Need You Now (Martha's Way Series Book 2) (28 page)

She
fixed her eyes on the ocean. “No, this is perfect.”

He t
ook her
hand in his.
 
“I know you’re worried
about my career and the danger it presents. Do you want me to retire?”

She turned and got a look of his
expression. Her heart stuttered at the seriousness on his face. He was ready to
walk away from the career
he loved for a chance to
have a future with her. No, she wouldn’t be that woman who made him choose.
She’d just have to learn to accept with love comes danger, fear and joy. It was
a package deal. “I couldn’t ask that of you.”

“You didn’t ask. I am offerin
g.”

And she loved him for that. “You love
your career. I can’t take that away from you.”

A silence fell between them for a beat.
Then he asked, “Tired?”

Her
heart squeezed at his concern. She rested her head against his. “I don’t want
this to end, Adam.
This moment right now is perfect.”

Everything
was perfect.
Her ring.
Adam.
Dinner.
His hand holding hers as they stared out at the sea…no one
there, just them.

Perfection.

* * * *

Sometime
in the night, Lily reached for Adam, only to find his side of the bed empty.
Her eyes flew open. She threw the comforter aside; a shiver of apprehension
crisped her skin. Barefoot, she rushed down the stairs; the wood creaked under
her feet. She d
idn’t bother turning on any lights;
she was familiar with the landscape and made her way to the family room. She
found him lounging on the sofa, sipping on a beer, gaze glued to the TV screen.
She walked over and sat next to him.
“Another dream?”

“You
shou
ld be sleeping, Liliana.”

Yeah,
definitely another nightmare and he was shutting her out again. “What was this
one about?”

She
waited. After a long beat, he placed the beer on the floor next to him, picked
up the remote and turned off the television. “One
day
I came home to my father slapping my mother around.” His voice was roughed with
pain. “I rushed over and pulled him off, well, I tried to.”

“Oh, Adam.”
Her throat tightened in pain for him.

“He
pushed me off. I was small and weak. So I fell, but then h
e started kicking me, bruised a few ribs, then he put a gun
on my head.
Right here.”
He pointed to the center
of his forehead. “That’s one of the few times my mother ever protected me.”

Lily let
out a disgusted sigh, unable to imagine the horrible pain he’
d suffered as a child. “I can’t take away your childhood,
but I wish I could.”

“These
are my dreams, Liliana.
Except they
are not dreams.
They are my nightmares to live with.”

Lily
moved into Adam’s arms. He shifted his weight to make room for her and she
cradled against his muscular body. It felt so good to be in
his arms that for a moment she just stayed with him, breathing him in. But Adam
was in pain.
Her Adam.
Together they needed to
make him okay. “What can I do? Please tell me. I can go to counseling with you.
Whatever.
I will do it with you.”

“No
counseling.”

“Your
parents never took you to one? They can help.”

“They
all want to give me meds. You can’t give
narcotics to
an addict.”

Still in
his arms she turned so that they could be face to face. “Your birthing
conditions don’t mean you will become addicted.”

His lips
twitched in a weak smile. “You’re willing to chance that?”

She
didn’t answer.

“I’m
not,” he a
nswered his own question. “I never want to
be what my parents were.”

His face
was set in a hard, determined expression. She caressed his brooding features.
“We will make you better,” she said and kissed him softly on the lips. “Just
don’t shut me out. I co
uldn’t take it if you were to
shut me out again.” Her voice trembled on the words, remembering only a week
ago, he had shut himself from her.

His
large hands cupped her face and forced her to meet his gaze. “Liliana,” he
murmured her name. “My instinct wil
l always be to
protect you.
Even from me.”

“Can’t
you see, Adam, I don’t need protection from you. I just need you.” She smiled
then.

His
mouth crushed against hers, and he kissed her hard
. But this wasn’t about
kissing—
it had everything to do with need, h
unger, and the darkness inside Adam.

