Need You Now (Martha's Way Series Book 2) (18 page)

“Compliments of Guillermo,” the handsome
young man said with a smile as he plac
ed a plate of
grilled chorizo in caramelized onions on the table, then left.

“Guillermo will cater Jason and Minka’s
wedding,” he explained. “This is the best chorizo I’ve ever had. You must try
it.”

The aroma of the grilled Spanish sausage
pierced through
Lily’s nostrils. As he’d done with
the mozzarella, he sliced the chorizo and fed her a piece. The minute it
entered her mouth, her palate came to life with the robust blend of paprika,
chili powder, and whatever other secret spices Guillermo used. Picking
up her fork, she reached over for another piece. Lily
closed her eyes, savoring the flavor of the spicy sausage. When she finally
opened her eyes, Adam was watching her. His eyes rested solely on her lips.

“I did say no sex, right?”

The question made her
laugh.
His
idea, not hers.
She was still processing it.

“You know that’s every boy’s fantasy,”
he continued.

“Well, good thing you’re not a boy.”

He shook his head and laughed. A rich
laugh that made her skin tingle. “We are the immature sex. Therefore, I’
m still hung up on that.”

“You’ve already done me.”

He grinned.
“But not a teacher fantasy.
How about a college student and a professor?”

Still laughing, she shook her head. “How
did we get to this conversation?”

“You’re a hot teacher.”

“Okay, I’m a hot te
acher.” She surrendered and accepted his compliment. They
sat back and discussed the menu. Adam told her some of his favorites. By the
time the waiter came, Lily decided to go with the grilled snapper and leeks.
Adam chose sea bass with chanterelle mushroo
ms. Then
he recommended she try the little necks. At first she was reluctant to use her
hands to clean the clams, soak them in hot water, then the butter sauce, but
within seconds, she found herself enjoying the moment.

As they ate, the conversation became
light and easy between them until her family came up.

“Jason mentioned your brothers and
parents are coming to the wedding.”

“That’s what I’ve heard,” she answered
with a slight smile.

“Do they know?”

“The oldest one, Rafa, thinks he has it
all figured ou
t.”

He smiled. “So he’s coming here to seek
me out.”

“I will try to control the situation.”

He shrugged, unperturbed by the idea of
three men coming to an island specifically to hunt him down. “I’ve dealt with
worse. I can take it.”

Again, she noted the
slight strain in his voice. She searched his face; his eyes
were dark with secrets that she had never felt close enough to uncover.

“You have secrets, Adam.”

“We all have secrets, Liliana,” he said,
his voice void of emotion.

An awkward silence fell
between them, like a vacuum, creating an overwhelming sense
of emptiness. Lily finished the last piece of clam and tried to focus her
attention on the water, but she couldn’t, not with the questions that suddenly
twisted her heart in knots. No matter what
Adam said,
the truth was he wasn’t ready to put his heart on the table. With the slightest
probe, he had shut down.

She was grateful when a tall,
lean-built, handsome man with jet-black hair similar to Adam’s but sprinkled
with grey approached their table
with Claudio. Adam
smiled; the tension her words brought seemed to have left his body.

“Liliana, meet Guillermo, the best chef
on the island.”

Guillermo took her hand in his and
lowered his lips to hers. Lily couldn’t help but giggle. She heard of the Braz
ilian chef before from Minka. He had catered Keely and
Blake’s wedding and would be doing the same for Jason and Minka’s.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you,
Lily. You drive him crazy
,
and I love it.”

“Guillermo also has a big mouth,” Adam
mumbled. “He
enjoys watching me suffer. One day I’ll
have to fire him.”

The chef seemed unfazed by the threat.
He laughed and waved his hand. “His bark is bigger than his bite. Deep down
he’s a teddy bear. I do have to borrow him for a moment if that’s okay. I don’t
me
an to interrupt.”

Adam glanced at her and she waved away
his hesitation. “Please, that’s fine. I’ll be right here.”

With a nod, he pushed his chair back and
walked away with Claudio and Guillermo. As they did so, she thought she heard
Guillermo speaking Po
rtuguese to Adam. Which made no
sense, but then again, most Europeans spoke many languages. She watched them.
There was an ease between the three men, but what struck her the most was the
similarity between them. It wasn’t one of those hey you are brothers
kind of resemblance, but their mannerism, the broad
shoulders, the dark hair.

What’s
your secret, Adam?

