Finally Found (24 page)

Hours later, she had finished prepping and baking. The actual cooking of the meal would be done on sight. She felt
ready. She felt calm. She felt flushed. She had been ever since The Kiss. Since then, she only had to look at him to turn many shades of pink again.

The cooking and prepping had gone so quickly while she considered The Kiss. Through the years she’d had her fair share of kisses. Though she had pretty much vetoed them and spent a lot of time talking about the intimacy versus the physical as she cited why it bothered her less to have sex than it did to kiss, she alone knew the real reason why. It was Adam. It had always been Adam. She had seen him kiss a girl once, under the kissing ball at a holiday birthday party. It had taken that girl a long time to recover. She stumbled some, struggled to find her footing and catch her breath. Truth was, he wasn’t dating her, he didn’t love her, and he might not have even known her. She had just been fortunate enough to get caught under the mistletoe.

Oh how Cammie had envied her. After that, even though she hadn’t experienced his lips on hers, she compared in her mind. Every male who kissed her just came up lacking. No one made her breathless or stumble. Most made her want to wipe her mouth. A few made her want to brush her teeth…with bleach.

It was no wonder that she wouldn’t let Adam kiss her when they had sex. After all, what if she had built it up so much in her mind that even Adam couldn’t compare to…Adam? Only, today, she had been in a bad place. She had felt a hurt and disappointment even though in the end he hadn’t hurt or disappointed her. She struggled. She hesitated. She knew what he was about to do. Finally, she let him.

Now in every way, she finally found out what it was like to be with him. That kiss…the one that would forever be emblazoned in her mind as The Kiss, the kiss by which all others would be measured. It was the most amazing, incredible…mistake she had ever made.

Ever since then, she had been quiet, lost in thought. When Adam had questioned it, concerned that he had angered her or over stepped, she would joke that she was teaching him how to be alone…together. Honestly, she rather liked the very idea of it. As she packed up the last or her containers and ran through her checklist one last time before departure, Adam hovered nearby.

“I’ll help you load the car,” he announced. “I know that you’ll still have to do it alone when you arrive at your destination…unless you let me come with you…”

“Adam, there’s no way it would look professional for me to show up with you. I’m trying to build a business here.” She explained.

“True, but how will I know you are safe? You are going to a guy’s house. Maybe this is just some really elaborate ruse to get you alone at his house.” He stared at her seriously.

“I highly doubt that. Isn’t he one of your friends?” She reasoned.

Shaking his head, he admitted, “None of these people are my friends. Not one visited me in the hospital. Not one called, sent a card, or even sent a text message. We hang out and party together, but that is as deep as our relationship ever went. Now, not even that. I just want you to be safe.”

She tilted her head as she studied him, wondering what she saw in his face. He really was concerned. It wasn’t that he didn’t want her to go. He wasn’t trying to ruin her business. “Why Adam Davenport, you really are worried.” She chuckled. It felt good to have him care. Maybe The Kiss had changed something in him, too. “Here,” she said, passing him a business card.

“Really? A business card? How…professional.” He looked a little hurt.

“I’m just being practical. Now you have my cell number. See?” She smiled warmly.

He hauled her closer to him. She basked in the new warmth between them. Then he pulled away.

“Well, I have something for you, too. It’s a little more personal than a business card.” He reached into his pocket.

“What could be more personal than a business card?” She joked.

His hand was closed in a tight fist when he drew it out of his pocket. “Oh, just this.” He flipped his fist over and opened it to expose a key.

“Oh, is this to your heart?” She chuckled.

Shaking his head, he smirked. “Nope. This is the key to something far more valuable.” She quirked an eyebrow as she tried to imagine what that might be. “It’s a key to the loft. You can come here whenever you need to, even if I’m not home. That way you can grow your business just like you want and not be tied to anyone else’s schedule, reliant on anyone else.”

She could tell he was watching her to make sure she knew that he had listened. What was wrong with her tonight? She could feel tears welling up in her eyes. She sniffled loudly and cleared her throat before speaking. “What if I get here and you need your kitchen? I’ll be sure to call first.” She smiled.

“Doll, does it look like I ever use this kitchen? You now officially know better than I do where everything goes. Hell, you change where it goes and I still wouldn’t notice. The movers unpacked me. The buyer at Macy’s picked out what she considered to be the necessities. I make coffee, the occasional bowl of cereal, and toast. I also am on a first name basis with every delivery guy in a four block radius. What does that tell you?” He looked at her while he waited for her response.

“Sounds like the kitchen is mine.” She
smiled. “I’ll make it worth your while. No more delivery when I’m around.”

He looked mildly disappointed. Though he had tried to hide it, she noticed.