“Hold on
to me, Liliana,” he murmured against her lips.

She did
as he requested and locked her arms around his neck. Adam hoisted her up along
with him to a sitting position, with her on top of him. Their eyes met, his
gaze dark and intense, almost wild. “Ride me.”

With her
sitting on his thighs, he lifted up his hips and slipped off his sweats, then
proceeded to shove her shorts and panties down. Adam pushed up her silk
camisole and she lifted her arms to ease the
process
for him. Within seconds, she sat on his leg with his hard length thick between
them. Skin on skin, flesh on flesh.

He
lifted her slightly and placed her warm entrance on the tip of his erection.
“Now, Liliana,” he said, and lowered her body over hi
s
length.

Lily
cried out at the firm contact, and began moving on him. He thrust up into her,
making her feel him even deeper. And as the pleasure inside her mounted, she
couldn’t help but think maybe, just maybe in a way, she was healin
g him,
however
, tem
porary it was. So when he leaned in and took one breast
into his mouth, her love for him took over. Her fingers slid through his hair
and gripped a handful. She heard him wince but she didn’t care. Lily’s breath
grew shallow, the speed of her movement incr
eased,
until cries of ecstasy filled the room.

A little
while later, Adam rolled to his side and pulled Lily’s back against him. He
turned the television back on and her heart sank because that meant he was once
again avoiding sleep.

“Go to
sleep,” he whis
pered in her ear.

“I’m not
leaving you.”

He
turned off the television. “Okay, you win. Go to sleep.”

In the
dark she smiled and pressed her back a little closer against his chest. “I love
the feel of you.”

“The
feeling is mutual.” He kissed her shoulder. “
You do
something to me I can’t explain. Now sleep.”

Love,
she thought. It heated their soul, energized their spirit and supplied passion
to their lives. It was their connection.

Chapter Twenty-Six

“Let your past be your springboard, not
your
quicksand.”

Steve Maraboli

Half hour before game time on a sparkling but cold island
afternoon, Lily walked onto the football field at Martha’s Vineyard Regional
High School in Oak Bluffs with Adam’s arm slung possessively over her shoulder.
Her brothers
, dressed in white with navy trimmed
Lacrosse shorts and grey fitted graphic tees were huddled with comparable size
men in black athletic shorts and fitted T-shirts in the middle of the field
with their cleats on, ready for battle, completely impervious to
the chill in the air. Apparently a uniform coordination
had taken place sometime before the match because Adam was dressed in black
shorts like the rest of his pack with a
blue cotton tee with the words
Put Up or Shut Up
on its front.

As they approach the
group, she
could hear the banter going back and forth between them, which included a
push-up challenge between Rafa and Jason. Side by side, the two men dropped to
the balls of their feet on the ground, palms down under their shoulders, and
back straight.
In perfect alignment, they elevated
themselves then lowered their weight, still in perfect alignment, as low as
they could go.

By the time Lily and Adam joined them, the two men were
still going with easy, economical speed. They turned to eyeball each oth
er and kept going until both dropped to the ground, rose to
their feet and elbowed each other, and then shook hands.

A quick race across the field broke between Zander and
Blake, or whatever else to show their physical prowess while Keely, Minka and
Claire
looked on, openly enjoying the view. Even Lily
had to admit seeing that level of testosterone huddled together would have been
a mesmerizing sight if three of the toned bodies didn’t belong to her brothers.

“Men are so immature,” Claire murmured, but she
didn’t look away from the muscles bulging everywhere.

“Finally,” Zander said over his shoulder. “We didn’t think
you were going to show up.”

“And miss kicking your asses? Never,” Adam jested.

Rafa and Max sent hyena-like stares at Adam’s arm over her
shoul
der. To show her brothers his ego was just as
inflated or perhaps superior, Adam pulled her closer against him in the see,
she’s mine kind of hug.

