Lucien
She shivered when I pulled her into my arms.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded, her face pressed hard against my chest.
“Adrienne,” I said, lifting her chin, “are you sure? You’re not feeling bad?”
“Just hold me for a minute, okay?”
I slid my arms around her and tugged her tight against me. She shivered again, her arms sliding up underneath my suit jacket. I kissed the top of her head, wondering what had happened to my self-confident, badass girlfriend. She was my girlfriend, right? I wasn’t even sure about that at this point.
Things were moving so fast. A week ago I barely knew what she looked like. And now…I couldn’t imagine spending a moment without her. I wish I knew who was sending those emails to me so that I could thank him or her for bringing us together. At least something good had come out of this nonsense.
And that’s what I was beginning to think it was. It was just nonsense. The patent for the artificial pancreas was supposed to be granted tomorrow. After that, there was no reason why we couldn’t go public with the whole thing, no reason why we couldn’t start recruiting volunteers for the human trials. The FDA application was already on its way, and we should get approval on that pretty soon, too. Everything was falling into place. Nothing could happen that would stall the future of diabetes treatment.
It was time to celebrate, not to worry about all this damn nonsense.
“Take the day off tomorrow.”
“What?”
“Take the day off tomorrow. Let’s go to the beach.”
She pulled back and looked at me like she thought I’d gone insane. “We went to the beach.”
“No, not with my family. Just you and me.”
A soft smile touched her lips. “Yeah?”
“It’ll be fun. We’ll go for long walks and play in the water. Drink wine.”
“Spend a few hours curled up in your bed?”
“Sounds good to me.”
She laughed. “If that’s all you want, why don’t we just stay here?”
“Because, as much as I love my brother, I’d rather not have him walk in on us in a compromising position.”
“Then why don’t we go to a nice hotel somewhere?”
“Now that sounds like a plan. We could leave now.”
She groaned, pressing her face to my chest again. “I’m so tired.”
“I’ll drive.”
She laughed again, the heat of her breath warming the skin just below my shirt. “You’re so eager,” she said.
“Doesn’t that tell you something?”
Adrienne was standing at the window of our suite when I woke the next morning.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“San Antonio.”
She nodded without turning around. She was wearing one of my shirts again, this one a t-shirt she must have grabbed back at my place. It hung long over her thighs, but when she shifted, it hinted at the fact that she hadn’t bothered with underwear when she got out of bed. I went to her and wrapped my arms around her shoulders.
“I thought we’d have breakfast on the Riverwalk.”
She leaned back into me. “I’ve never been to the Riverwalk.”
“You haven’t?”
“No. I came to San Antonio once with my father, but it was years ago and he was working a case, so we didn’t have time for sightseeing. And I was here briefly when we were in the Army, but we ended up at SeaWorld.”
I pulled her back against me and kissed her temple lightly. “Then I’m honored to be the one to show it to you.”
She turned and ran her hand slowly over my bare chest. I was wearing pants, but no shirt. If not for my pump, I might not have been wearing pants, either. Her hand moved slowly over me, touching me like it was the first time she felt free to touch me. Her fingertips brushed my nipples, her thumb rubbing the edge of my CGM sensor. She ran her hand over my abs, her fingers doing a staccato over my muscles. And she watched her fingers move like it was the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen.
“How did we end up here?” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you chose my dad’s private investigation firm?”
I lifted the hair off of her neck and slid my hands over her throat. “I picked him out of a group of four I saw on the internet.”
“Just randomly?”
“Just randomly.”
“We’re here together because some reporter found out something she shouldn’t and some idiot tried to cause a rift between you and your brother.”
“I’ve heard odder stories.”
“I hated you that first night.”
I didn’t know whether I should laugh or be offended. “Why?”
“Because of the way you made me feel when you touched me.”
I didn’t laugh. I groaned.
“It was pretty hot.”
“Do you think it was just because we were strangers? Because we both knew it was just an act?”
“Maybe. Or maybe it was because we’re soul mates.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe in soul mates.”
“Too bad. I do.” I rubbed her neck again. “Don’t try to analyze everything so much.”