Finally Found

by Nicole Andrews Moore

  “Damn you, Sam!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, even though he knew his brother could never possibly hear him. “Damn you to hell, you miserable rat bastard!” He stormed out of his room and nearly collided with that bartender. “What? Did he pay you extra to piss me off tonight?”

  She scowled. “Nobody paid me extra for anything. I am pissing you off for free!” And she shuffled by him carrying crates of liquor.

  “Stop,” he said with a sigh. She kept moving. “Wait. I’ll help you.” She continued, clearly in a hurry to be away from him. Without saying another word, he walked up to her, grabbed her shoulder, whipped her around, and gathered the crates she had been holding. “These go in the catering van?” He asked casually as she walked beside him out the door.

  “Yes. They do.” She was staring at him, frowning.

  “What is it? Something on my face?” He was trying to be jovial at the moment, busy as he was crafting a new plan.

  “Yeah. You have a little something…all over. What’s going on behind those beady little eyes of yours?” He noticed she continued to study his features.

  “Oh, I was just thinking…”

  “Clearly, and just what were you thinking? That’s the big question, right?” She stopped in the parking garage right next to the catering van. Another employee was loading a bag of dirty linens, saw her, approaching with Adam and headed back inside rather quickly.

  “So…are you also going in the catering van?” He tried to sound casual, but he knew there was a distinct possibility that he was coming off as a bit giddy at the moment.

  “No, I won’t be riding in the catering van. I have my own car…” He realized she probably felt like she had already said too much. She was starting back away from him a bit nervously.

  He sighed. “Okay, here’s the deal.” He took a deep breath as he prepared to reveal the events that had transpired. It was nice talking to someone he really had no true interest in. There was no guile. There were no games. There was only…the truth. He smirked. How unusual. “So, my brother is under the impression that I am handicapable…as a result of the hit and run that landed me in a coma and broke my legs.” He danced around a little. “As you can see, that isn’t the case. I’m good.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And then he went and hired me a home health nurse. Only she isn’t even qualified to be a home health nurse. She is just…” He shivered a long full body shiver.

  “Why would he think you need a nurse?” She asked, her eyes narrowed.

  Scratching his head, Adam colored slightly. “I’m thinking it’s because I may have been milking the injury for attention.” He suddenly straightened. “But I’m fine…”

  Before he could complete his thought, Cammie interrupted again. “And since when does a voluptuous woman leave you to have full-body shivers. I saw that nurse.”

  “Apparently she’s more of a medical assistant at the moment. All I know is…she’s not for me.” He shook his head emphatically. And he truly meant it.

  “Oh, are you suddenly so evolved?” She asked sarcastically. “And what do you want from me? It’s obvious you are suddenly pestering me for something. Quit beating around the bush. Get to the point. Out with it. What. Do. You. Want?”

  A genuine smile broke out on his face. This woman was incredible. She didn’t play. He really respected that…as much as he respected any woman. “A ride.” He shrugged. “I want a ride.”

  “You want a ride,” she repeated, dead pan. “You have an incredible car…” She glanced around the parking garage. “Hey, didn’t you have the black Mercedes sport’s coupe with the ADAMS TOY license plates?” She looked around conspicuously. “I could have sworn…”

  “Ah ha!” He threw his hands in the air. “My brother seems to have absconded my ride. And since Haley would never agree to such a move, I’m guessing he tricked her, too. So, you see…I really do need a ride. I need to get out of here, away from the so-called medical assistant, away from my less than understanding brother. If they are kicking me out of their love nest, then I want to pick my next nest. And I’m thinking…not here.”

  He didn’t want to reveal the destination until he had her on the hook. If he told her too soon where they were going, he would have to deal with questions, potential refusal, and the likelihood that she would then tattle should his brother call upon her. Sam was, after all, the one who paid her bill tonight. He stood and watched. He waited. He could see that she was possibly considering it. He merely needed to sweeten the deal.

  “At the risk of sounding a bit mercenary, what’s in this for me?” She raised an eyebrow as she had raised the stakes.

  He leaned in and smiled his most charming smile. “The pleasure of my company?” He placed two hands on her bare shoulders. It was chilly in the parking garage and she didn’t have anything on over that bustier. She was a bit chilly to the touch. “Hey.” He pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around her without thinking, without asking. It was pure instinct. And yet he had never done such a thing before. He frowned at that realization.

  Cammie studied him. One minute he was trying to charm her, the next minute he was dropping the façade and being incredibly genuine and sweet. She shook her head. Man, this guy was a ball of contradictions.

  “No?” He looked bewildered.

  “Why not just rent a car? Why not just stay here until morning and then examine your options in the light of day? Why not ask a friend?” She watched as he winced. “Surely you have friends. You always hung out with a big rowdy group of them.”

  He took a step back and leaned against the cement piling. “You would think, right? I was never at a loss for company. Well, it’s funny how being in a coma can put life in perspective.” He sighed. “As it turns out, I have no friends. And I currently have no wallet. My brother, in his infinite wisdom, seems to have absconded that, too. That’s my sad tale.”

