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

happened to you, Eve. What sucks even more is I am, once again , the last fucking one to know!” He roared.
    Eve dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands. Exhaustion, dread, regret—so many damned emotions hit her at once—she no longer had the strength to deal with it now. “ I’m sorry .”
    Adam expected excuses, a fight, even a defiant Eve. Not this broken woman before him. This wasn’t how Eve was. She was strong, determined and confident. Flawed, yes. But, his perfection. His anger was conquered by this weary Eve. He came to her, silently picking her up and carrying her to their bathroom upstairs. Adam gently sat her on the closed toilet seat and began undressing her.
    “I liked that shirt,” she said quietly when he threw her baby blue, silk shirt in the trash.
    “I’ll buy you a new one,” he murmured, reaching to turn on the shower. “Up.”
    Eve stood, wondering how her legs were working when she was so bone tired.
    Adam stripped her, throwing all of her clothes away. He was sure the blood would come out, but Eve wouldn’t need reminders of this day. He took his own clothes off, then wrapped his arms around her.
    “Hold on to me.” Even her grip around his neck was weak, he thought, as he lifted her and walked her into enormous shower. Normally their shower was one of their favorite places to make love. With its light emperador marble and pulsating, ambient lighted shower heads that surrounded them from calf to head, it added another element of sensation for them. Tonight, though, Adam just hoped it washed away what was hurting Eve. He placed her on the bench that lined the wall, turned the shower heads towards her, and grabbed the sponge and body wash.
    “Do you want to talk about it?”
    It felt good having him wash her. She didn’t want to talk or think, she just wanted to feel him. Eve shook her head when he reached up to wash her face free of blood.
    He cupped her face in his hands when it was clean. “You have to tell me what’s going on, beautiful. I can’t be on the outside again. Do you understand?”
    “Yes.”
    Her voice was so small, so quiet, so unlike Eve, it scared him. She’s been through so much, he wondered if she had finally hit a point where she couldn’t take anymore.
    “Let’s get you to bed.”
    He moved to get up, stopping when she held on to his hand.
    “ Hold me .”
    Adam sat next to her, pulling her onto his lap. He cradled her there while she wept silently.
     

     
    “I asked Lexie to watch Bella here at the house. Indefinitely.” Adam set Eve’s coffee cup in front of her. He made it extra strong today. She had tossed and turned most of the night, so he felt she could use the pick me up.
    “You don’t think she’s safe with me.”
    It wasn’t a question, but he answered anyway.
    “I don’t think you’re safe, but I can’t control what you do.” Unfortunately, he added silently. “I can control what my daughter does.”
    “Your daughter?” Eve couldn’t blame him for being worried, but damn, that hurt. She should actually be relieved. He was handling this a lot better than she thought.
    “ Our daughter,” he amended. “I don’t want her at the gallery until we know what’s going on. And, I mean we , Eve. You need to start talking to me.”
    “Baby, I was going to tell you everything.”
    “When, Eve? After it’s all over with and you finally let me out of a room you’ve lock me in?”
    Eve flinched at the sarcasm and hurt in his voice. She should have been prepared for him to bring up that night Maurice was shot in her bedroom.
    Eve had taken Adam to the secret studio she had had built in her apartment in the city when her neighbor, Mrs. Jenkins, warned her that Maurice was in the hall. She locked him in there to keep him safe, and Adam was livid when she finally opened the door. It took her months of apologizing—and, copious amounts of sexual acts—for him to forgive her. Even trying to explain to him that because she