by Sandra Kitt
Eva tilted her head and looked closely at him. “Diane says she goes home tomorrow.”
Adam frowned slightly. He brushed a leaf off the leg of his pants, the brown of his arm contrasting against the white fabric. “That’s right. I have to get her over to St. Thomas by two o’clock.”
Eva absently used her straw to dig for the cherry in the bottom of her cup. “She says she’s coming down for Christmas.”
“Yeah, that’s right,” he confirmed casually.
“You like having her with you, don’t you?” Eva asked softly after a small pause.
Adam slouched on the bench a little and crossed an ankle over a bent knee. One arm rested on the bench ledge behind Eva’s back. He turned his head to stare at her but didn’t answer her question directly. Instead, he looked out over the busy street, squinted into the bright water reflected with sunlight beyond the harbor.
“You know what she told me? She says I don’t take good care of myself. She says it’s a good thing she comes down once a year to check up on me!”
Eva laughed softly to herself. “Do you think she’s right?”
He shrugged. “Probably.” Adam shot her a quick look with a quirked brow. “And despite what you may think of me, I really do try when she comes down to do the right thing.”
Eva played idly with her now-empty cup. “I’m sure you do, Maxwell.”
“Having Diane stay with me…makes everything different. Do you know what I mean?”
She nodded. Adam looked once more toward the harbor.
“She made me breakfast this morning. A couple of nights ago it was dinner.”
“How was it?” Eva asked curiously. Maxwell paused, pursing his lips.
“Interesting,” he said tactfully. Eva hid her smile.
“She’s almost not a little girl anymore,” Adam said thoughtfully and with a little sadness. Eva saw that he realized that he was missing Diane’s growing up, watching the subtle changes that for him were happening in yearly spurts and much too fast.
Adam began to absently stroke the back of Eva’s neck. She found herself holding the plastic cup tightly in her hand while Adam’s warm fingers sent waves of gentle delight down her spine.
“She’s coming down to spend Christmas with me…so I won’t be lonely,” he finished, looking at her. Eva watched his wide mouth, his jaw. Her eyes came back to his. “You know what I’d like to do?” he questioned in a low deep voice.
“No…what?” Eva asked automatically, loving his rugged, uncompromising face, the strength and character edged around his eyes, and the earthy tobacco brown of his skin. Adam leaned a little toward her.
“I’d like to take you somewhere and make love to you again.”
Eva caught her breath…felt a tightness in her chest. She’d thought that Adam had viewed last night as an inevitable episode. One that had satisfied his curiosity, even though she had acquiesced, and not necessarily to be repeated. Adam began to come closer as if to kiss her. But a soft, silky voice broke into their cocoon, and their surroundings came rushing back.
Adam and Eva turned their heads to find Lavona Morris standing indolently with her hands splayed seductively on her rounded hips. She called Adam’s name again.
Eva pulled back from Adam feeling embarrassed and foolish under Lavona’s derisive little smile. Eva looked at the cup in her hands. “I’m going to throw this away…”
“No! Stay here!” Adam’s hand clamped down tightly on her arm. Eva looked at him and saw the hard set to his mouth. He didn’t intend that she should bow away from Lavona’s presence. But Eva didn’t want to watch any exchange between Lavona and Adam, especially since last night.
Eva tried to stand up, but the large hand was firm and hard. She couldn’t move. “Maxwell, please…”
“Dammit, Eva…don’t argue with me!” Adam growled low. He watched her a moment longer and got up to walk over to Lavona.
A perverse curiosity had Eva turning to view the two. She couldn’t help but notice what an outstanding couple they made, Adam with his tall, manly presence and Lavona with her womanly charm. Their voices were low. Lavona smiled up at Adam, moving her shoulders for emphasis. Adam nodded and responded but stood with his arms crossed, and, therefore, he was somewhat removed from Lavona. After only a few minutes Adam turned away from her and back in the direction of Eva. Lavona’s face turned momentarily stormy. She sliced a malevolent glare at Eva before the anger faded. Shrugging indifferently, Lavona turned and sashayed away.
