by Jolie, Mika
“Is there someone else?” he asked, his voice curt and matter-of-fact.
“No.” She could have lied. That would at least cover the can’t—an outside force making her unable to continue sleeping with him.
“Then this is your choice.” That would be the won’t—her own choice not to continue sleeping with him.
With her back to him, she nodded. Stillness filled the room as they processed the information. Lily herself was having a hard time accepting the reality of the curtain closing on their relationship, however casual it was.
“Tell me why,” Adam asked into the silence.
Still clutching at herself, Lily fought the pain in the back of her throat and choked out the words. “We can’t do this anymore.”
She heard him move across the room as he came to stand behind her. The bedroom windows were cracked open, allowing a cool brisk air into the room. Still her temperature spiked from the heat of his body.
“Liliana,” he said, his breath warm against her earlobe, causing her to visibly jump. He caught her wrist, spun her around and pulled her to him.
“Tell me how I fucked up,” he demanded in a low rough voice, “and I’ll fix it.”
From any other man, the words might have come across as begging. But not from Adam. Her gaze swept over him. His dark, brooding features set in a hard, determined expression, streaming with an abundance of testosterone and pheromones. Not an ounce of weakness. The man before her was an image of a fiery untamed steed, temperamental, and filled with determination. Not to mention sexy as hell.
She brushed her hand over the scruff along his jaw. His muscles ticked under her touch. “It’s not you, Adam,” she started gently, her heart twisting in pain to a degree she never thought possible.
He caught her wrist and pulled her hand away from his face. A short, bitter laugh came from the back of his throat. “Don’t give me the ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ line, Lily. I coined that line.”
His voice was loud, so thunderous, that she couldn’t concentrate on what he said. The shortening of her name told her he was done playing nice. The few times Adam had used her shortened name were when he was near the edge over a disagreement between them.
“Tell me the truth.” His voice cut her. “I, we,” he motioned one hand between them. “Deserve at least that. Then I’ll leave you alone.”
I’m pregnant with your child. She wanted to say, but a small lump sat in her throat, taking away her ability of speech. He’d caught her off-guard. She exhaled, trying to release some of the tension built up in her shoulders. “We don’t work.”
His eyes narrowed. “From what I remember, we work pretty well together.”
“There’s more to life than great sex.”
He looked at her as if she’d suddenly grown a second head. “Sex is a natural part of life.”
Her lips curved into a smile. And like the predator that he was, he pounced on her momentary lapse. Adam slid a hand around her waist and drew her in, his mouth brushed against hers.
“Do you feel that?” he whispered against her lips.
His hand roamed over her back, manipulating her senses, making it impossible to think. She blinked and her lips parted. His mouth brushed over hers, a soft touch at first then sure and demanding, and the hunger she thought she had under control consumed her, scorching and chilling her insides all at once.
As if he was equally affected, Adam let out one low, inconsolable laugh and muttered against her mouth, “Chemistry. We have it. It’s so strong we can incinerate this place.”
Lily’s heart pounded against the cage of her ribs. She couldn’t deny the animal attraction between them, pure physical chemistry. Everything about Adam made her crave, the way he looked, smelled, tasted, the feel of his body and the sound of his voice. He was overwhelming and uncontrollable.
Still, he wasn’t in her future, not the way she needed him to be, and she wouldn’t let a baby sway her toward thinking they could be more. Their relationship was based on sex, really great sex. And God help her, she wanted more of him.
Leaning into him, she struggled to keep her eyes open. His mouth floated over hers as his gaze searched hers. “Don’t look at me with those fuck-me eyes if you don’t want to be fucked, Liliana.”
He gave her an opportunity to deny him and waited. She stood frozen, waiting for his mouth to capture hers. When she didn’t respond, he hauled her in against him. One hand palmed the back of her neck, the other pulled her hips against his. A low moan escaped her, and his mouth edged up in that sinful smile that always made her shake with desire. Today was no different.
