All I Ever Need Is You

by Andre, Bella

  “Did you have a good time at the game?”

  “It was great. You would have had fun with us.”

  “At a baseball game?” She was surprised that he seemed to mean it. “Do you really think I’d like it?”

  “Sure,” he said easily. “Granted, the idea of you in tight jeans and a T-shirt with a beer in your hand is one of the sexiest visions I’ve had in a long time. But,” he added while she blushed, “you’re also competitive enough to really get behind your team. Which is usually the Mariners, by the way. Only when Ryan’s in town do we root for the San Francisco Hawks.”

  She’d never had any interest in baseball, but she’d learned not to doubt Adam’s instincts about things. If he thought she was going to love it, odds were good that she actually would.

  “Next game,” he told her, “you’ll see for yourself when I drag you there with me. And hopefully the whole crew will be there the way they were this weekend. Although when everyone’s there, it can get a little crazy.”

  “Why? Just because there are so many of you?”

  “Partly. But mostly because everyone is so damned famous.” He laughed. “Ford is a great guy, and he and my sister are perfect together, but it sure isn’t always easy going places with a rock star. And then when you throw my billionaire brother and his movie-star wife into the mix...” Laughing again, he said, “It can take a while each time to get used to the bodyguards the stadium insists on sending over.”

  “Bodyguards?” It suddenly hit her. “Oh, no. I didn’t even think of hiring bodyguards for Rafe and Brooke’s wedding! How could I have overlooked that?”

  He put his hand on hers. “You don’t need them. Not for a lake wedding.”

  But she was still panicking. “Aren’t some of your cousins famous, too? In addition to Ryan?”

  “Doesn’t matter how famous any of them are. No one is going to bother us at the lake. It’s the perfect private spot for our whole family to get together. You have to trust me on this, Kerry. No bodyguards.”

  She made herself take a few deep breaths, but it was looking into his eyes that finally convinced her to stop panicking. “I do trust you.” She let another big breath go before saying, “And what I meant to say before I started freaking out about bodyguards, was how great it is that you guys are all so close. It seems like you spend a lot of time together.”

  “We always have. They’re a great group to hang out with. Do you have any cousins?”

  “My mother was an only child, and my father’s family didn’t stick around any longer than he did.”

  “Regardless of whatever went wrong between your father and your mom, he never should have left his children.” Adam looked disgusted. “Something similar happened with my cousins in New York. Their mom walked out one day on the four of them and my uncle.”

  “Oh, that’s horrible.” And she should know. “But you just have to move on and try not to let it affect you.”

  As she lifted her arm to swat away a fly, she caught a flash of her watch face and realized with no small amount of disappointment that it was later than she’d thought. “I wish I didn’t have to leave for my meeting.” She helped him put away the food and then brushed crumbs off her lap as she stood.

  “I’m just glad you were able to squeeze me in,” he said as he also stood. “We’ll celebrate more tomorrow night, okay?” He lowered his voice and said, “Naked celebrating. And this time I’ll be sure to have champagne to drink off your skin.”

  Tingles ran through her at both the good-bye kiss he gave her and the delicious thought of celebrating in bed with him. “I can’t wait.”

  And she truly couldn’t.

  * * *

  After Kerry left, Adam spent some time walking around the house and property and taking notes. All the while, he thought about the way Kerry had said she’d done her best to move on from her father’s desertion without letting it affect her. But even though he knew how strong, how resilient, she was, he also knew from experience that all the things you tried not to let affect you, still usually did.

  Take him, for instance. When he’d been a teenager and his father had lost his job, they’d nearly lost everything. Home—and doing whatever he could to help save it—had never been more important to Adam. To all of them. Adam had been too young back then to actually support the family financially, the way his oldest brother, Ian, had, but he’d still gone out of his way to mow as many lawns as he could. He’d hauled and stacked wood and cleaned swimming pools—anything someone in the neighborhood would hire him for. And going into all those people’s houses had shown him, even more, just how important homes were for families.

  Based on what had happened to his family, Adam knew it was no accident that he was fascinated with architecture, specifically reviving old buildings. Second chances were hugely important to him, too, which was why he very rarely built new.

  And if he looked at what had happened to Kerry’s family, it was no accident that she was in love with happy-ever-afters and was willing to do whatever she could to help people have the best possible start to their perfect forever.

  Adam was so lost in his thoughts that he nearly tripped over a spindle from the railing lying in the middle of the porch. Bending down, he picked it up and was surprised once again by the level of craftsmanship that the original owners had put into this house. They hadn’t cut any corners, not in the design or in the crafting of the house. The only reason it was on the verge of falling down was because of the neglect of some distant grand-nieces and -nephews. Thank God someone like Kerry, someone who loved the house so much, had taken it over.

  And, he thought with a grin that he knew bordered on egotistical, thank God she had him on her team. The two of them were damned effective solo—together they were going to be unstoppable.

  As he took the spindle with him to his car, along with the picnic basket and blanket, he knew Kerry was right about the pull this place had. Something slightly magical. It wasn’t hard for him to imagine living in this house, on this street, in this neighborhood. Not hard at all, actually, especially if Kerry was there with him.

