Holy Christ, he wanted more. Some part of him realized she was blatantly seducing him. A complete turnaround from her attempts to keep their relationship a secret, but there wasn’t enough blood left in his brain to worry about that now.
Tightening his fingers around her hips, he found her rhythm and danced with her, let the music sink into them both, and felt something akin to true happiness in the moment.
Leaning his mouth to her ear, he said, “You know what you’re doing to me, don’t you?”
He saw her lips curve. “What you did to me last night?”
“Oh hell, yeah.” He drew in a breath. “I’m going to do that again. This time, though…no panties.” His brain was on fire with the image.
Megan turned in his arms to face him. Her cheeks were flushed, and she was so damned beautiful.
“How do you do that?”
He slipped one hand over her shoulder. “Make you burn for me like I burn for you?”
“Yes.” She breathed the word out. “It’s almost hurts the way I need you.”
He leaned closer. “I can make it stop hurting. Give you pleasure.” Adam was aware of the people around them. It was pure survival for him to always be aware. He wanted to get her somewhere private where all his attention could be on her. Just Meg. “Come to my room with me.”
“You have a room? Here?”
“I do.” The band was beginning a new song. He trailed his hand down her arm and caught her hand, tugged her off the floor and out the French doors onto the patio. At the waist-high fence, he kissed her.
…
Megan lost her breath as his mouth descended on hers. Her thoughts scattered. He caught her hair in his hand, tugging just enough.
She opened her mouth.
He invaded her, filled her. This was crazy! People were around, and yet all she could think about was Adam. He pressed his body against hers, his arousal hard against the softness of her belly.
Ripping his mouth from hers, he looked into her face. Heat poured off him. “I never lose control. You do this to me. Come with me. Now.” He fought past the raging need to bury himself deep inside her. “You can say no to sex, just let me hold you. Have you all to myself for a little while.”
She couldn’t get her wits about her. She should ask where, tell someone, but then she looked into his eyes and saw a mix of searing lust and unending need and there was no part of her that could deny him.
So all she said was, “Yes.”
Adam slid his hands to her waist and lifted her effortlessly. “Swing your legs over the fence.”
She did, feeling a new thrill go through her.
Releasing her, Adam hopped the fence, grabbed her hand, and ran over the lush grass.
“Wait!” Laughing, she held onto his arm and took off her heels. They resumed running, the lights of the clubhouse retreating. Night fell around them like a velvet caress. The grass was damp and cool beneath her feet, while Adam’s hand was warm around hers. They passed a pond, heard the gentle movement of the water, and headed to the guest cabins tucked in a tree line. Her heart beat harder, and she grew slightly winded. But for the first time in years, Meg felt young, sexy, and free to be just a little bit wild.
As they neared the edge of the grass, Adam stopped and swept her into his arms. “I don’t want you stepping on rocks or debris, or stubbing your toe in a crack.” He strode over the flagstones, following the curving path to a cabin bracketed by two cypress trees. He fished out a key while still holding her, unlocked it and walked in.
She barely saw the wood-beamed ceiling, pecan-colored walls, or planked floor covered in rugs. With her still in his arms, he paused between a small kitchenette on the left and living area on the right. “Want to stay out here? Or go in the bedroom?”
“Bedroom. ”She breathed it out, her need for him flooding her with an unbearably sweet pain.
His eyes flared with heat, and he carried her into a bedroom at the back. A lamp shed a soft light onto a huge four-poster bed covered in a patchwork quilt. He lowered her legs and slid her down his body. He sank his hands into her hair, finding the pins and releasing them. He massaged her scalp where the pins had clipped her hair up at her temples, but left it free to fall down her back.
The sensation of his long fingers sliding over those tender areas made her moan.
“Damn,” he muttered. Framing her face with his hands, he kissed her. Hard. Deep. Relentless.
