All I Ever Need Is You (17 page)

A part of her wanted nothing more than to go to Adam’s office and ask him to get in the car with her and speed to Las Vegas after her sister, to see if together they could figure out a way to stop the wedding.

But at the same time, the other part of her couldn’t get Colleen’s words out of her head.
“You’re so in love with Adam. Anyone can see it in the dreamy expression on your face when you’re talking about him. Anyone can hear it in the way you say his name, like it’s the most beautiful word in the world. Why won’t you just admit it?”

Kerry’s brain—and heart—were whirling around and around, faster and faster, as she stepped out of the café. Three and a half weeks ago, everything had seemed so clear. Until Adam Sullivan had come into her life and everything had started changing from one smile, one kiss, one night in his arms to the next.

Just then, her phone rang with her mother’s ring tone. Kerry already had a splitting headache, probably from gritting her teeth so hard while trying not to punch out Payton. But that was no excuse not to pick up her mother’s call. Especially when Kerry knew exactly why she was calling.

“Have you talked to your sister?” her mother said without preamble.

“Yes, we just spoke.”

“I’m beside myself,” her mother said. “Absolutely beside myself.”

Kerry could already hear that her usually unflappable mother did indeed seem to be coming unglued. “Mom,” she began, even though she wasn’t sure what to say to make everything better, “I know how worried you are, but—”

“But nothing! After all he did to her, now she’s going back to him? I tried to talk some sense into her, but she refused to listen to me. She’s always listened to you, Kerry. You need to talk to her, tell her not to walk back into the arms of a man who has already proved that he can never be faithful.”

Kerry knew better than to take sides, especially if Payton was going to be in Colleen’s life for a while. She wouldn’t lose her sister over him. But she couldn’t upset her mother, either. For so many months she’d been teetering on a tightrope by covering for Colleen’s dangerously wild Friday nights. Knowing the tightrope had just become even higher and thinner made her head throb so hard she felt sick.

“From the conversation we just had,” Kerry said as gently as she could, “it sounds like she’s made up her mind. But she knows we’re here for her if she ever needs us.”

“You’re right. She’s a lost cause. His hold over her is too big. Too strong. But, please, Kerry,” her mother said in a desperate voice, “please promise me you’ll never make the mistake your sister’s making. I knew the first time I met Payton that he was trouble. He’s had too many women. Had too much of a reputation. Just like your father.” Her mother didn’t say,
Just like Adam Sullivan
, but Kerry swore she could hear the words anyway. “Heartbreak is all men like that have to give. Promise me you’ll keep being smart and sensible and wait for a nice man to come along. Promise me!”

Kerry’s head was pounding so hard, and her chest was so tightly constricted that she was having trouble taking a full breath. Her mother’s plea to
promise me you’ll never make the mistake your sister’s making
was getting all tangled up in her head with Colleen’s admission that
I know my relationship with Payton isn’t perfect, but I still love him, so I have to go back.

In their family, so much pain had come from—and would likely continue to come—in the name of
love.
Before Adam, Kerry wouldn’t have understood how her sister could go back to her ex the way she had. But now that Adam had shown her such joy and pleasure, she could see all too clearly just how easy it would be to fall into the trap Colleen was in.

The easiest thing in the world if it meant you could have a few extra precious days or weeks of pure happiness—even when you could see that a horrible fall was up ahead.

Kerry hadn’t wanted to look too closely at any of her recent meet-ups with Adam. But she could no longer deny the awful truth that she’d been burying her head in the sand for far too long. She’d just wanted to let herself enjoy and appreciate it. Now, she finally forced herself to take out the microscope and face what had actually happened.

Things had probably started going off track on their very first night together, when he’d effortlessly made her feel so good. But it was the night they’d spent on her couch having pizza and watching a movie, rather than keeping to hot sex in hotels, that had truly started to knock away at the clear-cut boundaries they’d set up. At which point she’d doubled down on her mistakes by going to his house to be together—and then tripled down by staying the night curled up against him. Even when she’d tried to be smart and pull back, she’d simply been unable to resist dancing with him at the wedding, forgetting about everything but him for those few precious minutes in his arms.

So many times she’d had a chance to stop herself from going too deep and taking things too far, and each time she’d completely blown it. But none more so than the night she’d waited for him to come “home” from his late night on the job, as if they were a real couple. Just because their temporary home for the night had been a hotel didn’t make it any different. Because when he’d finally come to their suite and found her asleep at the table, then carried her to the bed and made the sweetest love imaginable to her? Well, there were no words to describe their connection that night other than
making love.