  And as he reluctantly started his car’s engine to head back to work, his father’s words from the day they’d looked over the property suddenly came to him: “It’s always hard to walk away from something beautiful, isn’t it? Especially when you can sense that giving her your full attention will make both of you happy.”

  And it was true that, since the moment he’d met Kerry, she’d completely stolen his attention. There had rarely been a day, rarely been an hour, that he wasn’t thinking of her. That he wasn’t wishing he could see her. Or that he wasn’t longing to hold her in his arms.

  And yet, he’d still tried to hold back. Still tried to stick to their arrangement. Still tried to keep from crossing over into what had always been a relationship no-fly zone, thinking that was the only way to be happy. Still believed he couldn’t ever let one little four-letter word catch him in its grip without regretting it.

  But what if his father was right?

  What if giving Kerry—and their relationship—his full attention made both of them even happier than they had ever been without each other?

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  When Adam was a kid, his father’s wood shop was where he always could go when there was something he needed to talk about. Fortunately, things hadn’t changed much after they’d grown up, and odds were pretty good on any given afternoon that Max Sullivan would be back there refinishing an old end table or sanding a length of crown molding. Which was why Adam had decided to take a detour to his parents’ house instead of heading straight back to the office.

  Of course, his mother would kill him if he didn’t check in with her first. He found her at her writing table by a window in the living room.

  “Adam, honey, what a nice surprise this is! I didn’t think we were going to see you until dinner on Friday night.”

  He gave her a kiss on her cheek. “How’s your writing coming along?”
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  She glanced down at the notebook in front of her and frowned. “Why didn’t anyone tell me writing a book was so hard?”

  “I’m sure it’s great. Do you want me to read what you’ve come up with so far?”

  She looked horrified. “No!” She laughed at herself. “Not yet, anyway, though it’s a lovely offer.” She noticed the spindle in his hand. “I’m assuming you want to see your father about whatever it is you’re holding?”

  Nodding, he asked, “Is he out back?”

  “He is, and I know he’ll be thrilled to see you. Especially since I’m pretty sure I heard cursing coming from that direction earlier.”

  Adam grinned as he headed into the backyard. His father had tackled some pretty difficult projects over the years, such as the armoire he’d built entirely from scratch. According to what his mother had just said, it sounded like a new project was in the works.

  At the threshold of the wood shop, Adam poked his head in to make sure his father wasn’t using power tools or anything that could cut off a finger, before he knocked on the door.

  “Adam, it’s good to see you.” His mother was right—his father looked immensely relieved by the interruption as he moved away from his lathe. “I could use a beer. Do you want one?”

  Opting not to point out that it was only early afternoon, Adam said, “Sure.”

  “What have you got there?” His father handed him the beer from the mini-fridge and took the spindle.

  “It’s from the big old house that you and I were looking at last week.”

  “I keep thinking about that place,” his father said. “You don’t see craftsmanship like this much anymore.”

  “How hard do you think it would be to find someone to do this kind of work that wouldn’t break the bank? And is there even anyone out there who can handle doing it for an entire house?”

  “I don’t know for sure, but I can ask some guys who are much deeper into this kind of finish work than I am and get back to you.” His father handed back the spindle. “Have you decided to buy the place, then?”

  “Actually, a friend of mine bought the house.”

  “Is he thinking of keeping it?”

  “She wouldn’t dream of tearing it down.”

  Adam could see his father note with some surprise that the friend who’d bought the house was a woman. “Must be a woman who has a lot of vision, if she’s not planning to tear it down the way most people would.”

  “She’s got a ton of vision. More vision than anyone I’ve ever known.” His father was now looking at him as if he’d grown a second head. His parents knew Adam had female friends, but they’d never heard him talk about one of them so passionately. “She’s Rafe and Brooke’s wedding planner. Kerry Dromoland.”

  Another flash of surprise flickered across his father’s face. “I’ve heard great things about Ms. Dromoland.”

  “Everything you’ve heard is true. She’s an exceptional wedding planner.” Adam had promised Kerry that they’d keep their relationship a secret, but he trusted his father implicitly. “She’s also the woman I mentioned to you the other day when we were looking at the house.”

  “If I recall correctly, you weren’t sure the two of you were even friends yet.”

  “We are now.” Adam struggled for a moment with how much to divulge, even to his father. “More than friends, actually. A hell of a lot more.”

  Adam hadn’t been planning to come see his father today, hadn’t been planning to tell him all about Kerry either. But now that he was here, he realized just how much he needed to discuss the situation with the man he respected most in the world.

  “Rafe and Brooke asked me to meet with her a few weeks ago. They both had scheduling conflicts, but I’m pretty sure it was also a matchmaking attempt on their part, since they could have sent Mia or Mom instead of me. Anyway, during our first meeting, Kerry got to talking about a gazebo she wanted to have built on the beach for the wedding, and I offered to build it for her. Before I left the meeting, I asked her out, but she said no.”

  “She turned you down?” His father was grinning now, knowing how rarely a woman ever said no to Adam.