She picked up her fork and toyed with it
between her fingers. Lost in her thoughts, she nearly jumped when someone
touched her shoulder. She looked up
at Adam, his eyes
held hers. Another intense connection settled between them. Adam ran his
fingertips up on her forearm, leaving a trail of goose bumps blooming in their
wake.

“You’re okay?” he asked with a slight
frown.

He leaned a little closer and broug
ht one hand to her face; his thumb ran along the curve of
her cheekbone. She couldn’t fight it; she nestled her face into his hand,
feeling his warmth seep into her.

“Yes, sorry. I drifted,” she answered.

His lips brushed her head,
then
he released her and
walked over to his chair.
“My apologies, kitchen issues.”

“Is everything okay?”

“An irate customer.”
He shrugged. “We ran out
of the catch of the day. I went and talked to him.” He checked his watch.
“Let’s eat and go catch the sunset.”

Adam kept the conv
ersation light while they ate. She learned about the
Aquilani charities helping battered women and troubled teens. He told her about
the investment he, Jason, Forrest, and now Blake put into the Vineyard to
provide activities for the children on the island
,
especially during the quiet season when the population was about fifteen
thousand or less. She learned a little about his life in Italy, his condo in
Rome and house in Verona. He even shared childhood stories of him and his
parents. He kept her laughing.

As they left the restaurant for the
beach, he took her to the kitchen to say goodbye to Guillermo, who hugged her
tightly and made her promise she would come back again. Feeling giddy from the
food and the company, Lily promised to return.

“Let’s go catch
the sunset,” Adam whispered. She tucked her hand in the crook of his arm and
allowed her body to fall to the rhythm of his steps to the beach. Their contact
was broken momentarily for her to remove her strappy heels.

The cool sand floated between her bare
feet. She followed Adam and sat on the cooling dunes. A
comfortable silence settled between them as they watched the seagulls walking
along the shoreline. The sandcastles slowly dissolved, the waves washing away
all signs of the children’s efforts that da
y, as
shadows crept over the land. A few beachgoers smiled at them. Some locals waved
at Adam but left him alone.

“I’ve been to many places, but the
sunset here is one of the best I’ve ever seen.” His arm came to rest on her
shoulder and pulled her closer
to him.

Lily focused her eyes on the magenta
sky. The sun was setting on the horizon, painting the water with the reflection
of brilliant pink and orange that spread across the sky. The silence continued,
but that was okay. Mesmerized by the beauty of the
scene,
she nestled a little closer to Adam and gazed at the place where the sun went
down.

“Breathtaking, isn’t it?”

The words, heavy with sexual desire, ate
through her like a wildfire in a desert. The yearning inside her burst forth.

“Yes, very much.”

But it was autumn, the ocean breeze was
cool, making her shiver.

“Let’s go home,” he whispered huskily in
her ear. As he came to his feet, with arms extended he gently pulled her up
with him.

His arms wrapped around her comfortably,
sending sparks flying,
heart fluttering, emotions
building. Lily heard the soft whisper of his breath as he exhaled. Before she
could say anything, Adam tilted his head down and kissed her, sending a shiver
down her spine.

“I never agreed to the new rule,” she
said once their li
ps were finally disconnected.

He shook his head, reaffirming he was
going to stick to this no-sex nonsense. His arm slid along her back to guide
her closer and held her to his heart. His chin pressed gently on top of her
head. “I discovered something tonig
ht,” he said in a
low rough voice.

“What’s that?”

“
I’m liking
you a lot more than I
originally planned.”

His steady, strong, powerful heartbeat
drummed in her ear. Lily closed her eyes and lost herself in the moment. Her
fears over his lifestyle and car
eer choice still
lurked in her conscience, but she knew she needed to stop being afraid of what
could go wrong and focus on what could go right.

Chapter
Sixteen

“Boys, if you like her, if
she makes you happy, and if you feel like you know her,

don’t
let her go.”

Nicholas Sparks

Adam’s
stomach felt like a whirlpool ready to engulf him with no remorse. He couldn’t
breathe, the oxygen suffocating his lungs.

“Não!”
he screamed the word ‘no’ in Portuguese, the weight of his heart bringing him
to his kne
es. Black tears fell easily from his eyes
and rolled down his cheeks as he watched the light fade from her eyes. Her soul
slipped through his fingers as her body lay there stiff.

He
examined the woman’s lifeless features, her lifestyle etched harsh on her
face. She was a prostitute, a drug addict. No one would
miss her, not her pimp or her clients. Except for him; she gave him life. He
loved her. Even with all of her flaws.