Adam reached out for Eva’s hand, and numbly she placed hers into his. Only after he’d pulled her to her feet and they were once again walking did she dare to look at him. Maxwell was moving through the crowds, maneuvering them both and maintaining a firm hold of her hand, as if he had no intention of letting her go.
“Maxwell?” Eva began when they’d left the square, wanting to know what had happened. But he merely looked down at her. A smile curved a corner of his mouth.
“I’m taking you and Diane to dinner” was all he’d say. But that’s all that was needed. It would seem that Adam had just made a choice and the choice was her.
Unbelievably Eva was filled with joy.
DINNER WAS a lighthearted affair at The Upper Deck, a high hillside open-air restaurant overlooking St. John with St. Thomas in the distance. Diane chattered away happily, almost to herself, adjusted to the idea of going home, knowing she’d be back again in six months. She promised to write Eva and copied down the address on the corner of a paper napkin.
Maxwell let the conversation flow basically around him, only occasionally teasing with Diane in answering a question from her. He and Eva exchanged looks and their communication was accomplished with their eyes.
It was dark when Adam pulled up behind Eva’s Jeep, left in front of his house earlier in the day. Diane was worn out and sleepy as she climbed listlessly out of the vehicle.
“Have you finished packing?” Adam asked his daughter.
Diane yawned. “No, not yet. I’ll finish in the morning…”
“You’ll finish tonight,” Adam corrected firmly. “You still don’t remember where you last put your swimsuit.”
“I’ll find it,” Diane whined petulantly.
“Now Diane…” Maxwell ordered very quietly. Diane cast him a cautious look, and gave in at once.
“Oh, all right…” was her soft reply.
“I won’t see you tomorrow before you leave. Have a good trip home,” Eva offered.
Diane sighed. “I wish you were flying back with me. You promise you’ll write?”
Eva smiled. “I promise.” Then she was completely taken by surprise when Diane almost threw herself against Eva, giving her a quick, thorough hug.
“I like you,” Diane whispered, and then pulled away to run into the house.
Eva swallowed the rush of emotions welling up inside and turned away from Maxwell’s penetrating gaze. Maxwell moved to stand close behind her.
“I’ll come to see you later,” he suggested. Eva shook her head and turned back to face him.
“No, don’t do that. This is Diane’s last night. You should spend it with her.”
Maxwell scowled impatiently. “Look, I love Diane very much, and I know I should stay here with her but…I want to make love to you, Eva!”
Eva grinned at him. “Well, you’ll just have to control yourself,” she teased, nonetheless complimented. Adam cursed under his breath. He looked around him and, taking Eva’s hand, pulled her around the side of the house. Against the side was a long but narrow chest. The top half was covered with a strip of black vinyl. Adam sat on it and, leaning back against the house, he pulled Eva onto his lap. Gathering her against his chest he proceeded to kiss her hungrily. Eva melted against him willingly, supported by his chest and arm around her back.
Adam’s hand rubbed back and forth across her stomach to her side, turning her more into him. His mouth manipulated and pulled at hers, drawing a sweetness from her that made her weak and helpless in his ha
nds. Under her bottom as she sat sideways on his lap, Eva could feel his arousal. She inadvertently wiggled to get more comfortable, and Adam shuddered and moaned into her mouth. His hand came back to her stomach and down to her leg. The hand stroked her partially bared thigh, but his hand could move just so far upward. Adam pulled his hand away.
“What the hell have you got on?” he asked bewildered.
“It—it’s a culotte,” Eva whispered brokenly, suddenly in complete sympathy with his thwarted efforts. He cursed again and kissed her, grinding his mouth against hers savagely, pushing into the deep warm cavern of her mouth. But then he gentled his hold on her in an attempt to coax her to give in to him.
Adam located instead the hem of her lilac blouse and slipped his hand beneath. He moved against the smooth skin, locating and caressing one breast. Eva arched her back causing her taut nipple to push into the palm of his hand; her arms circled tighter around his neck.
