Loving her was a lost cause. He knew it but loved her anyway. The only things that would sustain him during the lonely months ahead would be the memories of the weeks they shared together; especially tonight. It would be one he intended for her to remember for a long time. Then after tonight it would be over, and he meant it.
In the morning he would pack up and go to D.C. for a few days and then return to Memphis. He would pay one of Kent’s top mechanics to finish restoring his car, since doing so no longer held the thrill that it once had. The next time Shannon came looking for him, he would be gone, and he’d give Kent strict instructions not to tell her where if she asked.
Once inside the apartment, he placed her on the bed, stood back, and reached for the zipper to his jeans. “Wait, Adam!”
He blinked. “Why? Isn’t this what you came for?”
“Yes. No.” She swung her legs on the side of the bed and sat up. “We need to talk.”
Surprise lit his eyes. “Talk? What do we have to talk about? Besides, I don’t feel like talking.”
Shannon frowned and braced back on her hands and glared up at him. “Well, I do.”
“Fine, then talk,” he snapped, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest.
Shannon decided she didn’t like his attitude. She stood. “I’m leaving.”
She turned toward the door, and he reached out and touched her arm. She met his gaze and suddenly felt it, something other than the sexual chemistry they shared. And before she had time to dwell on it further, he gently pulled her into his arms.
She couldn’t deny herself this, another chance to be held by him, kissed by him, touched by him, and so she went willingly, locking her arms around his neck just when his mouth came within inches of hers. As if he knew this would be a kiss to savor, he took the tip of his tongue and slowly outlined the fullness of her mouth, licking it like it was the best thing he’d ever had the pleasure of tasting. Her body shuddered as sensations rammed through her, and when he captured her bottom lip and began gently sucking on it, she felt a relentless tug that began in her stomach and moved down with aching leisure to the area between her legs.
She wondered if he knew how much he was torturing her. Did he care? Evidently not, because then he took his hands and began caressing her back, slowly moving his hands down to her backside, and the moment he pulled her to him, to let her feel the magnitude of his desire for her, he captured her mouth like a hawk bearing down on its prey.
She felt him easing her back on the bed as she became engulfed in heated desire. She knew she had to talk to him and make him understand; otherwise, what they were doing would end up being just another roll between the sheets, and she couldn’t end things with him that way.
She pushed at him. “No, Adam, get off me. We do need to talk.”
Adam pulled back, hearing the desperation in Shannon’s voice, and something broke within him, a flood of intense love he could no longer contain. He reached out and took her hand in his and caressed it lightly. He didn’t want what they both wanted to end up being just another sex-intense coupling. She was right. They needed to talk, and although he was certain what they had to say would be vastly different, they needed to hear each other. She probably wanted to reemphasize what she saw as the depth of their relationship so there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings.
He would let her go first, and then he would tell her how he truly felt, exactly what was in his heart. When he walked her to the door, he would ask that she not come back.
He gently pulled her up to sit beside him on the bed. “Okay, let’s talk,” he said in a quiet voice, still holding her hand.
Shannon didn’t say anything for a long moment, not knowing where to begin. So she started at the beginning. “This fling was to mean nothing to me,” she whispered emotionally.
“I know that,” he said, trying to keep the pain and despair out of his voice.
“All I wanted to do this summer was to find a man to put at the top of my to-do list,” she said, glancing down and studying their hands. “I hadn’t counted on him being you. You were all wrong from the beginning. You lacked a lot of things I look for in a man, a lot of things I felt were important. But then on the other hand, you had a lot to offer that I hadn’t counted on, and they began outweighing all those things you didn’t have.”
She looked up at him, hoping she wouldn’t fall apart and turn any more emotional than she already was. “I liked being with you because you were you. I enjoyed making love with you because you were you. I began to know you as Adam Corbain the man and not Adam Corbain the mechanic. Suddenly, what you did for a living didn’t matter,” she said quietly. “I simply enjoyed spending time with you.”
Adam struggled to hide his emotions. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? What he hoped she was saying? He needed clarification. “Are you saying that for you this fling has turned into something else other than a ‘wham, burr, thank you, sir’?”
She nodded slowly. Although she’d never heard it phrased quite that way, he had the gist of it. “Yes. I know things weren’t supposed to turn out this way, and I thought you should know. I’m not asking for anything in return, but I couldn’t walk away without letting you know.”
Adam stared at her. “So my being a mechanic doesn’t matter?”
She shook her head. “No. We were all born with special gifts, and yours evidently is in your hands,” she said, remembering all the things he could do with those hands in addition to working on a car. “I don’t expect anything to develop from this, and I don’t want you to think I expect my feelings to be reciprocated—because I don’t. I just wanted you to know the stakes for me have changed.”
Adam studied her face for long seconds, and then he stood and his heart swelled with the force of the realization that she cared for him. But he had to be sure. “Are you saying you’re in love with me, Shannon?” he asked in a low, husky voice.
