Need You Now (Martha's Way Series Book 2) (33 page)

Adam,

I can’t remember the last time I walked away from something
or someone in my life. I wanted us to work so badly that I convinced myself I
saw things that you don’t feel. You see, my heart got the best of me for a
while. In reality, the he
art cannot, should not
govern over logic. It’s not the wisest tool, therefore, should not control
every decision or everything we feel.

I hate to admit Rafa was partially right. You might have
dealt with your past in order for us to have a future, but not
enough for you to love me. Your birth parents relationship
still weighs heavily on how you view love. The funny thing is you are
surrounded by love.
Your parents,
your friends.
Me.

Today, I say goodbye. It breaks my heart to do so because I
love you and
everything that you are. But I need for
your feelings to mirror mine. Oh, you care, and love me even, but not enough.

…Always,

Liliana

P.S. You are right. We are
fov
ever
linked. I’ll let you know when our baby is born. Goodbye
Adam. I love you.

Heart
thudding in his chest, Adam carefully folded the note and
buried it in his pants pocket. She thought he didn’t love her enough. That’s
where she was wrong. He loved her too much, so much that it scared the shit out
of him. Just thinking about it made him s
hudder from
his feet to his head.

Chapter Thirty

“In all the word, there is no heart for
me like yours.

In
all the
world, there is no love for you, like
mine.”

Maya Angelou

Lily stood in her condo and waited for that wonderful
feeling that always
washed over her whenever she
returned home after a long time away. Two days since she returned home, the
feeling of home sweet home hadn’t come. Instead, she ached. Her body and mind
yearned for Adam. His face, smile, and touch haunted her. During the nigh
t she reached for him, only to find an empty space. Twice
today in class, she slipped and called two little boys Adam. They looked at her
as if she was crazy.

Absently, she placed her messenger bag on the living room
sofa. She had papers to grade and assignments to prepare. Enough to occupy her
mind for the next few hours. As she made her way to the kitchen, her phone
buzzed. She reached in her bag and read Clai
re’s
message.

Adam’s
interview will be on
tonight
.
Check it out.
Hugs.

She quickly responded to the text and went to the kitchen.
It was also the night of his final race for the year. She had set her DVR to
record it, but she knew she’d be wide awake.
The DVR
was a just in case.

“Food.
We need food,” she said to her belly
and ran a hand over her shirt. Officially nine weeks pregnant, and due for her
next doctor visit tomorrow; aside from a sad, aching heart, she felt great. She
couldn’t blame her lack o
f energy on the pregnancy,
nope. It was all due to a broken heart. She stared down at her naked finger,
swallowed away the pain, and tried to focus her attention on her long list of
to dos.

Hours later, she graded the last paper and was getting
ready to st
art working on next week’s class
assignment when the sound of the doorbell startled her. She made her way down
the stairs and looked through the peephole.
Rafa.
The two had not spoken much since the
big fiasco at Martha’s Way. Lily had told herself, they n
eeded time. She opened the door.

“Hey,” Rafa greeted and walked past her.

Lily closed the door and followed. In her living room, they
stood facing each other. She had hurt him by bringing up Lea and she hadn’t
meant to, but she was hurting, desperate.

“I’m
sorry about Adam,” he said.
“I went too far, but something about him I didn’t trust.”

She walked over to the sofa and sat down. “You didn’t trust
me,” she corrected. “You didn’t trust me to make my own decision after Nate.”

“I didn’t want you to get hurt.
”

“You went about that the wrong way.”

He let out a breath. “I know, and I’m sorry for that.” He
sat next to her. “Will you forgive me?”

It wasn’t often big brothers apologized to their little
sister. The best thing for her to do of course was to torture h
im, make him grovel, make him sweat. But a part of being
the best little sister in the whole world was to know when to let go, forgive,
and recognize, because of her brothers, she’d always have a friend. “I’m sorry
I brought up Lea.”

“It’s okay.”

But every
thing in the tone of his
voice told Lily the Lea topic was still in the do-not-touch file. “You’re
leaving again,” she noted. Her brother had been running away for the past year.

He nodded. “At the end of the week, I’m going to Haiti for
a few months to he
lp engineer their water supply.
Four years after Sandy, the devastation is still grave.”

She could have told her brother he didn’t need to travel
for months out of the year to help. Instead, she pulled up against him and put
her head on his shoulder. “I lo
ve you.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, I love you too.”

After a comfortable silence passed between them, Lily
reached for the remote and turned the channel to the major network Claire had
mentioned Adam’s interview would be aired.

“What’s on TV?” Rafa asked.

She did
n’t need to answer, Adam’s
face appeared on the screen and her heart skipped at the sight of him. His face
carved in stone and
everything
about his vibe was saying,
I’m pissed off
.

“When are you marrying him?”

“I’m not,” she answered, eyes glued to the tel
evision screen.

Rafa reached for her left hand. “Did you throw that one in
the ocean too?”

She pulled her hand away and managed a chuckle. See, that
was why she loved her brothers. They always managed to make her laugh, broken
heart and all. “I returned it
.”

“And he let you go?” he asked, surprise in his voice.

“Well, I snuck out while he was sleeping.”

“Coward.”

