by Andre, Bella
The only problem was that there was something off about this new couple. Something Kerry couldn’t quite put her finger on. From the moment they’d walked in the door, she’d felt the tension between them. Kerry didn’t expect the men and women she worked with to agree on everything. But not being able to find common ground on any of the dozen preliminary questions she’d asked them? Honestly, there were times when it had been almost painful to be in the same room with them.
She often saw brides and grooms disagree with their mothers or future mothers-in-law, but usually the bride and groom were on the same team. How, she’d found herself wondering, had these two even reached the point of becoming engaged? And even if they did end up agreeing on enough to make it to the wedding, did they stand a chance of making it past that?
Kerry knew what her mother would have done. Aileen Dromoland would have politely but firmly informed the couple that she was not the right wedding planner for them. And her mother would have been perfectly sure that she’d made the right decision.
But what if there was something Kerry was missing? What if the couple had simply had a rotten morning just like hers, and were normally loving with each other? Or what if she was simply projecting her own frustration onto them?
Because the truth was that she was still more than a little upset about the way her one incredible night with Adam had been cut short so abruptly.
As if he could read her mind, his name popped up on her cell phone as it began ringing on her desk.
She’d been wrecked by the time he’d left last night and had expected to fall asleep the second she hit the bed. Instead, as soon as she’d closed her eyes, her brain had taken her back to the hotel bed she’d shared with him just hours before for a slow-motion replay of every sexy moment.
Even thinking about it now had her barely stifling a little moan. Adam had been so amazing, so far beyond any sexual experience she’d ever had before.
It would have been so easy to believe that there’d been more than just sex between them, even before he’d pitched in to help her with her sister. She could have told herself that the way he’d kissed her, the way he’d caressed her, had seemed to transcend “just sex.” Fortunately, however, she knew all those orgasms could easily mess with a girl’s head and heart, even a heart like hers that was so carefully guarded from anyone but the man who would eventually be her one true love. Just as soon as she met that guy, of course.
Still, for all her rationalizations and reminders, her belly still fluttered as she picked up his call. “Adam, hi.”
“Kerry.” She liked the way he said her name, a little low and rumbly. Liked it more than she should. “How’s your sister feeling today?”
Yet again, he surprised her with how sweet he could be. Probably, she figured again, it came down to his mother raising him right. Claudia Sullivan was surely a very interesting woman, and Kerry greatly looked forward to finally meeting her at Rafe and Brooke’s wedding, even if it would likely take a heck of a lot of work to hide her affair with Adam from his mother.
“Just as you’d expect,” Kerry told him. “She has a splitting headache and pretty much feels like dirt.” Colleen hadn’t seemed to remember the things she’d said about how cold Kerry was. But all of that was better forgotten, even if there were never going to be any apologies coming. “Hopefully by the time she heads in to her emergency-dispatch job tonight, she’ll be back to her usual self.” And hopefully she wouldn’t hit the repeat button again next Friday night.
“And how are you?”
Kerry barely kept the words Better now that you’ve called from falling out. “A little tired, but I was actually just about to call to thank you again for everything you did to help last night.”
“How many times do I have to tell you to stop thanking me?”
She’d particularly liked the way he’d stopped her last night, with a kiss that had melted down her brain one cell at a time.
“Now,” he said before she could even try to answer his question, “for the other reason I’m calling.”
Ugh, this is it. The part where he said, Thanks for a few hot hours in the sack, but your situation is way too complicated, so let’s call it done now. She’d agree with him, of course, and wouldn’t ever let on that she felt otherwise. In fact, now that she thought about it, wouldn’t it be better if she were the one to end things first?
But before she could, he was saying, “Do you have a wedding next Friday night?”
Surprise had her answering before thinking better of it. “No, not next Friday.”
“Good.” His voice had lowered even more, the one word so warm and sexy she felt as if he’d reached out through the phone to touch her. “How about keeping it free for me and another fun hotel visit?”
Her heart skipped, leapt, sang! And her smile was so big that she was glad he couldn’t see it. Not when it gave away far too clearly just how thrilled she was to know that he didn’t want to stop their sexy no-strings fling just yet.
Soon, she knew it would end. But any woman who had experienced the kind of pleasure he’d given her would have wanted more. She wasn’t weak for wanting him again, she was simply human. Human enough, evidently, that she continually had to remind herself that it was just sex. Really phenomenal sex, of course, but just sex nonetheless.
She was about to agree, when she remembered. “Colleen and I were talking about staying in, watching a movie, and eating pizza together next Friday. That’s the night that’s always the hardest for her.”
“You’re a good sister. Tell me, how does she do on Thursday nights?”
“Pretty good, usually.”
“Then how about you and I aim to make it really good?”
Her breath caught in her chest. “Yes, let’s.”