She swallowed hard and lifted her head to meet his gaze. “Yes, that’s what I’m saying.” She then forced a smile. “But like I said, I don’t expect you to feel the same way, and that’s okay.”
“But what if I told you that I do feel the same way?” he asked softly. “What if I told you that I loved you, too? And what if I were to go even further and say that I’m not what you think I am?”
Shannon’s head began spinning. All his questions were coming at her all at once. “If you told me that you loved me,” she said, meeting his gaze, “and truly meant it, I wouldn’t know what to say since I know I’m not the easiest person to love.”
“No, you’re not,” he agreed truthfully.
“But I don’t know what you mean when you say you’re not what I think you are. I meant it when I said that what you did for a living doesn’t matter to me anymore.”
“And if I want to pursue a more meaningful relationship with you, something beyond what we shared this summer, you would consider it?”
“Yes, although it will be challenging with me living in North Carolina and you living here, I’ll be open to working something out if you are.”
“And what about your parents? Your friends? Those who might think you’ve made a bad choice in hooking up with me and that you can do better?”
She leaned over and placed her finger against his lips. “I’m my own woman, Adam. If those people you named, including my parents, truly love me and want what’s best for me and what will make my happy then they will know I couldn’t do better. My parents are both highly educated, supposedly ‘compatible,’ yet all they’d done over the years is make each other unhappy. I don’t want that for me. I want to live a fulfilled life with the man I love regardless of who he is and what he does. Love is the most important thing.”
Adam nodded. “Yes, love is the most important thing and I would want us to continue a relationship, but that relationship has to be built on honesty, and I need to be completely honest with you about something.”
He crossed the room to the dresser
, opened the drawer and pulled a business card from his wallet. When he retraced his steps to her he wondered if Shannon would understand why he hadn’t been truthful with her up front? Would she forgive him for his deceit?
There was only one way to find out. He handed her the business card and watched her brow bunch in confusion as she read it aloud. “Adam Corbain, Esquire. Corbain Family Law Firm. Memphis, Tennessee.”
Her frown deepened; her shoulders tense when she glanced up at him. “I don’t understand what this means.” Silence lengthened between them. She stared at him in disbelief when it became crystal clear what the card meant. “You aren’t a mechanic?”
“No.”
“But—but you said you were.”
He shook his head, watching the angry lines form on her lips. “No, you assumed that I was.”
She stood and squared her shoulders. “You didn’t set me straight and you could have. You deliberately played me for a fool. You knew what I thought.”
“At the time it didn’t matter to me what you thought,” he said truthfully. “You only wanted one thing from me and I only wanted one thing from you. It was only later that it began to matter.”
“And all those times I mentioned what you did for a living was only a joke to you, wasn’t it? I can imagine you laughing behind my back.”
“Some of your comments did garner a few chuckles, I admit,” he couldn’t help but say. “But I never made fun of you, Shannon. I was too busy trying to show you that a man’s worth was not measured by what he did for a living.”
“Would you have eventually told me?” she asked, her voice terse and clipped.
“No. There was no reason to do that. I needed to know that you love me for the man you thought I was and not the man who was acceptable to you and your parents. Had I not known for sure, I would not have told you. I would have allowed you to use me until you used me up, although I would have been hurting inside.”
He reached out and took her hands in his. “Had I told you what I actually did for a living, I would not have known for sure if you loved me for who I am and not what I am. Does that make sense to you?”
“Yes, it makes sense now,” she slowly admitted. From the first she had thought him fixing cars all day was an occupation that was unacceptable to her, but over time, it no longer mattered—and that’s what he’d wanted. The big question was where they went from there.
“So what you said holds true,” Adam said. “It really doesn’t matter what I do for a living. Mechanic or attorney, I’m still the same man. The man you said a few moments ago that you loved. Do you truly love me, Shannon?”
She knew there was only one answer to that question. “Yes, I love you, Adam.”
“And I love you, too, Shannon.”
And then he pulled her into his arms and he was devouring her mouth with the passionate hunger she was used to from him. The kind that would ignite a flame within her so bright, it would set off a deep longing and intense need. Only he could do that.
“Will you spend the rest of the summer helping me restore my car?” he asked as he eased her back on the bed.
“Is that all we’ll do?” she asked silkily. Electricity was shooting through her entire body from his touch.
“No. I intend to spend a lot of time showing you just how sexy I think you are. And I would love to take you to D.C. with me to meet my sister and her husband. Sydney is also an attorney and her husband’s family owns a restaurant there, Leo’s. You may have heard of it.”
Shannon nodded. Yes, she’d heard of it. It was a well-known club, very upscale and trendy. In fact, she usually would frequent the establishment whenever she visited the nation’s capital.
“And I want you to meet my parents as well, so I think a trip to Memphis is in order before the summer is out,” Adam said.
When she was flat on her back, he loomed over her and she smiled at him. “I guess I need to make sure you meet my parents, too. If you’re brave enough to do so.”
He grinned. “I’m brave enough.”
“When you meet them remember that you’re the one who said that.”
