by Zuri Day
Ryan got the first text on Friday night, less than an hour after the guys had left her parents’ home—Adam headed to the airport, Dennis and Luke no doubt went to the nearest bar for the most accommodating women. For Ryan, Luke couldn’t leave her sight soon enough, but she missed Adam already. She’d volunteered to do dinner cleanup to keep herself busy and her mind distracted, and was loading the dishwasher when her phone vibrated.
You looked beautiful tonight.
She’d hurriedly replied. You looked good, too.
You looked good, smelled good, felt good. Running your toe up my leg like that? You were being a very bad girl.
The message made her giggle. The look in Adam’s eyes after she’d done it made her think he might be feeling what she was feeling, but with the other company present she couldn’t be sure. Until now. The attraction continued to be mutual. She sent a smiley face.
When are you back in Vegas?
Monday.
Why not Sunday? I want to see you.
It wasn’t what they’d planned. But getting together again is what they both wanted. Even so, her reply was noncommittal. Maybe.
When Ryan saw Dennis in his room the next morning, Adam’s text and their plans for the following day were still on her mind. So was his suggestion that Luke be hired, too. She could understand Dennis wanting to help out a friend but nothing she knew about Luke made her think that hiring him would be a good idea. She’d stayed quiet at dinner but today was different. She and Dennis needed to talk.
“What a mess,” she said, her mood deceptively light as she entered his room. “I thought military guys were neat freaks.”
“I thought you knew about manners but I didn’t hear you knock.”
“That’s because the door was open.” She plopped down on the unmade bed. “When did you move back home?”
“A little while ago.”
The tone of his answer conveyed his annoyance, but Ryan plowed on undeterred. “Why?” No answer. She needed to push, so she slid off the bed and walked over to where the boxes she’d rummaged through were stacked against the wall. “Is it because you’re no longer working at the plant?”
Dennis turned around with a scowl on his face. “Who says I’m not working there?”
“Mom did. She thought you were already hired in Vegas.” Ryan closed the bedroom door and leaned against it. “But I saw the paperwork in one of those boxes. You didn’t quit, either. You got fired.”
Though her statement was explosive, her voice remained low and calm. Dennis’s did not.
“What the hell were you doing snooping in my things?”
“It wasn’t intentional. I came back to my old room and found all of this crap in it. Opened a couple boxes to see what was in there.”
Dennis shrugged. “Big deal.”
“Does Adam know you were fired?”
“Get out of my room!”
“Shh! You’ll wake Mom and Dad.” Ryan felt her brother’s anger but still needed answers. “I just wondered how you gave him a tour of a place where you no longer worked.”
“What’s it to you? Mind your own business!”
“This became my business the day you invited me to lunch!” Ryan stopped and took a breath. Getting angry, or loud, would not be productive. “Look, I don’t want to fight with you. I just don’t want to be a part of whatever you’re scheming.”
“I’m not scheming.”
“You’re trying to get Luke a job with Adam. I don’t like him.”
“Who asked you?”
“Nobody. But if Adam asks for my opinion, I’ll tell him the truth.”
“You’ll keep your mouth shut,” Dennis snarled, his volume rising with every word. “Now...get out of my room!”
The door opened as Ryan turned to leave. It was Ida. Her eyes zeroed in on Ryan. She didn’t look happy.
“What is all of this yelling about?” she demanded, glaring at Ryan even though Dennis had yelled. “Why are you bothering him?”
“She’s trying to sabotage my opportunity with Adam,” Dennis answered. “I think she wants him all to herself.”
Ryan couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s ridiculous.”
“It sure is,” Ida said. “I saw you trying to impress him last night. But that boy’s way above your pay grade.”
“She’s upset that I’m moving to Vegas and that Luke might come with me. If Adam asks her about Luke she said her answer won’t be good.”
“I said if asked I would give my opinion.”
“He knows Luke and I are tight. If you bad-mouth him, what would that say about me?”
“What would it say about me if I lied about how I feel about Luke?”
“You’ve never cared for that boy,” Ida said, her eyes narrowing as she glared at Ryan. “I never understood why.”
“That’s because you can’t know what it’s like to be teased about being adopted.”
“I told you then to pay him no mind, yet what he said all those years ago is still on yours? So, you were adopted. So what? We gave you a family and this is how you thank us? By being upset that someone pointed it out a time or two, a kid who was known for teasing? Yet here you are playing the victim. Do you think you’re the only one who suffered?”
Ryan clamped her mouth shut. If she opened it to answer, she might not be able to control what else flowed out.
“I tell you what. You weren’t. I suffered plenty more than you. And I’ll tell you another thing. You’d better not mess things up for Dennis. Because when it comes to opinions, there are some that can be shared that would mess up your life, too.”
Soon after, Dennis stormed out of the house. Her mother wasn’t far behind him. Since her father’s diagnosis Ida had taken on more hours, often working at the Postal Service’s processing plant on Saturday afternoons. Neither spoke another word to her before they left, though she heard mumbling that included her name. With a skill honed over a lifetime of verbal abuse, Ryan locked away what happened to be processed later and went in search of her father. She wanted to do a session of energy healing while the house was quiet and knew that helping to ease or take away some of his discomfort would lessen her emotional pain.