“No,
it’s
knowing
if I didn’t do that I’d never be able to walk away.”

He slid
her a
look. “He does love you.”

She chuckled. “Oh, now you tell me.” Rafa laughed. A rich
sound of easy laughter that reminded them things
were
once again okay between them. A deep, masculine voice
announced Adam Aquilani was here to set the record straight about his past and
no question
s were off the table.

“Sshh, Adam is getting ready to talk.”

“He’s not a bad guy, sis. He deserves you. I just don’t
like his arrogance.”

“Because you should be the only arrogant
alpha around.”

He laughed again. “Something
like
that. How are you and my lit
tle
niece or nephew doing?”

“Besides the obvious, great.”

He kissed her temple, sat back and watched the interview
with her. Nothing new was revealed, but Lily was glad to hear Adam openly talk
about his past, the many organizations he and his friends have
established on the island to help abused children and
people with eating disorders.

Somewhere in the night, Lily opened her eyes, surprised to
find herself nicely tucked in on the sofa. Rafa had stayed and kept her company
well after the interview ended.
They talked and
laughed like old times. She must have drifted. She caught the red blinking
light on her DVR indicating Adam’s race was going on. She turned on the TV and
caught Adam cross the finish line. He won the race, finishing the season as the
top F1
driver. This time when he stepped out of the
car with champagne splashing over him, he scrubbed his face and laughed as he
accepted accolades from his teammates, but there was no scantily clad woman in
his arms or kissing him.

“Adam,” the pretty Russian r
eporter
said with a smile. “Are you going by Cooper now?”

“No,” he answered without a beat. “I love my parents. They
invested in me. They gave me a home, their name and love. I will forever be an
Aquilani.”

So he was able to say the word, just not to her.
Lily’s heart sank.

The pretty woman beamed at him. “And who would you like to
dedicate this thrilling win to? It was a close one.”

Adam chuckled. “It definitely was. We have some great
drivers on the scene. This win is for my parents, of course.
And for L
iliana and our baby.”

Lily’s heart stumbled.

“Who’s Liliana?”

Adam chuckled and ran a hand through his wet silky hair.
“My fiancée.
I’m in love with her.”

“Oh wow! Congratulations,” she said smiling.

He said the words. She stared at the television screen b
ut no longer listening. She missed him. She loved him. She
wanted him to shout his love to the world and he gave that to her, leaving no
room for doubts. Talk about a public service announcement.
Her
heart did that little dance only reserved for Adam as ha
ppiness washed over her. He had officially given her everything she ever
wanted from him.

Her heart pounded in her throat. She grabbed her cell phone
on the coffee table and checked the time. Four
a.m..
Damn, too early to call anyone for some distraction.
She turned off the television, lay back on the sofa and
pulled the blanket all the way up to her chin. In the dark, she stared at the
ceiling, listening to her thundering heartbeat, wondering how quickly she could
get back to the island. And sadly admittin
g sleep had
eluded her once more, but this time for all the right reasons.

* * * *

After jamming on Lily’s doorbell several times, Adam dug in
his pocket for his keys and opened the entrance door to Lily’s condo. He rushed
up the stairs, taking two at a
time and nearly broke
down the door when it swung open. He came face to face with Rafa.

Really, he wasn’t in the mood.

“Out of my way,” he growled, walking past Lily’s brother.

“She’s not here.”

He whipped around to face Rafa. “What do you mean? She has
a
doctor’s appointment.”

“Exactly what I said, she’s not here.”

“Well!”

“Well what?”

Adam raked a hand through his hair. At
this point, he was ready to pull off his entire head of hair. “Where the fuck
is she? Jesus, you’re an asshole.”

Rafa shrugged. “Are
you here to tell her you love her?”

“My relationship with Lily is not your
business.” He looked around the room, searching for some indication where she
might be. He checked his watch. They still had one hour before her appointment.

“Actually, she will
always be my business. She’s my baby sister.”

He surveyed Rafa’s chiseled face. He
recalled the conversation between the siblings, the mention of Lea and how he
had reacted to it.
Don’t go there, Adam, sensitive topic.
Eventually they’d be family, so for n
ow he took it easy on the big goof. Besides, everyone had a
story. Who was he to judge? “Fine,” he said in a reluctant tone. “I’m here to
tell her.”

Rafa smiled. A fucking smug one at that
too.

“Good, because I was
about to come back to that awful island o
f yours and
kick your ass silly or until you were able to declare your undying love.”

Somehow Adam believed Rafa. Well, at
least the try to kick his ass part…actually succeeding at it that was another
matter.

“Treat her well.”

Adam smiled. “I intend to.”

A
n awkward
silence fell in the room. An accord reached.
Neither moved but the tension that had been thick around
them since their first meet dissipated.

“What is going on here?” a male voice
asked from the door.

Rafa and Adam turned to the lean,
athletic, K
en-like man standing by the open door.
Adam looked back at Rafa. Lily’s brother shrugged.

“Who the fuck is
that?”

“That’s Ken, also known as Nate,” Rafa
answered with barely a glance in
Nate’s direction.

Adam made a mental note to share a beer
with Rafa so
on over the Ken comment. “You mean the
cheating ex?”