by Bella Andre
Just the way he had tonight in their hotel suite.
Kerry's face was still too pale, her green eyes too full of concern as she looked at her sister. Adam's sister, Mia, had never been this much of a mess--not even close--but the handful of scrapes she had gotten into felt like they had taken years off his life. He couldn't imagine how difficult this was for Kerry. Because while she clearly wanted to help her sister, he wasn't sure just how interested Colleen was in being helped. Not if the disdain she'd heaped on Kerry in the bar was anything to go by.
"Not all of us want a cold bed. Just because you're too uptight to know how to have a good time, doesn't mean that the rest of us don't."
Kerry had looked like she'd been slapped, and even in the crappy bar lighting he'd caught the tears glistening in her eyes. He'd wanted to tell Kerry she wasn't at all cold. And that uptight was all wrong, too. But there hadn't been time to do that, not when getting her sister out of that hellhole was priority one.
As they stepped into the elevator, Adam wished he had the right words to make her feel better. His brother Dylan would have known just what to say right now. Rafe probably would have, too. But Adam had always been one to comfort by action rather than words, just as he was doing right now. Still, he wanted to do more, wished there was some way he could take care of Colleen's problems for Kerry.
No woman had ever made him feel so protective. And not because she was weak. Beneath the veneer of gloss and elegance, Adam believed Kerry Dromoland just might be the toughest woman he'd ever met. Not only did she run her business with perfect precision, but she also wasn't the slightest bit afraid to head into the worst parts of town to help her sister.
They got off the elevator, and her front door was only a few steps away. At first glance, as she let them inside, the space wasn't too different from her office--perfectly decorated, from the furniture to the artwork and even the patterns on the rugs. But unlike her office, there were little things throughout that gave away hints as to the real woman beneath the gorgeous veneer. The jar of candy on the counter. The sweatshirt thrown over the back of a dining room chair. And especially the pile of romance novels by the side of the couch.
"If you could bring my sister into my guest room, that would be great."
Following Kerry down the hall, he'd only just stepped over the guest room's threshold when Colleen suddenly groaned. He knew that sound, and it was never a good one.
"Where's the bathroom?"
Kerry pointed, and he moved as fast as he could without jostling Colleen too much.
But just as he put Colleen down on her feet on the tiled bathroom floor, Kerry moved in to put her arms around her sister. "You've been amazing, but I can't let you do any more for her tonight. You shouldn't have to deal with this."
She'd barely finished her sentence when Colleen's eyes fluttered open and she said, "I'm going to be sick."
"Please, Adam," Kerry said. "She'll hate knowing you saw her like this."
He shut the door behind him a beat before Colleen's retching and crying started. Adam knew exactly how this was going to play out. Kerry would take care of her sister, then stay up all night watching over her.
But who would take care of Kerry?
By the time Adam made it out to her kitchen, he'd decided that he would.
No doubt Kerry would need coffee when she emerged from the bathroom. He sure as hell would in her position. Adam's mother had made sure he and his brothers weren't useless in the kitchen or around the house, so he easily knew his way around a pot of coffee.
As he found everything he needed to make it, he thought about family and all that came with it. He'd always been thankful for his, for the way they all stood by each other no matter what, and he liked knowing Kerry clearly felt the same about her family.
But from what he could see, there was a big difference between his family and hers--no one in his family had ever pretended to be perfect. His parents had never expected it from Adam and his siblings. They'd simply expected them to be kind, and hoped that any mistakes they made would be something to learn from. Adam hadn't met Kerry's mother, but from what she'd said at dinner about her mother doing spot checks on her "empire" all the time, he had a sense of just how much weight her mother expected Kerry to carry on her shoulders. And to do it effortlessly, as well.
An hour later, Kerry's hair was damp and curling softly around her shoulders as she walked into her kitchen. She'd not only showered, but had also changed into leggings and an oversized University of Washington sweatshirt. She looked utterly unlike the perfectly polished woman he'd first met a week ago--and totally adorable. Even more beautiful, in fact, than he'd already thought she was.
