by Trish Wylie
Roane had always thought that too, but even so…‘I don’t know where it is you’ve been the last twelve years, but back here in civilization—’
‘I moved around a lot. In the last few years I’ve split my time between the places I liked best: San Francisco, New Orleans, here…’
Here? He’d been in New York? But that didn’t make sense. ‘Why didn’t you visit your family if you were close by?’
Adam shrugged. ‘Never got round to it.’
A cop-out if ever she heard one. ‘Didn’t it occur to you they might want to know you were still alive?’
‘If anything happened to me they’d have been told. I have strict instructions laid down. I had a lot of things written down after Katrina…’
Roane’s eyes widened when she put two and two together from what he’d said. ‘Hurricane Katrina?’
‘Yep.’ He grinned, dazzling her with perfectly straight white teeth before he winked. ‘Now there was a gal to make you think long and hard about life.’
Roane blinked at him while he smiled at the waitress, who smiled in return. ‘Same again.’
‘You got it.’
Adam raised his brows at Roane, who gave him a wide-eyed glare of recrimination before glancing down at the beer bottle in front of him. She sighed heavily before drawing the chair back the last few inches. ‘I’ll have what he’s having.’
When she was seated Adam leaned back, his forearms resting on the table while he idly turned the bottle in circles between his long fingers. ‘Never tempted to leave the island?’
‘I like it there.’
‘There’s a big wide world out here, little girl—didn’t you want to see any of it?’
‘I still have a few years left. And I’ve never been all that keen on the idea of hurricanes myself…’
Adam’s mouth quirked, his gaze rising from the bottle to study her face. ‘Planning on leaving it till retirement, are you? I hope we got you a good pension plan in that employment contract.’
‘You did. The family more than looks after me; they have done for a long time.’ She folded her arms and flumped petulantly back into her chair. Why was she sitting having a drink with him? How had that happened?
‘Does your dad still work the estate?’
Roane felt the familiar sense of loss at the mention of the man she still missed so badly. ‘He died three years ago. He had a heart attack.’
‘I’m sorry.’
The softer tone to his deep voice brought another ache to Roane’s chest, but she shrugged. ‘It happens.’
‘He was a good man. We used to talk some.’
Her gaze was accusatory. ‘I don’t remember that.’
‘You wouldn’t. You were either at school or tagging around after Jake like a puppy.’
‘I did not tag around after Jake like a puppy.’ They’d been joined at the hip for a long time, yes, but he made it sound as if she’d had some kind of schoolgirl crush on him. ‘We were friends. We still are.’
‘That’s not how I remember it.’
‘I remember you as a latter-day James Dean who didn’t give a damn about anything or anyone—how accurate an assessment was that?’ She jerked her brows.
Lifting his bottle, he tilted it in salute.
When he set the lip to his mouth Roane took the opportunity to notice a few things. Like the two thin strips of leather knotted around his wrist, a matching one tied round his neck and disappearing into the neck of his T-shirt, the wide silver band on the ring finger of his right hand…how his throat convulsed as he swallowed…the flicker of his tongue over his wide mouth to remove any lingering moisture…
Then her gaze rose and met his again, the green in his eyes merging into the brown with silent knowing. He’d seen her checking him out, hadn’t he? Well, he could think what he wanted—she hadn’t been thinking about the kiss. Much.
The waitress reappeared with their drinks, setting napkins down before she removed the bottles from her circular tray and bestowed a wide smile on Adam for his word of thanks.
Roane lifted hers, wiped the top with the napkin and took a sip, frowning at how easily he seemed to have charmed the brunette. He liked to keep his options open, didn’t he? That really shouldn’t have bugged her as much as it did, but—
She looked around, the sound of distant sirens and a loudly honking horn telling her a fire truck was going to work a few blocks away—then she glanced at Adam and found him studying her with hooded eyes.
‘What?’
‘You’re mad at yourself for sitting down, aren’t you?’
She sighed in exasperation. ‘Who wouldn’t want to spend time in your charming company?’
