Secret Kiss

by Melanie Shawn

  Task at hand, Jane. Task. At. Hand.

  Okay, their luggage had been delivered this morning by courier, so presumably, all they needed to do was pick up their room keys. That should be easy enough.

  As they made their way to the counter to check in, Jane heard a familiar voice.

  “Jane, bella!”

  Like in a movie, the crowds parted, and Mauricio appeared. The hotel manager closed the distance between them in two strides with his long-legged gait. Mauricio stood before them, and instead of shrinking or slumping, he embraced his height and stood tall and proud at six foot five.

  “Mauricio, so good to see you!” Jane gushed as he placed European-style kisses on her cheeks. “Mauricio, I’d like you to meet—”

  “Adam Dorsey,” Mauricio said, finishing the introduction. “Charmed, I’m sure. I’ve heard so much about you.”

  Jane did a double take at her friend. She couldn’t imagine that Nikki and Mike had taken the time to fill Mauricio in on Adam. As much as she wanted to ask just who had been talking about Adam, she wanted food more.

  “Nice to meet you, Mauricio. This place is amazing.” Adam lifted his arm, commenting on the hotel.

  Again, Adam had known the right thing to say. Mauricio took so much pride in the W, and at the compliment, his entire face lit up.

  “Thank you. If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to call.” Mauricio pulled his card out as well as two keycards. He handed one first to Adam and then another to Jane. “You’ll be staying in our Fabulous room #1410. There are champagne and strawberries, and your party is already waiting at Trace.”

  Jane noticed that both of the keycards were for room #1410. “Wait. I booked two rooms and a suite for Mr. and Mrs. Gowan, and did you say that they were waiting at Trace for us?”

  Confusion swam in Jane’s head. Mike did like the restaurant, but they’d made no plans for dinner tonight and Nikki wasn’t feeling well.

  Mauricio smiled graciously at Jane, but she could tell she wasn’t the only one confused. “Yes. Two rooms and a suite. I checked Mr. and Mrs. Gowan in this evening and Mr. and Mrs. Marshall in this afternoon. They told me that you and Adam would be sharing a room.”

  Mr. and Mrs. Marshall? Oh no.

  “My grandparents are here?”

  “Yes. And can I just say they are a colorful pair. I see where you get your chutzpah from.” Mauricio led them to the elevators. “Now, they said not to rush you but that they were hungry and not to get tied up doing any self-defense demonstrations.”

  As the double doors opened, Mauricio leaned inside and slid his key to give them access to their floor. To the same room.

  “Remember, let me know if you two need anything,” Mauricio repeated as the doors shut.

  Jane could barely think over the buzzing in her head. Would Adam think she planned this? She would’ve tried to get another room, but she already knew that the hotel was booked.

  She needed to open her mouth and tell him. Okay, she could do this.

  “Adam,” she began, but when she looked over, he was on a call.

  Or at least pretending to be on a call like she had pretended to be checking e-mails.

  Jane’s stomach dropped. This was going to be a long night.

  *

  “All right. Thanks, D.” Adam disconnected the call and paced the room that, in a fun twist of events, he’d be sharing with Jane. He wished he’d gotten better news from Declan, but he wasn’t going to let it get him down that he hadn’t.

  All day, he’d—literally—had the hardest time being next to Jane and not touching her. Not kissing her. Not telling her how beautiful and brilliant she was.

  After last night, he had known he was in trouble. Last night hadn’t only been physical. Never before in his life had he felt so connected to someone. But after spending the day with Jane today, he’d realized that trouble didn’t even begin to express what he was in.

  Then, today, he’d seen her totally out of her comfort zone. He’d heard her mumbling to herself under her breath in what he’d assumed was a personal pep talk. And he’d seen her try to pick up on social cues in each new setting they’d entered. He was sure no one else had noticed her little tics though.

  He’d had to physically stop himself from pulling her into the nearest dark corner and kissing her until all of her brainpower was only focused on how good they felt together. He’d wanted to tell her that she was adorable and she didn’t need to try to fit in—she just did. People loved her.