* * *
The skies were clear and blue on Thursday afternoon as Adam stood with his father, Max, in front of a big old Queen Anne that had seen better days. In fact, at this point, it actually felt like knocking it down would be putting it out of its misery. But something about the place kept pulling at Adam, so he’d decided to get a second opinion from the man he most respected. It didn’t hurt, of course, that Max Sullivan knew wood carvings better than pretty much anyone.
After his father had lost his job a couple of decades ago, when he’d come home from another crappy interview, he’d disappear into his workshop in the backyard and would carve wood until he was able to smile again. Adam and his siblings all joined his father in there over the years—even Mia, who ended up with some mad carving skills—and Adam was glad for what he’d learned from his father. But a job like this, with turned porch columns and hand-cut trim around the eaves and windows, needed a specialist’s opinion.
In his typical way, his father hadn’t said much as Adam took him through and around the outside of the house. They’d both worn hard hats, and although that hadn’t helped when his father’s foot went through a stair riser, it had made Adam feel a little safer walking through the place.
The neighborhood had been quiet when they’d arrived a couple of hours ago. Now, as kids got out of school, it wasn’t quiet anymore. But it was a good kind of loud—kids having fun, moms and dads chatting as they wheeled strollers past each other, dogs barking excitedly as their little owners finally came back home to play with them. It reminded Adam of his childhood neighborhood, where his parents still lived on the other side of town.
And yet, at the very end of the street where the pavement turned to forest, this house had been left neglected. He hadn’t dug too far into its history yet, but from what he could tell, it looked like a fairly standard story. The couple who owned it hadn’t had any children and the nieces and nephews they’d left it to hadn’t lived close enough to want the house, nor had their heirs been able to agree on what to do with it. Over the years, it had been left forgotten until someone in the family had finally realized they were sitting on valuable Seattle property in a great family neighborhood. The house was being sold as a teardown, but when
Mia had emailed the listing to him from her realty office, she’d told him to take a look before he made up his mind.
Even as an adult, Adam relied on his family for so much. Not only their professional support, but support on every other level, too. Friendship. Respect. Love.
All of which brought him back to Kerry, the way so many things had since he’d met her a little over a week ago. She’d taken care of her sister without even a moment’s hesitation, just as he would have any of his siblings.
But that was where the similarities ended. Because his siblings had never been as cruel to him as her sister had been to her. If they had, he wouldn’t have stood there and taken it. Of course he would have helped them get back home and into bed—but he also would have told them where they could shove their crappy attitude.
His chest hurt every time he thought about the way Kerry had withstood Colleen’s harsh words, and his jaw clenched every time he thought about the fact that she hadn’t seemed at all surprised by them. He’d wanted to find out what else her sister had said to her so that he could tell her none of those bad things were true, and that she should never believe what someone so messed up had to say about her.
Only good things. All good things. That was what he wanted for Kerry—all the good and beautiful things that she gave to everyone she planned weddings for.
Actually, more sizzling-hot sex was right at the top of the list, too. Especially when five days had turned out to be way too long to go between their hotel meet-ups. Hell, given how good they’d been together, they could have spent the last five days naked together in the penthouse suite without needing more than a little food and water every now and again.
His father cleared his throat, drawing Adam back to the sidewalk they were standing on and the house in front of them.
“If you take this on, Adam, it’s going to be a hell of a lot of work.” His father turned away from the house to look at him. “You’re looking for a challenge, aren’t you?”
Again, Adam found himself thinking of Kerry. He hadn’t thought he was looking for a challenge with her, but from the first moment he’d set eyes on her and realized she wasn’t like any other woman he’d ever known, he’d immediately wanted to find out more. The more he found out, the more he wanted to know. Not just because the sex had been mind-blowing, either. But because she continued to fascinate him in every way.
“I’ve got more than enough on my plate right now,” he told his father. “Too much to even be considering taking on a house like this, where something tells me I’d have to give it one hundred percent focus.”
Adam always worked on multiple projects at once. When he started to get a little bored with one, he could jump to another. He’d never actually focused on only one building, figuring that split-focus was just who he was. But could he change for this house? Or, rather, could this house change him?
Despite its current wrecked state, there was something about it that told him once upon a time it had been someone’s special place, and he couldn’t quiet the voice inside that wanted to make it special again.
“No one would blame you if you decided to let this one go. She’s going to be damned prickly,” his father said. “Parts of her will probably fall down around you right when you’re trying to put her back together.”
It hadn’t escaped his notice that, though Adam’s working with the house was still in a very hypothetical—and unlikely—stage, his father wasn’t speaking in maybe and might. No, Max Sullivan had already moved on to will and are.
And Adam couldn’t miss that tug in his own gut that told him this place might be the ultimate diamond in the rough. Not for an investor or even a Realtor like his sister, but for Adam himself.
