by Lucy Eden
“Condoms. I think I have some.” She grabbed my shoulders. “My aunt has been packing them in my luggage when I travel for years. I completely forgot about them.”
“Great. Where the fuck are they? Let’s get those condoms.” She broke out in peals of laughter and moved to the shower door. I put my hand out to stop her.
“You stay here, Princess. I’ll go. Tell me where they are.”
“Okay. Under the bathroom sink there’s a black vinyl pouch that says PATRICE in big white letters. The condoms should be in the bottom.”
“Got it. I’ll be right back. Stay here.” I reached out and pinched her ass.
“Ow! What was that for?” Her adorable face was scrunched up and she was rubbing her bottom.
“I was pinching you to make sure you were real.”
“You’re supposed to pinch yourself, jerk.”
“I’ve heard it both ways.” I smiled.
The bag was exactly where she said it was. I loved that Kimberly’s stuff fit so perfectly with mine. Our toothbrushes were lined up neatly on the bathroom counter. Her bottles of lotion and perfume mingled with my shaving cream and cologne. Under the sink, next to my shaving kit, sat a big zippered pouch that read Patrice Hair Care. I unzipped it and pulled out its contents. There was a flat-iron with a note attached that read: Are you sure you need to use this?, a curling iron with another note: You better be damn sure you need to use this!, a bunch of little three ounce plastic bottles, some combs, a couple of brushes, hair ties, pins and clips but no condoms.
My heart sank.
“The condoms should be in the bottom.” She said in the bottom, not on the bottom.
I put my hand in the pouch and felt around the base. I traced the unmistakable round outlines under the fabric. I felt around some more, found a zipper and was elated to discover Kimberly’s bag of hair stuff had a secret pocket containing six condoms and six single use packets of lube. I fingered a packet of lube imagining the possibilities when Kimberly’s voice derailed my train of thought.
“Did you find them?” she called.
“Yup. I got ‘em.”
“Well, then get your ass back in here,” she snapped.
I laughed before opening a condom, rolling it on and stepping into the shower.
We were wrapped in blankets and sheets on the living room floor where we’d finished making love for the third time since Kimberly returned. Our condom supply was half exhausted in less than two hours.
In the shower her thick dark chestnut hair was nearly straight and inky black as it hung in a wet curtain half way down her back. As it dried it transformed into a mane of shiny dark and light brown ringlets that fell just past her shoulder. She was resting her cheek against my heart and I stretched a tendril down her spine before releasing my thumb and forefinger to watch it spring back into its corkscrew shape.
“Enjoying yourself?” she asked after the third time I’d done it.
“Yup.” I watched the curl spring back into shape for the fourth time and she chuckled.
“So you ran for two hours?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?” She was tracing the outline of my pec with her index finger.
“Running helps me think. It calms me down and helps me figure shit out.”
“What shit were you trying to figure out?”
I didn’t even know where to start with that one. “Mainly, I was trying to figure out how to stop myself from going after you.” That was at least part of the truth. She lifted her head, pushed her hair out her face and looked at me.
“You were going to come to the airport?”
“I wanted to.” I really fucking wanted to. Restraint was not one of my strong suits but Kimberly has made me a quick study. She grinned at me.
“Were you going to rush into the airport, buy a first class ticket to Thailand—”
“More like, coach to Fort Lauderdale, but…”
“—so you could get past security, stop me just as I was boarding the plane, convince me to spend the weekend with you and we’d kiss? Then, everyone in terminal would cheer and you’d carry me through the airport like Richard Gere in An Officer and a Gentleman?”
“That’s almost exactly how it played out in my head.” Except in my version I would finally have the courage to tell Kimberly I loved her, while she was awake. “But you would’ve hated that.”
“I really would have hated that.” She laughed. “I probably would have gotten on the plane out of spite.”
“So, why did you come back?” I asked before pushing a curl out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. She stacked her forearms on my chest and rested her chin on top while she contemplated her answer.
“I forgot my phone charger.”