He kissed her then, and the room fell away. At the taste of him, Lily realized she’d been starving for his touch. Lost in absolute, lustful ecstasy, her eyes slid shut and the space between them exploded. Her heart missed a beat and she wrapped her arms around his neck, and pulled him closer, molding her body to his.
They had kissed many times before but she’d never felt so lost in a kiss. It burned her alive. He kissed her as though he were famished. The kiss swallowed her, owned her. No one had ever made her feel so consumed. She heard a whimper. Hers. Any rational thoughts she had escaped her as she melted against the ridges of his body.
“You here, and me at home alone doesn’t add up.” His voice was low and husky as kisses trailed against the nape of her neck, leaving her head spinning. “Let’s go home and I swear I won’t stop making love to you until your legs are shaking.” His lips brushed her earlobe, and her knees wobbled. “Let’s go get lost in each other, Liliana.”
Her body yearned, ached for him. She moaned.
He chuckled, a soft, sexy sound in her ear. “Hell, we can start here.” He lowered his weight to his knees in front of her, lifted the silk top to expose her flat stomach. His lips moved down and settled against the flesh just below her navel, and planted a kiss there. Where their child lay. She gasped instantly, her whole body tensing.
Lily froze and gripped Adam’s shoulders. “Please stop,” she begged and quickly moved out of his reach, accidentally knocking a jar vase off the nearby table. The glass shattered and everything fell silent.
She saw the confusion cross his face, and then it was gone. With his eyes still on her, he came to his full height and dragged a hand through his hair, the muscles in his arms taut as he stood watching her. Silently screaming for an explanation.
“I…” she started, but a hard knock on the door drew her eyes away from Adam’s. “Come in,” she said in a shaky voice.
“Go away,” Adam barked. His face set into a scowl, clearly irritated.
The door opened nonetheless and Jason stepped inside the room. His blue, assessing eyes shifted between them.
“Is everything okay?” His gaze was on Lily, studying her.
Unable to speak, she nodded.
“Jason, give us a minute,” Adam said to his friend without taking his eyes off Lily.
She held her breath and prayed Jason didn’t give in to his friend’s request. The two men were close, business partners, childhood friends. She stood no chance. Dizzy and feeling weakness in her legs, she lowered herself to the bed.
“I think whatever it is the two of you need to discuss should wait another day,” Jason said in an easy tone. “Lily looks like she’s about to pass out. So why don’t you both go into your respective corners and suit up for the next round, which I’m sure will come. She’s here for two weeks, after all.”
* * * *
Jason’s words forced Adam to look at Lily once again and take in her delicate appearance. She looked sucker-punched, her skin translucent. Her wide eyes, usually filled with life and laughter, appeared damp and overly bright.
“You want to end what we have together.” The words were a statement more so for him than her.
Still, she nodded.
His stomach hit his throat and he shoved it the fuck back down. “Well, too fucking bad. We’re not done. Not by a fucking long shot.”
She looked at him with
a dazed expression. Adam shoved his hands in his pockets then glanced at Jason, who remained silent. “I’ll see you at Vapor tonight.”
Adam stormed past his friend. He was breathless, sweating, and shaking like he’d taken a curve at 200 mph with no idea what was on the other side. Nothing made sense. He breathed heavily as he hurried down the stairs. All the trees on the island couldn’t supply enough oxygen. He needed to get away.
“Adam,” Minka called after him.
He stopped midstride and turned to face the woman who had become a friend. Her face was nearly buried underneath a mass of spiral curls. He impatiently brushed back a mane of hair to expose her pretty features. She flashed him an apologetic smile. In spite of all the tension inside him, he smiled back at her.
“Give her time,” she said gently.
“She wants out.”
Minka flinched. “Oh.”
“What do you know, Minka? Tell me. She doesn’t look well.”