Kerry’s stomach twisted as she finally accepted that, somewhere along the way, she’d let Adam become far more to her than just a friend with benefits.

So much more.

“Kerry, are you still there?” her mother asked.

Kerry opened her mouth, but no words came out at first. Only something that sounded more like a choked sob. “Yes, I’m still here.”

“I know you can’t control what Colleen does, and I can’t either,” her mother said. “But I just can’t stand the thought of both of my daughters being hurt the way I was. I can’t stand to see you go through what I went through, honey.”

Kerry’s tongue felt like crumbling cardboard in her mouth, and her vocal cords felt as though they were being strangled shut. But she knew she had to get out the words that her mother needed to hear.

“I promise.” Kerry’s voice didn’t sound like her own. “I promise I won’t make a mistake with a man like him.”

And there was only one way to make sure she didn’t. Tonight, when she and Adam met at another hotel, she was going to have to do the one thing she’d been trying to convince herself didn’t need to happen: She was going to end their arrangement.

She’d be brave enough to do it face-to-face, and she would also make sure he knew that they’d absolutely continue to be friends and work on the wedding and the house, just as they’d previously discussed. But they wouldn’t meet to have sex again.

And she wouldn’t keep falling harder and harder for him with every kiss, every touch, every moment she spent lying in his arms, wishing she could stay right there with him forever.

Adam figured he should have been nervous about seeing Kerry tonight, considering he was about to declare his love for her. Instead, he couldn’t stop grinning, nerves the furthest thing from his mind.

Everything that had happened between the two of them since the day they’d met—even the fact that Rafe and Brooke had picked her as their wedding planner out of all the wedding planners in Seattle—all of it now made sense.

He and Kerry had been meant to meet and fall in love. He had never even come close to falling for any of the other women he’d been with, because he’d been waiting for her.

And she’d been waiting for him, too. He was absolutely sure of it.

After all, when two people had as strong a connection as they’d had from the first moment they’d so much as looked at each other, there was no way in hell that they were supposed to be with anyone else.

Adam had always been fully supportive of his cousins and siblings who’d fallen in love, but he’d never truly understood how strong that love could be. It took you over, body, mind, and soul, but you weren’t just totally okay with it, you were downright psyched to have found such powerful, real love.

Not to mention the fact that in-love sex was so freaking hot.

Who would have thought?

Adam was still grinning as he walked into the lobby of the hotel, mulling over the only remaining big decision for the night: Should he tell Kerry he was in love with her before or after they went upstairs and ripped off each other’s clothes? Although, since telling her he loved her before, during,
and
after all sounded good, he figured there was really no point in trying to decide now, was there?

Turning to look out the big front windows to the sidewalk, his heartbeat immediately kicked up as he saw a flash of long dark hair and legs that went on forever beneath a soft pink dress. His grin widened as she stepped inside the building.

“Kerry.” Damn, he loved her name. Loved saying it in public—and when they were making love and he couldn’t get enough of her. Loved knowing that as long as he didn’t screw everything up, one day there’d be
Sullivan
after it.

As soon as she heard her name and their eyes met, she stopped short. A couple behind her would have run her down if Adam hadn’t pulled her out of their path and into his arms.

“Adam.” She swallowed hard as she blinked up at him. Her eyes were huge in her face, and she looked pale.

“What’s wrong?” But it wasn’t hard for him to guess. “Is it Colleen?”

Her face crumpled. “Her ex came back, the one who cheated on her and drove her nearly crazy for the past few months. They’re getting married in Las Vegas tonight. At some Elvis-themed chapel. She sprang it on me today at a café just down the street.”

“Jesus.” He stroked her hair as he brought her closer. He wished she’d called him instead of bottling it up until now, but he understood that sometimes you needed some time to process things before you called in the support team. It was the same reason he’d waited until yesterday to speak with his father about Kerry—because he’d needed to turn the situation around and around inside his own head until he figured out how to frame it with words. “You’ve had a hell of a day, haven’t you?”

She took a step back so that she wasn’t quite in the circle of his arms anymore. “I suppose it’s better than the chances she was taking every Friday night at those awful bars. But he hurt her so badly when he left before that all I can do is worry about how hard she’s going to be hit when he does it again.”

