve Sumptor Novel) by Jourdyn Kelly Page A

set her phone down.
    “Yes.”
    “And? How does he feel about it?”
    “He doesn’t want Lainey going to the gallery until we know something.”
    “Is Lainey agreeing to that?”
    “Yes.” She saw the pain in his eyes, and knew he thought she wouldn’t do that for him. For some reason, knowing he felt that way, saddened her. “Ask me.”
    Adam frowned. When the confusion lifted, he knew exactly what she meant.
    “Will you stay home?” He took her hands in his. “Please? Stay home where I know you’ll be safe?”
    “I will.”
    Relief filled his face so quickly it almost knocked the breath out of her.
    “Can I ask you something, Adam?” When he kissed her knuckles and nodded, she continued. “Are you going to start yelling at me, or punish me at some point? I’d rather know now instead of waiting for it.”
    To her surprise, Adam laughed. “Is that what you’ve been waiting for?”
    “I have. I waited for it last night. Now, I’m sitting here, my coffee is getting cold, I need to go wake our daughter up and get her ready for Lexie, and all I can do is think about when you’re going to react to all of this.”
    “This is my reaction, Eve.”
    “Adam, you made me beg for forgiveness the last time I kept something like this from you.”
    “Oh, I’ll make you beg, again, and I’ll definitely punish you. But, that will be when we have more time. As for now, this is my reaction.”
    Eve’s pulse picked up quite considerably when Adam told her he’d make her beg. Seriously, Adam’s “punishment” in bed was almost worth getting shot at. Still, he was just too damn calm for her to believe this was it.
    Adam rose from his chair, bringing her with him, and wrapped his arms around her.
    “I got the call, then I saw you with blood all over you, and I was pissed, Eve. So pissed I wanted to say things to hurt you as much as I was hurting. Then I saw that you were already hurting. Your life has been full of pain, beautiful. I don’t want to be a part of that pain.” He kissed her temple. “Just don’t keep anything else from me, yeah?”
    Eve took Adam’s face in her hands, and brought his mouth to hers for a mind-blowing kiss. In that moment, with her kissing him like that, Adam could forgive Eve for anything.

 
     
    “I’m glad you didn’t go in to the gallery today, Eve.” Lainey took party favors out of bags, and stacked them on the table.
    “Adam asked me not to. After everything that’s happened, I owed him at least that.”
    Lainey glanced over at Eve. Her mood had been off today, rightfully so, Lainey thought, but still not like Eve. Lainey wondered if Adam was more upset than Eve told her.
    “Are you two doing okay?”
    “We’re fine.”
    “Eve, you know you can talk to me, right?” Lainey didn’t want Eve to think just because Lainey was having these feelings, Eve couldn’t come to her about Adam.
    “I know.” Eve stopped unpacking bags and sighed. “He was pissed at me. Seriously pissed, and I don’t blame him. But, he stopped. Just stopped being pissed. I guess I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
    “Did you ask him about it?”
    “Yes. He told me that I had too much pain in my life, and he didn’t want to be a part of that.”
    “That’s sweet, Eve.”
    Eve made a sound, and went back to the bags. Bella’s birthday party was two days away, and Eve was glad to have something to occupy her mind. She wasn’t used to stepping back and letting others take care of things for her, but what more could she do for the gallery? It was still being cleaned up, the pieces evaluated or restored and Harris and James were working on the Branson connection. All Eve could do now, was wait. Not her best attribute.
    “You don’t think it’s sweet?” As Eve thought about how she was going to steer clear of the gallery for however long, Lainey wondered about Eve’s ambiguous murmur.
    “I do.”
    “But?”
    Eve blew out an exasperated breath, debating on how much she want to