Page 29 of Taking Adalisa

I place my hands on her shoulders. “Sometimes, it can take a little while for a secret admirer to come forward. It can take a lot of courage to tell a girl you like them. I had a guy in high school take more than a month to get the courage to talk to me. He made me a paper flower every single day and left it in my locker.”

“Really?” she looks at me thoughtfully.

“Yes, really. Why don’t you go get something to eat and then go home and fall asleep? I think it will help you,” I tell her, pulling her into my embrace and hugging her tightly.

I look over at the front door of the shop, making sure no one is coming into the shop. They don’t need to see Margery like this; no one does. But as I look out the windows, I suck in a breath.

Matthias.

He is standing outside the window, looking directly at me. My hold on Margery tightens a little as we continue to stare at each other. I thought he had forgotten about me.

I look away from Matthias and pull away from Margery. “Now, I want you to go home and get some sleep. You will feel better tomorrow, I promise. Make sure you get some food before.”

Margery nods and grabs her purse. Matthias walks in as Margery leaves, neither one of them gives the other a glance. My eyes stay on him as he slowly walks toward me, his eyes never leaving me.

“What do you want?” I ask. “You need to leave. You are not welcome here.”

But it falls on deaf ears.

“Matthias, I’m serious. I have cameras here that are capturing your face right now. I will take it to the police. I don’t care what you think. I told you to leave, and you aren’t, which is trespassing.” I’m making stuff up as I word vomit.

I have no idea if it is trespassing or not. Idoknow I have the power to kick anyone out of the store if I need to.

“No,” is all he says.

“No?” I take a step back.

Matthias stops in front of me and smiles.

“No.” He leans forward and takes a big breath. “I’ve missed the smell of you.”

Abruptly, I hold my hands in the air. “Stop. Do not say things like that to me. Do not talk to me. Leave right now.”

I need to be strong. I need to get him away from me.

“No,” he repeats. “I will say things like that to you if I want to. They aren’t bad. They are showing my appreciation for you and how much I have missed you.”

I shake my head, but he’s not wrong.

“I think you like them, but you are trying so hard to stay away from me and prove to yourself that you don’t need me. That’s okay, I like a girl with a bit of fight in her,” he purrs. “We are going to have so much fun together. But I am a patient man and will wait for you, don’t worry. I’ll just need to work a little harder to show you that we are perfect together.”

I push against his chest, trying to get him away from me. “We arenot perfecttogether. You and I will never be together. I won’t allow it. Get it through your thick skull that it will never happen.”

He smiles.

Fucking smiles at me.

“Oh, but baby, weareperfect together. You can see it, but you don’t want to admit it. That’s okay. Not everyone wants to accept things immediately, but you will see it eventually,” he declares. “Just wait. Everything is going to work out with us.”

I push at his chest again, trying to get him away from me, but he won’t budge. What does he do to make him so solid? It’s infuriating that I can’t get him away from me.

“What do you want?” I ask, trying to change the subject.

Maybe if we talk about this, he will get away from me. The sooner I get through what he wants, the sooner he is going to leave my shop.

“You can’t get me away from you that easily.” He stands to his full height. “Don’t rush our conversation.”

“Won’t be a conversation much longer,” I say under my breath.

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