“Still,” his father added in his deep, steady voice, “it’s always hard to walk away from something beautiful, isn’t it? Especially when you can sense that giving her your full attention will make both of you happy.”
“We still talking about the house now, Dad?” Or had Rafe or Brooke said something to his parents about Kerry—and the sparks that had very clearly been jumping between them at dinner on Friday night at the hotel?
“I don’t know. Are we?” His father grinned. “Or is there something you brought me here to talk about other than this house?”
Adam had never been one to kiss and tell. And he’d never wanted, or needed, to pull his parents aside to talk about love and broken hearts, either. But, strangely, instead of outright brushing off his father’s question, he realized he actually did have another question for him.
“There’s someone I want to help with something personal, but she’s pretty tough. Pretty stubborn, too. She doesn’t think she needs anyone to help her, but—” Constant frustration and worry had ridden Adam since Saturday morning. Because if anything happened to Kerry while she was helping her sister...
“Tough and stubborn, huh?” His father looked more than a little taken aback at hearing that. “Doesn’t sound like the kind of woman you usually date.”
Adam wasn’t surprised that his father was fishing for details—it was just the way of things. Not because his father wanted to control his kids’ lives in any way. Max and Claudia Sullivan only wanted them to be happy. And his parents believed, with one hundred percent certainty, that true love was their children’s surefire path to happiness.
“We’re not dating,” Adam clarified. “I’m not even sure she wants me to be her friend, actually. But I need to be there for her anyway.” Because if Kerry kept letting her sister wound her the way she had at the bar… Adam had to deliberately unclench his jaw.
“Of all the kids,” his father said after a moment, “you were always the one who immediately reached for the hammer and nails. Or the glue and staples. You hated to watch things fall apart, not if you thought you could save them before that happened. Even if that meant trying to hold things together with your bare hands, like that bird’s nest that you wouldn’t let go of when you were eight because every time you put it down it fell apart. But sometimes, all you can do is trust that people are going to figure out how to rebuild things for themselves, and let them know that you’re always there as a true friend if they ever do want to reach out for you.”
“I wish I could use glue and staples to fix this situation.” Even though Adam knew his father was right, that didn’t make it any easier to stand by while Kerry got hurt.
A few minutes later, after his father had gotten into his car and was about to drive away, he rolled down his window. “I’m not sure I was as much help as you’d hoped I’d be, but if you need anything else—”
Adam could easily finish his father’s sentence. “You’re always there.”
CHAPTER TEN
That evening at the hotel, Adam checked his phone half a dozen times for a message from Kerry. But at forty minutes past seven there was nothing—no email, no text, not even in response to his. He hoped she hadn’t bailed on him, even as he worried that something might have happened to hold her up. Something worse than just a meeting that had gone on too long. An accident or—
Thank God, she came in from the sidewalk just then, her long dark hair blowing back as she moved quickly toward him. “I’m sorry I’m so late. The traffic was horrible. I could have gotten out and walked here faster if not for my heels. And my stupid phone was dead.”
His only response was to grab her hand, taking her overnight bag in the other.
“Adam?”
Despite the question in her voice, she let him pull her past the reception desk and the bar and into the elevator that was conveniently open for them. He jammed in the room key that would take them straight to the penthouse suite.
The doors were closing as she asked, “Is everything okay?”
“No. But it will be soon.”
His hands were already in her hair, and he caught the flash of surprised pleasure in her eyes just before he slammed his mouth against hers.
There was no sweet ramp-up tonight, no gentle whispers. Only the rawest, hottes
t need.
In both of them.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and met his kiss with such fierce passion that he groaned into her mouth. “More.” He could barely wrap his brain around anything other than that right now. “I need more of you.”
“Yes.” She tore at the buttons on his shirt, and a few popped off and landed on the marble floor of the elevator. “God, yes.”
Permission granted, he put his hands on her hips and lifted her so that she could wrap her legs around him. She was wearing something pretty and likely expensive that he knew he shouldn’t tear off her. But when her skirt caught on her thighs, there were just way too many layers of fabric between them.
And he wanted her naked.
Now.
The back seam of her skirt tore open with one hard tug of his hands, and she immediately took advantage of the freedom, wrapping her long legs around his hips. The heat of her—and the soft press of her curves against every inch of him—made everything flash to white in his brain for a few seconds. And when one of her hands moved from around his neck to his belt buckle, he nearly lost it completely, right then and there in the elevator.
The soft bell that rang as they made it to the top of the building almost wasn’t enough to pierce through. Lust had never held him so tightly in its grip before, but he’d worked on enough of these buildings to know that there had to be a video camera in the elevator. The last thing he was going to do tonight was share Kerry in all her gorgeous, naked beauty with the guys in the security room. Especially when he knew she would be the most beautiful thing they’d ever seen.
She was his, damn it.
Only his.