Ryan’s dad rarely got involved in their mother-daughter arguments, but he was often her refuge once they were done. He had a way of comforting the adopted daughter without bashing his wife. Today was no exception.
“Ida is like a mama bear when it comes to Dennis,” he began, after lying facedown on the portable table that Ryan had covered with a thick memory foam pad. “It’s always been that way. She lashes out, but she doesn’t mean it.”
“The words hurt just the same.”
Ryan began the treatment. The fluid Reiki movements over her adoptive dad’s body brought calm to her spirit. She allowed the prior conversation to float back into her mind. She listened to the mental replay dispassionately, hearing the pain beneath Ida’s caustic words.
“I wonder why Mom adopted me,” she softly mused.
“Because she loves you,” Joe answered.
“Maybe so, but she doesn’t like me very much.”
“Sometimes she doesn’t like me, either, and I’ve been married to the woman for more than thirty years.” He winked and lay back down on the table. It was Ryan’s first smile all day.
Ryan finished the intensive healing session with Joe. Afterward, they enjoyed a leisurely brunch. Ryan was by no means a cook, but her veggie-filled omelet was cheesy and spicy, and one-on-one time with her father was better than any meal. She didn’t spend the night though as originally planned, but headed back to Las Vegas before Ida returned home. Ryan felt conflicted on so many levels. She needed time to process everything from the past twenty-four hours—her Adam attraction, the Dennis dilemma, her loathing for Luke and the Ida enigma. Those problems were ones she’d have to figure out on
her own. But there was someone who could help with a piece missing from her life—her birth father. She left Bakersfield for Las Vegas and a visit with her birth mom, Phyllis Moore.
* * *
The visit didn’t go as planned. They’d met in person only a handful of times, awkward prison visits. Scant emails and short phone calls were hardly building blocks for a mother-daughter relationship. Ryan realized she’d expected too much.
“Can you tell me anything about my father?”
“Not really.”
“You don’t have anything, not even a name?”
“I’ve got several names, none that you need. Why learn something about a man you’ve never met?”
“Because he’s my dad.”
“He’s the man who knocked me up and kept on walking. Let the past stay there!”
“I have a right to know where I come from,” Ryan replied, near tears.
Phyllis seemed moved, but the brief moment passed.
“Who it was doesn’t matter. Nothing you find out now can change what happened back then.”
“It will change me,” Ryan had countered. “Learning of your addiction helped me understand why I was abandoned. Hearing about your back problem and the prolonged use of prescription medication that led to the opioid addiction provided a reason I was put in foster care, one that replaced the one believed until then—that I wasn’t a person worth loving.”
“You knew how I felt. Loving you is why I let the Washingtons adopt you. I knew they could give you what I couldn’t.”
Ryan had asked her mother about the relationship with Ida, whether she’d known her beforehand and why they didn’t get along.
“She discouraged me from looking for you,” Ryan explained. “Why would she do that?”
“Because you already had a mother,” Phyllis replied. “One is all you need. Leave the past alone, Ryan, and live in the moment.”
The visit ended with Ryan feeling almost as though she’d been abandoned again. Yet after a good night’s sleep and some leisurely shopping, she’d decided to take Phyllis’s advice and live in the moment by having one more romp with Adam before breaking off all romantic contact. Out of the market and back in her car, she engaged her Bluetooth, then merged into the light Sunday-morning traffic.
“Where are you?” was his greeting.
“Hello to you, too.” His voice warmed her heart.
Adam laughed. “Hello, gorgeous. Where are you?”
“Near Red Rock.”
“Cool, you’re not far from the hotel. Can you meet me there?”
“Why?”
“I’ve got something for you.”
“Really? What?”
“It’s a surprise.”
The sexiness in his voice was as thick as molasses that she could imagine oozing wet and sticky down her bare skin, much as Adam’s tongue had the one time they’d been together. The slow way he spoke, raspy and low, should have been illegal. At the very least he should have been required to register a voice like that as a lethal weapon. But if that happened, Ryan thought, she needed to be arrested, too. Because becoming that aroused by nothing more than consonants and vowels should be against the law.
“I just spent an hour at the farmer’s market. Maybe I should go home and shower first.”
“I know you’ve never stayed there but we have showers in every suite. I’ll text you the room number and leave a special card key for you at the front desk. See you soon?”
“Yes.”
“I can’t wait.”
Ryan reached the CANN Casino Hotel and Spa and as Adam had instructed in the text he’d sent, she stopped at the valet booth. From there until she arrived at the elevator, the service she received was stellar, the best she’d ever experienced at a hotel or anywhere. Was this what it felt like to be wealthy? Knowing this was the first and last time she’d experience such luxury was bittersweet.
Adam had directed her to a penthouse suite. She got on the elevator and closed her eyes, tried to ignore the pang of fear in her stomach as the car sped upward. Her discomfort with elevators was only part of the reason for her anxiety. She’d bet the money from her first fifty clients that Adam would have questions about his visit to Bakersfield in general and Dennis in particular. He was considering her brother for a very important position and was obviously an excellent businessman. Why wouldn’t he ask what she thought about it? And how could she answer without lying, yet not quite tell the truth?