Not
if
Colleen’s ex screwed her around again.
When.

Adam knew better than to try to stand up for the guy, especially considering he’d never met him. But he also hated knowing that Kerry was so torn up over her sister’s decision. “You’ve always been there for her. If something does happen, you’ve got to trust that she knows you’ll be there for her again.”
And so will I,
he added silently.

Kerry’s eyes rose to meet his, and for a moment he was glad to see her relax slightly. “That’s what I told her.”

Adam couldn’t wait for everyone in his family to meet Kerry. They were going to love her just as much as he did, not least because she was as devoted to family as they all were.

A waiter walked by with a tray of cocktails, and Kerry said, “Do you mind if we get a drink first before going upstairs?”

He’d been planning to head straight to the suite with her the way they always had before, but she was still so tense. A few minutes sipping a drink was probably a good idea. A good prelude to the champagne he’d promised to drink from her skin, anyway.

“As long as you don’t try to convince me to drink anything with the words
lemon
or
drop
in it,” he teased.

The way her lips remained in a tight line instead of curving up before bantering with him the way she usually did told him just how much her sister’s decision to get back together with her ex had thrown her. He put his hand on the small of her back and led them both over to the hotel’s cocktail bar.

“Adam.”

Adam was surprised to see his cousin Drake heading their way. “Kerry, it looks like one of my cousins from New York is here.”

She turned, and when she followed his gaze, her eyes widened. “Are you talking about the guy who’s even better looking than you are? He’s your cousin?”

“If you’re talking about the one who’s
almost
as good-looking as I am,” Adam said, “then yes, that’s him.”

His cousin gave him a hug, then immediately turned the charm Kerry’s way as he held out his hand. “I’m Drake Sullivan, and it is a sincere pleasure to meet you.”

“Kerry Dromoland.”

“What are you doing in Seattle, Drake?” Adam asked. “And why didn’t any of us know about your trip west?”

“My agent arranged a last-second meeting with the museum for an installation they’re working on. They’ve been having trouble getting the details exactly right.”

His cousin was clearly irritated by this fact, and Adam forced himself not to razz him over it. Heck, he was just as much a perfectionist about the buildings he worked on as Drake was about his paintings.

Adam suddenly remembered, “This is the exhibition Will and Sebastian twisted your arm into doing, isn’t it?”

When Drake nodded, with a side of snarl, this time Adam did laugh out loud. Will Franconi and Sebastian Montgomery were two of the five billionaires who ran The Maverick Group. They were not only frequent investors in various Sullivan businesses—including several of Smith Sullivan’s movies—but they had also become good friends with Adam’s family over the years.

Adam knew right when Kerry realized who she was talking to—the painter who had been called the “leader of a new generation” by
The New York Times
. “Oh. Wow. Your paintings are amazing. Truly, one of my goals is to be able to afford one someday.”

Drake wasn’t the kind of guy who cared much for accolades, unless they came out of the mouth of a beautiful woman, of course. “If you’ll sit for me and let me paint you,” he said with a grin clearly intended to make Kerry’s heart beat faster, “I’m sure we can work something out.”

But his cousin was three and a half weeks too late. Kerry was already Adam’s, and no other Sullivan—not even one of the really good-looking ones—was going to have a prayer of winning her heart.

“She’s too busy to sit for you,” he growled, knowing his cousin could easily translate that to
over my dead body.

“I should have connected the dots earlier,” Kerry continued, as if Adam hadn’t just crossed the line by speaking for her. “Especially since I’m planning Rafe and Brooke’s wedding and they gave me the rundown on everyone in your family. I know it’s no excuse, but it’s been a crazy day and my brain is a bit frazzled. I hope you’ll forgive me.”

“If you’ll let me buy you a drink,” Adam’s way-too-charming cousin said with an answering smile, “all is forgiven.”

Adam always liked spending time with his cousins, but not when they were hitting on
his
girl. “Shouldn’t you be heading off for your important meeting at the museum?”

Drake shrugged as if that meeting barely mattered anymore. “I was planning to have a drink before I headed over anyway.”

“Adam and I were about to have a drink, too,” Kerry said. “And I’m sure you two want to catch up, so that sounds great.”

Adam again put his hand on the small of Kerry’s back before his cousin could swoop in, but as they headed into the bar, it wasn’t jealousy that was hitting him hardest. It was the fact that it had started to feel as though Kerry was using both the drink and time with his cousin to avoid being alone with him for as long as possible tonight.

