Finally Found

by Nicole Andrews Moore

  So, he didn’t feel guilty in the least. She’d get over it. Soon. Just as soon as he…drew her a bath, complete with wine…and fresh fruit. He continued to formulate a plan as he directed her out of town.

  They had driven just a few blocks when she flipped her head around to face him. “Oh. My. God.” She growled at him.

  “What?!” He asked, bewildered.

  “We’re going to your family home in the Hamptons!” She shook her head and continued to drive.

  He was quiet for a moment. Frowning, he realized that she was accelerating. A lot. He knew where all the speed traps were. And it was a Saturday night. There could even be DWI check points to go through. They were doomed.

  “Are you trying to get us killed, or do you just want a ticket?” He shifted in his seat so that he could see her reaction.

  “What?” She looked down at the speedometer. “Crap.” She let off the gas pedal.

  “Dare I hope you are simply excited to see the place?” He smirked.

  “You smirk a lot. You are pretty pleased with yourself most of the time, aren’t you?” She scowled.

  “You look miserable most of the time. Are you really that unhappy?” He countered. He raised his eyebrows as they spoke.

  “You first!” She appeared to be completely exasperated.

  “Doll, you need to learn to relax.” He shook his head. Without thinking he reached over and started rubbing her shoulder. And it appeared to work for a moment, her shoulder sank, her head tilted to the side to allow him greater access. And then…she stiffened and shook his hand off.

  “Stop,” she said simply, quietly. “Just stop.” She sighed. “I’ll be more relaxed if you aren’t touching me.”

  Jerking his hand further away, his mind raced. Had Cammie been raped, too? Was that why she was so tough and didn’t want him touching her?

  She glanced at him. Clearly she planned to give him an explanation. “I’ve seen all your moves, player. I’m not one of your trophy dates. I won’t be treated like that. Not by you or anyone else.” She watched him for a reaction. “Do you get it?”

  And he realized he had been holding his breath. Slowly, he exhaled. “Yeah. I get it.” He wasn’t battling memories from a painful past. He was battling her memories of his past. He wasn’t sure which was worse.

  They were silent the rest of the trip. It was just before 3am when they pulled into the circular drive that went up to the house. They sat in the car for a moment, both of them staring at the front door of the estate. It wasn’t a really showy place by Hamptons’ standards. And this had been his mother’s dream home. The house in the city was the place that the family did the bulk of the entertaining. That was their show home. And while they held their share of cook outs and pool parties in the Hamptons house, it was all about comfort. It was the place their family felt most at home. Only…neither of them had done any entertaining there at all since their parents had passed.

  Sam hadn’t been back a single time. Even Adam had only gone there periodically when others were holding parties in the Hamptons and he needed a place to stay, a place to bring his current fling to. It was too full of happy memories that neither of them ever thought they’d be able to replicate, and had therefore given up before they had ever tried. He sighed.

  “Well, would you like a tour?” He asked, amiably

  “No, I don’t want a tour,” she responded angrily. “I want a bed. I’m not driving back to the city tonight. Show me to the guest room. You can give me the tour in the morning after I’ve had a coffee.” She stepped out of the vehicle. “And I like my coffee…”

  He leaned over the top of the car and joked, “like you like your men? Strong and dark?”

  She stared at him a moment, then laughed despite herself. “No, like me. Light and sweet.”

  “That’s how you think of yourself?” He quipped. “You are light and sweet? When do I get to see that Cammie?”

  “You need to earn that first.” She shrugged and headed for the door, but not before pulling a backpack out from behind the driver’s seat. “I should have been a girl scout. Maybe tomorrow.”

  “You’ll be a girl scout tomorrow?” He asked curiously.

  “No, genius. The backpack, the preparedness, that’s why I should have been a girl scout. And seeing the sweet Cammie? That may happen tomorrow after some sleep…and coffee.” She stood by the front door, patiently waiting for him to unlock the door.

  Suddenly he was glad that it was dark. It helped him hide his embarrassment. “I don’t have a key. The key was on my key ring that Sam stole…”

  “Fuck. You really didn’t think this through, did you? Is it any wonder that I call you ‘genius?’” She dropped her bag and stomped around on the front stoop for a moment.

  By the time her tantrum ended, he was already over near the tree. “I used to climb this and follow that branch right there over to the roof. Then I’d enter through the attic window. To the right near the center beam is the garage access. The stairs will just drop down. And I can go through the garage door to get into the house.” He patted the tree, walking around the trunk. The wooden bench was gone. That would make it more difficult. And then there was his leg. He had noticed that it seemed stiffer and achier when it was cold ever since the accident.