  “So where the hell do you think I’m going to drive you? Where do you think you are going to go since you have no money and no car?” She had her hands on her hips. “Surely you don’t expect me to support you? I don’t make enough money for that. Actually, I’ve seen your frivolous spending. I’m not sure anyone but a rock star would have the money for that.” She sighed. Part of her wanted to take pity on him, the other part wanted to throttle him. “Do you have any idea how hard I work for every little thing that I have?”

  She was completely irritated now, barely rational. As she talked, she had been walking toward her car angrily. She unlocked the door to her Honda Civic. “Get in,” she snarled.

  He quietly did as she commanded. At least she was driving him away from here. For a moment he pictured himself as a bum on the streets with his cardboard Sharpie sign: Anywhere but here!

  Pulling on his seat belt, he sat with his hands in his lap. He glanced over at the odometer and noticed that the vehicle had well over 100,000 miles. Without speaking, he tested the seat belt while she seethed and simmered. He felt around tentatively for soft spots in the floor. The cherry on top of his birthday was not going to be ending up as road kill or spending even one more minute in the hospital. He heard what he could only describe as a low growl.

  “What. Are. You. Doing?” She had barely gritted out the words.

  “Is this vehicle even safe?” He tried out his most contrite look. If his luck continued to hold, she would be impervious to that, too.

  “It goes. It stops. It always starts. Any more questions?” Cammie was clearly not enjoying his company.

  “Just the one…” He paused as her head snapped around to look at him. “Where are we going?” Adam half expected her to snap at him again. Instead, she looked at him and laughed. Laughed. Not a chuckle. Not a giggle. She laughed. Whole, hearty, soft and warm…she laughed.

  “Oh, well, I figured before we went on this fool’s errand of yours that I should change. And I could show you how the other half lives.”

  “We’re going to your place?” He perked up. While he had jokingly hoped to end the ni
ght with her, he never thought he stood a chance. “Was it my charm? Was it my devastatingly good looks?” He leaned over the console toward her. He used those gorgeous blue-green eyes of his, dark like the Caribbean after a storm, and was reduced to nearly nothing when she laughed again. This time, not in a good way. He pounded his fist against his heart. “You are killing me. Maybe I’m rusty?”

  “Please, you were never good enough to get me,” she said, throwing her head back and laughing even harder.

  Adam sank lower in his seat and stared out the window. This was really turning out to be some birthday. A horrible birthday. The worst birthday ever. He bit down on his finger like he used to when he was young and frustrated.

  “Stop that,” she chided. “Everything is going to be okay, Adam. You just have to adapt to a whole lot of changes.” She had pulled his finger out of his mouth, yanked his hand away from his face, and set his hand in his lap. “Really. You are going to be just fine.”

  He stared at her. There was something so inviting about her. She was so…real. She was looking at him from under those thick eyelashes. He wanted to know if they were hers, were they real, too. Then there was the bustier. Were the girls real? He knew without really having ever talked to her that she was completely unlike anyone he had ever known. The problem with that, as she had asserted, was that he had no idea how to talk to her even.

  “You know…I don’t even know your name…” He said quietly, a little embarrassed at the admission.

  “Well, a name tag doesn’t really go with this outfit,” she joked. Then looking at him sideways, her pony tail bouncing playfully behind her, she announced, “Cammie. Call me Cammie.”

  They pulled up in front of a narrow building. It was scarcely wider than the double door and skinny sidelight window. Adam gawked at it. “Holy hell! That is one tiny building.” He glanced around, trying to see what the rest of the crowded street looked like. “And where do you live?”

  “That would be…the third floor of Holy Hell.” She smirked at him.

  He wanted to stab himself in the thigh with a really dull fork…like the kind they had in the boarding school he spent two years at before being expelled. Those forks could barely stick the steak. And those knives…glorified butter knives. He shook his head. Honestly, he should stick to non-verbal communication. He smiled. In the past, that would have meant taking her to bed. With all he had said wrong this night, he wouldn’t even be permitted to undress her with his eyes. He sighed.

  “Should I wait in the car? Is there even room for both of us in there?” He smirked to show he was joking.

  “This is the part of the evening wherein I give you a tour of how the other half lives. Drag your ass.” She rolled her eyes and sighed as she stepped from the vehicle. “Oh, and you have to lift up on the door to shut it. The latch mechanism is a bit tricky.” He could see she was trying not to laugh at him as he struggled with the door.

  After a few more unsuccessful tries, she sighed loudly and walked over to him. “Move,” she urged. Once he was out of the way, she grabbed the door handle, lifted it and the door, then directing it with her foot, managed to expertly shut it on the very first try. “There.” She smiled and led the way inside the building.

  “You might have mentioned the foot trick. I bet if I had used the foot trick…” But before he could complete his sentence, they had walked up the narrow dimly lit staircase and had stopped in front of her door. At least he assumed it was her door, since she was using a key in the lock.

  “So, here’s what’s going to happen,” she said. “I’m going to walk in after you. You should go straight, duck under the loft, sit on the couch and wait for me. I’ll hike up the loft, change, and come back down. Then I’ll take you anywhere you want to go because I’ll be so happy to get out of these shoes and that bustier that you can all but have your way with me.” She was practically giddy as she peeled off her shoes in the hall.