But that didn’t make sense. Not when the last time he’d seen her, they’d been having a picnic beneath the big oak tree and things had never felt better. So good, in fact, that he’d finally realized he was in love with her.

“So,” Drake said to Kerry after they’d found an empty booth and ordered, “how did you two meet? Something to do with Rafe and Brooke’s wedding? Or did you already know each other?”

The question was innocent enough, pretty much what anyone would have asked after seeing Kerry and Adam walking into the popular cocktail bar together. But by the way Kerry flushed, he knew she didn’t see it that way. All because they had a suite waiting for them upstairs, one of many they’d made secret love in throughout the city.

“We didn’t know each other beforehand,” Kerry replied. “But Adam is helping to build a gazebo on the beach for the wedding, which I really appreciate.”

“Am I getting in the way of you two getting down to business?”

Adam was about to say yes when Kerry said, “No. We’ve actually finished planning the gaz—” If she was trying to make it look like this was a business meeting, she stopped herself a little too late. She picked up the drink that had just been delivered and gulped half of it down.

Where was his calm and collected wedding planner? Had Colleen’s news really thrown her off this much? Was being seen together by one of his relatives freaking her out?

Or was something else going on?

“Kerry and I hit it off when we started working on the gazebo,” Adam told his cousin. “So well, in fact, that I’m now also working with her to restore a house she just purchased.”

“Right, the house!” Kerry put in gratefully. “We always need to meet to talk about the house.” As if she realized that she was acting a little strangely, she quickly asked Drake, “Am I remembering right that you have three siblings?”

“A sister and two brothers,” he confirmed.

“How’s everyone doing?” Adam asked as he reached for Kerry’s hand under the table.

“Same as always,” Drake said. “Alec is busy building his planes, Suzanne is busy with her computers, and Harrison is busy with his academic research. Dad is still painting rings around me, of course.”

“I’m really looking forward to meeting all of them at the wedding,” Kerry said. “Although I keep thinking my biggest job all weekend is going to be keeping everyone’s names straight between your relatives in San Francisco, Seattle, New York, and Maine.”

Drake laughed. “We Sullivans definitely know how to take over a country, that’s for sure. I’ll put in a vote for name tags,” he joked, “and that way I won’t forget any names, either.” His phone rang then, and even though he clearly wanted to ignore it, he said, “I’m sorry, I need to take this.”

As soon as his cousin stepped away from the table, Kerry pulled her hands from Adam’s and said, “He thinks we’re a couple.”

“The way he was flirting with you makes me wonder if he does.”

But she shook her head. “You’ve got to tell him we aren’t. You’ve got to tell him we really were just meeting to talk about the plans for my house. Otherwise, he might say something to someone in your family, and then they’ll—”

“Sorry about that.”

Drake sat down, cutting Kerry off before Adam could find out what exactly she thought his family would do if they thought he was dating Rafe’s wedding planner.

A beat later, Kerry slid from her seat. “Thank you for the drink. It really was lovely to meet you, Drake, but I’m sure you two would like to catch up without me before your meeting.” She was talking too fast, her cheeks too flushed, her eyes looking everywhere but at Adam. “I’ve actually got to head out now to take care of some business I forgot about, so, Adam, I think it would be best if we rescheduled our meeting for another time.”

“Kerry—” He was already halfway out of his seat when she put up her hand to stop him.

“No.” She swallowed hard. “I really can’t stay.” Her skin flushed an even deeper rose as she shook her head. “Not tonight.” And then she was spinning around on her sky-high heels and heading out of the bar in a flash of long legs and silky hair.

Drake looked from Kerry’s retreating back to Adam. “What the hell is going on with you two? At first I thought you were an item, but now I’m getting some pretty mixed messages.”

Hard-core frustration rode Adam as he said, “It’s complicated right now.”

But hopefully it wouldn’t be for long. Because even if she’d just said she didn’t want to talk to him tonight, he wasn’t planning to wait. Still, he couldn’t forget her request. Couldn’t ignore how serious she’d looked as she made it.

“Look, Drake, I’d appreciate it if you could keep seeing Kerry and me together to yourself for now.”

His cousin raised an eyebrow. “So you’re not a couple?”

They were. She just didn’t know it yet.

Instead of answering Drake’s question, Adam threw some money down on the table. And when Drake said, “Good luck,” it was clear that he thought Adam was going to need it.