  Not only had she genuinely seemed to care about and take an interest in each and every individual they’d met today, she’d also remembered great details about everyone she’d already known. She’d asked about their children, remembering their ages and even that one man’s little boy suffered from asthma. She recalled weddings, spouses’ names, and ailing parents. All that and he’d learned that she spoke five languages.

  How had he spent this much time with her and not known that?

  Probably because she didn’t advertise her accomplishments like Alexis did.

  Looking out floor-to-ceiling windows at their amazing view of the city, Adam ran his fingers through his hair. Alexis had called ten times today. And Declan had told him that there was no dollar amount that would motivate her to sign or move out of the apartment she hadn’t lived in during the entire six years he’d inhabited it. She wanted to speak to him. Face-to-face.

  Those were her terms, and at this point, it was becoming clear that they were nonnegotiable.

  When he heard a crash in the bathroom Jane was changing in, he moved across the room and he knocked on the door. “You okay in there?”

  “Yep.” Jane’s voice sounded strained. “Fine.”

  She was not fine, that much was clear. Adam wished there hadn’t been a door separating them right now. He wished that D’s call hadn’t come in when it had. But he’d felt like he needed to answer it to find out if something serious was going on since he’d missed so many calls from his ex. But that meant he hadn’t had a chance to check in with Jane. They’d come upstairs and she’d gone into the bathroom, mouthing that she was going to change. And she’d been in there for twenty minutes.

  He needed to talk to her. When this thing between them had started, it hadn’t been a real thing. Yes, he’d kissed her when her grandparents had walked in and that had led to him volunteering to be her pretend boyfriend, but this was real now. At least, for him it was. And she needed to know about his past, especially when it was still affecting his present.

  The door opened and Jane walked out, straight into him. Her hands flattened on his chest as he steadied her, his fingers wrapping around her waist. She was wearing a black dress that fit her like a glove, and all Adam wanted to do was strip her out of it.

  “Oh, sorry…” She looked up at him, her golden eyes sparkling from the reflection of the city lights shining in through the window. “I didn’t think you were…”

  When she tried to pull away and stand up straight, his hold tightened around her, and her eyes widened as she licked her lips. She was anxious, and that was the last thing he wanted her to feel.

  “I missed you today,” he admitted. He felt exposed and vulnerable towards her. Two feelings he’d tried and succeeded in avoiding since he’d been young.

  She smiled, laughing nervously as she cast her eyes down. “We were together all day.”

  “I know, but I couldn’t do what I wanted to do and it was killing me.” It was strange hearing himself bare his soul to someone. Adam never showed his cards, and with Jane, he was giving her the entire deck and explaining to her how to win.

  “You couldn’t?” When she once again met his gaze, her body molded against his. Then her nervous energy morphed into a different energy altogether, filled with awareness and arousal.

  “No. I couldn’t.” His voice was raw with need as he spoke. “And I still can’t.”

  “You can’t?” Jane’s breasts were pressing against his body as her breaths grew m
ore and more labored.

  Damn, she really was going to kill him.

  “No, because if I do, we’ll have to hurry, and that is not something I plan on doing tonight when I finally get you alone.”

  Adam had planned on taking his time with Jane, showing her exactly what she meant to him. First, though, he needed to tell her about Alexis. He hoped she would understand, but if not, he would at least have a clear conscious. It was a risk he’d have to take.

  “So, you’re not mad about us having to share a room?” The uncertainty in Jane’s voice broke Adam’s heart a little.

  “Mad?” He let out a forced laugh. “No. I’m not mad. I feel like I won a cosmic lottery.”

  “Oh. Good.”

  He couldn’t believe she would think for one second that he would be anything but ecstatic about their sleeping arrangements. Unless she was projecting…

  Releasing her, he clarified, “But if you’re not comfortable with it, nothing has to happen—”

  “No,” she interrupted him. “I’m comfortable.”

  “Thank God,” Adam sighed, and Jane laughed.

  He’d heard her laugh before, but this laugh was different. It was musical. It was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard.