The two women shared a connection. They were best friends. He could tell by the way Minka was chewing on her lower lip, she knew what the hell was going on. He also knew no way in hell she was going to betray her friend.
“I can’t,” she said as he expected. “I’m sorry, Adam, but it’s her story to tell. Not mine.”
He understood the loyalty between the two friends. Hell, he had his own with Jason, Forrest, Blake, and Claire. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” He walked past Minka out of the house and hopped into the black Maserati GranTurismo convertible, put it in reverse and sped out of the driveway.
The convertible was Adam’s latest addition to his collection of sleek, fast cars. Speed was his rush. He shifted gear, pressed on the pedal and the engine yielded to his command and accelerated. Good girl. His new baby. Dynamic and elegant, the perfect blend of freedom and passion, with enough practicality that his mother only frowned once when she saw the car. His argument—it comfortably sat four. Although, so far only Forrest had enough balls to join him for a test drive. Jason didn’t part from his Jeep and Blake practically had two wives, his Mercedes SUV and Keely, Minka’s fraternal twin.
But it was Lily he fantasized about, stripped naked and riding him with the top down under the moonlight somewhere. Only she no longer wanted to play. And she wouldn’t tell him why. Adam swore under his breath. Something was up and since it wasn’t another man, he vowed to get to the bottom of it. Hell, as Jason said he would go back to his corner and get ready for round two, because they weren’t done. Not by a long shot. But right now he needed an adrenaline rush to release the tension burning of him. Reaching for his phone he pressed Forrest’s number and connected the phone to the car.
“What are you wearing today? Scrubs or farmer’s shoes?” Adam asked when Forrest answered his phone.
“Which one do you like best?” His friend asked on speaker. “I hear wind. That means you’re still not getting any so you took your baby for a ride?”
“You must be in scrubs. You’re in doctor mode.”
Forrest was the island’s most eligible doctor. When he wasn’t running his clinic, he was usually on his parents’ farm working or catching waves with the boys, the reason for Adam’s call. He checked the neon numbers indicating the late morning. The strong waves were long gone.
“Paddle boarding?”
“Can’t. Two jerks came up with this idea of a wine tasting, food festival and every year, it gets bigger and crazier.” Forrest complained with feigned frustration. “I’m closing shop in two hours and heading to the farm since we have to supply food to a certain restaurant in Menemsha and a bar downtown.”
The restaurant belonged to Adam. Vapor was a partnership venture between Adam and Jason.
“How about tomorrow?” Forrest proposed. “First thing in the morning before the madness starts. We’re supposed to get some strong waves.”
Just what Adam needed, a fight with the ocean. The waves would be stubborn and try to take him down. He was ready for the battle. “It’s a date.”
Forrest chuckled. “I don’t put out though.”
“You’re not my type. Apparently, I prefer willowy women with short hair.”
Forrest laughed a little harder. “First Blake, then Jason, and now you. All the greats have fallen.”
Adam snorted. “Don’t confuse lust for the other L word.”
“First sign is denial. You can’t even say the word.”
“Love,” he muttered to spite his friend. “Happy, asshole?”
“And stubborn as hell.” Forrest laughed again. “Yeah, you’re a dead man. Gotta go. See you first thing tomorrow.”
Adam disconnected the call and steered the car along the rolling hills of the island, passing sheep farms, winding country roads lined with vegetable stands and colorful harbors bustling with boats. He belonged in two worlds. All his life he balanced it well. In Italy, he kept a condo in the city and loved the fast life but Chilmark was home. His serenity.
He steered the car along the wooded area to his house and maneuvered the vehicle with ease along the roughness of the unpaved road. Once inside, he kicked off his shoes and welcomed the coolness of the wooden floor against his feet, and made his way to the laundry room to locate a pair of swim trunks before going to the shed house for his board. He hoisted it under his arm and walked down the hilly path onto the beach. Ahead of him, the calm, peaceful sea stretched out as far as he could see.
