Adam glanced up from her to look to me and desperate not to bleed as openly as I had earlier, I closed my features down and told him flatly, “Go. I’m leaving anyway.”
I brushed past him before he could reply, pushing through the crowds, and carefully making my way downstairs to the street level. A hand suddenly curled around my bicep as I was about to step outside and I looked up in surprise to see Adam was there with his jacket on.
“I’m making sure you get home okay.”
“You don’t need to.”
He didn’t reply and he didn’t let me go. I was too tired to struggle so I let him manhandle me into a taxi and I sat in absolute silence with him as the cab drove us to Dublin Street.
He paid for the taxi and followed me out and up the front stoop. He waited patiently as I got out my keys and let us in to the dark flat. I took a few steps into the hall, flicked the light switch and turned around, kicking off my heels. “You can go now.”
Instead Adam slammed the front door shut behind him and stared at me sullenly.
I sighed softly, tired of fighting. Mum had always joked I wasn’t a fighter, I was a lover.
She’d even bought me a T-shirt that said it. “You can leave now, Adam. Thank you for seeing me home.”
“What do you want from me?” he suddenly asked, his voice husky with anger.
I backed up at his tone, hitting the wall, watching warily as he stalked me. My chin tilted, my lips parting in surprise as he placed his hands above my head on the wall and caged me against it. He lowered his head, his nose sliding along mine until his mouth rested just above my lips. I swallowed, finally finding my voice. “What do you want from me?”
His answer was to crush my lips beneath his.
Like the last time he’d kissed me like this, the world just disappeared, taking reality and all the important stuff with it. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers curling into his hair, my breasts pressed hard against his chest as we devoured one another.
After a while Adam eased our carnal kiss, releasing my swollen mouth to press soft kisses along my jaw and down my neck as his hand slid up the inside of my thigh. I sank against the wall with a sigh, my eyes closed as he kissed my lips again, his tongue teasing mine. His fingers slipped under the fabric of the lacy lingerie I was wearing under my sweet dress and I groaned into his mouth at the pressure of his fingers pushing inside of me.
Adam pulled back, his breathing as shallow as mine as he toyed with me. I closed my eyes again, the pleasure tightening. I gripped his arm as he pushed me toward it. “Adam,” I pleaded.
“Look at me,” his words rumbled over my mouth and I immediately opened my eyes to find his blazing into mine. “I want to watch you come.”
I felt my cheeks flush even harder at the demand but I held his gaze as his fingers worked me, my hips undulating against his hand, my gaze turning drowsy. Adam’s breathing grew harsher and harsher as he watched me, and when he pressed down on my clit with his thumb and I broke apart, clinging to him through my orgasm, he swore loudly and rested his head in the crook of my neck.
My legs were trembling as I came down from my high, reality settling in. Confusion overwhelmed me and I felt tears prick my eyes. Adam’s warm breath caressed my skin as he lifted his head to whisper in my ear, “I almost came just watching you.”
I shivered, tingling all over again.
“You make me so goddamn hard,” he confessed and he gently lifted my hand to press it to his erection straining against his trousers. Triumph melted the confusion away for a second, a powerful feeling of victory taking over me as I caressed him and felt his groans of pleasure against my ear. At least he wanted me. At least he was in torment over that.
“You don’t stop, baby,” he peeled my hand away with a regretful sigh, “I’m going to blow.”
When he lifted his head our eyes met and he saw the tears shining in mine and pushed away from me with another curse. Running his hand through his hair, Adam sighed heavily, “I shouldn’t have done that. Els, I’m sorry.” His face crumpled and I saw the self-flagellation in his expression.
“Why?” I asked softly, needing to know once and for all what was happening to us. “Why shouldn’t you have done it? Why can’t we be together?”
Those gorgeous dark eyes of his lifted to mine in surprise, as if he couldn’t believe I didn’t understand. “Because of Braden, Els. He’s my best friend. He’s family. I can’t take the risk that he won’t forgive me for…” he gestured helplessly to me.
The warmth from the aftermath of the orgasm he’d given me was destroyed by the chill his words created in me. I stood up from the wall and tried to control that burning lump in my throat. “But I’m willing to. I’m willing to because I’m in love with you. You know I’m in love with you.”
The lack of surprise on his face was confirmation.