With
trembling hands, he brushed the matted black mane away from her face and swiped
his hand over her eyes. His gaze lingered on the empty
syringe on the floor, a drop of blood still trickling from her vein. Inches
from her body lay what finally ended her life. He reached over and gripped the
cold metal. Young adolescent fingers wrapped
around
the gun as he rose to his feet, and headed for his fate.

The door
creaked open. He spotted his target right away. There on the bed, waiting to be
hunted. Blinded by fury, he took aim. With the strength of a man, his
eight-year-old body held the semi
-automatic pistol as
steady as possible. His finger pulled the trigger and bullets spat
relentlessly, one after another.

As his body fell further into the abyss,
a soft feminine voice, like the harmony of angels, called out to him. He
recognized the sweet
sound right away. It breathed
life into him.
Lily
. But it wasn’t enough to
pull him free. He closed his eyes and gave himself away to the darkness. Her
voice grew stronger, nearer. Soft hands touched his naked arms; not the thin
skinny limbs of him as a ch
ild, but of him as a man.

He tried
to emerge from the dream, but his head was filled with images. Lily’s
smile,
her face in the throes of passion, his parents and a baby
wrapped in a wool towel with a mass of dark hair similar to his. He couldn’t
tell if i
t was a boy or girl; it didn’t matter. It
was his child. He walked over to pick it up. The more steps he took, the
further it moved out of his reach. Adam blinked and rushed his strides as
images of the black curls faded away.

He came
to a halt, paralyzed
to the spot, a menacing aura
holding him in a tightening grip. He spotted the infant. Brown trusting eyes
glanced at him. Then they turned to look into the face of a dark-haired man. A
knot formed in Adam’s throat. He tried to move forward, to run and snat
ch the child to safety, but his feet would not allow him to
do so. He opened his mouth to speak, to beg, and spare a life, but terror
sucked the breath from his mouth and silenced his scream. Adam stood, ice-cold,
as the man stroked the baby’s arm, the end
of a
syringe shining in his hand.

A
sudden, sickening sensation ran through his body.

Fuck!

Not another addicted baby. He needed to
stop it. He fought against his weight, but heaviness kept him deathly still.

“Adam. Adam.” Lily’s voice was subtly
sensual
and smooth, a velvety whisper.

He struggled to open his eyes.

“Adam.” Her voice had a little more
urgency this time.

He woke up with a gasp, covered in
sweat, and breathing heavily. His mind reeling.

Shit!

He closed his eyes momentarily and
grabbed hold of
his consciousness. When he opened
them again, Lily was sitting by his side, her short hair tousled from the
night. The thin straps of the little thing she slept in slipped off her slim
shoulders. Her face masked with concern. The sight caused his heart to
stop. “Liliana,” he said when he was sure his voice would
not shake. “Did I hurt you?
The
baby?”

She shook her head, but grief reflected
in her big brown eyes. He knew she wanted to break his exterior defenses. He
felt it last night for the first time. He
wasn’t
ready for that
,
and God damn it, she needed to understand that.

He swung his feet to the floor and sat
on the edge of the bed. Sunlight seeping through the curtains touched his face,
as Lily’s hands traced down his back and found the curve of his w
aist. She pressed her face against him. Her lips followed;
sweet and tender, kissing away every second of the memories that flooded his
mind like waves of destruction.

“Liliana.”
It wasn’t fair to take
from her. Not when he couldn’t show her everything tha
t
he was. Still, he sat there and got lost in the feel of her lips for what
seemed like the millionth time.

“Are you going to tell me what that was
about?”

“No.”

A long sigh came from her lips. Her
breath caressed his skin. “You’re not ready.” Her hands mo
ved to his shoulders and slowly started to work out the
kinks. “But when you are, you will find out I’m a big girl.” She let out a
nervous chuckle. “I can handle things.”

His hand moved to hers and held it
still. “Like unexpectedly getting knocked up.”

She
laughed.

A little laughter, like the sun breaking
through stormy clouds; it illuminated the darkness inside him. He edged over a
little more so he could face her. “You’re sure I didn’t hurt you?”

* * * *

Lily scanned Adam’s face, his eyebrows
drawn together.
Beautiful and
haunting, yet full of sadness and pain.
She was seeing the man
behind the cool, laid-back exterior for the very first time. He was a puzzle
and just maybe with some broken pieces. Still,
she
was permanently in love with him, always and forever, with all of the secrets
and smiles.
Everything.
She had fallen hard and
just wanted him. Her fingers stroked the scar above his left eyebrow, the first
time she allowed herself to touch one of his p
erfect
imperfections.