  “Without a moment’s hesitation. But I couldn’t shake the sense that she was special, so I didn’t give up. One thing led to another and—” No, he couldn’t go any further with his explanations. Couldn’t betray his intimate secrets with Kerry, not even to his father. “We’re not officially dating, but we do see each other quite often.”

  His father nodded. “I see.” And Adam could tell that he did, even though he didn’t ask any clarifying questions about the whole not-dating-but-still-seeing-each-other thing.

  “We both thought it would be easy to keep things clearly delineated. No complications, just two friends having a good time. After all, that’s what we both wanted.”

  “Both of you?” His father looked more than a little doubtful. “We all love you, Adam, but you know we’re not always crazy about the way you approach women and relationships.”

  “I know you’re not, but there’s never been anyone I wanted to have a real relationship with before. And Kerry, she’s been waiting her whole life for the perfect guy, for someone she can count on no matter what. I know on paper that might not look like me, but—”

  “But regardless of what your dating history looks like,” his father finished for him, “if Ms. Dromoland doesn’t know that she can count on you as a friend, then she doesn’t know you very well.”

  “As a friend, I’m pretty sure she does know I’ll always be there for her. But as more?” Adam walked to the doorway of his father’s wood shop to look out at the oak tree in the backyard. It was big, but not quite as big as the one he and Kerry had just picnicked beneath. “When we first set up our...our arrangement...I told her she didn’t have to worry about me falling for her. I promised her things wouldn’t get messy. I said we would keep things simple, just two friends having fun.” Adam appreciated his father holding his silence while he collected his thoughts. “But when we were over at the house today for lunch to celebrate her signing on the dotted line for it, I realized I wasn’t just happy for her because she’d found her perfect house. The real reason I’m happy is because working on the house with her means we’ll get to spend time together over the next year. A lot of time.” His father joined Adam in the doorway as Adam laid it all on the line. “Before Kerry, I’d find any way I could to avoid entangling things with a woman. But now I’m going out of my way to find ways to tangle things up.”

  Now that Adam had started talking about Kerry, he couldn’t stop, couldn’t find a way to stuff it all back in. “Seeing her is the best part of any day, the best thing that happens all week. I think about her all the time. I have to stop myself from showing up at her office and dragging her out to the park or for a sail or just to hang out doing nothing. Kerry shouldn’t have been different. I wasn’t expecting her to be different. Anyone but her, actually. But she is.” By the time he finally finished talking, Adam realized Max was grinning at him.

  “Look,” his father said, “I’m not going to lie and say it’s not terrifying. I’m not going to pretend it’s not confusing as hell to feel something so strong that it rocks your world off its axis. Especially when it’s something you might have thought you were never going to feel for anyone.”

  “We have an arrangement,” Adam explained again. “One she’s been really wed to.” Just the way he’d been wed to it at first, too. It had seemed so perfect—getting to spend nights with a gorgeous woman who didn’t want long term any more than he wanted it. “But then, somehow, somewhere along the line, things changed. And I don’t want to stick to that arrangement anymore.”

  “Your whole life, when you’ve wanted to fix things,” his father said in a serious voice, “you’ve fixed them. It’s one of the reasons you’re so good at what you do. Just as you’ve always known when something is so beautiful, so precious, that you can’t possibly walk away without regretting it.”

  Max ga
ve Adam a warm hug, one he was surprised to realize he’d really needed. Sometimes it didn’t matter that you were a grown man with a hugely successful business—you needed to be reminded that the people who loved you most were there for you.

  “I’m really looking forward to meeting her,” his father said, “more than ever now. Friend or lover or girlfriend, however the two of you work things out, she’ll always be welcome.”

  “You’re going to love Kerry.”

  “I know we’ll love her, because you do.”

  The truth of it hit Adam like a lightning bolt, and not from nearly as far out of the blue as he would have expected.

  “You’re right.” He paused, reeling. “I’m in love with her.” He let the word take hold in his head first...and then deep down in his heart. Right where Kerry had already gone. “Love.” Amazingly, it didn’t sound, or feel, as strange as he’d thought it would falling from his lips. “I love her.”

  His father was clearly beyond pleased, grinning ear to ear while he toasted Adam with his beer bottle. “So, now that you’ve got one big part of the equation figured out, what are you going to do about it?”

  Maybe someone else would have given Adam more time to get used to the idea of having done the impossible: actually falling in love. But the Sullivans weren’t like other people, and when love struck, they didn’t waste any time before they did whatever it took to make sure it lasted.

  And hell, since he’d already gone and done what should have been impossible, how much bigger a leap was it to jump headfirst into crazy, too?

  Adam grinned back, the answer as obvious now as his love for her. “I’m going to tell her.”

  He’d already been counting the hours until Thursday night, when he and Kerry were going to meet again. But now the anticipation was nearly going to kill him, because he couldn’t wait to officially change the rules of their arrangement.

  Adam Sullivan had finally fallen in love. And now that he had, there was not only no going back, there was also no one else he would ever love the way he loved Kerry.