Chapter 21
“Great, I’m out of my rosemary bath bombs.”
How did she forget to get some from the grocery store today? Oh well. The lavender ones will have to do.
Beth has just finished the final episode of the TV show she’d been binging, so it's time for the next item on her agenda for the night—a 30-minute-long bath. Next, she plans to paint her toes in OPI’s Alpine Snow, which Iris had so kindly lent her, then sleep by midnight.
She gathers everything she needs for her bath—a face mask, a glass of red wine, her Bluetooth speaker, and one of the books she’d picked up from the store earlier in the day. In her bathroom, she puts on her favourite album by Sia and places a sheet mask on her face.
Like Iris had instructed, she spends no time thinking about a man who’d made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her. Instead, she sinks into the bathtub, closes her eyes, and breathes in the lavender steam. She sighs as she leans slowly back in the hot water, soaking in the Epsom salts and feeling them start to buzz against her skin.
Once she completes the first three chapters of her book, she closes it and places it on the floor beside the tub. It’s time for a bathtub nap. But the second her head touches her bath pillow, a loud noise sounds outside.
Her eyes fly back open as she waits to hear it again. She breathes out when several seconds of silence pass– she even waits for another few to be safe. Once she rules that the coast is clear, she grabs her glass of wine and relaxes once more.
But her back barely hits the tub before the sound comes back louder.
Thump!
She sits up and stares out her bathroom door, her mind filling with ideas of what could be making that sound. Her ideas range from ridiculous to borderline frightening.
Water sloshes onto the floor as she immediately jumps up and grabs her robe, her heart beating fast as she imagines the worst—a burglar trying to make their way into her apartment. A rational voice tells her that there’s a very slim chance that that’s the case but she isn’t thinking rationally.
On her way to the door, she grabs the heaviest thing she can find, a 5-litre bottle of generic shampoo.
Shit, shit, shit. She curses as her feet track water all throughout her room. She stops breathlessly at her bedroom door, peeking out into the sitting room. It looks intact and free of burglars. She walks into the sitting room on the tips of her toes.
She hears the loud noise again and realizes foolishly that it’s coming from the front door. Someone is banging on the door. A quick glance at the clock confirms that it’s way too late to be receiving any visitors. Besides, she isn’t expecting anyone.
She takes a deep breath and heads toward the door. She unlatches one of the three locks with shaky fingers before gripping the knob and cracking it open slightly.
She stares at the figure leaning on her door frame. Then she stares some more.
What the heck?
She blinks several times trying to figure out if this is really happening. Is she really standing at the door of her apartment soaking wet in a flimsy robe with Adrian two feet across from her framed against her door?
“What…” She falters, failing to sort through all the questions at the tip of her tongue. “Why are you here?” she asks finally.
“Fuck. I don’t know what I’m doing here,” Adrian says, running his hands through his hair.
Beth tries to process, but her brain doesn’t seem to be keeping up with her racing heart. “Are you drunk?” she asks when she notices the scent of alcohol on him.
“What? No. No. I had a few drinks but I’m not drunk.” He pauses. “I was in my car, on my way home but somehow I ended up here.”
She sighs. “You know what, I don’t care how you got here. You need to leave.” After a pause, she adds with a hint of malice in her voice “It’s not professional for an employer to pay a visit to his employee unannounced and in the middle of the night, on a weekend.”
His eyes meet hers and she can swear he actually looks remorseful. “Fuck. I shouldn’t have said all that crap. I didn’t mean it.”
“So why did you say it?”
“It was a mistake.”
She closes her eyes. What the hell is happening?
“I freaked out.” He lifts his eyes. “It was stupid. I’m sorry.”
The hammering in her heart pauses. Did Mr. Forbes really just admit he was stupid? And sorry? She unlatches the rest of the locks and pushes the open a bit more but still holds on to it.
“Forgive me?”
She searches his stormy eyes, her resolve returning. Does he really expect her to just say yes and ignore the last week? He’d treated her like shit the entire week, barely acknowledging her. She shakes her head. “I don’t know what you’re playing at Adrian. I have no intention of being involved in…in whatever the hell this is. You can’t kiss me then tell me to fuck off then come to my house with a half-assed apology and just expect everything to be okay again.”
Her hands leave the door and she can feel the anger she’s kept bottled up finally spilling out. “God. We kissed then you gave me the cold shoulder. And…and…” She stops to catch her breath. “You encouraged a relationship. You made it seem like you wanted to be with me… Having someone follow me, offering me a job, acting like you actually cared.”
He moves closer and she becomes captivated by the heat in his eyes. She hasn’t seen this expression before from him, and she feels nervous, but also very confused. “I messed up, Beth. I really did.”
Every self-preserving instinct in her body is screaming at her. Pull back. Run. Kick him in the balls.
But she stays. “What are you trying to say?”
He takes her hand in his. She attempts to recoil but he doesn’t let her. “I’m trying to say that I’m not playing any games. Not anymore. And you’re right, I encouraged a relationship. I did that because I wanted one…with you. And I still do. I said all those things because I was scared. I haven’t been in a relationship for years.”
He opens his mouth, but shuts it again, looking frustrated. She nearly softens. Like a foolish woman losing her sense of reason, she finds it endearing that he’s pushing himself so far out of his element for her.
But she can’t relent. Whatever plan he has in store for them would involve rules and boundaries and heartache. It would never work.
“I have to go,” she says softly.
“Please, Beth, let me make it up to you. Can you give me another chance?”
She closes her eyes. Don’t weaken, Beth! Turn away! a voice in her head screams at her.
But she doesn’t move. She wants to say yes. But how can she be sure he won’t hurt her again?
She’s afraid. Terrified.
Her hand is still in his. “Let me go,” she says quietly. Firmly. She can do this.
“I can’t… Beth, please?”
The desperation in his voice makes her look up, clutching the door still separating them like a security blanket. The shuttered distance in his eyes is replaced by so much regret, and it makes her heart ache.
Her mind reels as she brings a palm to his face and he leans into it. She moves her fingers to his hair, knowing what she’s going to say. “Okay,” she whispers. His eyes sink closed and he pulls her into his arms. She allows him, hating and loving how perfectly they fit together.
“You smell like you’ve been rolling in a bed of flowers,” he murmurs into her hair.
“It’s lavender. You interrupted my bath.” She looks up at him with a playful sneer.
“I’m sorry about that.”
She raises her brows. “Are you, really?”
He smiles and she can’t help but join him.
Their smiles gradually fade, and they simply watch each other, longing hanging in the air between them. Each passing second tightened her chest, the tension increasing like an arrow drawn back in its bow. The emotions spiking her belly are frightening, unfamiliar, and welcome.
She definitely isn’t ready for him to leave. “Do you want to come in?”
He nods once, but only continues looking at her with a steady gaze. Almost as though he’s looking for something. “Do you want me to come in?”
She closes her eyes against his shoulder, feeling the steady thump-thump of his heart against her chest. She knows exactly what he’s asking. There are several good reasons to say no. But she can’t.
So she doesn’t.