“Oh, were you hoping for some other…demonstration of my appreciation?” She swore the tips of his ears turned slightly pink. It made her smile.

“Well, you are all loaded,” he announced as they stood beside her car. “Be safe. Take care of you. Call me when you’re through.”

“I will Kit,” she joked. “And just so you know…” She looked at him with a smirk, “You really made me feel like a prostitute just now.” With that, she gave him a peck on the cheek, climbed into her car, and headed on her way.

From the moment she left, he suddenly found himself contemplating all these horrific possibilities. It was all too much for him. He fell asleep sitting up at
midnight on the couch. The phone was in his hand. His neck had dropped onto the back of the sofa. Even though he hated it, he turned the volume up as high as it could go, and saved the most obnoxious ringtone, the one that sounded like the warning alarm before a building was being blown up.

She never called. In the morning, he discovered why. He found her asleep in his lap.

It startled him. Though he had longed to wake up with her, he doubt this really counted. It wasn’t simply that it was unplanned; it was that he was completely unaware and they hadn’t even made it into the bedroom, let alone managed to get undressed and get under the covers.

The time on the phone was 8am. His neck was absolutely killing him. As much as he wanted to shift, to find a more comfortable position, to stretch and take a steaming hot shower to work out the kink in his neck, he would never move as long as Cammie slept. He looked down at her lying there. Her hair was draped over his leg. He remembered so vividly the last time his hand was knotted in it. Softy, ever so carefully, he moved his hand so that he could pet her hair. Her eyes were shut and the occasional ripple under her eyelid suggested that she might be dreaming. The way her mouth turned up at the corners convinced him it was a happy dream. Because he was so lost in thought, lost in enjoying the moment, he didn’t even register that her eyes had opened. She was staring up at him, smiling and relaxed.

“God, I hope it’s me,” he admitted aloud.

“Hope what’s you?” She asked as she stretched out the entire length of the couch. She flew up to a sitting position.

“That put the smile on your face,” he said happily. “So, what brings you here? Last I checked you were off being an independent entrepreneur. I wake up and you’re lying on me.” He tilted his head and looked out into the distance. “In all honesty, that was not such a bad way to wake up…except for the pain in the neck…literally.” He laughed as he looked over at her. “We should really try the bed next time. Oh, and undressing. Naked is good.”

“Well, this, believe it or not, was a real breakthrough for me.” She smiled proudly. Then she leaned in conspiratorially and whispered, “I’ve never spent the night with a guy before.” She put a finger over her lips and finished with, “Shhhh!”

Adam had to laugh. She was so damn cute. He wanted to spend the day with her, just getting to know her. “Let’s get ready and go to brunch. Where would you like to go?”

“That’s silly. I’m sure I can whip up something here,” she argued.

“I’m sure you can, too. I have the utmost faith in your abilities. It is my personal philosophy however that you should never bring work home. Then you’ll grow to hate it.” He gave her a stern face. “So, I’m taking you out for brunch.”

She smirked. “Are you sure that your philosophy is that you avoid taking work home by not working?” She had a playful look on her face.

“Actually,” he said, kissing the end of her nose, “my philosophy is that by not working I avoid getting tired of anything. Smart thinking, right?” He stood and helped her off the couch, wrapping his arms around her for a moment in a much needed hug. She may have been fine, but he truly needed it. “Now go shower.”

The bathroom door had barely closed before his cell phone was ringing. He sighed when he realized that it was Sam calling. “I swear, we build a relationship and now you can’t stay away from me. I usually only have this problem with women.”

“Listen, smart ass, Haley and I are going to brunch. I thought maybe you’d like to join us. Can you be ready in an hour? We’ll pick you up.”

“One, you don’t need to pick me up because I have my car keys back. And two, Cammie is here.” He might as well have screamed, “so there!” It would have had the same effect.

“Great. We have wedding details to discuss. We’ll see you in an hour.” With that Sam hung up the phone.

Adam sighed a few times. So much for some alone time with Cammie. He trudged into his bedroom and pulled out clothes for the day before starting his shower.

Brunch wasn’t nearly as bad as Adam anticipated. It also wasn’t as intimate as he had hoped. Of course, what was most important was that they were all working together to make sure that Sam and Haley had an amazing engagement party, followed by the perfect destination wedding. Though they would only be a party of six, there was still plenty of planning and preparation that would go into the day to ensure that it was relaxing, meaningful, and memorable.

As he leaned back in his chair listening to Cammie talk about the plans to date, he marveled at how organized she was, how, alive and beautiful she looked, and how amazing she was. “Did you know that Cammie is graduating with her MBA from Columbia at the end of the semester?” He asked them.