Adam

by Katie Dowe

  She still had her arms wrapped around his neck. Her breasts were still pressed against his chest, and the sparks between them had not died down. “This is not-”

  “Please,” he begged her. “I need this-” His head bent and he took her lips again, the movement hurried and somewhat desperate! Her mouth opened helplessly, his tongue tangling with hers eagerly. He did not want to stop! He did not have the strength to stop and using his expertise he deepened the kiss, slowing it down into a seductive movement, his mouth going over hers in an intimately arousing kiss that was intended to fan the flames between them. Amber’s body responded, lifting and arching like a finely strung bow against him, her fingers digging into the corded thickness of his neck! He poured everything into the kiss, desperate to show her how much he needed her, how much he was willing to give and how far he was willing to go! One hand drifted down to her hip, lifting the edge of the shirt she was wearing to give him access to her skin!

  Chapter 8

  But she found the strength to end it. She tore her mouth away from his and using every bit of strength she had, she pushed him away and scrambled off the bed. He let her go for the moment and watched as she went over to the window to pull the curtains open, letting in the sunlight. He did not say anything to her even when she went into the bathroom and stayed in there for several minutes, but he laid there on the bed until she came back out. “Are you going to talk to me?” he asked her quietly. She ignored him and going over to the closet, she took down a pair of jeans and pulled them on.

  “I am going into the kitchen to make some coffee. You may join me if you like,” she told him as she stalked out of the room.

  He got off the bed slowly and put his clothes back on. He was still hard and wanted very much to do something about it, but he knew Amber more than anyone else and knew that it was not going to happen that day. He made his way into the kitchen and saw her standing by the coffee pot, waiting for the coffee to brew. She did not turn to look at him when he came into the room but stood there with her back turned towards him. She had not bothered to comb her hair so the thick strands were hanging over her shoulders in an untidy mess.

  He waited until she had poured the cups of coffee and handed one to him before he spoke. “I am not going to apologize,” he told her quietly.

  “And I did not expect you to,” she told him coolly. “How long were you planning on doing that? I was probably the only woman who resisted you for so long so it probably pissed you off and you decided that it was time to do something about it. So how long have you been planning it?”

  He put down the coffee cup and braced his hands on the countertop, his silver eyes holding hers. “You know me better than anyone else and because you do know me, you also know that it not true.”

  Amber felt a little ashamed, but she was furious with both of them! Her friendship with him was the most important thing in her life and he had changed that! There was no going back for them from this and they both knew it! “What do we do now?”

  Adam almost told her what he thought they should do, but he knew she was not going to be amenable to it so he kept it to himself. “I think we should explore the possibility that there is more to us than just friendship.”

  “And then?”

  He shrugged a little. “And then see where it goes.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew he had said the wrong thing! “I meant-”

  “I know exactly what you meant, Adam!” she told him frostily. “I know you, remember? I know that you use and discard women without the slightest care for their feelings and what it does to them when you leave. I know you do not have the capacity to enter into a meaningful relationship; you don’t the meaning of the word relationship or long term! I know that the longest relationship you ever had lasted two months!” She held up two fingers for emphasis as if he had no idea what two really meant. “I am the one you call whenever you decide to end those very short relationships to ask me how best to tell the poor woman that it is over. If we go into something together, who are you going to call and ask what to do when it is over between us? And how long do you think it will last between us, Adam?” She was getting increasingly agitated, forgetting the coffee cooling on the counter. “How long?” She faced him, her hands on her hips as her dark brown eyes flashed at him. He stared at her in fascination! Christ, she was beautiful and passionate and he wanted her so much that he could barely concentrate on what he needed to tell her. “Answer me, dammit!”

  He stood where he was, knowing that she would not welcome him coming near her. “It’s different-”

  She cut him off with a hoarse laugh, one hand going to her chest as she stared at him. “I get it. We are best friends so that makes it a whole lot different. We would not only be entering into a physical relationship, but we have the added advantage of being friends first and that makes me different from all the other women you had sex with.” She walked back over to the counter and took her cup, staring into the contents of it before looking up at him. “Any time something happens to me, each time I have a thought or an idea, my first instinct is to call you. You do the same thing. We call each other whenever we have problems or when we want to talk. Your friendship has kept me sane over the years and I value that more than anything else. I don’t want to lose it-”

  “You won’t!” He moved swiftly and ignoring the warning look she gave him, he came around to face her, standing before her. “You will never lose my friendship and I want you to believe that.”

  “Then forget what happened between us and let us go on like we were.”