  Soon he was back around the side of the tree he had started on. Adam had expected to run into Cammie, but she wasn’t there. She also wasn’t at the front door any longer. She wasn’t in her car. He looked around the tree. She was nowhere to be found. “Ummm, hello?” He called out tentatively.

  “Up here!” She called down in a loud whisper.

  Sure enough, when he peered up into the bare branches, he found her making her way across one of the larger sturdier ones, heading toward the house. He was gripped with fear. “What are you doing? Get down here this minute.” And the minute the words escaped his lips, he froze. “Dammit, you made me channel my father!” He shivered.

  “Stop distracting me. This isn’t as easy as it looks. There’s frost on the tree.” She held her arms out from her side.

  “It’s dangerous! You could crack your skull!” He was following her progress, standing directly below her.

  She glanced down and halted. “What? Are you planning on catching me?”

  “Of course. What? I’m going to let you fall? You’d probably sue the hell out of us!” He tried to joke, but really, his voice was strained. Just then she dropped. He held his arms out. He closed his eyes and hoped for the best.

  “Seriously?” She sounded annoyed. “You thought you were going to catch me with your eyes closed?”

  His arms were outstretched. His eyes were squeezed shut and because his arms were still empty, he was truly afraid to open them.

  “You are just this side of useless, you know that?” She laughed to punctuate the end of that sentence.

  He laughed and his eyes flew open. Only one other woman had ever dared speak to him like that and now she was living with his brother. Then there was Cammie, hanging upside down from the branch, dangling just in front of him. Without thinking, without considering how she might react, he simply leaned in and kissed her full lips. It was just a peck really. The briefest touch. Even though he hadn’t thought that through, hadn’t planned for that moment at all, countless images came to mind. Pictures of a future he wanted to have, a future with Cammie in it, were assaulting him. They were impossible thoughts, impossible ideas, completely unattainable. Despite the fact that they’d never slept together, something told him they were never going to. She hated him. That much was obvious from their conversations and interactions thus far. And if that wasn’t enough, the look of utter revulsion on her face following the kiss was enough.

  Now he had no idea how to react. He blurted out the first thought that came to mind. “Are you a lesbian?”

  She righted herself on the branch and seemed to be preparing to continue her journey across it to the house, but his words had jarred her. “Did you really just ask me that?”<
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  He could feel her gearing up to give him a tongue lashing, and after that experience, not the good kind. “No one has every looked so disgusted by my kiss before.” He continued to walk under her towards the house. “Is it my breath?” He breathed into his cupped palm. “No. It’s not that.” And yet even as he spoke, he reached into his pocket and pulled out some Tic Tacs, dumped a few into his hand and popped them into his mouth. “You know…I’m sorry about that lesbian comment.” He looked up and watched as she paused. “For the record…I have kissed a lesbian before. She liked it so much that she had sex with me.”

  “Oh my God! You are so damn annoying! She wasn’t a lesbian. She played you. The entire definition of a lesbian is that they don’t sleep with men. I bet she was just having an ugly day and used you for validation.” She picked up the pace.

  “Look at you! You are just dying to get me inside, aren’t you?” He chuckled.

  “I’ll admit it. I am dying to get inside. I am dying to get in a bedroom and get away from you! Thank God we don’t have to share a room. You strike me as the type of guy who is so full of himself that he even talks in his sleep.”

  While she gazed down at him his head drooped slightly. “I only had one girl mention that.” Of course, that was only because he rarely had girls sleep over. Never in the city and only when there was a party weekend while his parents were alive. He had learned early on that sleepovers meant some kind of commitment that he wasn’t ready for. He almost never stayed over, either, for the same reason. He lived by his own code, his own set of morals. And part of that code involved an honesty that most men didn’t subscribe to. Adam was quick to warn the women in advance that he wouldn’t be staying. No matter what. If they still wanted to have sex after his little disclaimer, then who was he to stop them?

  “It’s because you don’t do sleepovers. If you let these dumb ass chicks stay over, it would be a different story altogether. Only, you don’t do that.” She leaped onto the roof and once her footing was sure, she brushed off her hands. Then she carefully made her way over to the only second story window on the front of the house.

  He held his breath as she squatted beside it. Adam didn’t breathe again until she had pried open the window and entered the house, feet first. Damn, she was amazing. Once he finished admiring her agility, he wondered over her thought process. Was she really that perceptive or did she know someone he knew? He walked back over to the front stoop and less than three minutes later the large wooden door was being opened for him…while the alarms sounded.

  “Thanks, genius. You might have mentioned the alarms.” She crossed her arms over her chest and moved out of the way so he could rush in and disable the system before they had more company than they wanted at this time of night.

