“Thanks for last night,” she said.
“I could say the same thing,” he said. “It felt like my birthday, too.”
She laughed just before he captured her mouth with his. The sheet slid from between them, tempting Adam to within an inch of his life. With a growl, he pulled himself away and stood. He didn’t know what to say, hadn’t faced this situation in a long time. Normally, it was a kiss and a quick goodbye after sex. This wasn’t the same—another sign he had to get out of here and think, let her do the same. But how? Did he just turn around and leave?
“You better go get some sleep. Hate to hear of you sleeping on that oh-so-taxing job of yours,” she teased, saving him from an uncomfortable exit at the same time.
“I give the woman great sex, and she insults my career,” he said, shaking his head.
She lifted her hand, making a so-so gesture. “Mediocre sex.”
Though he needed to stay away from her, he took several steps forward and sank on one knee onto the bed, then pulled her naked body into his arms, kissed her thoroughly. She moaned, setting him on fire for her again. He lifted his lips.
“A woman doesn’t moan like that after ‘mediocre’ sex.”
He expected a teasing argument, perhaps a jab in the ribs. Instead, she lifted her body against his.
“You’re right,” she whispered, then kissed him to the point of turning his willpower to pudding.
To hell with good intentions. He wanted her again, and she seemed to be of the same mind. Who was he to deny her?
SARA COULDN’T WIPE the smile off her face. Not when she woke to find the bed still warm where Adam had lain after they’d made love again. Not as she’d taken a shower and dressed. Not even when Ruby came through the side door with the girls, the former with a knowing grin on her face.
“Hi, Mommy!” Lilly said as she launched herself at Sara. “I missed you.”
Sara tried to ignore the twinge of guilt, telling herself she deserved time for herself on occasion.
“Have a nice date?” Tana asked, a little too much awareness in her young eyes.
“Yes, thanks. It was late when I came home though, so Ruby suggested you sleep at her house.”
Sara didn’t like the idea that Tana might suspect what had happened the night before. Sure, she was only thirteen, but she wasn’t as blissfully unaware of some things as Sara might like.
“Go on, get ready for school,” Sara said as she nodded down the hall.
When both girls had disappeared to their respective rooms, Sara busied herself popping bagels into the toaster and retrieving cream cheese from the fridge. She refused to look at Ruby.
“Well, how was it?” Ruby asked.
“We had a nice time. Went to movie in the park, had a picnic. Even had a birthday candle on a brownie.”
“Sounds romantic. And then?”
“And then he brought me home.” Sara made the mistake of making eye contact with her neighbor.
“Come on, have a heart. Give an old lady a vicarious thrill.”
Sara crossed her arms and faced Ruby. “You are incorrigible.”
“Why? Inside this grandma’s body beats the heart of a much younger woman.”
Sara laughed, then glanced toward the hallway before meeting Ruby’s eyes again. “It was wonderful.”
Ruby clapped her hands once. “Well, I suspected it would be. I mean, that boy has the body for it.”
Sara rolled her eyes and turned to retrieve the bagels from the toaster. No matter how much she scolded Ruby, she couldn’t deny her friend was right. Adam Canfield had a body she doubted she’d ever tire of seeing, touching, holding. Add to that his layer of kindness, and…well, how was she going to get him out of her mind and the goofy grin off her face long enough to go to work?
She barely corraled the smile, but memories of the night before and all her interactions with Adam accompanied her throughout the day. It was difficult to concentrate on tracking down burglars or investigating a report of illegal gambling at a resort when memories of how Adam had felt as they’d made love kept popping into her mind.
She started watching the clock for quitting time a full two hours before the official end of her day. Had she ever done that?
Sara released the pen she’d been using to fill out a report and faced the fact that she was falling for Adam, and falling hard. An odd cocktail of scariness and excitement swished around inside her. Could he be the one she’d been looking for all this time?