He leaned down and kissed the corners of her lips. “I can handle your parents.”
Shannon believed him.
“Now to take off all these clothes.” He did so, slowly, kissing her every so often through the fabric of her clothing, and when he had her completely naked, he leaned down and kissed her stomach. “How do you feel about having kids one day?”
At the moment the only thing she could feel was the warmth from the tip of his tongue as he glided across her belly, making her want him even more.
“Shannon?”
“I think,” she said struggling for words, “that as long as they are your kids, kids we made together, I would love to have a bunch.”
He lifted his head as a smile touched his lips. “A bunch?”
A shudder coursed through her with the way he was looking at her. “Yes, a bunch.”
“That’s good to know, because I want a bunch as well.”
It wasn’t until Adam had resumed kissing all over her tummy did she realize that a bunch was a lot. But she wouldn’t mind as long as they were just like their daddy.
43
“So that’s your Monique,” Lance Montgomery said to his brother while glancing across the room at the woman talking to his wife and sister. “She’s very pretty.”
Lyle smiled. “I happen to think so as well. I’m glad everyone finally got a chance to meet her.”
Lance nodded, remembering when Lyle, who’d had a little too much to drink one night, admitted to falling in love with the woman and losing her when she’d married someone else. “Asia likes her, and I know Carrie likes her, too,” he said. “That’s good because Carrie can be a hard nut to crack sometimes.”
“Are the two of you discussing my wife?” Connor Hargrove said, coming up to join the men.
“Just remember she was our sister before she became your wife,” Lance reminded him, grinning.
Connor laughed. “Trust me, there’s no way I can forget.”
“Forget what?” Logan, the oldest of the Montgomery brothers, came up to ask.
“Forget that Carrie’s your sister,” Connor responded.
Logan nodded. He then glanced over at Lyle. “You seem happy.”
Lyle’s smile widened. “I am, but I’d be happier when she decides I’m good husband material.”
Logan smiled. “If Lance can make good husband material, then anyone can.”
Everyone, including Lance, nodded. That was definitely true.
Lyle was able to pull Monique off to corner for a brief private moment. “My family likes you,” he said, placing a kiss on her lips. “But then I knew that they would.”
She smiled, feeling those sparks she got whenever he touched her. “And I like them. They’re all nice.”
“And what about me? Aren’t I nice?” he asked, pulling her into his arms. Monique whispered the words she knew in her heart were true: “Oh, yes, you’re the nicest of them all and everything a woman would want.”
“So,” he said, leaning over and kissing the corner of her lips. “What can a nice guy like me do to get a gorgeous babe like yourself to stay over tonight?”
She glanced up at him, smiling. “Well, I’m no easy case, so I suggest you start with a little sweet talk.”
He grinned. “Sweet talk? Can I just convince you to have pity on a guy?”
“Not without any sweet talk.”
“Okay then, listen up.” He then leaned down and whispered a couple of sentences in her ear. She nodded, blushing, and then blushed some more. When he straightened up and smiled down at her, she could barely get out the words when she said, “I said sweet talk, Lyle, not hot talk. What you just promised to do almost scorched my ears off.”
“Just doing what you asked,” he said innocently.
She chuckled. “Like I said, that was hot, not sweet.”
He pulled her back closer to him. �
�I guess I’ve been hanging around Lance so long, I don’t know the difference.”
Monique nodded. “And what about Logan. He’s good-looking and kind. Is there anyone special in his life?”
Lyle glanced across the room at his older brother who was talking to Lance and Asia. “I think that now that Carrie, Lance, and I have found love, big brother will be doing the same if he hasn’t done so already. I think he’s smitten with Asia’s sister, Claire, but she’s currently living somewhere out of the country.”
Monique smiled. “Location never stopped anyone in love, and I have a feeling that your brother is a man who, once he knows what he wants, won’t hesitate going after it.”
Lyle returned her smile as he continued to study his oldest brother. “I think you might be right.”
An hour or so later, Lyle and Monique walked up the stairs to his bedroom. His family had left to stay at a hotel for the night, and they were all alone. As soon as she entered the room, Monique turned in his arms and kissed him.
“I never thought that I’d find love again, Lyle.”
His eyes searched her face, looking hopeful, looking like a man in love. “But you have?”
“Yes.”
“And after a reasonable amount of courtship time, will you consider marrying me?”
Monique didn’t hesitate with her answer. “Yes! Oh, yes!” and then they were in each other’s arms, sealing their agreement with a kiss.
44
Faith hung up the phone with a smile on her face after receiving calls from both Monique and Shannon saying they were planning to spend the night away and not to expect them before noon tomorrow, if even then.
She was happy for her friends, glad they had done just what Cely suggested in her letters: live each day to the fullest and do whatever they wanted to enjoy life and not live up to others’ expectations and standards.
Now what about you?
Faith quickly turned around. She could have sworn she’d heard Cely’s voice again. Although she knew that wasn’t possible and that her imagination was getting carried away, at least the question had her thinking.
What a Woman Wants Page 27
