Adam streamed sweat. Fuck me, if he dies . . .
Then John heaved. Adam released his mouth and the dog coughed out a gush of water, shuddered, then coughed another trickle.
“John!” Dom flung himself on the dog, crying now, the great heaving sobs of a little boy who’d almost lost his best friend.
Maddie pulled him back gently, onto her lap. “John needs to catch his breath, sweetie.” The boy clutched her instead, burying his face in her neck.
John quivered, exhausted but breathing, his trusting brown eyes resting on Adam. Adam stroked his head. “I’m sorry, boy,” he murmured, shaken to the marrow.
“Papa,” Dom snuffled, “is he okay?”
“He’s fine. Gave us a scare, didn’t he?” And a reminder that life hung by a thread, that losing a loved one was the work of a moment.
Looking at his son, his knobby spine, his slender arms, Adam started to tremble. The boy was so small, so vulnerable. What if Dom had been drowning? What if Adam wasn’t there to save him?
His gaze lifted to Maddie, delicate Maddie. Fragile as a twig. What if someone hurt her? What if Adam wasn’t there to protect her?
They needed him. Dom and Maddie and John. They needed him.
Maybe Maddie saw the raw emotion on his face, or maybe she simply wanted a hug. For whatever reason, she opened an arm to him. He crawled to her, saw a sheen in her eyes.
“No more tears,” he said, holding back his own. “We’re all right. All of us. We’ll be all right.” And he wrapped them in his arms.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
FINALLY, ADAM’S LIFE made sense.
Stepping into tan slacks, he laid out his plans to Henry, who leaned against the closet doorjamb, arms folded, attentive.
“We’ll dine with Lucy and Crash tonight,” Adam said. “Dom won’t be joining us. I’m keeping him under wraps until next week.”
“I’ll set you up on the terrace?”
“Yes, good. And tomorrow, I’ll need you to see Lucy and Crash to the jet. I’m taking Maddie to the lake.”
“She’s all right with that?”
“Well, she doesn’t know about the lake yet, that’s a surprise. But she’s agreed to stay the weekend to help out with Dom. I’ll stretch it into next week. We’ll head to New York once the press conference is set.”
“You’re a cocky bastard, assuming she’ll jump to your tune.”
“Maddie knows I need her here. Dom needs her.” Adam’s head popped out through the neck of a silk T-shirt. “And she’s in love with me.”
Henry guffawed. “Does she know that?”
“She hasn’t admitted it yet, but she will.” Adam grinned at his old friend. “We’re getting married.”
Henry dropped his arms, caught flatfooted. “You’re engaged?”
“We will be.”
“You honestly think she’ll marry you?”
Adam felt the first inkling of annoyance. “I’m not an ogre.”
“No, you’re a fucking thief!” Henry shoved his hands through his thinning hair. “So you’re calling it off? The Matisse?”
“Of course not.” Adam threw him a look. “Everything’s in place?”
Henry nodded, reluctantly. “Fredo’s been over the route a hundred times, and over the alternates too. As for the timing, my man inside assures me nothing’s changed.”
“Go over it again.” Adam would walk all of them through it a dozen more times in the next forty-eight hours.
Henry folded his arms, recited by heart. “At precisely 9:15, you’ll exit through the west gate. At 9:16, Fredo will pick you up in the black Maserati.”
He laid out each step, minute by minute, all the way to the Matisse. “When you reach the southeast gallery, it’s the third painting on the right, in the narrow gilt frame.”
“Your man’s sure of the location? There’ll be no time for groping in the dark.”
“He’s sure.” Henry followed Adam out of the closet and into the bedroom. “The security’s a decade out of date. It’s the easiest job you’ve ever done, a walk in the park compared to the Lady in Red. But Adam, are you sure you want to go through with it? If Maddie finds out—”
“I plan to tell her about it. After the fact.”
“Are you mad?”
Adam slapped him on the back. “I won’t keep secrets from my wife.”
“You’re taking a hell of a chance.”
Annoyance prickled again. “Maddie and I aren’t as different as you think. We share the same goals. We simply achieve them in different ways.” He smiled, confident. “Once I explain that Rosales traffics in children, she’ll understand.”
