Fate was not smiling on him, however. Alicia nudging him in the back broke his slumber. “Move over, Adam; it’s like an icebox in there,” she said grumpily. He turned on the bedside light and squinted up at Alicia, who was clad in a Detroit Tigers sweatshirt and pants and wrapped in both her blanket and bedspread. “Scoot over,” she repeated and he did as she asked. Moments later, they were cuddled up like spoons and she was fast asleep. They slept like small children, innocently and chastely, through the cold northern Michigan night. The morning, however, brought a decided change to their circumstances. Adam was awakened by a burst of soft laughter from Alicia.
“Umm, Adam, I think those are mine,” she said with amusement.
He realized instantly what she was talking about. At some point during the night the extra bedclothes had been discarded, along with Alicia’s sweatshirt She was now wearing only an oversized T-shirt and her sweatpants. And his hands had somehow found their way under the shirt and were clamped firmly around her breasts. Adam smiled and flexed his long fingers over the warm fullness of her ripe bosom.
“Oh, you mean these? They’re yours, hmm?” He continued to caress them, moving his hands over the smooth, enticing silkiness of her skin while learning every curve.
Alicia tried to stifle a sigh of pleasure but didn’t quite succeed. “Yes, Adam, those are mine,” she said breathily. “So why don’t you let go of them so I can get up?”
By now Adam was wide-awake and ready to explore more of Alicia’s delightful body. “Don’t be stingy, Allie. After all, I let you roll all over me last night and I never said a word, did I?”
Alicia shifted so that she was on her back, which broke his hold on her right breast while giving him better access to her left one. “I was not rolling all over you, Adam Cochran. I stayed on my side of the bed like the perfect lady I am,” she said primly. She took a quick breath as he rolled on top of her and recaptured her left breast, stroking both of them with his broad, warm palms as he smiled down into her face.
“That’s a lie, Alicia, whether you realize it or not. You were all over me, baby. You were rubbing me and stroking me and grinding up against me until I almost lost my mind. Would my body lie to you?” he asked as he positioned his rock-hard member against her most feminine part. “I was hard as Japanese steel all night because of you.”
Alicia’s eyes closed and she bit her lower lip as her body responded to his with a sensuous movement of her hips. “I’m not saying I believe you,” she breathed, “but if it’s true, why didn’t you wake me up?”
Before Adam could answer, there was a sharp knock on the cabin door. Someone called out, “Yoo-hoo! Mr. Cochran, it’s Geneva Williams from Lake County Realtors,” in an annoyingly chipper voice
Alicia gasped and whispered, ‘The realtor! Oh, dang, Adam, we’ve got to get dressed!” Seconds later he was sprawled across the bed alone while he could hear the sounds of Alicia frantically brushing her teeth. As so often happens in life, he was a victim of bad timing. On the other hand, maybe he was a victor of bad timing; if that knock on the door hadn’t sounded, it would have been too late to turn back; he would have broken the most sacred promise he’d ever made to the person who meant more to him than anyone else.
***
After a long and productive day, Adam lay on his back, staring up at his bedroom ceiling. The heat was back on in Alicia’s room, for which he was grateful. He needed to get some sleep, but at the moment all he could think about was Alicia. She’d been such an important part of his life for so long that he couldn’t remember his life without her. They had become instant friends in graduate school, since they were seeking the same degrees and were in most classes together. Moreover, they shared a lot of interests outside the classroom. Adam had never met anyone with whom he felt so comfortable. If she hadn’t been engaged, he would’ve wasted no time in letting her know he wanted her. After the breakup of her engagement, things had changed. At the time it seemed the right thing to do, the only thing to do. And now it was too late. Too many years had passed; too many things had developed—like their eternal friendship and their business partnership. If only he hadn’t given her his word... He groaned aloud and willed sleep to come. It came, finally, but only after a long, lonely, and pointless amount of regret.
Chapter Three
The urban-chic offices of the Cochran-Fuentes Architectural Design Firm were almost empty. The lone occupant of the suite of offices on the top floor of the Cochran Building was Alicia Fuentes, who was sitting at her drawing table brooding. She looked vainly around the spacious, ergonomically efficient and tasteful work space to find something on which to focus, but she was failing miserably. She surveyed the long windows with the leaded panes, the gray Berber carpet with the blue saturation, the walls painted in a matching hue, and the black-and-white photographs of the firm’s most outstanding work that were displayed on the walls, but nothing caught her interest.
Forcing herself to get off her stool, she stood up, stretched, and made a cursory inspection of the huge potted plants that were displayed strategically throughout the offices and the reception area. She was trying to convince herself that she was doing something meaningful, but she was just wasting time. The plants were professionally cared for by a firm that catered to the office-bound plants of corporations. They didn’t need her attention in the least, something of which she was well aware. She was just mousing around trying to shake off a sense of impending doom. Alicia was in deep trouble, and she knew it.
