“Trying to get me out of my clothes already, Adam?” I teased, swaying.
“Come here, Maddy,” he said gently as he led me to the sofa, where I promptly fell back into the cushions. He knelt down on the floor in front of me, while wrapping a hand around one of my heels. “Lift,” he prodded.
Sighing, I complied, and Adam unzipped my boot. “So I had a little too much to drink,” I protested. “It’s your fault anyway.”
Dropping the boot to the floor, he wrapped his hand around my other ankle as his oh-so-blue eyes met mine. “My fault?” he asked, nonplussed as he unzipped the other boot. “Why’s that?”
I held up my index finger. “One, you’re late.”
“Only fifteen minutes, and I apologized.” The second boot dropped to the floor.
“That was only the first reason,” I said, waving my finger and raising a second. “Number two, and this is a big one.” Adam cocked an eyebrow. “I saw you driving by with another woman.”
Adam laughed—and damn if he didn’t look more gorgeous than ever. This man was maddening. But I forged on. “Who was she, Adam?”
He curled his hand around my calf, smiling. “You’re cute when you’re jealous.”
“It’s not funny,” I huffed. “And I’m not jealous.”
“You are,” he said as he rubbed my calf gently. “But you have no reason to be. That was my sister in the car. She was supposed to come in tomorrow, but she came up from Boston early.”
“That was Trina?” I squeaked out, realization dawning on me that she was the person Jennifer had brought over today. Oops.
“Who did you think it was?” Adam asked, unmistakable amusement lacing his tone.
“Oh, I don’t know. Nobody, really…” I trailed off.
Not only did I have no intention of sharing my misinterpretations with him, but his hands were wrapped around both my calves now, and whatever he was doing with his fingers felt amazing.
“Yeah, sure.” A smile played at the corners of his mouth.
“It’s not important anyway,” I said as I relaxed back into the sofa. “We should just pick out a movie and forget about it.”
“We should but first”—Adam swiftly pulled me into his lap—“we should do this.” His lips crashed down on mine, and I maneuvered my legs to either side of his.
Soft and warm those tender kisses were until they turned ravaging. Desperate, hungry, I couldn’t get enough of Adam. And caught off guard, he responded.
With his fingers tracing the laces on the back of my corset, Adam broke away long enough to breathe out, “This is very hot.” His hands trailed down to curve around my bottom. “God, Maddy, do you know how much I want you?”
In response I let out a stifled moan and grinded myself down against him. Please, don’t stop. And though I could feel his body didn’t want to, Adam hesitated.
I sighed in frustration, and he moved his hands to the sides of my face. “What is it? What are you thinking?”
I shrugged. “Why’d we stop?”
He kissed me softly, and against my lips, he said, “If we keep going, I might not be able to stop.” He pulled back and our eyes met. “It’s just… Maddy, I know you want more than—”
“Adam,” I broke in, “I don’t have any expectations. I mean, I do, but…”
I didn’t know what I wanted, not really. And that was the problem. Yes, I wanted Adam. But not like this. Not under the influence of alcohol, although my buzz was wearing off. But Adam was correct; I’d regret a hasty action.
Ducking my head, I muttered, embarrassed, “You’re right. At least one of us is thinking tonight.”
“Hey, hey.” Adam wrapped his arms around me. “We can talk about this stuff later. Why don’t we watch that movie?”
I nodded my head against his shoulder and held on, enjoying his warmth, a minute more. When we broke away, I scooted off of Adam and rose to my feet, straightening my clothes in the process.
Adam tried to be coy, but I caught him sneaking another peek as I adjusted my corset top. “What?” he asked, playing innocent oh so well.
“Nothing,” I replied, shaking my head. “I’m going to grab something to drink. Do you want anything? Beer? Coke?”
Adam cocked an eyebrow. “What are you having?”
I was done with drinking for the night, so I answered, “I think I’m switching over to Coke.”
“Coke sounds good,” he said. “I’ll have the same.”
I started toward the kitchen, and halfway there I called back, “Oh, I have food too. If you’re hungry, I can heat up a pizza.”
“Sure.” I heard Adam say. “Do you need any help?”
“No, no, I’ve got it,” I yelled back. “Go ahead and pick a movie. There are some in the TV cabinet on the bottom shelf.”
Having reached the kitchen, I grabbed two cold Cokes out of the fridge. And then I pulled the pizza out of the freezer, unwrapped it, and slid it into the oven. The back of the box indicated it would take twelve to fifteen minutes for the pizza to be ready, so I set the timer and went back into the living room.
“How long is your sister staying on the island?” I asked Adam as I handed him one of the cold sodas. He was crouched down in front of the TV cabinet, thumbing through my limited DVD collection.
“Just ’til Monday,” he replied.
He opened the soda and took a drink, while I walked back to the doorway and leaned against the jamb. I had promised myself that I’d forget about the case for this one night, but if there was ever going to be an opportunity to spend some time with Trina, this weekend could be it. So I casually inquired, “Will Trina be at the café this weekend?”
“She’s hanging out with Helena most of the day tomorrow, so,