The elevator opened to a small landing with doors on each wall. She went to penthouse A and slid in the card.
“Hello?”
Ryan paused and stepped inside. A beautiful foyer led into a short hall. Soothing music wafted toward her, along with wonderful scents she recognized including jasmine and vanilla. Adam came around the corner, arms outstretched. He was barefoot, and wore gray drawstring pants and a black tank top. Perfect.
“There you are.” He pulled Ryan into his body, squeezed her as though she was something exquisite and rare. There was no need for words because their bodies were talking. Ryan’s arms slid around his neck as their lips came together. He palmed her butt, pressed her against his already hardening shaft. For several minutes they got no farther than that hallway. By the time he gently took her hand and pulled her into the main living space, her dress had already been removed and left behind on the floor. The room took her breath away.
“This is incredible! Adam, oh my God!”
Ryan had never been overly modest, and something about standing in front of floor-to-ceiling windows in nothing but a thong made her feel powerful, sexy and a little bit naughty. Being over a hundred stories in the air helped, too, she imagined. Adam came up behind her, teasing her nipples into pert attention. His other hand snaked down to her heat between her legs.
“Can anyone see us?” Ryan asked. Posing naked was one thing. Being the unwitting subject of a potential sex tape was something else altogether.
“No, babe. These are one-way windows. We can see out but no one can see in.”
She turned in his arms. “Let’s take a shower.”
They did, and soap and water wasn’t the only thing felt on skin. Fingers skimmed. Tongues glided. Ryan’s eyes turned mischievous as her knees met the polished stone floor. She encircled Adam’s dick with her fingers, flicked her tongue on and around its mushroomed tip. His fingers stroked her hair. She slid wet lips up and down his generous package, slowly at first, then faster, harder, until a strained hiss escaped his mouth and he pulled away. Before Ryan could rise on her own Adam lifted her up, perched her on the bench and placed her legs over his shoulders. She didn’t have to wonder what came next because mere seconds passed before her back was against the shower walls and his face was buried in the juncture of her thighs. Had his oral feats been filmed, the video would have definitely gone viral. His tongue was masterful, his fingers relentless, creating an orgasm that shook Ryan from head to toe. He gently lowered her to the bench, stepped out of the shower and returned with a familiar square foil. After making delicious love under the rain forest showerhead, they washed each other’s satisfied bodies and tumbled into bed.
“Even better than last time,” Ryan murmured, stretching like a satisfied feline. “I think between that tongue—” she kissed his lips “—and those fingers—” she wrapped hers in his “—every muscle in my body was rubbed.”
“What can I say? You bring out the beast in me.”
There was a knock at the door. Ryan started. “Who’s that?”
“Room service.” Adam slid off the bed, stepped into a walk-in closet and, once robed, strolled to the front door. Seconds later, he returned wheeling a tray loaded with covered dishes.
“Brunch in bed,” he told her. “And guess what? It’s all vegetarian.”
After retrieving her dress, Ryan rejoined Adam on the bed. If asked she wouldn’t hav
e said she was hungry, but one bite of the veggie-filled omelet topped with cashew cheese and she was all in. Adam enjoyed a pecan pie pancake topped with caramelized bananas, dripping with spiced maple syrup.
Ryan took a few bites, then reached for the pitcher of orange juice and poured two glasses. “When it comes to your restaurant and vegetarian options, I don’t think you need my help. Just get with the chef who fixed all this.”
“Emilio is talented but you’re way cuter,” Adam teased. He reached for the glass of juice Ryan had poured for him. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Adam took a long swig of the juice, then picked up his fork and resumed eating. “I enjoyed meeting your family on Friday,” he said after a few bites.
“Even with Dennis trying to stir things up by suggesting there’s something between us?”
“It’s natural that he’d be curious to see whether or not his plan worked.”
“So you picked that up, huh? That he was trying to set us up.”
“Bringing a vegetarian to a burger joint made that move fairly obvious. Maybe he’d planned to ask for a job all along and thought bringing along his very pretty sister might improve his chances of getting hired.”
“Since we’re keeping our rendezvous a secret, he’ll never know.” Ryan reached for one of the intricately folded linen napkins. “It’s funny that you were onto him from the start. I love my brother but sometimes he can be a cad.”
“I noticed that. I also got the feeling that he’s your mom’s favorite while you seem closer to your dad. Am I right?”
“Yes.”
“You look more like him, too, although some of your features don’t resemble either of them. But I get that. My older brother, Christian, is clearly a Breedlove but looks more like our grandfather than our dad.”
Ryan nodded but became very interested in eating. The longer her mouth stayed full the less she’d have to talk.
For a while they ate in silence. “I’m surprised at how delicious this food tastes,” he said after finishing off his omelet. “I liked your mom’s cooking,” he added.
“I used to,” Ryan admitted. “Nothing like comfort food.” Then because she couldn’t stand the feeling of waiting for a hammer to drop, she asked him, “How was your visit to where Dennis works?”