She’d tried her best to ignore the symptoms, but there was no getting around it. She was falling in love with her best friend. It wasn’t really a surprise to her, some kind of huge cosmic shock that had just presented itself in a blinding flash of insight; the feelings she had for Adam Cochran had been growing steadily for the duration of their friendship. Adam had been her best friend, her strongest ally, her confidant, and her rock since their days in graduate school. Had it not been for the pact they’d made ten years before, she’d have been trying to get with him. She gave a short, bitter laugh as she acknowledged the total truth, that she would have chased him down like a dog and begged him to be hers. And she’d almost done that very thing on their recent trip to Idlewild.
Alicia wandered into the reception area and plopped down on the big navy sofa with a heavy sigh. A swift shudder racked her body as she relived the sexy scene that unfolded that morning. When she’d awakened, curled on her side with Adam spooned next to her, she’d felt warm, safe, and content, until she realized that his hands had staked a claim on her very willing breasts. Instead of being embarrassed or alarmed, she’d been thrilled and aroused. The way his hands had felt on her body, the feel of his big body on top of hers, even for a moment. . . Alicia covered her face and gave a heartfelt cry of frustration. That real-estate broker had probably saved her life, she admitted, because there was no way that she would have stopped Adam from whatever came next. She’d been waiting for him too long to say no. A decent woman would have felt some semblance of shame at that morning’s events. But she felt nothing but frustration that their playful interlude hadn’t come to fruition. Madre de Dios, I’m turning into a big ol’ skank, she thought sadly. Here I am, a nice Catholic girl, turning into a desperate hoochie. What else can you call a woman who has designs on her best friend? Her cell phone rang, startling her out of her reverie. She pulled it out of her pants pocket and said hello without looking at the caller ID.
“Hello, yourself. I know it’s the last minute, but how about dinner and a movie tonight?”
Alicia’s face split in a huge, genuine smile as she recognized the voice of Bryant Porter.
“Bryant, when did you get into town?” she asked.
“I got in last night. I had some meetings at Wayne State and so forth, plus I need to find a place to live. I’m going to be here through tomorrow at least,” he replied. “So how about that dinner?”
Alicia looked down at her khaki slacks and made a face. “Well, I’m not dressed up, but if
you don’t mind going someplace casual, I’m on.”
“Casual is my favorite thing,” he assured her. “Want me to pick you up?”
“Tell you what, let’s meet at the Fishbone’s in Greek-town. Do you think you can find it?”
After Bryant assured her he could, they agreed on a time to meet. Alicia ended the call feeling much better. This was just the break she needed, a nice evening with a friend to clear her head of all the strange, unsettling thoughts that had been crowding in. She went back to her office to retrieve her purse and leather tote bag and walked back through the office singing a lilting Cuban song as she switched off the lights. She’d reached the reception area when a deep voice made her jump straight in the air.
“Adam, you scared the life out of me,” she fussed. “I’ve told you about sneaking up on me like that.” Her words were at war with her feelings, since the very sight of him made her melt inside. He’d been out on a site all afternoon and she was surprised that he’d come back to the office at all. His answer, however, was very plainly spoken.
“And I’ve told you about being up here by yourself. No matter what, I don’t want you in the office by yourself, especially this late. If you find yourself working late, you have three choices. Take the work home, call me to stay with you, or call security to come up here until you’re finished,” he said sternly.
Alicia was torn between aversion and arousal. She didn’t like Adam treating her like an infant, but it was hard to resent him when he was so concerned for her well-being. If only he hadn’t looked so darned sexy, she might have stood a fighting chance of resisting him. He was wearing jeans, heavy, well-worn Land’s End boots, and a denim shirt with one of his favorite sport coats. He looked like a Ralph Lauren ad in a chic fashion magazine. Alicia took a deep breath and counted to ten before answering. This was old territory with them; there was just no getting around the fact that Adam was over-protective. Willing her heart to stop pounding and her voice to be steady, Alicia told him that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.
“I always lock the main door after everyone leaves and it’s not like we’re in the ’hood, Adam. This building is perfectly safe, as you are well aware. I’m not a child, you know,” she said firmly.
Suddenly Adam’s stern countenance turned playful and he closed the gap between them with one long step. “Yes, chica, you are. You’re your daddy’s baby girl and I have no desire to explain anything to him or your two big brothers. Just what do you think they’d do to me if I let something happen to you?”
He had her there. Her father and her two older brothers approved of the close relationship between Adam and Alicia in large part because they knew no harm could come to Alicia with him around. She smiled with resignation and changed the subject.
“So how did it go this afternoon?”
Adam groaned. “Our client is turning into a huge pain in the rear,” he admitted. He moved to sit down on the long, comfortable sofa and took Alicia’s hand as he did so. Alicia folded her legs under her and Adam leaned back against the pillow-backed sofa. With his eyes closed he recited the list of new demands from Darcy Hamilton, a very wealthy client whose constant input was driving him crazy. They were remodeling a thirties-era Arts and Crafts style bungalow in Grosse Pointe for her, something that should have been a relatively simple job, but since she kept changing her mind about the details, the job was dragging on endlessly.