Turning his back on Henry, he strode into the bathroom and unzipped, called through the door, “Now walk me through the getaway.”
“MADDIIIIIEEEE!” LUCY SKIPPED across the terrazzo floor and caught Maddie in a hug. “We had the most epic cruise! You can’t believe all the gazillionaires around here!”
“Yeah, the Riviera’s known for gazillionaires.” Maddie peeked around her. “Where’s Crash? Did you dump him for a sheik?”
“Not a chance. He went upstairs to change, but I wanted to find you. Where’s Adam? What did you guys do while we were cruising?”
“You know. Worked. And stuff.” Maddie felt funny not mentioning Dom, but while she trusted Lucy to keep silent, she wasn’t sure about Crash.
“By stuff you mean hot monkey sex, right?”
Maddie winced. “I was going to say we’re kind of involved. Adam and me. Temporarily.”
“And having hot monkey sex?”
“Sheesh. Yes. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Prude.” Lucy pinched her cheek, the only human to dare it. Tugging Maddie along, she headed for the terrace. “God, I love it here. I wish we didn’t have to leave tomorrow.”
“Um, listen, I’m sticking through the weekend. You could hang here with me.”
“Crash has a Saturday-night gig. But I’m glad you’re staying.” She squeezed Maddie’s hand. “I’m glad you’re giving Adam a shot.”
“Don’t make too much out of it. He’s a little diversion, that’s all.”
Lucy glanced up, over Maddie’s shoulder. “Here comes the little diversion now. All six-foot-two of him.”
Maddie couldn’t help herself, she turned to watch him come, all six-foot-two of him. Gorgeous as sin, and his smile, wow. His lips said, “Hello, Lucy,” but the smile was all hers.
Curling an arm around her shoulders, he snuggled her to his side. The presumptuous bastard. She reached for indignation, couldn’t find any. Instead, she found her own arm curling around his waist.
Crash appeared, blond streaks lighter than ever. He hooked Lucy’s shoulders. “Adam, man, your yacht’s awesome. Thanks for the cruise.” He shifted his infectious grin to Maddie. “Hey Mads. Nice tan. Been beachin’ it?”
Maddie smiled, genuinely. The kid was a goof, but for now at least, he was head over heels for Lucy.
“We beached it today,” she said. “John almost drowned.”
“Oh, John!” Lucy wrapped her arms around the grinning dog.
“Adam fished him out of the water,” Maddie heard herself brag.
“Which wouldn’t have mattered if Maddie didn’t know CPR.” Adam bragged too.
“Aw.” Lucy teared up. “You guys are so great together.” She threw an arm around each of them.
Crash gave John a rub. “John, my man, you got great parents.”
Parents?
Maddie wriggled out of the hug. “Listen, we’re not—”
Adam cut her off with a kiss. Not a chaste in-front-of-your-sister peck, but a shut-up-and-kiss-me kiss. She put a hand on his chest to shove him back, but somehow her fingers curled into the silk of his shirt instead. He angled his head a little more, sank deeper.
And she hummed.
When they came up for air, Lucy and Crash had disappeared.
“Look what you did.” Maddie rubbed her lips with her wrist like he’d fo
rced her. “You embarrassed everybody. We probably won’t see them till tomorrow.”
He stroked a knuckle down her jaw. “Our Crash won’t miss a meal. We’ll find him working his way through the appetizers with your lovely sister. And I doubt either of them is embarrassed.”
“Well, I am. I’ve never kissed anybody in front of Lucy. It’s weird.” And yet, walking out to the terrace she found herself going along with the arms-around-each-other.
Damn it, everything had changed. Every. Thing.
It all started with the sex, just as she predicted. Their bodies rubbed together and the sheets went up in flames.
But sex was just the bait he’d used to hook her. He reeled her in with his brains, his humor. And weirdly, his heart. She hadn’t suspected he had one of those. And so much bigger than even he knew. He rationed his love—she could relate to that—but when he unleashed it on his friends, his son, his dog, it was a mighty force. It moved mountains.
