Adam stepped out with a blinding headache pounding behind his eyes and a sour mood clinging to him like a second skin. He paused at the doorway, blinking against the light, just as lanie erged from her room across the hall.
He opened his mouth, about to mumble a half-hearted "Good morning," but stopped short when she glanced in his direction—only to make a face like she'd just spotted a lizard clinging to the wall. Without a word, she turned and walked off, her steps brisk and dismissive.
He frowned, the greeting dying on his tongue. What was that about? He was the one nursing a hangover, not her so why was she glaring at him?
With a shrug of his shoulders, he trailed after her into the kitchen, each step heavy because his body hadn't fully signed up for the day yet. His only goal was to grab so hangover dicine from the cabinet and maybe find a glass of water that didn't judge him before going back and falling onto his bed..
But as soon as he entered, lanie shot him that sa look again—eyebrows raised, lips curled ever so slightly like she'd slled sothing unpleasant.
He froze halfway to the counter, hand in mid-air. "Seriously?" he asked, blinking at her. "What's with the attitude? Are your panties in a bunch or sothing?"
lanie snorted, not even bothering to look away from the mug where she was aggressively mixing sugar in her coffee. She shot him a look and then asked flatly," What attitude?"
He stared at her, his headache already pulsing in ti with his irritation. "That one. The one where you look at like I'm a roach that just crawled out of the sink."
She turned off the tap with a sharp twist and finally looked at him, face blank but eyes sparking. "If the roach fits..."
He blinked again. "Okay, wow. Just... may I ask what the hell I am being cursed at for?"
She rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn't fall out of her head. Taking another long sip of her coffee, she finally muttered, "Maybe you should think about what you've done."
He blinked again, slower this ti. "I'm sorry, what?"
She set the mug down with a sharp clink and crossed her arms, and glared at him like she was about two seconds away from launching the mug at his head. "You figure it out."
Adam stood there, staring at her, mind trudging through the thick fog of his hangover. He rubbed his temples, trying to recall sothing—anything—that might have offended her. It was like flipping through a book with the pages stuck together. Then sothing clicked.
His eyes snapped open and he stared at her, "Wait. Is this because I kissed you?"
He took a slow step toward her, then another, until he was close enough to lower his voice and then in the sa tone that he liked to tease her wish, said slowly, "lon, I like kissing you. You like kissing . So why the stink eye this morning?"
She harrumphed, and was about to pick her coffee cup again when Adam reached for it faster and took a sip, which made her even more furious and she bit out, "You should be grateful you're only getting a stink eye right now."
He stared at her, confused—until it hit him like a brick to the skull.
Oh. Hell.
The unwelco mory from the night before returned and he winced flinching at the realisation. Right. Saira. Her perfu had clung to him because he'd let her hug him and lanie had noticed. She hadn't pushed him away because of the kiss—she'd done it because he'd co to her slling like soone else. And drunk...
Cursing in his head, he opened his mouth to explain that nothing had happened but before he could get a word out, lanie's phone rang loudly.
At the sa ti, the faint hum of chatter reached them from outside. Then ca a louder sound—several voices, footsteps, maybe even a car door slamming. Adam glanced toward the window, brows furrowing and moved to get his phone out of the pocket to check the surveillance caras.
His eyes widened as soon as the image ca to life and he cursed.
He squinted. There were at least six of them, maybe more. So had clipboards. One had a cara. Another was wearing an unfortunately familiar logo on their shirt—one that scread tabloid.
His stomach dropped. "What the..."
anwhile, lanie had pressed the phone to her ear. "Laela?"
"Where the hell are you?" Laela's voice crackled through the speaker frantically, "Are you okay? I swear, I had no idea that Adam would also turn out to be such a jerk! Oh God, I will sue—"
"What?" lanie frowned as she walked away from the kitchen and asked, "Laela, breathe. I'm fine. What are you even—" But before she could ask, her best friend seed to have guessed that she had no idea about the matter and imdiately ordered," Oh my God! You haven't even checked the social dia, have you? Take a look and see the ss there is! And once you have seen it, let know what you need to do! I have thugs and everything ready!"
lanie ended the call with a quick, "I'll call you back," and imdiately opened her phone's browser. Her thumb hovered over the trending tab on her social feed—and then froze as the hashtags slapped her across the face.
#AdamCollinsMysteryWoman#CorporateCasanova#KissCaughtOnCara#ExFilesUnfold
Her mouth parted slightly as she scrolled through post after post. One of the first images to load was a dim, grainy shot taken inside a wine cellar where Adam's image was clear but the woman's was not. But of course she knew who that was.
The second was also a familiar place... The ABC enterprises conference room and sa two people, this ti hugging each other. And the last one was an old picture of a couple, maybe from the high school...
She looked up then and t Adam's eyes...
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