Eva knew they had to stop right now. It was too close to the house and Diane. Eva truly didn’t want Maxwell to leave his daughter. She twisted away and pulled out of his embrace. Standing up unsteadily, Eva could only hear their heavy breathing.
Adam stood up behind her. He gently put his arms around her and pulled her back against the length of him. Again Eva felt the hard outline of him. “Woman, you are cruel,” he growled, kissing her ear and holding her to him.
“You’ll survive,” Eva whispered, not sure that she would. His hot breath and tongue tickled her earlobe.
“You sure I can’t make you change your mind?” he asked in a thick voice, his hand roaming intimately over the curve of her buttocks. Eva moaned, turning her face against his chest.
“Ooooh, Max! You probably could,” she admitted readily, “but I don’t think you should.”
Adam sighed and took a deep steadying breath of air. He turned her fully into his arms and his hands came up to cup her face. “You really don’t want me to come to you?” he asked persuasively.
“I didn’t say that. I—I just feel you should stay with Diane.”
Her face was dark in the night, her forehead, nose, and cheeks highlighted by the moon. The eyes, however, were wide and bright, her mouth soft and full from his kisses. Adam moved his thumb over her lips.
“I can’t be with you tomorrow, Eva. Or the day after that…”
She pulled away just a little from him. “I’m not asking you to,” she said tightly, inwardly disappointed nonetheless. “You don’t need to feel…”
“You don’t understand…” Adam cut her off, one hand circling her waist firmly to keep her still. “I’m going down island with Lito tomorrow night. I’ll probably be gone a week.”
The blood felt like it was draining from her face as she looked at him. How did he expect her to react? What did he expect her to say?
“Going fishing, I suppose?” Eva attempted lightly. But Adam frowned at her flippant attitude. He dropped his hands, releasing her altogether.
“We left some experiments and traps along a hundred-mile route. It’s time to go pull them in.”
“I see,” Eva murmured, straightening her clothes. She began moving back to the front of the house and the Jeep. For just an instant she was tempted to say to Adam, Yes, please come to me later. A week is too long to wait and see what will happen next. But the thought was fleeting, and she kept silent on the subject. “You better go in. Diane’s going to wonder what happened to you.”
“She knows what happened to me…” Adam remarked evenly.
Eva stopped and turned quickly back to face him, her eyes apprehensive. “What?”
Adam put his hands on his hips and tilted his head to the side as he watched her face. “Diane has informed me that it’s okay with her if I want to kiss you.”
Eva’s mouth dropped open. “Di—Diane said that to you?”
“Uh-huh…” he murmured. “She said she understands that sometimes grown-ups have to be alone.”
“Oh my God!” Eva groaned in shock. “What must she be thinking of me?”
“She likes you, Eva. Much better than Lavona, obviously. She wasn’t passing judgment on you.” Adam stepped closer and frowned at her. “Are you embarrassed or ashamed of last night…or right now?” he asked softly.
She had been. But thought it unnecessary to say so. Especially now, knowing that she very much wanted to be with him again.
“I—I just don’t want Diane to think about me the way she did Lavona.”
Adam’s jaw flexed. “Not hardly,” he said.
Eva turned away and prepared to climb into her Jeep. Adam grabbed her wrist.
“What will you do the rest of the night?”
“Read. Wash my hair. And you?”
He chuckled soundlessly. “Help Diane get her things together…take a very long, very cold shower.”
Eva smiled merrily up at him. Adam returned a slight smile as they looked at one another.
“I—I hope your experiments are okay,” she said lamely.
“To hell with the experiments. What about me?” he asked, slowly trying to bring her back into his arms. Eva didn’t resist. Her hands spread over his chest and Adam settled his hands on her lower back.
“You’ll have Lito for company, and you’ll be very busy. You don’t expect me to believe you’ll have time to think about me, do you?” she teased, but Adam didn’t answer. He tightened his arms suddenly, forcing her harshly against his hips.