“Not physically, you didn’t.”
E
motionally
, her heart had been
ripped out of her chest as she sat there watching Adam struggle to emerge from
whatever dark
hole
he had fallen into. This
side of him was new to her, it shook her a bit.
Not
fear; this much she knew.
But a
confirmation in so many ways that they were strangers.
“How did you get this
scar?”

“Playing
fútbol
.”
He rose from the bed and
moved across the room. The hardwood echoed his pressured steps. His long arms
leaned against
the window sill on the opposite side
of the room. The muscles on his back turned rigid, shutting her out once again.
“I’m going gliding,” he announced over his shoulder.

He meant plane-gliding, another one of
his extreme sports, cheating death each time. H
e was
Superman and life was his stage.

“I can think of better ways to release
tension.”

He turned and stared at her, long and
hard, as if contemplating her invitation, before his lips cracked into a
genuine smile. “Don’t you have to meet with Minka and th
e others?”

“I can push it back.” She shrugged. “Say
three hours.”

He laughed and Lily saw some of the
tension leaving his body. She sank on the plush mattress, inviting him to come
join her. After a slight hesitation, several long strides brought him to
her side of the bed.

“I’d need more than three hours.”

“You have that much tension?” she
questioned with a brow raised.

He nodded.
“A full load.”
His eyes were serious, as
was his tone.

“Good thing I’m around to help you
release.”

His hands found her hips
and pulled her to the edge of the bed. Her skin bristled at
his touch. Needing to be closer, Lily hoisted herself to a full sitting
position and clamped her thighs around his. Her fingers found the waist of his
boxers
briefs
and slowly ran her hand
over hi
s crotch. He groaned.

“You want me,” she whispered, and
lowered her lips to tickle the fine hairs that cover his lower abdomen.

His muscles tightened under her touch.
“Ye
s,” he said low and husky. “But—
”

“No buts.”

He released a heavy breath then gently
pushed her back on the bed. He stood still as his eyes took in every inch of
her. Lily’s hands found the hem of her
delicate cotton nightie
and inched it up high,
exposing crystal pink hip-hugger lace panties.

His eye
s
darkened and dropped to her thighs. Under heavy lids, she watched him struggle
to maintain control. Then his hand brushed her inner thigh, spreading her legs
just a little wider. He stroked a thumb over the thin material, teasing her
swollen flesh. Hyper
sensitive to his touch, every
nerve in her body tingled with pleasure as her hips rocked in gentle motion.

“More,” she begged.

But he pulled back and stepped out of
her reach. Lily searched his face, his eyes burned with emptiness. A boiling
fury swelled i
nside of her. She rose to her feet and
walked up to him. Chest to chest, she glared at him.

“What’s that about?”

“We agreed—
” he began in that typical
cool as a cucumber voice.

“No,” she stopped him, her voice louder.
This time she was the one who moved ba
ck and stepped
out of his reach. Needing a moment to breathe, she gave him her back. After a
second, she whipped around and peered at him. “You made that stupid rule, Adam.
I didn’t agree to it.”

“What do you want, Liliana? You want me
to fuck you to relea
se my demons? You want to be a
substitute?” The questions hung in the air. A look of great bitterness swept
across his face. “Well, too fucking
bad
. You’ve never been that.”

“Then talk to me.”

Time stood still like never before.

“I can’t.” He walked past h
er and slammed the bathroom door behind him, leaving her
standing there fuming.

Three hours later, Lily’s whole being
still seethed with anger. She slumped on to her chair, alongside Keely, Claire
and Minka at West Chop, a steakhouse restaurant on the pier
overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. After picking out the
floral arrangement for the wedding, lunch had been suggested. Lily wasn’t sure
if she agreed or not, she just found herself sitting there and for once she
wished she was anywhere else. All day, her min
d had
been preoccupied with thoughts of Adam.

“Earth to Lily,” Claire said with a
wave, flashing her colorful bohemian bracelets.
“Whoo-hoo!
Over here, honey.”

“You’re not sitting straight,” Keely
said gently.

Without looking at her friends, Lily ran
her f
ingers over the rim of the teacup. She inhaled
the ginger and citrus aroma of the tea. Although this one was not laced, it
still made her think of Adam and his hot toddies. “So?”