All I Ever Need Is You

by Andre, Bella

  There must be something more to the way Kerry bent over backward for her mother and sister, another reason why she felt she always had to look and behave so perfectly. Something that ran deeper than he had a handle on yet.

  Then again, the truth was that there was plenty about Kerry he couldn’t get a handle on. The way he couldn’t stop thinking about her, for one. Or wanting her.

  Or just plain smiling every time he thought about her.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The following Thursday night, as Kerry walked from her office toward the hotel, she was glad for the fresh air and a few minutes alone to clear her head before she met up with Adam.

  Again and again over the week she’d replayed her dance with him—and the subsequent conversation with her mother—in her head.

  The dance had been unlike any other Kerry had ever experienced. Throughout her teens, both Kerry and her sister had taken ballroom-dancing classes, and that knowledge had helped Kerry a great deal as she worked with brides and grooms who were nervous about their wedding dance. But though Adam was incredibly skilled on his feet, it wasn’t skill that’d had her heart leaping around in her chest or her soul feeling as though it was taking flight in his arms. She’d wished the dance could have gone on forever, that she’d never have to let him go.

  Regret washed over her again at the way she’d all but jumped out of his arms when her mother had said her name. Of course, he’d been sweet about it, and nothing but gracious with her mother. After that, Kerry had been swept back into the myriad details of her job, being pulled in so many directions by her wedding staff and the guests that when Adam came to say good-bye, she’d barely had a chance to say good-bye herself.

  By the time she’d finally left the wedding site, she was stunned to realize how lonely the thought of going home alone was. Especially now that she knew how warm and wonderful it was to share Adam’s bed.

  But that wasn’t their deal. Wasn’t what they’d agreed on. Wasn’t the plan that she’d reminded them they needed to stick to.

  Not allowing herself to be a coward, Kerry had called her mother Monday morning to see if she enjoyed the wedding and had any suggestions. Where Kerry was good with details and organization, her mother’s gift had been in the tiny things that ended up making all the difference. Kerry had been touched to hear her mother tell Adam that she was the best wedding planner on any coast, but she also wanted Aileen to be honest about where she still had room for improvement.

  “The wedding was perfect, darling, although I’m sure it wasn’t easy to keep your focus on work when Adam Sullivan couldn’t keep his eyes off you.”

  Kerry had been glad her mother couldn’t see her mouth drop open, or the flush of pleasure that she couldn’t stop from moving over her from knowing how much Adam wanted her.

  Trying not to betray either reaction, she’d replied, “If you do think of anything at the wedding that needed improvement, please don’t hesitate to tell me. And as for Adam...” She hadn’t wanted to lie to her mother—she’d never get away with it anyway. “We became friends while working together on his brother’s wedding. He’s a very nice man.”

  Her mother had let the silence ride just long enough that Kerry knew they weren’t yet done discussing him. “Yes, I’ve heard he’s a very nice man. Especially when he’s around beautiful women.”

  Kerry hadn’t been able to keep from defending him—and, she supposed, herself at the same time. “He’s been nothing but kind and generous. A true friend.” Surely, her mother had to know that Kerry wasn’t foolish enough to fall in love with an utterly unsuitable man, not after having done such a good job of steering clear of bad love her entire life.

  “I’m not sure friends look at each other the way you both were during your dance, darling—or that men and women are ever very good at being friends without complications ensuing. But I’ve never had any reason to doubt you before, so I won’t begin now.”

  Her mother’s warning to stay away from romantic entanglement with Adam hadn’t needed to be explicitly said to be perfectly clear. Of course, Kerry couldn’t possibly have told her mother that both she and Adam knew the rules and had a strict arrangement where the nights they spent together couldn’t possibly become more than hot sex between friends. If her mother ever found out about Kerry and Adam’s hotel hookups, she would be beside herself with worry.

  And yet, even knowing how deeply her mother disapproved of even the idea of Kerry spending time with Adam wasn’t enough to convince Kerry to cancel her night with him. Not when she was really looking forward to seeing him tonight at the hotel.

  Not just for sex—although she was definitely looking forward to that—but because she wanted to hear about everything in his life. Things like the projects he was working on and whether he’d spent time with his family this week. She wanted to hear about the good parts, and the frustrating ones, too. And then she wanted to tell him all the little things she knew he’d appreciate, like the incredible historic house of one of her new clients and the little boy who had given the funniest wedding toast she’d ever heard.

  Kerry was halfway to the hotel when her phone dinged from inside her purse. Though ignoring a ringing phone was strictly against the rules of all wedding planners—even higher than dancing with one of the wedding guests—she was tempted to turn it off. The last thing she wanted was for work to derail her night with Adam. They’d both been so busy this week that the only contact they’d had with each other since Sunday’s wedding were a few emails and text messages about the house she was in the process of trying to buy.

  He’d sent over the original plans from the county for her to study so that she could discuss what she’d like to change inside the house. But she loved it just as it was. She didn’t want to change anything about it. She simply wanted to see it come back to life—and know that she could spend hers there, as well.