Until she was kissing him back. Tasting him, feeling the wet heat of his tongue against hers. She sucked in his lower lip, grazing it with her teeth. More. She wanted more. Her dress was too tight, her breasts too heavy.
He pressed one thigh between her legs, sliding against her cleft and rocking with just the right friction.
She ran her hands over his arms, down his waist, and held onto his firm backside. Trying to get more. She whimpered against his mouth.
Tugging her head back, he looked into her eyes. “Do you ache for me, sweet Meg?” Pushing his erection against her belly, he said, “Like I ache for you?”
His eyes were dilated, his face flushed. “Yes. I can’t wait any longer.”
“I’m all yours.” He let go of her and yanked off his jacket, pulled off his tie. He undid his shirt and ripped it out of his pants.
As he stripped, her body grew tighter. Never had she needed him like she did now. When he undid the belt and opened his pants, she saw the line of hair that trailed down his taut stomach, her mouth dried, and she curled her fingers into her palms.
His gaze stayed locked on her as he guided his pants and boxers down. The long, thick column of his arousal sprang free.
She reached out and traced the length of him. One hand wasn’t enough. She used both to cup him, sliding along the delicious length.
Adam kicked his pants away and caught her hips. “Turn,” he said, his voice a harsh command.
She released him and lifted her hair. Adam’s fingers found the zipper and pulled it down slow and steady. The gown fell away, exposing her skin to the cool air and the scorching heat of his gaze.
“Thong and nothing else. That’s damned hot.” He turned her around, pressed her back to the bed, caught the thong at her hips and tugged it off. He got a condom from a drawer of the side table.
“I’m taking the birth control shots. I’m safe from pregnancy.”
He rolled on the condom and climbed on the bed beside her. “I’m always careful.” He leaned down and kissed her, starting with her mouth and working his way down her body.
The thought that he was careless once came and went before she could hold onto it. Nothing mattered but the feel of him. He drew her nipple into his mouth, his hand wandering between her thighs, and she was lost.
She trailed her hand down his belly, following that thin line of hair over his rippled muscles to his penis. Closing her fingers around him, she brushed her thumb over the sensitive tip. He groaned, pushing into her hand. Then he reached down, moved her hand away, and covered her body. Settling between her thighs, he positioned himself, then slid into her.
She caught her breath as he filled her body, and in the process exposed the part of her that had been empty all these years. The intensity of her feelings, of the physical sensations, swept her into a place only he could take her. She writhed beneath him, trying to capture more.
“Yes. Show me what you want.” He caught her face, kissing her as he began to thrust harder and deeper, until she was panting, clawing at his back. Her entire being focused on him pulling out of her, then pushing back in through all her sensitive folds.
She couldn’t get enough. “I can’t…” She arched, never having gone this high.
Adam pushed up on one arm. He moved his other arm beneath her thigh and eased her leg up a bit, then he increased the strength of his thrusts, creating a hot streak of wicked sensations building to unbearable tension.
“Look at me,” he said.
She opened her eyes and saw true masculine beauty. His face was pulled ti
ght, stark, his eyes blazing.
“Now, Meg. Come now.” He shoved into her, filling her with everything he had.
She came apart as spirals of pleasure detonated and he kept it going, angling his thrusts, giving her bliss that bordered on sweet agony. And just as she began to come down, he let himself go.
Burying her face in his hair, she felt the spasms of his orgasm take over. She held him tight, milking his pleasure just as he’d done for her.
Hours later, she woke up covered in nothing but warm male. Adam was at her back, his arms around her, one thigh thrown over her hips. It was dark and quiet except for his soft breathing. In front of her, the glowing dials of the bedside clock read two a.m.
Adam had been both fierce and tender, making love to her over and over.
Always with a condom.
She remembered his words about using a condom even though she was on birth control. Always careful.
Except that one time after his parents’ funeral.
That was on both of them.
But making love with Adam and not telling him about Cole?
That was on her.