Her face was serious for a second before she rolled her lips between her teeth and her eyes sparkled. I laughed and rolled on top of her tickling her until she was squealing for me to stop. It took her a moment to catch her breath when I kissed her and grinned down at her.
“But, really, have you seen it?” Her entire body shook with laughter as I growled, kissing the most sensitive spot on her neck.
“I had a very enlightening conversation with my mom and my aunt,” she said finally with a wistful sigh. She gazed up at me and smiled then reached out to caress my stubble rough cheek.
“So your mom and your aunt convinced you to come back?”
“No.” Her smile faltered and she pushed her hands into my hair. “They helped me realize that I never should have left.” She pulled me towards her and kissed me.
“Your Aunt Patrice is becoming one of my new favorite people.”
Kimberly laughed, but it was true. Between saying whatever she did to stop Kimberly from getting on that plane and sneaking condoms into her carry-on luggage, I had an overwhelming desire to send her aunt a giant fruit basket.
“She’s quite fond of you, too.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Yes, I’ve told her all about you and she and my mom were fan-girling over our bathroom selfie. Also, my mom apparently got an earful from Donna. You made quite the impression at the shelter this week.”
“You’ve made quite the impression on me this week.” I kissed her again.
“Ditto.” She grinned. “Hey, can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“You didn’t seem very shocked when I got in the shower. Did Francis spoil the surprise?”
“Francis drove you back? I had no idea and my phone is turned off. If had known… When I got back I had a feeling you were here but I wasn’t sure if it was really you or my imagination.”
“Explain…” She narrowed her eyes at me. I grinned down at her.
“The bathroom was clean,” I said.
She put her hand to her forehead.
“My piles of laundry were gone and you organized all of the toiletries. You even cleaned my razor.” I kissed her. “Thank you.”
“Well, don’t read too much into that. I got bored waiting for you come back.”
“Worst.”
I gave her a soft kiss.
“Burglar.”
I kissed her again.
“Ever.”
I gave her a third kiss and she giggled. I stood, scooped her in my arms, and carried her to our bedroom.
nineteen
Kimberly
I woke up thinking about Adam. I was trying desperately to take Auntie Patrice’s advice and live in the moment, but I my brain refused to cooperate. Thoughts of the resort, Wolfe, WP, Renee, Kevin and what a life with or without Adam would look like swirled in my consciousness robbing me of peace.
His giant body was curled against mine with one of his arms wrapped around my waist and the other arm was my pillow. He nestled his face in my curls and I could feel his warm breath caressing my scalp. I trailed my fingers down his forearm until I found his hand. I slowly lifted it off of my hip and rolled away from him.
After slipping into one of his t-shirts, I tip-toed into the bathroom do
wn the hall. Why doesn’t anyone warn you about peeing after a lot of sex? It was totally worth it, but holy shit, did it burn.
I made myself a cup of tea and returned to Adam’s bedroom, which I guessed was now our bedroom. I was surprised to find that he was awake and waiting for me.
“Hey beautiful.” He smiled at me. “Can’t sleep?”
I shook my head, he sat up and patted the space beside him on the bed and outstretched his arm. I handed him my mug and climbed into bed beside him. He wrapped his arm around me and kissed me on my temple as I sipped my tea.
“What do you want to do?” He started running his fingertips up and down my bicep.
“Can we just talk?” I asked.
“About what?”
“Anything. Just talk to me.” I sighed.
“Okay.” I could tell he was thinking. “What happens when you wake up in the middle of the night?”
“Do you mean why?”
“Yeah.” No one has ever asked me about this before. In fairness, I’d woken up Adam every night since he’d met me, so maybe he was entitled to a little insight.
“Well, everyone wakes up multiple times at night. Most people usually just fall right back to sleep and don’t even remember. When I wake up my brain is in overdrive and keeps me awake. I’ll open my eyes and my brain will say, ‘Hey, remember that weird thing you said in eleventh grade? Let’s analyze that and figure out how it completely ruined your life’ or ‘Every time someone throws away a half empty bottle of water that water is trapped in a landfill until the bottle biodegrades and that could take hundreds of years…’”
Adam’s eyebrows shot up his forehead and he was trying to stifle a smile.