She stopped in her tracks halfway into the room. "What are you still doing here?"
"I was thinking you could probably use a cup of coffee."
He poured it for her and brought it over before she could tell him that she didn't need it. He'd seen how hard she worked to take care of everything herself, but sometimes you needed support, whether you wanted to admit it or not.
"How did you know coffee was exactly what I needed right now?"
She took the cup from him and drank. Not dainty sips, but big, thirsty gulps.
Staying to make her coffee hadn't been about sex--yes, they'd had an amazing night together, but after seeing what she was going through in helping her sister, he'd simply wanted to take care of her. Still, he wasn't going to blame himself for enjoying the sight of her perfect walls falling away or for thinking she was even sexier behind those crumbling walls.
After Kerry had finished the cup and gone to pour herself a refill from the pot, she said, "You're good at silence. At letting a person process their thoughts."
"You can thank my father for that. He's the best listener there is."
She gave a faint little smile. "From everything Rafe and Brooke and you have told me, your parents sound really amazing. I can't wait to meet them at the wedding." But too soon, her smile fell away and she sighed as she picked up the coffee cup and took another sip.
He'd given her a little silence and coffee. Now he'd give her the chance to get some of tonight off her chest if that's what she needed. "Do you want to talk about it?"
She sighed again. "I just feel really embarrassed about everything tonight and how it all turned out."
"There's nothing at all embarrassing about being there for your family and helping them when times are rough. Trust me, we've all been there." He moved closer and put his hand on her cheek. "On both sides."
For a moment, she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. He loved the feel of her soft skin against his palm, her eyelashes brushing over him. He also loved knowing that she felt she could rely on him for a little while.
When she finally drew back, she leaned against the kitchen counter, her expression bleak. "My sister thought the world revolved around her boyfriend. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do or give to him. But then it turned out he was lying and cheating and stealing from her. Pretty much everything you can imagine. And she just fell apart after that. I keep hoping she'll stop treating herself like dirt over it, but..." She sighed again. "Maybe tonight will be the wake-up call she needs."
Adam hoped it would be, too, although the way Colleen had behaved tonight didn't have him holding his breath. Something told him her sister was still a ways from actually hitting bottom, no matter how bad tonight had been.
"How long has this been going on?" he asked.
Kerry scrunched up her nose, so cute and uninhibited that he found himself not only wanting her more, but liking her more, too.
"About three months."
"You've been heading into dangerous neighborhoods to bring her home for three months?" He couldn't mask the alarm in his voice, and he could see her shoulders stiffen as she reacted to it.
"I've been careful."
He forced himself to bite his tongue, a very difficult task when he was worried as all hell for her. "I'm sure you have, but the next time she
calls you for a late-night bar pickup, I'd really appreciate it if you'd call me to come with you."
Kerry raised an eyebrow at that. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't think you'd appreciate me calling in the middle of one of your dates to ask you to drop everything for Colleen."
Not for Colleen, for Kerry. And not only was no one other woman on his horizon right now, but at this point he couldn't honestly imagine being interested in anyone but Kerry.
"No," he clarified, "what I wouldn't appreciate is finding out you went back into one of those dangerous hellholes without me."
He couldn't quite read her expression as she said, "You're stubborn."
"So are you. But there's a big difference between stubborn and foolish. And we both know you and Colleen have been lucky so far to get out of those places unscathed. I'd like to keep things that way." He'd heard her ask her sister for a promise to be safe earlier that night. Now he decided to ask Kerry for the same thing. "Promise me you'll call me if you ever feel that you need to."
He watched her battle silently with herself, clearly caught between her belief that she needed to be self-sufficient at all times and the knowledge that she really had been lucky to get out of those neighborhoods in one piece so many times over the past three months.