  Fortunately, the number on the screen was the only one she wanted to pick up tonight. “Adam, hi.”

  She knew he could probably hear the smile on her lips, but she didn’t need to hide her pleasure at hearing from a friend. One of the best she’d ever had, actually, despite whatever her mother believed about a woman and a man not being able to be friends.

  “Kerry, I kept trying to get away to call, but there are so many problems with this renovation project I just took on in mid-rebuild that if I so much as left the room it was likely to collapse on everyone’s heads and take out all ten of the guys I brought in.”

  “What can I do to help?” Adam had been there for her again and again. Tonight, she’d be there for him. And she’d also stuff down her selfish disappointment about not getting to be with him in the hotel.

  “You could hire a sniper to take out the guy who was running this project before me.”

  “How did you know that all wedding planners have a sniper on speed dial?”

  He laughed. “Damn it, I didn’t want to be late tonight. Any night but this.”

  Hearing how much he regretted having to bail on their night together had her chest squeezing tight. But it was a good kind of squeezing, almost as if he’d put his arms around her and was holding her close.

  “Where’s the building?”

  The address he gave her wasn’t far from where she was standing. “I’ll bring everyone dinner.”

  “Dinner?” She could hear a half-dozen male voices chiming in behind Adam. “You can’t even imagine how big a hero you’d be if you brought us dinner, especially since we skipped lunch, we’ve run out of snacks and drinks, and we’ve got hours left here tonight.”

  Kerry made a quick call to her favorite caterer, who also ran a great deli close to the building they were working on. Judy didn’t ask questions when Kerry said she needed munchies and drinks for twenty ASAP. Adam had said he’d brought ten men with him, but she figured they’d each eat for two if they’d missed lunch. With Judy on the snack delivery, Kerry headed into the Mexican burrito place on the next corner, one she’d heard great things a
bout.

  Twenty minutes later, she was getting into a taxi with four huge bags of food. No one would go hungry tonight, that was for sure. And even if she didn’t get to spend an entire night with Adam, at least she’d be with him for a few wonderful minutes.

  * * *

  “Kerry, you’re a goddess.”

  Adam’s smile lit her up from the inside out as he popped a hard hat on her head, then took the bags from her and handed them to his guys. His men all agreed that she was indeed the best as he quickly introduced her. Each of them was polite and charming as they took turns shaking her hand. It was an awful lot of testosterone in one place, and she’d be lying if she said she wasn’t just the tiniest bit overwhelmed by them.

  But Adam didn’t dig into the food with everyone else. Instead, he told her, “I’ve made a few notes about the blueprints for the house we looked at last week. I know you love it as is, but there are a few things we should discuss. The blueprints are in the next room.”

  He took her hand and led her through to another construction zone. Kerry thought it was fairly easy to make beauty out of things when they were already in order, but she’d always been amazed by anyone who could find order in a mess like this.

  Adam Sullivan was clearly a magician, one who wasn’t scared off by a ton of work and a boatload of cleanup. Nor was he put off by digging through the rubble to find the beauty waiting many layers down.

  He shoved a heavy door halfway closed, which was as far as it could go, and then they both moved into each other’s arms at the same time. His hunger, her need—they were both so strong that the building could have started to fall down around them and neither would have noticed or cared. Not when they simply couldn’t get enough of each other’s mouths. Not when their hands couldn’t touch enough skin. Not when she could have listened to him say her name over and over again for the rest of her life and never tire of hearing it.

  And not when her week without him finally ended in the most perfect way—with his arms around her and her arms around him.

  “I’d rip off all your clothes right now if I didn’t know that my guys would enjoy it way too much knowing what we’re up to in here.”

  “Maybe I’m supposed to care, but right now I don’t. I just want you, Adam. That’s all I want. Just you.”

  Heat flared in his eyes at her words, and his mouth came down on hers so hard it should have hurt, but all she could feel was pleasure. The pleasure of being with the only person she’d ever truly been free with—the man who had shown her how much beauty there was in that freedom.

  Unfortunately, he dragged his mouth from hers a few moments later. “Forget my guys outside. Swear to God, if I didn’t think this room would actually cave in around us, I’d already be inside of you.”

  Her breath caught in her throat at his wickedly hot words.

  “That sound is going to fuel my fantasies for a hell of a long time. Especially,” he said as he bent his head to her neck, “if I can get you to make it again right now.”

  The delicious feel of his stubble along the sensitive underside of her chin as he nipped and kissed her easily had her gasping with pleasure. But instead of pulling her closer, he put his hands on her shoulders and made both of them take a step back.

  “I’ll never forgive myself if I get us both killed here tonight. Or if anyone walks in on us and sees you like this.” His eyes were impossibly dark and intense. “Your passion, your sensuality—they’re all mine, Kerry. Mine.”

  She took a deep breath, and then another, knowing he was right and that they should behave more prudently. But after a lifetime of prudence, it was a lovely thing, frankly, to be risky every now and again.

  Especially when it felt like he was hers, too.