  “When would I have had a chance to tell you about the alarms? You didn’t exactly ask me before you scampered up the tree and made your way to the roof like some magical flying squirrel.” He punched numbers into the keypad just in time. “If none of the neighbors call Sam after this, it will be a miracle. I swear.”

  She was glaring at him. “Guest room. Let’s go. I’m exhausted.” She clapped her hands like she was trying to make sure she had his attention before pushing him ahead of her toward the back of the house.

  “Do you want a bubble bath to get cleaned up or to help you relax? Can I pour you a glass of wine? We have a nice wine collection…” He was trying to be a good host, but naturally, with his reputation, she would never see it that way.

  “Seriously, forget about the seduction scene. It isn’t going to happen. Apparently you’d stand a better chance if I was a lesbian.” She chuckled. “I just want to go to bed. I’m exhausted.”

  He smiled, but before he could speak, she interrupted again.

  “Alone. I will be sleeping alone.”

  Adam smiled wider. “Good. And you want coffee in the morning. Just like you…mean and abrasive.”

  It was her turn to laugh. “No, light and sweet. I don’t know why that’s so hard for you to remember.”

  He leaned in and whispered in her ear, “I don’t know why it’s so hard for you to be that way around me. Help me remember. Tomorrow morning…we’ll start with a do-over.”

  “A do-over, huh?” She was trying to sound serious, but he could tell that his breath against her ear had affected her at least a little bit. And that was a start.

  He turned the handle on the door they were standing next to. It was the one guest room on this wing of the house, right next to the master, where he planned to spend the night. For some reason, he wanted to be close by. What if she woke up in the middle of the night with nightmares and he wasn’t there for her? He shook his head. She wasn’t Haley. And he was definitely not Sam. “Goodnight,” he said quietly. “I’ll be in the bedroom next door. All the bedrooms are suites with private baths, so you have nothing to worry about. You’ll be completely alone. I’ll see you in the morning for coffee. What time?”

  “You know that I’m off the clock, right? You know that I’m not making it, right? I mean, I just feel like we should establish that before bed so everyone knows where they stand.” Her hands were on her hips.

  He passed her the backpack she had left on the stoop that he had been carrying throughout the house. She reached out to get it, and while she was looking down, he couldn’t resist planting a light kiss on the tip of her nose. “Sleep well. I’ll make you one nasty coffee in the morning.”

  Then he turned on his heels and headed further down the hall. It wouldn’t be easy staying in that room all night, but he had little choice. If he stayed in his old room, she would be in another wing of the house. He hadn’t been in the master bedroom since his mother died in there. She was the center of their family. While his father was the breadwinner, she was the one who made everything right.

  Mom always knew how to handle Father. He was as formal as she was informal. The only time Adam ever knew the old man to relax and smile…it was around her. Once she was officially diagnosed with breast cancer, his father struggled to make things as good and perfect as she had, to take over the role she had played in order to allow her time to recuperate to fight for her life. He tried to create a bond, a closeness that they hadn’t experienced previously. It began with him eating breakfast with his sons every morning. It continued by sharing a car to the agency during the week. As for their mother, Father tried to make all of her dreams come true.

  One last time they came to the Hamptons. Adam remembered that trip so well. He was still living at home because he didn’t feel the need to move out. He never wanted girls to spend the night and since so many of his friends had apartments he rarely slept a night at home. The first night of that last trip, he had stood outside his parents’ bedroom door. He had his fist poised to knock, but instead he stood there listening to them.

  Shocked, he realized Father was crying. Mom was comforting him. She told him how he was going to carry on without her. She thanked him for this amazing life they had together. She praised him for building such a solid advertising agency that would help the family carry on. She told him she appreciated that he had made it possible for her to raise their sons, to pursue her hobbies, to travel and enjoy her life. She had no regrets. She was filled with happy thoughts and oh so much love.

  That was when Adam finally pulled himself away. Everything changed for him in that moment. His father had cried. He never knew the old man to have more than two emotions. He was serious or happy. He had never even seen his father get mad. After dating in college and high school, and college girls while he was in high school…Adam couldn’t even fathom ever loving a woman like his parents clearly loved each other. He loved. It wasn’t an emotion he was incapable of. He loved his brother, like a brother. He loved his parents, like a son should. But this idea of romantic love, of being so completely devoted to another person, he couldn’t wrap his mind around it. How could he ever find this love his parents had? His father had never cheated, never even looked at another woman. Thi
s wasn’t a case of a son idealizing his father. Adam had observed and then asked. The words his father spoke stayed with him.

  “Your mother is the most incredible person in the world. I can’t imagine my life without her. I have no interest in anyone else, in ever doing anything that would cheapen what we have. She deserves everything, so I started by giving her and no one else my heart, body, and mind.”