Ten Days of Perfect (November Blue #1)

I patted the side of the bed next to me, and he obliged. Adrian removed his shoes, and nothing more, before climbing in to my bed and folding his hands behind his head. Instinctively, I rolled over and nuzzled into his chest. He sighed a conflicted huff, reached down, and stroked my hair. I suddenly wished Bo was with me, and I was again mad at him for not being there.

I clumsily propped myself up on one elbow and looked into Adrian’s eyes. The sexual tension between us was as palpable and undeniable as ever. The intensity of the moment overtook me; I leaned in, my lips reaching for his.

“Ember . . . Adrian pressed on my shoulder, stopping my downward motion.

“What?” I said rather petulantly.

“You’re drunk. Drunker than I ever remember seeing you. I can’t do that to you, and I can’t let you do it to yourself.”

His words were rather sobering, and my soul pulled itself out of the dark hole it had fallen into and mouthed thank you. Feeling only slightly defeated, I resumed my nuzzling of his chest; this I would not regret in the morning.

“Thank you.” I smiled up at him.

“For what?”

“Taking care of me tonight.” Sleep fell heavy on my eyes.

“Always.” He kissed the top of my head as I drifted off to sleep.





Chapter Fourteen

“Ow. What the . . . ? Ow.” I pulled the blanket down from my face, only to return it immediately at the brightness of the sun.

My memories of last night were thoroughly clouded. I recalled everything in precise detail up until the point Monica and I saw the guys walk into Lost Dog. From that point on it was just flashes of liquor and Lil’ Jon.

“How are you feeling?” A deep voice whispered from above my head, scaring the hell out of me.

“Shit!” I flew to a seated position and looked to my right, regretting the sudden move immediately. I grabbed my head in a weak attempt to ease the throbbing pain.

“Whoa, take it easy Em. I’m sure you’ve got a killer headache after last night’s performance.” Adrian smiled.

“Adrian?” I was squinting, trying to keep as much sunlight out of my eyes as possible.

“Ha! Ya, it’s me. Disappointed?” He coyly smiled as he accurately sensed my reaction. I took note that Adrian was fully dressed in the clothes he was wearing last night, save for his shoes, which were on the floor. I was wearing the same shirt, but my face flushed when I noticed my absence of pants from underneath my covers. I looked over at Adrian in horror.

“Where are my pants?” Classy question, Ember.

“You tossed them over there.” Adrian motioned to the other side of the bed with his hand.

“Oh. So, we didn’t . . .” God, could this be any more humiliating?

“No, Ember, we didn’t.” His voice was terse.

“Disappointed?” I shot his previous question back at him.

“I’m disappointed you’d think so little of me, frankly.” He shook his head and swung his legs to the side of the bed. “We never even had drunk sex when we were together, Ember, What makes you think we’d start now?” He wasn’t looking at me so I couldn’t read his face.

“I’m sorry, last night is very fuzzy. Oh, damn, I was an awful bitch to Josh, wasn’t I?” I covered my eyes with my forearm and laid back down on the bed.

“Seemed like he deserved it a little,” Adrian chuckled. “ I’ll go make some coffee; come out when you’re ready. Take it easy when you stand.”

Suddenly, I remembered a lot about last night. I remembered yelling at Josh, Bo catching my concrete dive, leaving with Adrian, and then Adrian catching me. I shouldn’t wear those shoes anymore. My stomach dropped as I remembered yelling at Bo on the phone, and then trying to kiss Adrian in my bed. What a mess. I walked wearily to the kitchen, where I saw Adrian pouring coffee and checking his Blackberry.

“Seems like our boy Bo really has it bad for you.” Adrian smirked at his Blackberry.

This conversation feels familiar. Oh, yea, last night . . .

“What do you mean?” I wandered to the living room, recalling painfully that I had to be at work in an hour.

“He e-mailed your boss and told her that the four of us got together for a dinner meeting and we all got food poisoning. You’re off the hook for work today.” Adrian wore a wry smirk as he tucked his Blackberry back in to his khaki’s.

“That was thoughtful.” I tried passively.

“Yea, OK, we’ll go with thoughtful.” Adrian sat next to me on the couch.

“What’s your problem with Bo?”

He didn’t hesitate before he launched into his spiel. “First, you call him Bo, meaning you know him outside of work. Second, he likes you. Third, you like him. Those are my issues with Cavanaugh.

“Cutting right to the chase this morning, Council? First,” I retorted, “Monica and I happened to see Bo play at Finnegan’s last weekend. It wasn’t until Monday that we learned we’d be working together. Second, maybe he does. And third, maybe I do.” I shrugged, not breaking eye contact. Conversational filter clearly hung over, as well.

Adrian’s forehead creased and he closed his eyes for a moment.

“Adrian, please don’t say anything to anyone about Bo.” I was walking the fine line between self-preservation and revealing too much.

“Is there anything to tell?” Adrian studied my face, imploring the truth from me.