"Okay," she finally said. "I promise to call. But hopefully I won't have to, because Colleen will decide it's time to turn over a new leaf." Kerry looked more than a little uncomfortable as she added, "Please don't say anything about this to Rafe and Brooke. I'd hate for them to think I'm not one hundred percent there for them and their wedding, when I am."
"They know you are," he said softly. "And I can't imagine anything would ever make them think differently. But what happened tonight is just between you and me."
"All of it?" she confirmed.
"That's what we agreed on, isn't it?"
When Kerry nodded, though it should have been a relief to know that they were on the same page about having secret hot hookups with absolutely no relationship pressure, strangely, it wasn't. Instead, he found that the idea of keeping the night they'd spent together a secret grated on him. Big time.
"Thank you again, Adam. Not just for helping me with Colleen, but for--"
He stopped her by threading his hands through her hair and pulling her close for a kiss. She didn't need to thank him for anything, and he figured the best way to make her stop trying was to do what he'd been wanting to do ever since she'd walked into the kitchen sweet and fresh from the shower.
Kerry didn't resist his kiss, but slicked her tongue out across his instead, as if she was still just as hungry for him as he still was for her. They'd been kissing when her sister called--kissing in a way that he'd never kissed another woman, a way that was so good it seemed to have no beginning and no end. Now, it was so tempting to continue where they'd left off. He could so easily lift her into his arms, carry her into her bedroom, strip her bare again, and drown in her sweet scent, her moans of pleasure, run his hands over every inch of her soft skin before finally giving them the release they both craved.
But moving things to her house hadn't been in their original plan. And even more than he wanted to be with her again, he needed to know that she'd come through tonight's ordeal in one piece.
Forcing himself to drag his mouth away from hers, he asked, "Do you need me to stay?"
She shook her head without so much as a pause. "No. You've already done too much."
But even though that was his cue, he didn't let go of her. Not yet. Not when her skin was so soft, so warm, so touchable. And not when all he could think about was kissing her again.
"Do you want me to stay?"
The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Before he'd even realized the slight shift from need to want was coming. But even though a part of him wanted to take back the too-revealing question, he found that he wanted to know her answer more.
A flash of longing winged across her face--deep and intense--but it was gone so fast that if he hadn't been watching her so intently, he might have missed it. It hadn't been a fair question, he knew. Not when they had an agreement. An arrangement. One that was based on hot sex with no emotional strings.
Only, how could either of them deny that tonight had definitely tied some strings? And though he could have told himself that it was simply needing to band together to help her sister that made him feel this close to Kerry now, he couldn't forget how close to her he'd felt while they'd been making love. Closer than he'd ever been to anyone else. Even hours later, the pleasure still lingered. Enough that he knew better than to ruin it by pushing for something in these too-early morning hours that they'd agreed neither of them wanted.
Kerry had no interest in reforming a bad boy--and Adam had no interest in being reformed. Their arrangement was perfect as it was, and he wouldn't make the mistake of ruining it.
"Adam..."
He stopped her from having to say anything more with another kiss. A softer one this time.
"Try to get some rest, okay?"
"I will." She gave him a small smile. "Good night, Adam."
He finally forced himself to drop his hands and take a step away from her. "Good night, Kerry."
CHAPTER NINE
It was only noon on Saturday, but Kerry was already drinking her third espresso of the day. Colleen had been sick again in the middle of the night, and Kerry hadn't had the heart to ask her sister to clean it up herself. And when Colleen had begged her not to tell their mother what had happened at the bar, Kerry had agreed, just as she had a dozen times before, not to say a word.
Colleen's horrible Friday nights were their little secret. So very different from the secrets they'd shared when they were little girls--secrets over stealing a cookie or wearing lipstick at school. Kerry had never been so thankful to have to go meet with potential new clients on a Saturday, nor so guilty about not being able to spend any more time nursing her sister.
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 ha
ve 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?