A lazy smile curled his mouth, deepening the grooves in his cheeks. ‘You really don’t like me much, do you?’
‘You’ve not given me much of a reason to.’
‘You just don’t know me well enough yet.’
‘And you’re planning on sticking around long enough for that to happen, are you?’
Shifting his gaze to the people on the sidewalk behind her, he shrugged again. ‘I haven’t decided what I’m doing yet.’
Something in his tone made Roane delve into an area that really wasn’t any of her business. ‘How did it go with your father this morning?’
‘He didn’t know me.’
Roane grimaced inwardly because it had to have hurt, even after so many years. How could it not? Her voice softened as a result. ‘Mornings aren’t good for him. Until he gets into the routine of the day he can be disorientated—and in fairness it’ll have been a surprise to him. He doesn’t do well with surprises. If we’d known you were coming home we could have prepared him for a few days to—’
Adam looked sideways at her. ‘Spend a lot of time with the old man, do you?’
‘Yes.’ She wasn’t put off by the flat tone of his voice. ‘We all share the time between us. We have to. It’s a full-time job.’
He looked back at the crowd.
But Roane still felt the need to help. ‘He’ll know you. Give it time. He talks about you every day.’
The burst of low laughter was bitter. ‘Yeah, I’ll bet he does.’
She shook her head, confused. ‘Why come back if you hate him so much?’
He frowned as if he wasn’t happy saying the words out loud. ‘I’m here for me, not him.’
Edward Bryant wasn’t an easy man, Roane knew that. But neither had she any experience of him being as awful as Adam seemed to think he was. She’d always thought he was more of a pussy cat inside than he let the world see. Roane being Roane, she immediately felt the need to try and mediate in some way. A father and his son should never be as estranged as they were.
She couldn’t stop the words from slipping free. ‘It must have been quite the bust up you had with him…’
Adam smiled wryly as he lifted his bottle to his mouth. ‘It wasn’t exactly an episode of The Waltons, let’s put it that way.’
‘You used to argue a lot. I remember that.’ There had been times when their raised voices could be heard echoing through the large house, times when Jake had frowned and dragged her outside into the open air where they couldn’t hear it. Adam might not have known it, but those arguments had upset his kid brother just as much as they probably had him—maybe more—because Adam’s leaving had placed a rift between the father and his second son too…
Again it probably wasn’t her place, but he needed to hear it. ‘Jake blamed him for you leaving.’
Adam’s head turned sharply. ‘I was always going to leave. It was just a question of when.’
‘Why?’
His brows lifted in disbelief. ‘Why?’
‘Yes. Why?’
Adam was staring at her as if she’d just dropped in from another planet. ‘You think it’s that simple? I’m supposed to spill my guts and you’ll dish out some words of wisdom to make everything all right? I’m going to lay my head on your shoulder afterwards and we can shed a few tears—share a chick
-flick moment. Is that how you see this working out?’
She smiled at him. ‘Yet after one itty bitty kiss I’m s’posed to fall at your feet and jump straight into bed with you. That any simpler, is it?’
To her amazement he smiled back, nodding his head and pursing his lips as he lifted his bottle again. ‘I get it. You’re here to psychoanalyze me in search of redeeming qualities. Then you’ll feel better about being attracted to me.’
‘I think you want me to hate you.’ She lifted her own bottle. ‘It’s the easy way out. Sex for sex’s sake and you don’t ever have to get involved with anyone, right?’
‘Well, you know what they say, sweetheart: it’s better to be hated for what you are than loved for something you’re not…’ He had the gall to continue smiling at her over the lip of the bottle. ‘You’re still not denying you’re attracted to me though, are you? Hate me all you want. It’s just going to make it all the hotter when it happens.’
Roane set her bottle back down with a dull thud.
Before she could say anything Adam leaned closer, his voice low. ‘Ever have angry sex, little girl? I’m betting you haven’t. I’m betting there’s plenty you haven’t tried. That’s what’s got you here when you don’t want to be, isn’t it?’