  Unfortunately it was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing. Jane ran to the nightstand.

  “Hello.” Her tone sounded light and happy. “Hi, Nana.” She closed her eyes and breathed in through her nose. “Yes, I know you’re here. Yes, it’s a great surprise. We were just heading down. Okay. I’ll see you in a minute.” Hanging up the phone, she shrugged. “Apparently, they’re starving.”

  “The sooner we get down there, the sooner we can come back up here and I can show you exactly what I’ve wanted to do to you all day.”

  A smile so wide that it reached ear to ear spread on Jane’s face. “Let’s go.”

  As Adam held the door open for Jane, for the first time, maybe since he’d known her, Jane’s entire face lit up and she looked happy. Purely and completely happy.

  And he liked to think that he was at least part of the reason for it.

  Chapter 21

  ‡

  “So, you were an Army man?” her papa asked Adam.

  All night, her grandparents had been grilling Adam about his career, his childhood, his intentions. Well, they’d grilled him after they’d filled him in on some of her more embarrassing “Lucy” moments growing up. Since Adam had a few of his own to share, i.e. her pants splitting open, her dress getting stuck with the hanger sticking out, her bee sting, choking on her coffee, and the grand finale—drumroll, please—getting locked out of her house with her robe caught in the back door (which he didn’t mention was only last night for obvious reasons), the evening’s conversation wasn’t dull at all.

  It had only gotten a little scary when her papa had asked about Adam’s intentions. That question had made Jane cringe. But, in true Adam Dorsey form, he’d handled it like a pro. He’d said that he loved seeing Jane smile and he wanted to do everything in his power to put a smile on her face every day for as long as she’d let him.

  Swoon.

  She was seriously wondering if this guy could get any more perfect. Especially now that, thanks to her nana and papa, she’d learned so much about him. Sure, they’d gotten to know each other a little when they had first had lunch together at Sue Ann’s, but they’d really just skimmed the surface.

  She had already known that he grew up in a suburb of Detroit and moved out when he was fourteen. But she hadn’t known that his mom was a drug addict and had gotten arrested, which had caused Adam to become a ward of the state. He’d then been placed in a group home before joining the Army the day he’d turned eighteen.

  She knew that he’d developed an app that was sold, and that he was a contract employee for the government. But, she didn’t know that, after selling his app for seven figures, he decided to retire completely and that he had no plans to return to Virginia.

  “Yes, sir. Army,” Adam answered as his thumb made lazy circles around Jane’s shoulder.

  The first time they’d had dinner with her grandparents, Adam had done the same thing. Jane had loved it then, and she loved it even more now. Tonight felt different, and not just because they’d done a lot more than just kiss. At least, she didn’t think that was why it felt different.

  Maybe it was. She didn’t really have experience with this sort of thing.

  “I’m a Navy man.” Her papa started talking about his years in the service.

  While he spoke, Jane’s heart swelled with pride—not only for her grandfather, but also because, fake boyfriend or not, Adam was at her side. This gorgeous, talented, funny, sexy, brilliant man was having dinner with her grandparents as her boyfriend.

  Even though she knew that this thing between them wasn’t real, in that moment, it was. In that moment, for that night, Adam was hers. He had made it clear—not only through his words, but also with the straining erection she’d felt against her belly when she had come out of the bathroom—that he planned for them to have a repeat performance of last night. That he was excited to be sharing a room with her.

  For once in Jane’s life, she wanted to be in the moment. She didn’t want to think about tomorrow; all she wanted to do was focus on the here and now. Tonight, for all intents and purposes, she and Adam were together.

  Tomorrow would come, and that bubble would burst, but she could still have tonight.

  “Oh, Walter, enough war stories. I want to hear about the kids.” Dolores waved her hand dismissively. “So, Adam, tell me, how did you and Jane meet? What did you think when you first saw her?”

  Jane wanted to crawl under the table and hide. “Oh, Nana, Adam doesn’t want to talk about—”

  Adam spoke over Jane. “I saw Jane for the first time when I was shooting pool with my cousin, Levi, who I’m sure you’ll be meeting. He owns JT’s Roadhouse, the bar we were at, and he’s opening up a B&B.”