She tried to picture Adam at home in her house, being a dad to her daughters, being responsible. She bit her bottom lip when she realized the image still didn’t quite seem to fit.
But oh how she wanted it to. How could she not experience another night like last night again? If she found that responsible, paternal type, would he make her feel as utterly complete as Adam had?
By the time the clock finally inched its way to 5:00 p.m., Sara was literally aching to see Adam again. Putting her responsible, mommy self aside for a little while, she headed to the Beach Bum, where she suspected she would find him. But when she arrived, his usual stool was occupied by a man she didn’t know—a tourist, if his sunburn was any indication.
“Looking for Adam?” Suz asked when she saw her.
“Yeah. He around?”
“Nah. He skipped out a while ago. Said he had something to do tonight. Figured he had another date with you.”
Okay, she would not read too much into Suz’s words, either positive or negative. He’d mentioned their date, but he had other plans tonight. Well, what did she expect? Him to put his life on hold so he could spend all his free time with her? No. That was silly and juvenile.
This was actually good. After not being with the girls at all last night, they needed a girls-only night. Maybe she’d take them to see a movie, indulge in a humongous bucket of popcorn.
She really tried not to think about Adam as she drove through Horizon Beach toward home, but it didn’t work. She scanned parking lots, the windows of businesses, the surrounding streets for any sign of him. She felt about fourteen with her first big crush.
She might have missed the wreck on Palm Street if she hadn’t been searching so diligently. The pickup truck hit the Corvette as it stopped at the stop sign at Palm and Canal. Patrol would be en route soon, but still she pulled over to see if anyone was hurt.
By the time she parked, called in the accident and got out, the drivers of the two other vehicles had exited and were yelling at each other.
“Don’t you stupid rednecks know what a stop sign is?” the driver of the Corvette screamed at the driver of the truck, Bonnie Shouse, well known to Horizon Beach’s patrol officers because of her inability to hold her liquor.
Bonnie yelled back a few choice words, enough for Sara to determine that she was thankfully sober today. In fact, from the look and sound of things, it was the driver of the yellow Corvette, in his golf shirt and khaki shorts, who seemed to have tossed back a few.
Just great.
“Everyone, calm down. An officer will be here shortly, and we’ll get everything sorted out.”
“I don’t need any cop to sort this out,” the man said. “I can do that myself.”
Before Sara could even guess what he was about to do, he whipped a handgun from inside the car and pointed it at Bonnie.
Sara uttered a curse and raised her hands slowly, palms forward, to about waist high. “There’s no need for that. It’s just an accident, nothing for anyone to get hurt over.”
Sara’s heart jolted as he pointed the gun in her direction.
“Nothing to get upset over? I just bought this car two days ago. And now this piece of white trash not only ruins it, but my vacation as well.”
Granted, Bonnie wasn’t on Sara’s Christmas card list, but she didn’t deserve this jerk’s treatment of her.
“Sir, you need to put down the gun,” Sara said with her firm cop tone.
“Or what? Maybe I get rid of the trash and the nosy bitch at the same
time.” The man lifted the gun and pointed it right at Sara’s thundering heart.
Chapter Twelve
Adam caught himself whistling as he stepped out of Hearts and Flowers Florist. He’d allowed himself nearly a full day to let regret or the urge to flee hit him, but neither had. He liked Sara, really liked her. And unless something changed, he wasn’t interested in seeing anyone else.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d bought a woman flowers. That, in and of itself, told him how attached he was becoming to her. A hint of worry poked at him, but he shoved it away. Sara wasn’t Jessica. Damn it, he wanted to be truly happy again. And right now, Sara made him happy.
He placed the flowers, a mixture of kinds and colors, on the passenger seat of his car and headed for home. He needed a shower before he went over to Sara’s, bouquet in hand.