  “Does that mean I still have a chance at getting my birthday wish?” He wore his most seductive grin.

  “Why do you always have to do that?” She sighed loudly. “Can’t we just be playful and have fun without you trying to turn everything into sex? Have you not had enough meaningless sex in your life?” She gestured with her head. “Go on. I’m waiting.” It was getting late and her impatience was showing.

  Sitting quietly under the loft, Adam wondered over everything she had said. It was true. There was more than a grain of truth to it. Hadn’t their discussion earlier in the evening proven that point? And yet some habits were simply so hard to break. He frowned. Some day, he wanted something real, just like Sam and Haley. He wanted someone that he could be himself with, who would love him no matter what. He wanted someone who was safe to love.

  Too soon, she came down the ladder. She was wearing worn jeans and a fitted v-neck long sleeved shirt. It was plum colored and a white tank top was peeking out underneath. She had on fuzzy socks and slid her feet into some black boots that she pulled out of a cupboard near the door. And her hair, for the first time that night, was loose and flowed past her shoulders in waves of honey blonde and gold. Then she did it again…that thing where she looked up at him through her long lashes. For a moment, his breath caught in his throat and he had to wonder once more how he had never noticed her. She knew him, but had he really been that superficial that he had never paid attention to her because she was the help? He shook his head, disgusted with the man he used to be and determined to be better.

  “Did you decide where you want to go?” She asked while grabbing a black leather jacket from behind a sheet that doubled as a closet door. He knew his mouth was hanging open. That was why she had reacted as she did. She chuckled. “The other half, remember?”

  “You mean to tell me that the other half doesn’t have closet doors? The other half doesn’t have bedrooms? The other half lives in an apartment so narrow that I can literally touch the opposing walls?” He stood and spread his arms to demonstrate. “Do you even have a bathroom in here, or is this some crazy communal situation that they try to pass off as eco friendly and European?”

  She gave him a look that suggested he was the one being ridiculous. “Of course, even the poor have to bathe and pee.” She shrugged. “Let’s go.”

  They headed out the door. She locked it while he looked on. “Believe it or not, even I have stuff people would want to steal.” She sighed and rolled her eyes.

  “Did I say anything?” He felt attacked.

  “Sorry, I have a tendency to be a bit defensive, I guess. It’s a learned behavior.” She skipped down the last few steps and headed out the front door. “I learned it from working around people like you…”

  Adam had no idea how to respond to all that. It was strange. He hadn’t even known Cammie more than a few hours. In that brief time they had been at each other like cats and dogs. They seemed to mix about as well as oil and water. Yet he couldn’t help but want to spend more and more time with her. While she seemed remarkably open, he still sensed that there were so many mysteries that he needed to unravel.

  “You know, you are way too young to be so bitter,” he remarked with a smirk as they sat in the car and hooked their seat belts.

  “Yes.” She said simply. Then she started the car and placed her hands on the wheel. She stared straight ahead.

  “What are we waiting for?” He asked.

  “I still have no idea where I’m going.” She leaned over the steering wheel for a moment as she stretched her back. “So, Jeeves, where to?”

  He couldn’t help but smile at her. She was so stinking cute, such a ball of contradictions, so tough and yet so delicate. She was never at a loss for words, but could render him speechless in an instant. She was…fascinating.

  Cammie’s eyes shut for a moment. Once again, he was drawn to her long thick lashes. She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen. He found himself imagining what it would be like to feel those lashes brush against his cheek as he crushed her against him. And it occurred t
o him for the briefest of moments that she might be too tired to drive him. Part of him wanted to end this fiasco, give up, give in, and go home rather than inconvenience her. And the other part of him wanted her around for a while. He needed a new toy. He could make it worth her while. When he tired of her he wouldn’t simply discard her like he had the girls of the past. No, he was changing. When he discarded Cammie, he would leave her better off than he had found her. And she would even thank him.

  “What if I just give you directions as we go? That might be easier.” And he gave her a warm smile, confident once more that he was doing the right thing.

  She gave him a sideways glance. “Really? See, now you have me wondering. You have me thinking that maybe I’m going to be driving so far that for me to hear the destination in advance would have me kicking you out of my car. Are we leaving the state?”

  “No,” he said honestly while he shook his head emphatically. Cammie was not a stupid woman. It wasn’t that he thought he could put anything over on her. It was that he wanted to get her far enough away that she would feel committed and not back out on him. It was a bit of trickery, for sure, but after she saw the house and he invited her to stay, she was bound to forgive him. Every woman he had ever brought here previously had never wanted to leave. Hell, they had been the ones coming up with contrived reasons to stay…couldn’t find an incredibly important item, no way to get into the home/apartment they had left, vehicle wouldn’t start. Ah, but his favorite was the woman who faked a panic attack and her doctor instructed him to keep her in a soothing environment since she was at risk for a deep depression. Funny how no women were hermits or suffered from agoraphobia before visiting, but after…they always did.