Hell, it even moved her. In that moment on the beach when John coughed his first breath, she’d handed Adam her own heart and knew she’d never get it back.
Not that she needed it. Things hadn’t changed that much. Not as far as relationships went—as in, she still wasn’t having one, ever.
But—and this only made sense—since she was sticking around for the weekend, she might as well make the most of the endorphins fizzing through her bloodstream. They really amped up the sex.
And the lovey-dovey, couple-y stuff was kind of nice too. So why not play along for a few days? What harm could it do?
It wasn’t like they were getting married.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Vicky: I promise to help you get through
the hard things and the scary things
and to shine a light in the darkness.
Maddie: But if I see a zombie . . .
THE MORNING SUN glinted off the Ferrari’s hood. Adam unhooked his aviators from the neck of his shirt and slid them on. “Relax, darling. It’s a gorgeous day here, and promises to be the same in New York.”
Maddie wrung her hands. “I should’ve ridden to the airport with them. What if the plane goes down?”
“It won’t.” He put absolute confidence into his tone. “And waving from the tarmac would make no difference in any case.”
“At least I’d know I didn’t abandon my sister to go catting off to the Alps to get laid.”
Adam grinned. Leave it to Maddie to make a romantic getaway to his luxury villa on Lake Como sound like a hit-and-run at a sleazy motel in old Vegas.
Still, he couldn’t bear to see her distressed. He took her hand, squeezed it lightly. “Why don’t I turn around? We can still make it to the airport.”
“No.” She let out a sigh, seemed to relax. “You’re right, being there won’t make any difference. But thanks for offering.” She squeezed back, and he felt it in his chest, around his heart.
Slowly, it was sinking through his hard skull that the littlest things moved Maddie, the small acts of kindness. He’d given her a designer wardrobe and she couldn’t care less. Handed her a five-million-dollar job and she’d turned up her nose. But the offer to turn around, which cost nothing at all, had won him his first heart-melting smile of the day and lifted the clouds from her eyes.
Why had it taken so long—all his life—to understand that money was no substitute for love? Not for others, like Dom and Maddie. And not for himself.
It did have its advantages though, like a place on Lake Como. Maddie’s first glimpse of the spectacular mountains dropping sharply into the sapphire water, the castlelike villas clinging to promontories or carved into rock, the terraced gardens flowering abundantly, rendered her gratifyingly speechless.
Turning onto a narrow road, he skimmed past stone walls set with wide, sturdy gates leading to large waterfront estates, then hit the remote on his visor and drove through a narrow wrought-iron gate into a relatively modest compound, braking at the steps of a tidy stone villa.
Maddie looked it over, the flowering urns lining the front steps, the masses of rhododendrons drenching the air with cinnamon, the gray stone stairs curving down to the waterfront, then turned to him, concern on her face.
“Kinda puny, isn’t it? People will wonder if LeCroix Enterprises is circling the drain.”
He chuckled. “Don’t worry, no one knows it’s mine. The property’s in Henry’s name. No live-in help, just a gardener and his wife. She cleans and stocks the kitchen as necessary.”
“It looks like it’s been here forever,” she said as they stepped inside. “Like it grew up out of the ground.”
“Not quite, but some parts are older than others.” Like the two-hundred-year-old tile on the floor, and the marble columns supporting the terrace roof.
“I’ve opened up the floor plan, made updates.” He pointed them out as they walked through the house. Kitchen fixtures, Jacuzzi tub, and in the bedroom, a king-sized water bed.
Maddie smirked at the bed. “Is this where you film the porn?”
“Only if you’re into it, darling.” He tossed her into the center, causing a tidal wave.
She let out a giddy laugh. “I’ve never done it on a water bed.”
“You’ll love it.” He climbed on, the surface rolling gently now. Propping up on one elbow, he gazed down at her as she gazed up at him. In her shining silver eyes, he saw his future, the woman to share his life, his work and his play, to mother his children.
Inside him, everything settled. “Maddie.” He whispered her name, his mantra. “My beautiful Maddie.”