As he approached Palm Street, he noticed cars pulled off to both sides of the road. Must be a wreck. When he drove closer, however, he noticed a man with a raised handgun. Crap, this wasn’t good. He faced two people. One appeared to be Bonnie Shouse, she who had perfected the art of barhopping. He couldn’t identify the other person until she took a step sideways, placing herself between the man and Bonnie.
He hit the brakes as his heart pounded.
Sara.
The horror of the Humvee accident scorched him. Pain seared his leg like he was reliving his injury all over again.
No! This wasn’t Iraq. But, oh God, he was staring at another nightmare in the making. Only this time, he was going to prevent it.
He slammed his gearshift into Park and leapt from the car. Sirens blared somewhere behind him, but he wasn’t about to wait for the uniforms to arrive. He was ending this now. He skirted the opposite side of Bonnie’s truck, spotted her bags of groceries in the back. Thankfully, she preferred bottled beer to cans. He filched one bottle, gripped the neck and made his way to the front fender of the passenger side. Corvette Guy was too preoccupied waving his gun around and with the alcohol he’d consumed to notice Adam.
Two patrol cars, with sirens screaming, rounded the corner. They distracted the gunman, and Adam lifted the bottle, ready to throw it at the guy’s head. He wouldn’t miss.
But movement from Sara froze him. He opened his mouth to yell at her to stop, but nothing came out. He’d swear everything shifted into slow motion as she barreled toward the man and dived for his lower half. As they both fell toward the ground, a shot rang out. Adam’s whole body jerked as if he’d been the one shot.
Please, no. Not again. His breath felt sharp and painful as he waited to see blood pooling next to Sara.
But no blood appeared. Instead, he heard her curse as she shoved the guy’s face into the pavement and yanked his arms behind his back, cuffing him while ignoring his shouts of pain.
The patrolmen rushed past Adam, and still he couldn’t move. It wasn’t until Sara rose to her feet, dusted herself off and caught his eye, surprise showing in hers, that he came out of his horrible trance. One of the patrolmen asked her a question. When she looked away, Adam turned and somehow retraced his steps to his car.
He sank into his seat just as the last of the energy left his body. He’d watched Sara’s life hanging in the balance, and again he’d been unable to protect her. Sure, she’d been able to handle the situation herself, but that didn’t make him feel any less helpless. And what about next time? He couldn’t lose someone else he loved.
That thought caused his breath to catch. He looked back at her a few more moments as she talked with her fellow officers, letting the truth of it sink in. Damn if he hadn’t fallen head over heels for Detective Sara Greene.
She might hate him for leaving after what she’d just been through, but he couldn’t sit here watching her with a man who might have ended her life. He was not going there again, no matter how much he hated the idea of never being with Sara. Why had he thought he’d gotten past the old scars?
Because he’d wanted to believe he had.
He didn’t start shaking until he got halfway home. When he pulled in to his driveway, he had to sit in the car for a good five minutes to get himself under control. Even after he went into the house, he couldn’t settle down enough to eat or sit still. Nervous energy flowed through him like lightning looking for something to strike. Finally, he changed and headed out for a run, hoping to exhaust himself beyond the ability to think.
The pounding of his feet against pavement did nothing to help the anxiety and anger flooding his veins. Just like he had with the guy who’d hit Sara during the bar fight, he wanted to beat the living daylights out of Corvette Guy for putting her in harm’s way. He stopped at the entrance to the beach parking lot and thought back to the day they’d taken the girls there to fly Lilly’s new kite. Something had moved inside him that day, some dormant hunger to connect and be needed. Only now did he realize the full extent of it.
Should he walk away for good this time? Could he even do that at this point? The intense desire to check on her, just to see if she was really okay, ate at him. She wouldn’t have to know. Her house was only a few blocks away from where he now stood.
Before he could talk himself out of it, he started jogging in that direction. When he made sure she was okay, really okay, maybe he’d have the willpower to walk away for good.
Maybe not.