  His silvery eyes held hers. “We can’t,” he told her sadly. “We cannot go back to the way we were before and you know that. There is something between us, Amber, something that both of us never experienced before, something that I want to continue to explore. I know my reputation and I am aware that you are probably thinking that this will be just a fling for me, but it will not be. Ever since I came back home and I have been with you, I cannot stop thinking about you. I was having dinner with Bianca when you called and I just left-”

  “Oh no!” Amber groaned.

  “What is it?”

  “Why on earth would you do that?”

  “Do what?”

  “You were having dinner with her and you left when I called?”

  “I left because you sounded terrible over the phone and I wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  Amber closed her eyes and leaned forward with her elbows on her thighs. “We do that, don’t we?” she said softly.

  “Do what?” He braced his hands on her shoulders and forced her to look up at him.

  “Run to each other no matter who we are with. You were having dinner with the woman who is very interested in you and you don’t see anything wrong with that.”

  “You needed me,” he said simply.

  Her expression softened as she stared at him. “We have to stop.”

  “Why?” he asked her challengingly.

  “Because it is not healthy and will forever come between the people we are seeing.”

  “I don’t want to see anyone else but you.”

  “Adam.” She sighed and did not resist when he pulled her into his arms. “It won’t work.”

  “It will,” he insisted as he ran his hands over her back soothingly. “It will.”

  “Your family-”

  “I will talk to them.”

  She shoved him away and looked up at him. “No.”

  “I am not going to let them stand in our way,” he warned her.

  “Listen to me!” she urged, seeing the determined look on his handsome face. “We are going to give this time-”

  “I don’t need time,” he said stubbornly.

  She splayed her fingers on his chest and felt the warmth of his chest against his shirt. “I know you are used to having things your way, honey, but this is something new and something that we are going to have to proceed with caution. Your father and grandfather will never agree to or accept a
relationship between us. I am not the right type they want for you and they will never agree to us seeing each other. The next thing is that you are a playboy, a slut who does not think that a lasting relationship is possible! I am not used to that! I am extremely confident, too confident to allow a man to use me like that-”

  “I would never use you.” His hand came up to cup her cheeks, his expression tender. “If I have to spend the rest of my life proving to you that it is different where you are concerned then that is what I will do. It is different with you, I know it is, and over time I will prove it to you if you will let me. I want to take you out to places, I want to be with you every single time of the day-”

  “You will get tired of me-”

  “I have never done that over the many years we have been friends!”

  “That’s because we were just friends.”

  “We have never been just friends, Amber,” he pointed out gently. “There has always been a connection between us and it has always been apparent. No matter where I am or who I am with, I always think about you and what you are doing. I never knew what it was until recently.” His fingers wandered up to her tapered brow, smoothing it absently before pushing off the tendrils of hairs from her forehead. “I admire you, the way you are, not caring what people think of you, how smart you are and fiercely independent. I admire the way you were never impressed by how wealthy I am. You never let me get away with anything. I love the way I can talk to you about anything at all. The way you are not afraid to tell me when I am wrong.” His hand drifted down to tilt her chin up. “I have spent years of my life searching and discontent with my life, never realizing that what or who I needed was you.”

  Amber was mesmerized with his words and the look on his handsome face. Adam Whitmore was every woman’s dream and she had known that when she first saw him. He had asked her why she was never attracted to him and she had lied and said she was not, but she had felt the jolt to her heart the first time she had stared at the darkly handsome man with the mesmerizing grey eyes and the athletic build, but she had been determined not to fall the way the girls who saw him tended to do. She had been determined to keep her pride and self-respect. And besides, their families were sworn enemies, not to mention that he was as rich as Croesus and he was out of her league! So she had played it cool and to her surprise a friendship had sprung up between them that had changed her life for the better. She found that she liked him; she actually liked him, and over time he had become the most important person in her life aside from her grandmother. “This is crazy!” she said shakily.

  “Enough to work.” He could sense that she was giving in and he pressed his point. “We are very good together-”

  “As friends.”

  “But we are so much more than that.”

  “We do this discreetly-”

  “We don’t have to-”

  “Adam.” There was a determined look on her beautiful face. “If you want me to even consider this, you are going to have to agree to my terms. We will see how this goes and if it is at all something serious and something that looks to be long term then we go from there.”

  He sighed softly. “I hate that about you.”

  “What?”