“Okay, today she decided that big round windows on the stair landing would make her life perfect. It took me two hours to explain to her that what seems like a simple change would cost her about ten thousand dollars more. She just wasn’t getting the idea that once the design is complete, you just can’t go making these little whimsical changes when the mood hits you,” he said, disgust evident in his tone of voice. “I should have just told her okay, fine, put in the window and taken her money. Unfortunately, I have too much integrity to do that and she has too much money to care.”
Alicia rolled her eyes before commenting. She felt a little heat in her cheeks, even though Adam hadn’t seen her make the evil face. She hated admitting it, but she couldn’t stand that little Darcy. The woman was Alicia’s polar opposite: she was petite, dainty, and ultra-feminine and had more clothes than Alicia could contemplate. She’d never seen the woman in the same outfit twice. And that way the woman ate Adam up with her eyes was just plain sickening. Alicia had no doubt but that the woman made up things like the new windows just to get Adam on her turf. Alicia was trying to think of something to say that wouldn’t reveal how jealous she was of their client when Adam’s eyes popped open and he looked directly at Alicia.
“Get this, no sooner did I finish explaining to her that the window idea was totally impractical than she comes up with another request. She wants the laundry room on the second floor instead of in the basement where it already is. That’s only going to involve moving a load-bearing wall and ripping out work that’s already been completed,” he said angrily. “That woman is a menace.”
“Well now, I can’t say I blame her about the laundry. That’s really the best place to have it since that’s where most of the dirty clothes accumulate. Too bad she didn’t mention this bright idea a few months ago.”
Adam snorted. “Yeah, well, from now on you can deal with her. She asked where you were, anyway. Maybe you’ll get along with her better than I do. She just irritates me,” he confessed.
Before Alicia’s dismay at having to deal with Darcy could register on her face, Adam smiled the lazy, sexy smile that never failed to jump-start her heart “Let’s go get something to eat." He looked down at her with his piercing dark eyes and the long straight eyelashes that made most women swoon and Alicia almost forgot that she already had dinner plans.
“Oh, Adam, I just told Bryant I’d have dinner with him. I’m sure he won’t mind if you come, too. We’re just going to Fishbone’s,” she said eagerly.
The warmth went out of his eyes so quickly it was as though she’d imagined it there.
“That’s okay, I don’t want to intrude. You have a good time,” he said offhandedly.
“I will. I mean we will. Bryant’s always a lot of fun,” she said hesitantly.
She looked bemused as Adam abruptly stood up and offered her a hand. “Well, let’s not make you late for your date,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
In near silence they rode the elevator down to the parking garage and headed for their vehicles. After saying their good-byes, Alicia wondered about Adam’s rapid change in mood as she maneuvered her way to Greektown. As she found a parking space near the restaurant her slight anxiety left her. She looked out the window and saw Adam nod as he prepared to go on his way; as usual, he’d followed her to her destination to make sure she was safe. She sat there smiling to herself until she could no longer see the Range Rover. At least some of her affection was returned; there was no doubt that Adam cared about her. Was it wrong to want more from someone who was already her best friend? She sighed deeply and went in to meet Bryant.
***
Bryant could sense that Alicia’s mind was somewhere else. She was trying her best to be good company, but the lulls in their conversation weren’t filled with comfortable silence. When he wasn’t talking directly to her, she was distracted and clearly thinking thoughts that had nothing whatsoever to do with their date. He watched her carefully as she drifted away once more. Her pretty face with its arresting features was still, but he could practically hear the wheels turning in her head. Oddly enough, he had a feeling that he knew what she was thinking about
“Alicia, I’m going to ask you something that’s none of my concern, okay?”
Startled, Alicia met his gaze and nodded without speaking.
“Now, I want you to know that I’m not just trying to get in your business and I’m not just dipping.” He smiled and held up both hands to indicate innocence of any chicanery. “1 just want to know how long you’ve been in love with Cochran and what you intend to do
about it.”
Alicia turned bright red, dropped her head into her hand, and emitted a squeaking sound like a wounded mouse.
“Aw, I embarrassed you,” Bryant said softly. “I didn’t mean to but I tend to be a little bit more perceptive than most people when it comes to these things. I notice things that other people don’t.”
His tone was so soothing and kind, Alicia’s discomfort eased at once. “Bryant, I don’t know what to say. I just started admitting to myself that I feel more for Adam than I should. You don’t think he’s noticed, do you? I don’t think I’m ready to deal with that yet,” she said ruefully.
Bryant reached across the table and took her hand. “C’mon now, it’s not like you’re throwing yourself at him or anything. I just happen to be more insightful than your average salivating horny male. I pay attention to small details, that’s all. And who says you shouldn’t have feelings for Adam? You two are friends, aren’t you? So you already care about each other, right?”
Alicia sighed deeply before answering, “That’s the problem, Bryant. Adam and I are best friends and have been for years. We have the perfect friendship and a great partnership. I don’t want to ruin everything we have now, and if we get involved romantically, that’s just what could happen. And besides, Adam thinks of me as a sister, a pal, a buddy. I don’t want to make him uncomfortable by letting him know that I think of him as more than that,” she admitted. To her utter surprise, Bryant laughed. She turned big puzzled eyes on him and he explained his laughter at once.
Something to Talk About Page 3