If fate had been smiling at him, Sara would have been in the yard where he could get a glimpse of her and go. But despite her car being in the driveway, he saw no sign of her. Knowing he might not have the strength to leave if he got too close, he approached the side door anyway.
He knocked. After a few moments, she opened the door. He’d planned to ask if she was okay. Instead, he stepped across the threshold and pulled her into his arms, kissed her with an intensity he hoped didn’t scare her but which he needed.
She kissed him back, fiercely, full of her own need.
“Where are the girls?” he managed to ask.
“Ruby took them to a movie.”
The final word was barely across her lips when he scooped her up and carried her to her bedroom. They were naked in seconds and joined soon thereafter. They made love with a power and drive he’d never felt, like they both only had minutes to live and this was the last thing they wanted to experience in this life.
When they finished, they lay in a sweaty heap, arms and legs tangled together. He refused to break contact with her. Despite his spent state, he already wanted her again.
“Where did you go earlier?” she asked after they’d both had time to catch their breath.
Adam searched for a lie and grabbed the first one his brain stumbled over. “I figured you’d be tied up for a long time, reports and all that.”
“Oh.”
He hated the sound of doubt in her voice, but what was he supposed to do? He shouldn’t even be here, in her bed again. What happened to his walking away?
He endured the silence until he couldn’t stand it anymore. He swallowed and divulged at least some of what was bottled up inside him. “When I saw him pointing that gun at you, it scared me to death.”
“Have to admit, it scared me, too.”
Adam lifted to his elbow and looked down at her, the incredible, beautiful woman he was pretty sure he loved. “Then why do you do it?”
“Someone has to.”
“But why you?”
She stared up at him, searching his expression as if looking for deeper meaning. “Because I like helping people. Because I’m good at figuring out who did what.” She smiled. “I play a mean game of Clue.”
He lay back down and stared at the ceiling, wondering…If she had any other job in the world, would he still be debating with himself over maybe staying with her long-term?
“I should go before your girls get home.”
This time, she raised up on an elbow and looked down at him, pushed strands of hair behind her ear. “I don’t want you to go.”
She ran her hand across his chest, causing him to grit his teeth. She h
ad to know what it did to him, how powerless he was to resist her.
They made love again—the sweet and tender kind. The kind where you drifted off to sleep afterward in a blissful haze.
At least until a nightmare woke you.
Adam jerked awake, sweating, his heart pounding. The damn dream had found him again. Only this time, it wasn’t Jessica whose lifeless face stared back at him in that Humvee. It was Sara’s.
SARA WOKE SUDDENLY, prepared to defend the girls against whatever danger had roused her. It took a few postsleep seconds to remember the girls weren’t home and that Adam was with her. At least he had been.
She glanced toward the open bedroom door just as he disappeared down the hallway. She grabbed a robe and threw it around herself as she followed him. It wasn’t the side door she heard clicking shut, but rather the one that led to the backyard. She found him standing at the edge of the deck, his face pointed into a strong westerly wind that promised a storm later.
“What’s wrong?” Even in the half-light, she could tell he was sweating.
He was quiet for so long, she didn’t think he was going to answer. Finally, he heaved a deep breath.
“Just a bad dream.”
It had to be a pretty bad dream to propel him out of bed and out of the house. She thought of how she’d told him earlier that she liked to help people. At this moment she wanted to help no one more than him. Because instinct told her there was something deeper to this dream than a one-time product of the subconscious.
She slid her hand into his. “Tell me about it.” She said it so softly the wind nearly stole her words. Only the slight squeeze he gave her hand told her that he’d heard.
Again, it took him several long moments to decide to reply. “I told you I was in the army. Did two tours in Iraq, among other hot, dusty places.” He stopped, then inhaled deeply before letting the air out again. “I met a girl, an aid worker. Jessica. She was beautiful, funny, didn’t once complain about how hot it was or how crappy the food was sometimes.” He paused again and looked up at the sky despite the fact clouds had obscured the stars.
The Family Man Page 12
