by Claire Adams
“What is all of this?”
Adam bowed slightly at the waist and said, “Your lunch is served, my lady.” He pulled out my chair, and I sat down. I was smiling so hard it almost hurt. I couldn’t believe with all he was going through that he had done this for me.
Adam sat across from me and clapping his hands gently twice, he summoned our waiter. It was Romaletti’s best waiter. He came right over and removed the tops from our trays. My senses were assaulted at once by the delicious aroma of shrimp linguini. The waiter popped the cork on a bottle of wine and poured us each a glass.
When I looked at Adam, he said, “I think we deserve just one glass, Tony here has coffee for us afterwards.”
“Well, in that case…” I lifted my glass. Adam lifted his, as well, and as we clinked them together he said,
“To us.”
“To us,” I agreed.
Before Tony discreetly disappeared, he lit an outdoor furnace that must have been brought out for the occasion. Adam had thought of everything. We dined and made small talk about my visit thus far with my parents, both of us were careful to leave the serious talk for later.
After we finished our entrée, Tony reappeared with dessert. Although I had thought I’d not be able to eat another bite, the chocolate volcano Tony sat before me with a steaming cup of coffee on the side proved too much to resist. After we finished dessert, a soft music began playing and Adam stood and asked, “May I have this dance?”
I gave him my hand, and we danced slowly to the music, both of us trying to live only in this moment. As the music came to an end, Adam kissed me softly. That one soft kiss ignited a passion in us both, and Adam led me over to the side of the roof where a small tent had been set up. I raised an eyebrow.
“I was hoping…”
I smiled and nodded, and he led me inside. The music started up again as he lay me down on a soft air mattress covered with a feather blanket. He kissed my eyelids, my nose, my cheeks, and my ears before starting on my neck. He nuzzled his face into my soft flesh, causing me to moan.
My moans urged him on, and he began to unbutton my blouse slowly, kissing each part of my chest as he did so. He kissed and tickled my stomach softly with his tongue as he pushed away the fabric of my blouse, running his fingers softly across the tops of my breasts. I arched my back, and he slipped his hand underneath me, unhooking my bra and allowing my breasts to escape. He moved his mouth back up and used it to set my body on fire.
When I couldn’t take it any longer, I began to pull at the fabric of Adam’s shirt and pants. I suddenly needed to feel his hot flesh against mine. He stood up and stripped down as I finished doing the same.
Neither of us felt the cold as we lit our own fire in each other’s bodies, making love that went from soft and gentle to passionate and urgent. When we finished, our bodies were glistening with sweat – in New York City in December at the top of a thirty story building.
I lay there in Adam’s arms, never wanting this day to end. Unfortunately, however, it would have to. I promised my parents I’d be home for dinner with them, and I couldn’t disappoint them. I had a sudden idea though.
“How’d you like to come to dinner tonight and meet the parents?” I asked Adam.
The look he gave me was almost comical. “Really?”
“Yes, really, I think it’s about time, don’t you?”
Adam sat up and scratched his head. “Well, since I just ravaged their daughter out in the open in broad daylight I suppose I do owe them at least a meeting.”
I laughed. “I think we should leave that part out of the conversation tonight, okay?”
“Okay, if you insist,” Adam said with a grin. “I’ll have to come up with another opener.”
I pulled him back down and kissed him hard. “Thank you so much for all of this; it was so wonderful,”
“You are very welcome,” he said. “When all of this craziness has passed, we’ll do things like this all the time, I promise.” Then, turning more serious he continued, “Will you really still want to marry me if we have to start over?”
I propped myself up on one elbow. “Of course I will. I hope you know that money and power are not what’s important to me here. I want to be with you. We can work on the rest of it together, right?”
“Right,” he said with a smile. “Thank you.”
After we dressed and straightened up a bit, we went back inside. Tony had somehow cleared up the table and the dishes while we were…otherwise engaged. I was suddenly embarrassed at the thought that maybe he heard us. I’d forgotten all about him.
“What are you thinking?” Adam asked me. “You’re blushing.”
“I was just wondering if Tony…”
“He’d be too discreet to say so if he did,” Adam assured me.
“I know,” I said, still just a little embarrassed, but thinking it had been worth it either way.
Once I got back to my office, I managed to get a few calls returned and some paperwork done before having to leave for dinner with my parents. I hadn’t been able to reach Miles. Although I wasn’t looking forward to talking to him, I really just wanted to get it over with. I left him messages on his cell, at his home, and at both of the offices I had numbers for. He still hadn’t called back by the time I left to go home.
I stopped by Adam’s office on my way out and quickly filled him in on my second conversation with David that morning. I told him where David wanted to meet. “That is the hotel where the Feds are keeping him, right?”
“Yes, that was where Brett had told me he was,” I said.
“Well, at least we know it will be safe,” Adam smiled. “We’ll be surrounded by law enforcement.”
“Comforting,” I said, somewhat sarcastically. The whole situation felt so covert and surreal to me. I really, really just wanted things to go back to normal.