The whole display was further proof of her theory. Men
never really grew up. In order to get laid, they learn
ed
to act in public and fooled women into believing they were no longer snot
noses. But really they were.

“What’s with your boyfriend?” Max asked tossing the
football up in the air and catching it. “He looks like shit.” He stopped and
studied his sister.
“
You too.
Not as much as him, though.”

The words were casually thrown at her, to appear
indifferent, but she noted the hint of concern in her brother’s voice. He was
worried about her. And maybe even a little about Adam. Ordinarily, she’d run
into his arms
and give him a big little-sister hug,
but as payback for their bad ‘tude yesterday, she rolled her eyes and replied,
“Geez, thanks.” While she eventually did fall asleep, she knew the exact time
Adam ultimately drifted to sleep. By then, the sun was starti
ng to rise.

“Lily,” Claire exclaimed. She was quick by Lily’s side and
took her friend’s hand in hers. “What a beautiful ring.”

All three of her brothers’ gaze went to her left hand and
huffed. Max slung the football in Adam’s direction; Adam quickly remov
ed his hand from her shoulder and caught the approaching
ball to avoid getting hit in the chest. Max flashed a smug smile. Mission
accomplished.

Keely and Minka circled them, pulled her into tight hugs
and both tiptoed to kiss Adam on the cheek. The guys f
ollowed.
Her brothers continued to breathe fire, although the heat level had subsided a
bit.

“You’re really going to marry this guy?” Zander asked.

Blake placed a hand on Zander’s shoulder. “Accept it, man.
Adam is one of the good guys.”

“Welcome to the fa
mily, Lily. You
need new brothers anyway,” Forrest teased.

“Remember, I saw your girl naked,” Max threw back.

“I’m not anyone’s girl.” Claire looked fixedly at Max. “And
you didn’t see me naked.”

“If you’re not doing him…” Rafa tipped his head in
Forrest’s
direction.

Claire sighed, raised her hands and stared Rafa down. “You
need to stop it too.”

He focused on Claire and flashed a very bad-boy smile.
The kind of smile that had melted women.
“I still want to take you out to
dinner.”

Claire crossed her arms
over her
chest, not the least bit affected. “Not happening.”

Rafa
laughed,
a good-natured sound that Lily was so
familiar with and loved. She couldn’t help but smile. They might be coming
across as assholes, but they were the good, caring kind of assholes.

Adam extended his arms and stretched wide. “Are we playing
football or what? You have the flags, Forrest?”

Forrest reached into his backpack and pulled out three pink
towels.
“For you guys.”

Jason and Adam snickered. Her brothers took the towels,
studied
them and hung them off their hips.

“Since you guys are outnumbered,” Blake pointed. “I’ll be
the ref.”

“Wait,” Minka called out, “Aren’t there rules?”

Jason circled Minka’s waist and pulled her against his
chest. “Not really.” For reassurance, he placed a
lingering
kiss on his fiancée’s lips.

Blake cleared his throat.
“Sorry, Minx.”
He furrowed his brows together. “Let me
go over the rules for the concerned fiancée.” The guys muttered under their
breaths, voicing their displeasure. “QB gets the ball and either keeps and runs
with it, hands off, or passes in order to get to score. Def
ense stops these plays from happening.” He struck the palm
of his hands against one another. “Enjoy!”

In other words, tackle the hell out of each other. The men
seemed pleased with the rules. As they separated into their respective teams,
Lily and the othe
rs made their way to the stands.

“You think they’ll be all right?” Minka asked with obvious
concern.

Before Lily could answer, Adam’s body banged against Zander
and Max, making the sound of a train crashing into two planes. She felt Minka
wince next to her
. And even though Lily grew up with
siblings wrestling around her and was used to boys playing rough, her body
still shook a little at the hit. Adam hoisted himself up from the ground, wiped
his lips with the back of his hand and tossed the ball in an impe
rvious manner to her brothers.
First down.