  “That you are so stubborn.” His thumb traced the outline of her lips and felt her tremble against him. “I want you, Amber,” he whispered. “More than I have ever wanted another woman in my life. Give us a chance. Please.” He did not wait for her to respond as he bent his head to hers. Amber felt it again. The slow heat creeping into her body, invading her skin and spiking her heart rate! As his lips touched hers, she opened her mouth to him, sighing as his tongue touched hers, feeling the thudding of his heart against her fingertips! He was an expert! A voice warned her as she found herself sinking into the exquisite passion, the potent pull of his lips on hers. He had been honing his skills over the years! The voice filtered inside her head and then disappeared like wisps of smoke. His hands clamped around her small waist, pulling her into the hard length of his body, letting her feel the arousal, an evidence of the passion building between them. His fingers kneaded the small of her back, the movements restless as they continued to her shapely butt hugged by the tight jeans. Amber felt the jolt of unbelievable pleasure as her nipples pressed against the hardness of his chest and realized that she was not going to be satisfied with just a kiss! She wanted more! She wanted to feel his skin on hers, his-

  She tore her mouth from his and pushed him hard enough for him to stumble back.

  “Please, don’t!” he whispered raggedly, his silvery eyes darkened with passion as he stared at her.

  “I need time,” she said shakily, clenching her fists as she fought the trembling of her body. “Give me time, Adam.”

  “How much?” he asked her tautly, thinking that she was going to say a month or two and he was not sure he could even wait two days! He had to have her!

  “A day.”

  He almost sagged with relief, but he felt the need to point something out to her. “What difference will a day make?”

  “Just give me a damn day!” she flared at him. “Surely, even you can wait that long?’

  He jerked his head curtly, his body stiffening at the tone of her voice. “I will try my best!” he said sarcastically.

  They stood there staring at each other, the tension surrounding them so thick that it was almost tangible. They had always been able to communicate, say what they were thinking and move on from their disagreements, but this was different and they both knew it!

  “I am sorry,” Amber said wearily. “Just one day to sort things out in my head and then we can have dinner.”

  “Dinner?” His thick brows lifted.

  “Yes, Adam,” she said grimly. “Dinner right here where I do the cooking and we sit and eat like a normal couple.”

  “We are not a normal couple,” he told her wryly. He braced his shoulders back and tried to ease the tension in them. “Am I allowed to call you?”

  “No,” she said resolutely.

  “Amber-”

  “Please, give me the time, Adam.” Her dark brown eyes pleaded with him. “I promise that it will not take more than a day.”

  His eyes scanned her face for a moment and then he nodded. He stepped forward to pull her into his arms and she shook her head. “The time starts now.”

  His mouth tightened a fraction and then he stepped back. “You will be the one to call?”

  “Yes,” she whispered. Her eyes studied his face, a face that had graced magazines, a face that had had many women in different countries falling head over heels and suffering the pangs of unrequited love. Now she was one of them and God help her because she would never recover if she lost him altogether!

  “Stop!” His voice had a quiet force behind it that had her looking at him with a frown. “You are forgetting that I know you too, Amber.” A ghost of a smile touched his sensual lips. “I am not going to hurt you.”

  She nodded. “I have work to do.”

  “That’s my cue to leave and I have some apologizing to do.”

  “What are you going to tell her?” she asked as he started to turn away.

  He turned back to look at her. “I have a feeling that she already knows the reason.”

  Amber shoved her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. “I am not going to stop seeing Jared right now.”

  His brows snapped together as he stared at her. “Why the hell not?”

  “Because I like him and because we are going to have to be discreet.”

  “So you are going to continue to string him along? That’s not like you, Amber.”

  “You are right.” She hunched her shoulders. “None of this is like me! I am not supposed to have feelings for my best friend. I am not supposed to be aching to feel your arms around me! I am not supposed to be so scared of losing you that I am willing to tell you that I do not want anything more than what we have!” Her eyes lifted to his. “I have to have some sort of balance, some sort of sanity
to hold onto, and going out with Jared is going to give me that.”

  He studied her for a moment before he responded. “Ever since you chased away those girls who were sitting with me that afternoon when were in college, it was leading right here only we refused to acknowledge it or maybe we did not identify it. We were meant to be together, Amber, and you are going to have to find a way to deal with it. Going out with Jared is not going to make the situation better; it is only going to make it worse.” He waited for he to agree with him, but when she did not comment, he continued. “I don’t want you to go out with him.”

  “That’s too damned bad because I am!” she told him defiantly.

  He made a move towards her and she stepped back, hindered by the stool around the counter, but he did not take another step. He shook his head wryly. “I know what you are doing.”

  “You don’t know me the way you think you do.”