Chapter Eight
Adam woke as Meg tried to move away from him. He tightened his arms around her. “Cold?”
“I have to leave.”
“Stay.” Rising on an elbow he looked over her to the clock. “It’s just after two.”
She rolled to her back. “I need to get home.”
He looked down at her in the soft glow of the alarm clock. “Tomorrow’s Sunday.” He splayed his hand on her stomach. He liked touching her, needed it even more as he felt her emotionally withdrawing from him. “Tell me why you didn’t want me at the country club tonight.”
“We agreed—”
“Cut the shit, Meg. You had a deer in the headlights expression when you saw me. And later when I asked you to dance, you nearly panicked at something Lawrence was saying to you.” He hadn’t missed that; he just needed Meg too much to focus on it then. “What are you hiding from me?” He didn’t think it was her mentor. Yeah, the guy wanted Megan, but Adam believed her when she said she wasn’t interested.
She pulled her mouth tight. “Tell me why you hate Raven’s Cove.”
That…what? He snatched his hand off her. “Don’t change the subject.”
“This is how it always was. I was good enough for a movie, going dancing, playing a game of tennis, and of course, sex. But you never talked to me. I guess in college I was too romantic to get it.”
“I talked to you. I told you I wanted to be a Marine.”
She glanced at his right biceps. “But not why. You even tattooed the emblem on your arm, your only tattoo. That’s a serious commitment.”
“My dad was a Marine. I told you that.” That was enough for everyone else. Should be for her, too.
“The parents whose house you want to sell, to sever ties with their memories? That’s not what drove you to be a Marine.”
Adam’s guts churned. She’d seen a hell of a lot more than he’d realized. Too much, including her observation about that tattoo. It made his skin itch with the need to get away. “I’m not talking about this.” His voice was too sharp. Like orders given on the battlefield.
She jerked away, sitting up on the edge of the bed. With her hands gripping the mattress, she said, “You never really wanted me around your house or parents. And the few times I was there, you were tense, withdrawn.”
“Let it go.” He stared at her rigid back, willing her to just leave it alone.
Her shoulders slumped for a second, then she found her panties and pulled them on, stepped into her dress and zipped it. Finally she faced him. “I’m not letting it go. I can’t. This,” she waved at the bed, “it’s over. You’re right, the sex is great, but that’s all it is. All I ever was to you.”
He jackknifed off the bed. “Damn it.” He found his pants, yanked them on. “Don’t do this, don’t make this ugly. Another ugly memory.” He had enough shit haunting him.
She froze like someone had slapped her. Then without a word, she walked out.
Fuck. Adam caught her at the door and saw the sheen of tears in her eyes. They didn’t fall, but she was hurting. He’d hurt her. Again. In that moment, he hated himself like never before. He should have stayed away from her. But he couldn’t bear her pain.
He pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her, desperately trying to make this better somehow. “God, baby, I’m sorry. You don’t know, can’t know…” He trailed off, burying his face in her hair. The scent of her, sweet pear binding with the musky scent of their lovemaking burned through him. Not a sexual burn, but pure pain.
“Know what?” she asked softly.
He hadn’t talked about Brady in all these years. Not once. His throat locked up at just the thought of it. He couldn’t. Instead, he lifted his head, and gave her the only truth he could. “I’m not capable of being the man you want me to be.”
Sadness emanated from her, but only one single tear rolled down her face. “What about the man you want to be, Adam? Maybe that’s what you should figure out.”
He had no words for that. Couldn’t even remember what he’d wanted to be before Brady died.
“I have to go.” She pulled from his arms.
He nodded. It was better for both of them and he knew it. “I’ll walk you to your car.” He caught her arm. “Don’t argue. I might be broken in a lot of ways, but I will make sure you get into your car with the doors locked.”
And then he’d be alone. The way it had to be. No matter how hard he tried, he kept hurting Meg. Even if he managed to tell Megan how he had failed his brother…how could she continue to care about him?