His gaze shifted, his head angling so he could study her closer. ‘There’s a part of you—deep down inside—that wants to experience what you’ve never experienced before. I’m the key to a door you’ve never dared open. But you’re burning with curiosity to know what’s on the other side, aren’t you?’
Roane’s mouth was as dry as a desert, her throat raw when she attempted to swallow. She could feel the heat building inside her body, could feel her skin tingling as if it were being touched by the whisper of his seductive words. Heaven help her. Everything he said was true. She burned. And he hadn’t laid a finger on her.
His gaze slid leisurely down the V of her jacket to the breasts that immediately seemed to swell against the confines of lace cups. ‘You want to know what it’s like to have my hands on you—to have my mouth on your skin—what it’ll feel like when I’m inside y—’
‘Stop.’ She exhaled the word on a note of pure agony, her heart slamming against her breastbone. No one had ever spoken to her the way he was. The fact it was seriously doing things for her was shocking. She’d never thought of herself as the kind of girl who was turned on by a man who could talk dirty.
Adam’s gaze rose sharply to search her wide eyes. ‘Why so scared? That’s what I don’t get. You’re too old to be a virgin. You’re curious or you wouldn’t be here. You can’t tell me you’re not turned on. Like I said before, I’m not an idiot.’
Roane forced her vocal cords to work. ‘You are the most arrogant man I’ve ever met.’
‘Not arrogance, sweetheart—confidence. Life experience brings you that, along with a healthy dose of “life’s too short.” You want this as much as I do. You know you do. Why fight it?’
‘Why?’ The whispered question rose up from deeper inside her than she’d ever looked before. ‘Why me?’
Surprise flickered across his hypnotic eyes. ‘Why?’
Roane could only manage a nod.
To her utter astonishment, one large hand lifted to push her hair back and cradle the side of her head, his thumb smoothing over the skin on her cheek with impossible gentleness. Then his deep voice rumbled low. ‘I’ll tell you why, little girl; it’s because I want to be the one to teach you the things you’ve obviously been missing out on.’
Roane blinked at him in wonder.
The smile he gave her was devilishly slow and sexy, creating a coiling knot low in her abdomen. ‘Life should be filled with unforgettable experiences. I promise I’d make this one of them for you.’
Roane was drowning in a sea of seduction so deep she could barely breathe, her very soul yearning for an unforgettable sexual experience. She wanted to be shown what all the fuss was about, why some people spent days in bed, what it was that had driven the human race to such extremes in the name of passion. The kind of passion she’d never come close to experiencing; not that she hadn’t tried, but she’d been left feeling empty and, well—unfulfilled, quite frankly.
Just once in her lifetime. Was that so very much to ask? She didn’t think it was.
Adam was the perfect candidate if she decided to do something as completely crazy as accept the offer. Not only was he hotter than Hades, he wasn’t the kind of man to put her through all the angst and self-doubt of dating. He wouldn’t ask for any kind of a commitment. Not liking his personality meant there wasn’t any chance of her falling for him and having her heart broken…
All right, so call her shallow; part of her attraction to him was the way he looked—she wouldn’t even try to pretend it wasn’t. Having such an astonishingly good-looking man pursue her was an undeniable thrill. She was only human.
After an endless moment, she found herself silently nodding, a curl of apprehension tying into a knot in her stomach when his eyelids grew heavy and his smile turned dangerous.
He’s going to kiss me again, she realized instinctually. A second later his gaze dropped to her mouth and she knew she was right, her pulse dancing in anticipation and her tongue flickering out to dampen her lips in preparation.
Hurry up and do it, then! She needed to know the first one hadn’t been a fluke, made memorable by the element of surprise. It wasn’t too late to back out. Women changed their minds all the time.