One of the perks of living on two and a half acres of land, and in a town with a population of less than a thousand people, was privacy. On most days he had the water to himself, like today. In Italy and the world of racing, he was considered famous, but on the island, except for an occasional tourist approaching him, he was left alone. He was a local.
He placed the board on the water and jumped in. Since he’d left his wetsuit behind, the icy water stung his skin, a welcome reprieve from the racing in his mind. Adam jumped on the board, adjusted his weight for balance, pushed off and began paddling, floating smoothly on the light waves.
And then there was nothing but the sound of his board skimming through the water, the occasional sight of birds landing smoothly on the sea, but soon returned to the sky, the splash of enthusiastic fish, and the freedom cry of seagulls filling the scene.
Peace.
He found that in three places, racing, the water, and buried deep between Lily’s legs. He groaned. The taste of her sweet lips still lingered on his mouth like the smell of summer rain. He ached to kiss her deeper, to lose himself in her and feel her heartbeat against his.
Shit. Never in his life had a woman possessed so much power over his body. He inhaled and slowly released as the wind whipped his face. Keeping his breath steady, Adam paddled faster, and pushed harder until his shoulders burned. He felt his whole body working, his leg muscles warmed, cold air bit his lungs, and blood flowed into his limbs.
His muscles burned, then ached, then went numb. But he continued on, unhesitating. Catching wave after wave, relentlessly seeking the oblivion of physical exhaustion. Finally, he lay spent on the sand. Board by his side, he stared up at the crystalline sky and tried to appease his need for oxygen.
Chapter Nine
“My only nightmare is waking up in a world where you’re not mine.”
Unknown
Adam’s eyes moved rapidly back and forth behind his eyelids. There was something, someone there, but he couldn’t see it or move fast enough. His body felt heavy, as if he were dragging a ship’s anchor behind him. He recognized his whereabouts; small puddles of water welled in corners and seeped from walls, creating a strong presence of mold. The building was most dilapidated, beyond repair.
His eyes caught sight of the weathered door. Scratches etched their way along the bottom half of it and the edges were uneven and cracked. The door knob hung loose, waiting eagerly for him to step inside. It smelled horrid, and if you squinted hard enough, you could see tiny black bugs crawling in between the jagged scratches.
The door may be battered, but
it was his freedom. He hurried his steps, but the door seemed further away with each step he took. As he reached for the doorknob, the hot breath of his tormentor burned the back of his neck.
There was pain, and a splattering of red. A chill washed over his body when a cold, metallic object pressed against his head. He was going to die. The room darkened slowly, and the sunset cast an orange glow through the window embellishing the grim scene. Accepting his fate, he squeezed his eyelids together.
The trigger released with a snap, and he jerked, sitting up suddenly in the dark quiet room, his heart hammering, cold sweat beading on his skin.
“Fuck!” he breathed shakily, sick to his stomach.
He remained still, looking around the room, reorienting himself from the dream. Then he dropped his weight back on the bed, allowing a second or two to settle his racing heart. After a few seconds, he rubbed his eyes, turned on the bedside lamp, and reached for the Panerai watch on the nightstand.
Five a.m. Perfect time to awaken from a nightmare. Forrest would be arriving soon for their early morning surf. Rubbing the back of his neck, he walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on his face, and brushed his teeth before sliding into his a fitted black wet-suit.
He stepped outside. Patches of mist swirled above the colorful trees. He pulled the black skully down to his ears and inhaled the cool, crisp air. He just needed to breathe to rid himself from the dark thoughts in his head. He was in the process of fitting his board in the back of his car when Forrest’s orange Jeep pulled next to him. Unlike Adam, who felt like shit, his friend looked completely at ease blasting What I Got by Sublime from the stereo.
“Hop in,” Forrest hollered.
Adam shook his head. “Let’s take my car.”
“It’s enough I’m going to freeze my balls early in the morning to help you relieve some stress. I want to at least be comfortable driving there, so get in.”
