Was this what it felt like to be in love? Or was this an intense lust that could be confused with an emotion I’d never really felt before? Was this man the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with? Or would this soul-shattering connection turn into something else as time passed?
I wished I knew. I wished I could see the future. I wished that I could lose myself in this moment and not have to know what was to come. If I could live right here, right now, for the rest of my life, I was pretty sure I would die in the happiest moment possible. No fears. No one else to interfere, to deny approval. No one who could pull us apart.
This was what I wanted. This moment. This man. This reality.
Chapter 21
Lucien
“We could stay a while longer.”
Adrienne snuggled her bottom against my hips as her hand slid over the top of my arm where it rested against her belly.
“My dad would come looking for me if I didn’t show up tomorrow.”
“What did you tell him about today?”
“That I was following a lead.”
“In my case?”
“Yeah. But I’m pretty sure he knew I was lying. To him, the case is closed.”
“Why?”
She glanced back at me. “Because he thinks you were threatening yourself for some reason.”
“Why would someone do that?”
She shrugged, her shoulders rubbing against my chest. “He’s had other cases where CEOs did things like this to generate publicity before a big product release or a stock sale or whatever.”
“I don’t have anything like that coming up.”
“You’re going public with the artificial pancreas.”
“Not for a while yet. We need to secure the patent and get approval from the FDA for the human trials, first.”
She shrugged again. “It’s not his job to know the why. It’s his job to know the how, and he thinks he does. He thinks he knows the how. You were sending the emails yourself from your own computer.”
I groaned. “Even though one of the emails came when I was an hour’s drive from the office.”
“You have a bachelor’s degree in computer science. You could have sent the email on some sort of delay.”
“He’s really thought it all out.”
“My dad’s pretty thorough in his job. You’ll probably have a bill waiting on your desk when we get back to Houston.”
I nuzzled her neck, making her close her eyes and move back, closer against me.
“Does that mean you can just be my girlfriend instead of my bodyguard?”
“Do you want me to be your girlfriend?”
“I want you to be my everything.”
She didn’t say anything. She didn’t move. She just lay there, almost as though she hadn’t heard what I’d said. I wanted to repeat myself, but I was afraid it would be pushing my luck. But then she reached back and touched my hip.
“I’m good with that.”
Relief rushed through my body. It was like seeing lights in your rearview mirror and then seeing the police car speed around you and chase down the guy in front of you. It felt like I’d just dodged a bullet.
“Are you going to give your sister a job?”
“I don’t know. That’s kind of Jacob’s department.”
“I still don’t think it would be a good idea.”
“Everyone agrees with your idea, but I don’t think anyone has the heart to follow through on it.”
She rolled over and looked at me. “Then your parents should probably accept the fact that she won’t go back to school and she’ll probably be one of those women who depends on her man for everything.”
I ran my finger over her nose. “You think so?”
“No.” She smiled. “Rachel’s too smart for that. Your parents should just back off, let her make her own choices.”
“I think so, too.”
I kissed her, loving the feel of her, the taste of her. She rolled back over, pressing her ass hard against my hips. I couldn’t resist. I slid myself inside of her, heard her sigh as she again rotated her hips, a low moan slipping from her lips as I reached around and pressed a finger against her clit. I couldn’t get enough of her. No matter how many times we laid together, I only wanted her again the moment we were apart. I’d never felt this way with another woman, never felt so insatiable.
My CGM began to alarm as I slowly rotated my hips against her. She reached back and ran her hand over my hip, encouraging me to move in a new rhythm, in a rhythm that satisfied the need deep inside of her. The CGM sounded again as that rhythm built, as our breathing grew rapid and out of control. I wanted to scream, wanted to tell diabetes to leave me the hell alone for once. I knew I’d been without my pump too long, knew that my sugars were rising too high. But I didn’t care in that moment. I wanted to be with her and only her, to forget about my other mistress. My other constant companion.
When we reached our ending, she leaned over and grabbed the device off of the side table.
“You need to put your pump back on,” she said.
“I need a shot,” I said, almost reluctantly. “But I didn’t bring a vial.”
“There’s a drug store around the corner.”
“But that would require getting out of bed, getting dressed, and leaving you.”