  “Besides,” he added while she tried to get a grip on herself, “I wasn’t kidding about my guys. I’d bet money on the fact that right now they’re all talking about how gorgeous you are and what a lucky sonofabitch I am to get to spend even five minutes alone with you.”

  She would have blushed if her skin hadn’t already been so flushed from his kisses. “They’re just happy about the food.”

  “You really don’t have the first clue, do you? No idea at all how beautiful or how sexy you are.”

  He brushed the pad of one thumb over her lips, and it was the most natural thing in the world for her to lick out against it, making him growl low in his throat as he barely managed to hold himself back. She did it again, partly because she wanted him so bad, but also because a secret part inside of her thrilled at knowing she could turn a man like Adam inside out with nothing more than the flick of her tongue against his skin.

  “Just so you know, I’m using up every ounce of my self-control right now. You’d better prepare yourself, because things are going to get crazy once I finally get you naked.”

  She smiled so big her cheeks hurt. “I can’t wait.” And when he smiled back, just as big, she said, “I missed you this week.” Her week would have been perfect if only he’d been a part of it.

  “I wanted to cancel all of my meetings this week,” he told her. “But I knew you didn’t want me to be sitting in on all of yours.”

  She laughed, enjoying the picture of Adam crashing her client meetings, her weddings. He would be the very definition of a bull in a china shop. Despite that, she knew she would love every minute of having him there.

  “Actually, it was really fun having you at the wedding on Sunday. Even if,” she added, “my mother wasn’t too pleased with me for kicking up my heels with one of the guests for a few minutes. I’m sorry if she made you feel at all uncomfortable. I’m sure she didn’t mean to be quite so...” Judgmental was the right word, but she hated even saying it out loud to Adam now that she knew the real man behind the gorgeous face and charming grin. “So protective of me. She’s always been like that with me and Colleen.”

  “Trust me,” he said, “with a little sister and a zillion female cousins who are too pretty for their own good, if there’s one thing I get, it’s being overprotective. The only thing that would have upset me about my conversation with your mother would have been if she wasn’t worried about you. Of course she wants the best for you.”

  “It’s just...” Kerry had never told Adam about her father. She’d never really spoken to anyone about him, actually, not even close friends. Somehow, everyone had understood that the topic was off-limits. But when she was with Adam, all those usual limits just seemed to disappear. “My father walked out on us when I was a little girl. Just up and left. I don’t know why. I don’t even know if my mother knows exactly why. I guess he was just bored with having a family. And we never heard from him again. That’s why my mom built her business—to save us. And that’s also why she’s always been so adamant about me and Colleen not getting involved with the wrong guy, because it’s exactly what she did.”

  Adam gently stroked her cheek. “All parents should want their kids to have everything—especially the things they were never able to have themselves. Since love betrayed her, I can see why she wouldn’t want it to do a number on you, too.”

  Relief washed over her that he understood so well. “It may also have been the first time she’s ever seen me dancing with a man anywhere near as good-looking as you.”

  “Were those her exact words,” he asked with a grin, “or just your take on things?”

  “Sometimes I forget that your head is already big enough.” But she couldn’t help laughing with him.

  “Speaking of your mom,” he said a moment later, “do the two of you co-own the business?”

  “No. Why do you ask?”

  “You said something at the wedding that made it sound as if you were still running it with her.”

  “My mother loved running the business, but being responsible for creating—and executing—one of the best days of people’s lives isn’t exactly the least stressful career in the world. Colleen was never interested, but since I clearly was, when I graduated from business school, my mother tried
to give it to me.”

  “You and all those sexy-as-hell biz school brains. No wonder I love scrambling them up so much,” he teased. “But you wouldn’t just take the business from her, would you?”

  “How could I? I wanted to make sure she’d be able to live comfortably in her retirement. And even though she’d always been a good saver, I knew that plenty of wedding planners would have jumped at the chance to buy the business from her just to get their hands on her contacts list. I’d had a couple of jobs that paid pretty well through college, so I was able to give her a down payment on what the company was worth along with a percentage of profits. Profits she’ll always deserve for building something so wonderful.”

  Kerry had never told anyone so many of the details of how she’d come to acquire the business from her mother. Not even her sister. But it was always so easy to talk to Adam. She knew he wouldn’t judge her. Not when he’d had plenty of reasons to so far, but never had.

  He brushed a lock of hair away from her cheek, and just that faint touch of his fingertips sent thrill bumps rising across the surface of her skin. “You talk a good game,” he said softly, “but we both know you didn’t pay her for the business and cut her in on the future profits just to make sure she’d have a comfortable retirement. You keep her as a part of the business because you love her.”

  “The business was so much of her life—her whole life, really—for so many years that I didn’t want her to feel like she had nothing once I took over. I want her to feel that if she ever wants to come back and work on a wedding, she doesn’t have to ask, that everything is just as much hers as it’s ever been. And I want to make sure that my standards of excellence are just as high as hers, so that she’ll never be disappointed in the choice she made to turn her blood, sweat, and tears over to me.”

  “She’d love you just as much, even if the business went south. You know that, don’t you?”