“Are you going into St. Thomas again?” Adam asked roughly. Eva puzzled over the question. Finally she shrugged.
“I don’t know. I don’t think so.”
Adam seemed satisfied with the answer. “Since I have Diane’s permission, can I kiss you goodnight?”
Eva laughed in real amusement. “Since when have you ever asked my permission for anything?”
“That’s true…” he agreed huskily, and bent to quickly cover her mouth with his. The heat that had sparked between them before was evidently still burning. Adam forced her mouth open to probe inside, his hands running up and down her back. His mouth dragged to her cheek. “Maybe I should just ride with you to make sure you get home safely…” he groaned against her temple.
Eva pushed him away. “I’ll go alone. I can take care of myself, remember?” She climbed into the Jeep and started the engine. Adam stood watching, his foot on the fender of his own vehicle, his hand resting on a muscled thigh.
“Kiss Diane for me.” Eva shouted over the noise. “And I hope you have a good trip, too!” There was lots more she had on her mind to say. Like, be careful, and hurry back…and that she’d miss him. But she didn’t. Eva wasn’t going to be what Adam Maxwell expected her to be. So she kept all her real, deeper feelings inside and went home alone.
THE DINNER at Mildred Decker’s was more welcomed than Eva had first anticipated. For one thing it didn’t allow her to think about Adam Maxwell or to reminisce about their night together, which now was beginning to seem totally unreal to her. And for another, she missed him a great deal.
Eva wore a pair of white loosely draped summer slacks, and a black-and-white pin-striped camisole top. She brought along a rose-colored shawl in case the air was cold. Milly’s house was a small unpretentious, charming structure on Chocolate Hole. It had a large flagstone entrance, the walkway continuing all around the house to a large open deck. The interior of the house was just one large, high-ceilinged room. The floor was done in pretty red Spanish ceramic tiles to offset the white stone walls and white decorations. The kitchen was along one wall, all the appliances and cabinets built together to save space. The living room/dining room occupied the rest of the space, with the living-room sofa opening up into Milly’s bed at night. Eva mentioned that she thought the house an ideal design for one person. Milly laughed good-naturedly at the underlying suggestion.
“It discourages visiting relatives from the mainland. They know full well that if they come, they sleep in sleeping bags they bring with them!”
Eva laughed at Milly’s
ingenuity and honesty.
Milly’s other guests, eight in all, proved to be a happy mixture of local friends and people transplanted from the mainland. There was one almost-elderly couple that ran chartered sailing from their boat. Anna Simpson was about forty and with the Virgin Islands Tourist Office. Margot Levine was there, as well as Richard Hollis, a transplanted Georgian who used to teach architecture, but now built houses. And the last guest was a distinguished-looking gentleman with soft gray hair and a beard, who was the manager of a local resort camp.
The evening was fun. Eva felt a little awed by the exciting professional lives these people led, but they all expressed great interest in the law firm she worked for and the kinds of chores she performed.
“You should just go ahead and try for a law degree,” Anna encouraged. Eva smiled, remembering a comment Adam had made to her when they’d first met.
“It has been suggested,” Eva admitted.
The dinner ran as late as Milly said it would. It was well after midnight when everyone began to leave. Milly walked Eva to the door.
“Well, dear…I’m so glad you could come. I’m just sorry Maxwell couldn’t make it, also.”
Eva’s head came up alert at the mention of his name. “Was he invited?”
“Oh yes,” Milly said casually. “Once I knew you two had met, it made sense. You could have come together. But Adam said he’d be away. Did you know that?”
Eva nodded. “He told me he was going down island. But he never said he’d been invited to dinner.”
Milly shrugged. “I’m not surprised. He is a pretty private person. But he did make me assure him that you’d get back to Hawksnest okay.”
“Did he?” Eva asked, hard pressed to keep the surprise out of her voice.
“I told him there was no need to worry, of course. You aren’t a bit like Lavona Morris. I suppose you know that they’re an item?”
Eva cringed. “Yes…I—I’d heard.”