I made it home around five thirty. My parents had had a terrific time at the show and were both in a very good mood, even my mother. I had the shrimp from the night before still marinating. I put it under the broiler and prepared rice pilaf and asparagus to go with it. My mother came in to help set the table, and that was when I told her that Adam would be joining us. She almost seemed sincere as she said, “Oh, how nice.”
I added some fresh sliced fruit to a bowl of whipping cream and put it in the freezer to set for dessert. Lastly, I picked a bottle of white wine that I knew both of my parents liked. As I was setting the basket of sourdough bread out, the doorbell rang. I heard Daddy call out that he would get it, and I said to myself, “Here we go…”
CHAPTER EIGHT
ADAM
I was forty years old and the last time I met any parents was twenty years ago when I met Marjorie’s. It took a hell of a lot to make me nervous, but this did it. I took forever getting dressed. I didn’t want to show up in a black suit and look like I was going to a funeral, but the lightest one I had was a dark blue. I had this thing about light suits making me look like a car salesman. I put on the dark blue one and changed my tie four times, finally settling on a light blue paisley.
I stopped at the florist and bought two bouquets of flowers, one for Alicia and the other for Lady Winston. Then I went by the smoke shop and picked up a cigar for Lord Winston. On top of meeting parents, these two had to be a Lord and a Lady. My stomach was having convulsions.
When I got to Alicia’s apartment building, Luis met me at the door. “Don’t you ever have a day off?” I asked him.
He smiled and said, “I work a lot of overtime. I have five kids to feed.”
I whistled. “Wow, five! That’s a lot of kids.”
“Tell me,” he said. “The wife is Catholic. Who knows, we might end up with ten.”
I laughed and clapped him on the back. “You’re a better man than me, Luis.”
He wished me a good evening before I nervously rode the elevator up to Alicia’s floor. I was hoping she’d at least answer the door. Just looking at her pretty face calms me. The Lord Winston pulled
it open instead.
“Well, hello there,” he said in an accent much stronger than his daughter’s. “You must be Adam.”
“Yes, sir,” I tried juggling the flowers so I could shake his hand.
“Don’t worry about it. I’m John and it’s nice to meet you.” He smiled warmly.
“You, too, sir.”
“John.”
“John,” I said. I didn’t want to call him John. It felt wrong somehow, too casual. I stepped inside and saw Alicia in about twenty-five years come around the corner. Lady Winston was the spitting image of her daughter, only with darker hair and a few more lines around her eyes.
“Hello there,” she said.
I held out the flowers that were hers and she took them. I took the hand she offered and brought it to my lips. “Lady Winston, it is such a pleasure to finally meet you.” Alicia’s mother at least seemed pleased with my manners.
“The pleasure is mine, Adam. I’m so happy you could join us tonight. The flowers are lovely, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now that I have a free hand, sir, I have something for you, too.”
I pulled out the cigar and Alicia’s dad said, “John,” again before taking it. He brought it to his nose and slid it underneath and inhaled. “My favorite, how did you know?”
“I have to give Alicia credit. I texted her earlier and asked.”
“Well, thank you anyways, it was very thoughtful of you.” I looked up then and saw Alicia standing in the dining room door looking at me. She was wearing a green sweater dress that brought out the green in her hazel eyes and her hair was down around her shoulders. I wished we were alone suddenly.
“Hi, baby,” she said.
“Hi. You look beautiful.”
“So do you,” she told me. “Are the flowers for me?”
“Oh yeah.” I handed her the orchids.
“They’re beautiful, thank you. Dinner is ready.” She took her mother’s flowers and brought both bouquets back in a vase. We all took a seat at the table. I wasn’t sure I could eat. My stomach was doing cartwheels. Alicia’s father sat at the head of the table with Alicia to his right and Alicia’s mother to his left. That left me between Alicia and her mother.
I did my best to make conversation with her and after I asked her a few questions about her hometown in England and what charities she was involved in, she seemed to warm up to me. She asked me about myself and I told her I was born and raised in New York, that both my parents had passed away, and I didn’t have any siblings. I complimented her necklace and earrings and by the time we finished our main course, I think she was almost flirting with me.
The nerves were beginning to recede if for no other reason than Alicia’s calming presence. Her father didn’t talk much, but when he did it was with warmth or humor. I decided quickly that I really liked him. He seemed like the kind of man I could be good friends with someday.
After dinner, Alicia sent her parents out to the sitting room with a fresh carafe of coffee and I helped her cleaned up the kitchen. “That went okay…so far,” I said with a grin. “I think your mother actually likes me.”
“How could she not? You were so charming.” She smiled at me and continued, “And handsome.”
I couldn’t stand it any longer. I grabbed her and holding her tightly I kissed her on the lips,
“I’ve wanted to do that since I got here.”
“Me, too,” she said.