His own parents hadn’t been able to love him or forgive him.
…
Megan’s head ached. Too little sleep, too many tears, and too much heartbreak.
“You have to tell Adam about Cole,” her mother said.
Megan sipped her coffee, thankful that utter fatigue blanketed her emotions. She glanced out the sliding glass door. Cole was outside playing with Hayden. The man had only been married to her mom a few years, but he acted like a real grandfather to Cole.
“You make it sound so easy.” Meeting her mom’s gaze, she asked, “If you could go back and never have Dad in our lives, keep us from that pain, would you?”
Catherine reached out and put her hand on Megan’s leg. “Oh, honey. Would you really want to go through your life being told a lie?”
“Maybe.” She was acting like a child and she knew it. She just couldn’t seem to stop it.
“I tried to shield you when you were little, but even then, you wouldn’t have it. You had to find out for yourself what your father was made of.”
Even now, Megan cringed at that. And the times she’d found his checks with the notes… She shut down that line of thinking. This wasn’t about her, it was about her son. “I’m trying to do what’s best for Cole.”
Catherine squeezed her thigh gently. “Are you, Megan?”
She lowered her coffee cup. “Yes. What else would I be doing?”
“Protecting yourself. You obviously slept with Adam last night.”
Megan opened her mouth.
“Don’t bother. I, and about a hundred and fifty guests, saw you and Adam on the dance floor. Many of them saw you kissing on the patio before the two of you disappeared across the golf course. Given that you haven’t dated in nearly three years, that caused quite a stir.”
“I’ve dated.” Of all that things she could have said, that was what came out of her mouth?
Her mom rolled her eyes. “Two lunch dates with different men. That doesn’t count. My point is that you care for Adam. You’re not the type to have indiscriminate sex.”
Megan leaned her head back on the couch. “It doesn’t matter. He told me he can’t be a family man. Ever.” She glanced out the window, watching as Cole tried to throw the ball to Max. The ball went about two feet. Hayden was crouched next to Cole and he
lped him throw it again.
She could picture Adam there, his and Cole’s dark heads touching as he taught their son to throw a ball.
She turned back to her mom. “But I didn’t give him the full truth.”
“No. You didn’t.”
She stood up and pulled out her cell phone. “I’ll call him.” With her heart pounding, she left Adam a message to call her back. She was scared, but she had to stop avoiding the truth. It was time for her full confession. She prayed it wouldn’t scar them all.
Somehow, Megan’s obligations went on just the same as she waited for Adam to return her call. She went to work, then spent her lunch hour giving the deposition for Celtic Fire’s custody battle. Finished with that, she walked with Debbie McCray to the parking lot. “I’m so glad to have that over with,” Megan said.
“Thank you for doing it, Dr. Young.”
She smiled at the other woman. “It was the truth, Debbie. I know you love Celtic Fire.” Standing in the parking lot by her car after the hearing, Megan’s thoughts wandered to Adam. She’d left him the message yesterday and he still hadn’t called her back. Was he really being that childish? Or busy? Now that she was out of the courthouse, she pulled her phone out.
Missed message. Adam?
“I’m still worried. Nathan is vindictive.”
She pulled her attention from the phone to Debbie. She was thirty-something, childless, and lines of worry bracketed her mouth. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. His public image is everything to him. First I left him, and he only wants Celtic Fire to get back at me. Then making him look bad in court…” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“He won’t hurt you, will he?”
Debbie frowned. “I don’t think so. But he has Celtic Fire. I tried to take her when I left.” She broke off, compressing her lips. “He grabbed her from me, not caring if he hurt the dog. She was scared.” She looked up into the cloudless sky. “If the judge decides in my favor, he won’t like being forced to let me take her.”
“He tried to bribe me. That didn’t work,” Megan said. “He’s going to have to accept the judge’s decision.”
The Baby Bargain Page 6