  “Oh, yes! Sue Ann invited us to the grand opening. It sounds lovely,” Dolores enthused.

  “It is.” Adam smiled, and the back of his thumb ran up and down Jane’s arm.

  “Okay, soooo…” Dolores gestured with her hands for Adam to keep going. “What did you think of our bunny?”

  Now, Jane really wished she could disappear. This had been going so well… Jane shook her head, knowing that saying anything wouldn’t help.

  Adam laughed good-naturedly though, and he kissed Jane on her forehead. After all of this was over, that might be the thing she would miss the most. It sounded silly, but somehow, the way Adam kissed her on her forehead made her feel more special, more treasured, more loved than she’d ever felt in her life.

  “Well, the second I saw her, my world stopped spinning. Time stood still. Everyone else in the room disappeared. All I could see was Jane. My cousin had to clap his hands in front of my face to snap me out of the spell your granddaughter had put me under.”

  Adam turned to look at Jane, and even though she kept mentally reminding herself that he was pretending to be her boyfriend, her heart had ideas of its own and was running with this.

  Reaching up, he brushed aside the stray hair that had a tendency of falling in her face and tucked it behind her ear as he said, “She was and is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen. All I could think was, Mine.”

  The sincerity and passion shining in Adam’s baby-blue eyes even had her logic jumping on board with her heart. As her grandmother gushed about how perfect their meeting was, Jane had a fleeting second-thought moment about living in the here and now and letting tomorrow take care of itself.

  What if she couldn’t handle it when this was over?

  As the dessert tray came by and her nana and papa started arguing over whether or not he should get one, Adam leaned over and whispered in Jane’s ear, the heat of his breath fanned on her neck as his lips brushed her sensitized skin.

  “That is what happened the first time I saw you. Nothing existed but you. Y
ou took my breath away.”

  Or on the other hand, maybe she should just let this play out. Yeah, living in the moment sounded pretty dang good.

  *

  Adam tried his best not to seem anxious and to avoid checking the time. But they’d been at dinner for over two hours, and as much as he’d enjoyed getting to know Walter and Dolores, he needed to get Jane upstairs. Now.

  All night, they’d been touching each other. It was different than their dinner at Sue Ann’s. Yes, he’d taken full advantage of that situation and used every opportunity to have his arm around her, kiss her forehead, or pull her in close to him. But that night, she’d kept her hands to herself.

  That wasn’t the case tonight. At least, it hadn’t been since dessert arrived. Jane had casually put her hand on his knee beneath the tablecloth. Then, before he’d known it, she’d moved it up to his thigh. And now, as her grandparents ordered coffee, her fingers slid so far up that her knuckles and fingers were grazing his zipper-covered, rock-hard shaft. If she continued moving her hand the way she was, he was going to come in his pants.

  He’d never been quick on the draw before Jane, but he was afraid he should put a blue bandana around his neck, don a big, red hat, slap on a holster, and change his last name to McGraw. She drove him crazy when she wasn’t trying to, so when she put even the slightest effort in, he was a goner. Totally and completely at her mercy.

  While Walter and Dolores had a lively discussion over whether Walter should have one or two scoops of sugar in his coffee, he leaned over and whispered in Jane’s ear, “If you keep doing that, I’m not going to be able to stand up and walk out of here.”

  Jane turned to look at him, her eyes wide, as if she really had no idea what he was talking about. He dropped his eyes to his lap, and a blush rose up her cheek so fast that it looked like a thermometer in a cartoon when someone had a fever. She pulled her hand back so quickly that she could have definitely given him a run for his money for the title of Quick Draw McGraw.

  Thankfully, a glance over at her grandparents assured Adam that they hadn’t seen their granddaughter’s hasty hand retreat. When he looked back, Jane had the hand that had been on his junk covering her mouth as she shook her head. He pulled her in for a hug because he didn’t want her nana and papa asking why their Jane Bunny looked so horrified.