Once we finished in the kitchen, Alicia fixed a tray of dessert cups along with the frozen fruit and cream and brought it into the sitting room with us. I helped her father stoke the fire and when we were all seated comfortably, her mother finally said,
“So, Adam, Alicia tells us you’ve asked her to marry you?”
I looked at Alicia and then back at Lady Winston, “That’s true; it would make me the happiest man on earth.”
Alicia’s mother smiled. “Well, that is a good answer. I have to say, however, I hope you can see how we might be worried about your futures based on what has been going on lately in your lives?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I would absolutely be concerned if it were my own daughter. All I can tell you is the truth. I love your daughter more than I’ve ever loved anything or anyone. I promise you that I will always love her and take care of her needs. She and I are an awesome team and I believe that with Alicia by my side, I can rebuild my practice to be even more successful than it was before.”
Alicia’s father said, “I’m glad to hear all of that, son. A marriage is a partnership. For better or worse aren’t just words. What you’re going through now may just be scratching the surface of what is yet to come of the worse. The important thing is that you see you and Alicia as a team. As long as you keep seeing it that way, I believe you two will make it as well.”
Happily, for me at least, that was the last of the serious talk for the evening. We chatted and laughed and played a game of scrabble before I finally announced that I should be going if I were going to be able to get up for work the next day. Alicia walked me out.
“Thank you so much for coming. I think they really like you. I knew they would,” she told me.
“I’m glad. I like them, too. They did a great job with you. That was something they had going for them right from the start.”
She laughed and before she turned to go back inside she turned serious and said, “Don’t forget our meeting with David in the morning.” I hadn’t forgotten it. I was just trying not to dwell on it. It seemed the more I knew about the Brigham case, the less I wanted to.
“I won’t,” was all I said to her. I didn’t want to end the wonderful night on a depressing note. I put my arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. It was a long, languid one and we were both breathless when we pulled apart. “Damn, I wish you were coming home with me.”
“Me, too,” she said. “Goodnight, love.”
“Goodnight.”
I watched as Luis’s nighttime counterpart called the elevator down for her before I took my keys from the valet and headed home. I couldn’t wait until the day that her home was mine and vice versa. I would never want ten kids…or even five, but I have begun to like to think about having at least one or two with Alicia. We’d never talked about children so I’m not really sure how she feels about it, but if she’s open to it, so am I.
CHAPTER NINE
ALICIA
I was still smiling as the elevator doors closed to take me back up to the apartment. I could tell Adam was nervous when he first got there tonight, but as usual, he’d charmed the pants off of everyone in the room. The elevator stopped on the second floor and a man stepped on. It took me a second to realize it was Miles IV. “Mr. Brigham, what are you doing here?” I asked, feeling very uncomfortable.
“You and I need to talk, young lady.” He looked – and smelled – as if he had been drinking heavily.
“Why don’t you come into the office and see me in the morning? I’ll be there by nine.” Miles pushed the stop button on the elevator. I was beginning to feel panic well up inside of me.
“What are you doing?”
“I said we need to talk. The papers and the television are smearing my family’s name all across this State. I’m up on charges for a murder I didn’t commit. My son will probably be arrested soon for a murder he probably did commit, but no one was supposed to know about, and all of the information my company has kept private and personal for years will probably pop up any day now. You and your damn boss are responsible for all of that, and I want to know what you plan to do about it.”
My heart was racing and I could feel the sweat on my palms. I stood my ground though.
“Mr. Brigham, I will forgive you for this, just this once, because I believe you have had too much to drink. In the future, however, if you wish to speak with me, you will use the phone and make an appointment to see me at my office. Now, I have company waiting for me in my apartment and would appreciate it if you would press that button and get us movi
ng again. If you choose not to do so, I will press the emergency button and you can explain to the police why you felt it was okay to trap me here against my will.”
Miles looked at me and smiled. “I like your balls, young lady,” he said before pushing the button for my floor. We rode up without speaking further, but as I stepped out, he said, “I’ll be calling you for that appointment.”
“That’ll be fine,” I told him.
I waited for the elevator doors to close before turning my back on him. The hairs on the back of my neck were still standing up. I thought about calling Adam and telling him, but decided to let him rest easy tonight. I would tell him in the morning.
********
I told Adam about Miles on our way out to meet with David. “He’s so used to using intimidation in his business and family dealings, he probably thought it would work with you, too. Way to go putting him in his place, babe.”
I smiled. “Thanks, I can take care of myself when I have to.”
“I know you can,” Adam told me as he took one hand off the wheel and reached over to take mine.
We arrived at the diner ten minutes before David was supposed to be there and went inside to order coffee. We were both alternately anticipating and dreading what David might have to say. We were surprised when he walked in to see him flanked by two large men who appeared to be Federal agents. We had known he would be under close watch, but for him to be willing to talk to us directly in front of the officers seemed curious.
David walked up to the table and said, “Mr. Hanson,” and then looking towards me, “Miss Winston, I’m glad you both could make it. I’d like you to meet my colleagues, Agents White and Williams.”