“That’s your one hit,” he yelled over his shoulder to her
brothers. “Now all’s fair.”

For the next hour, Lily watched her brothers try to go to
war with her fiancé and his friends. The problem was, war always fa
il
ed to
determine who was right—
only who was left barely standing. Instead of simply
yanking the flags as they were supposed to, each team tackled the hell out of
each other, then snatched the towels off their opponents, thrust it with great
triumph in the a
ir and fist bump their teammates. A
simple flag football game was now a pulse-pounding event.

“Nothing good can come out of this,” Minka murmured, her
tone full of worry.

At that instant Zander tackled Jason. Rafa jumped in just
for reassurance. Minka flin
ched. Blake signaled them
to play on. Apparently the late hit rule also didn’t exist.

“They are beating the hell out of each other.” Claire
leaned forward, fully immersed in the battle of muscles.

“I’m glad Blake isn’t playing.” Keely shivered after Max ta
ckled Forrest.

“Jason might lose a tooth,” Minka said partly to herself
just as Jason grabbed Zander and brought him face down to the ground.

On the last play, Lily didn’t take her eyes off Adam. He
lined up on the far right of Forrest, who was their quart
erback. Knees bent slightly and leaning forward, he zoomed
down the field, caught the ball thrown by Forrest and dashed to the end zone.
The steady pounding of her brothers’ footsteps echoed in her ears as they
chased Adam down. She watched hard bodies col
lide and
when Adam hit the ground, she put a hand over her mouth to stifle a scream.

She held her breath until Adam pushed himself up to his
feet, spit out some dirt and grass and spiked the ball on the ground as a sign
of victory. They won by one point. H
is teammates
high-fived him and pulled their shirts over their heads. Her brothers did the
same. All of them stood shirtless and covered in sweat
oblivious to the cool autumn air
. Keely and Claire let out a low mercy
sound. But it was the scribbling in bla
ck ink on
Forrest’s forearm that caught Lily’s attention. An infinity tattoo similar to
Claire, but his appeared to have words
scribbled,
only he was too far away for her to
decipher the damn thing.

After handshakes were exchanged, all seven men made their
way to the stands. Adam kept his gaze on her the whole
time,
then
flashed a victorious grin. Lily walked
straight into his arms and kissed him. She didn’t car
e her brothers were right there
or that Adam was covered in dirt and
sweat.

“Aren’t you supposed
to be some
sort of European pretty boy?” Rafa asked. His voice was void of the anger from
yesterday, even from one hour ago. He wasn’t warm and fuzzy, but less angry was
always a step in the right direction.

Adam laughed. “I have many talents.”

Rafa shook
his head. “Do you
always have to point out you get to see our sister naked?”

“How did you get that from what I said?” Adam shook his
head. “I say let’s go to Vapor for beer and food.
Our treat to the losing team.”

“We lost by one point, that barely makes u
s losers,” Zander muttered.

“We have the W and you have the L,” Jason teased. “So yeah,
that makes you the losing team.”

“Claire,” Rafa called. “You’re coming too?”

Lily turned to Forrest. “Can I see that?” she asked with a
smile.
“Your tattoo.”
She added
when
his eyebrows creased in question.

He smiled. “Sure. At times I almost forget it’s there.”

He extended his large muscular arm and she peeked a little
closer to the tattoo on his forearm. The wo
rds in black bold letters—
We
were and
in that moment I
swear infinite—
curved seductively in the form of the infinity symbol over
his skin, permanently glued to him.
Holy
crap
.
Claire had the same infinity tattoo;
maybe not the words, but Lily hadn’t been
able to get that close
. The tat was always strategically
hidden underneath the layered bracelets she wore, but the infinity symbol was
etched in the inside of her wrist. She looked back at Claire and was surprised
to find the other woman watching her. She searched her friend’s face for some
clue, but Claire’s e
yes told no story.

“Claire?” Jason asked

“No,” Claire answered. “I will pass.”