Adam moved his hand, nudging her chin up with his fist. Then he kissed her. He took advantage of her submission to part her lips with his tongue and sweep inside, taking her sharp gasp of cooler night air and replacing it with raw heat. In a mist of sensuality Roane was only vaguely aware of him wrapping his arm around her waist and tugging her closer to the edge of her chair. Her arms lifted, hands sliding around the column of his neck to hold him tight as their knees bumped together. Every doubt, every fear, every voice of reason in her head short-circuited except one.
Why haven’t I been kissed like this before?
It was so unfair. Twenty-four hours ago she’d thought she was happy, contented even. That her life was exactly what she wanted it to be. Now she knew what she’d been missing. She felt cheated. If this was just the kissing part, then heaven help her…
So much for changing her mind. It was already too late. Her body knew what it craved.
Tentatively she kissed him back, her moves becoming bolder when a growling noise of approval vibrated deep in his chest. She parted her knees and tugged herself closer, feeling the erotic sensation of the rough seams of his jeans sliding up the insides of her soft cotton trousers. But it wasn’t enough. Somewhere in her darkest thoughts came the idea—no, the need—to climb onto his lap and press her breasts tight against the wall of his chest.
One kiss and she was ready for the kind of public display she would never even have contemplated before.
With considerable effort she leaned back, running her tongue over her swollen lips the second they parted from his. As if subliminally she felt the need to lap up every last taste of him before she opened her eyes.
When she did Adam was staring at her. ‘Quick study, aren’t you?’
Roane smiled a little shyly. ‘You think?’
‘I know.’ He released her and lifted his hands to hers, freeing her fingers from behind his neck. Then he placed his hands on either side of her waist and lifted her up and back—dropping her unceremoniously into place before he pointed a long index finger.
‘Stay there. Before you get us both arrested for public indecency.’
When he reached for his beer bottle and downed half its contents Roane’s smile grew. ‘You started it.’
Adam looked at her from the corner of narrowed eyes, ‘Careful, little girl. Or this is gonna happen faster than you’re ready for.’
Squirming a little on her seat, she felt her cheeks warming at just how ready she was…
Adam’s voice was gravelly. ‘Quit th
at.’
Roane’s cheeks burned, so she aimed a scowl at him, ‘I’m confused. One minute you’re all “I’m gonna teach you” and now you’re telling me to behave?’
The beer bottle froze halfway to his mouth, was lowered carefully to the table—then Adam turned at the waist and looked her in the eye. ‘As of now lesson number one is about anticipation. I’m going to make sure you’re so ready for this you’ll go insane if it doesn’t happen.’
Roane couldn’t help it; she gulped.
Adam slowly nodded his head, ‘Mmm-hmm. Lesson two has a lot to do with lesson one; sex isn’t just about the body—it’s about the mind. It’s the largest erogenous zone the body has.’
Said the guy with the genius-level IQ? Roane’s brows wavered. Oh she was in so much trouble. How was she supposed to compete with that? How did a girl like her engage the mind of someone like him?
The smile started in his eyes. ‘What?’
Roane had never been all that good at hiding things. Jake had teased her countless times about wearing her heart on her sleeve and saying a million words with just one look. But Adam didn’t know her that well.
‘Nothing.’
‘Liar.’
She felt a hint of a headache forming behind her eyes. He was hard work. ‘You’re obviously more experienced with this than I am…’
When she waved a limp-wristed hand in the space between them Adam smiled indulgently. ‘Obviously. Though frankly? Your lack of experience baffles me.’
Roane frowned a little. ‘It does?’
‘Yes.’ For a moment he looked as if he was holding back a larger smile, then he controlled it and studied her face with open curiosity. ‘The island’s population jumps from what? Fifteen thousand off season to a hundred thousand in the summer—give or take? You can’t tell me there haven’t been opportunities.’
Well, yes, there had, but, ‘It makes for short-term relationships, though, don’t you think?’
‘Meaning there were opportunities…’
‘Not everyone looks at people from the point of view of whether or not there’d be great sex,’ said the girl who probably wouldn’t know great sex if it drove over her in a bus with the words ‘great sex’ written on the sidings.