A line formed between her eyes, and he braced for the pushback. But it didn’t come. The line dissolved. Her smile deepened.
She lifted a hand to his cheek, traced her fingertips along his jaw. “Adam,” she whispered. Her heart shone in her eyes.
His own heart swelled, expanding his rib cage, an almost painful sensation. The need to tell her all he felt overwhelmed him.
But she was a fawn, tiptoeing closer. One sudden move and she’d bolt.
He hadn’t brought her here to chase her as she fled him. He’d brought her here, far from her sister and his son and the troubled pasts they evoked, to savor the present and, hopefully, take a step toward the future.
Not trusting himself to keep still, he pulled her palm to his lips. Her pulse tripped under his thumb. Closing his eyes, he let his pulse sync with hers so their hearts beat in time.
She was making a romantic of him, and he liked it.
She touched his chest lightly, fingers working buttons, sliding under the fabric. She touched his skin, just her knuckles, soft as feathers. Goosebumps rippled up his side.
Then she pushed him onto his back—gently, not her usual tooth-and-nail style. The mattress rolled as she straddled him.
“Ever get seasick on this thing?” she asked, tugging the shirttails from his jeans.
“Not yet,” he murmured, “but let’s make a tsunami and see what happens.”
Her fingers worked his belt, his button-fly. Digging inside, she came out with his hard-on in her hot little hands.
Watching through hooded eyes, he palmed her thighs, bare under her scrap of a sundress. It was peach cotton, strapless, held up by a wish and a prayer. Later, he’d peel it down off her perfect handfuls.
Later, when she wasn’t handling his cock.
For now, he hooked his thumbs in the sides of her shoestring panties, and snapped them. She sucked a little breath like a sip through a straw, and his raging heart beat harder.
More than his next breath, he wanted to put her on her back, bury himself in her heat. But for once, she was taking it slow, pouring something more than animal lust into her touch. It was what he’d wanted, to take their time, explore each other.
And it was killing him by inches.
She looked down at his forearms, knotted with the effort not to manhandle her. “I love your arms,” she said, the first time she’d used the L-word in connection with any part of him. “Flex them.
”
He laughed.
“I mean it,” she said. “Take off your shirt and flex them like Popeye. Please.”
The hunger in her eyes made him do it, made him spread his arms wide, then curl his fists toward his shoulders. When her pupils dilated to black, he forgot to be self-conscious and gave an extra squeeze, popping his biceps.
“Shit,” she murmured, “I love your body. You’re so hard. Everywhere.”
“And getting harder.” He brought his hands down to cover hers, stroking along with her.
“Good idea,” she said, “you take care of that so I can do this.” Sliding her hands out from under his, she flattened her palms on his chest, slid them up to his shoulders, slowly, then down the length of his arms. Up again, over his shoulders, her taut body stretching over him, her breasts a few tempting inches from his mouth.
He couldn’t take it, the buildup. The heat.
Out the window went pretty ideas of lovemaking. Releasing his cock, he yanked her dress down to her waist, took the taste he craved, sucking one nipple, palming the other, while his spare hand went up under her skirt.
And found her soaking.
Christ Jesus.
Flipping her in one motion, he hooked his arms under her knees and unchained the animal, taking her with one plunge, claiming her with each stroke. Her breasts bounced as he pumped her. He dropped his head, lapped the sweat that beaded between them. Her nails, diamond sharp, raked his straining arms. She bowed beneath him, lean muscles flexing, sinews straining. Why had he ever thought her fragile? She was strong and tensile as a sword.
Her hips pistoned with his, a frantic rhythm. “Adam, I . . .” A gasping plea she couldn’t finish. She clasped his face in her hands, locked her eyes with his. Accepting him. Accepting them.
“Come with me,” he forced through clenched teeth.
And let the animal have his way.
ALL AFTERNOON THEY floated on Adam’s huge lake of a bed, drinking wine and making love until hunger drove them to forage. Then they took cold chicken and green salads out to the terrace, feasting as the sun set behind the mountains, drawing the curtain on a perfect summer day.
The Wedding Vow Page 25