“So, I make a cup of tea and distract myself with books, movies—”
“Crossword puzzles.” He finished my sentence. I smiled and nodded. “So what’s keeping you up tonight, Princess?”
“You.”
“What?” He laughed.
“You’re so perfect. You’re smart, handsome, successful, funny…”
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but it’s working.” He took the mug from my hand and placed it on the nightstand before leaning over and kissing me.
I pushed him away gently and smiled. “I’m serious. I planned on actively avoiding you until the presentation and now…” I looked at my hands.
“And now?” He took my cheek in his palm.
“I think I’m falling for you.” I bit my lip and searched his face for a reaction. “And it seems crazy because it’s only been a week and—”
“I think I’m falling for you, too.”
I stared at him. He said it.
“I’m falling in love with you, Kimberly,” he said again.
I smiled at him. “I know.”
“What? Are you doing a Star Wars, Leia and Han thing, because I’m into it. We could get your yellow bikini and do those ear muff braid things…”
“I know because you told me.” I smiled sheepishly. He gave me a confused look. “It was this morning before my alarm went off. You told me you were falling for me and you wanted to marry me and have wrinkly potato babies with me.”
Adam groaned, softly banged his head against the headboard, and looked at the ceiling. “I said I was thinking about those things and I thought you were asleep.” He reached up and raked his fingers through his hair, something he did when he was nervous, which wasn’t often.
“I was mostly asleep,” I said with a sheepish grin.
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I wanted you to tell me when I was awake.”
He looked at me and nodded thoughtfully. “We’re awake now.” He leaned in close and kissed me, lowering me onto the bed. His hand slid over one of my breasts, down my stomach, over my hips where he pulled up the hem of his t-shirt to find my bare skin.
“Adam,” I put my hand over his. “I know this is a very special moment for us but…”
“What? What is it?”
“I’m really sore.” I bit my lip and gave him a nervous smile. “We’ve been having sex non-stop for two days and I might need a break.”
“Shit. Yeah, of course. I’m sorry.” He placed his huge hand over my belly and patted. I covered his hand with mine.
“Don’t you dare apologize. This is a good problem to have.” I chuckled and he joined me. He rested his head on my belly and I scratched his scalp.
“Why don’t we do something different tonight?”
“What did you have in mind?”
“I’ll be right back.” He kissed my stomach over his t-shirt and disappeared into the bathroom.
What the hell was I doing? Why did I tell him I was falling for him? Wasn’t the plan just to enjoy these last few moments in paradise?
“Hey, Kimberly.”
I blinked and looked up at him. He was leaning against the bathroom’s doorframe filling the space in a pair of boxer briefs. He grinned at me. “You ready?”
“I’m going to say yes, but I don’t know what I’m supposed to be ready for.”
He took my hand, helped me off the bed and pulled the t-shirt over my head before he swept me into his arms carrying me into the bathroom. Steamy hot water greeted me as he dipped my foot into the bathtub.
“Too hot?” he asked. I shook my head and he slowly lowered me into the water. “I’ll grab your tea. Anything else?”
I shook my head again and leaned back sinking into the water up to my shoulders. I piled my hair on top of my head and fastened it with a tie. When he came back into the bathroom with my tea he was wearing a smile and nothing else. He slid behind me in the giant tub and I leaned back into his chest.
“Feel better?” He kissed my neck.
“Yeah, actually. Why is that?”
Adam chuckled and pointed to a bag of Epsom salts on the side of the tub. “I use it after long runs and workouts.”
“You didn’t use it earlier.”
“I was distracted by the worst burglar ever.”
I turned to face him, splashing water over the side of the tub in the process. “Burglars steal things.” I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“What makes you think you didn’t steal something?” He bit his lip and grinned at me.
“You’re lucky you’re so handsome because that was a terrible line.” I kissed him slowly and deeply, drawing his bottom lip between mine and sucking gently.
“Princess, if you’re looking for a break from sex, this is not how you get it,” he mumbled against my mouth.
I laughed and pulled away. “So, what does this all mean? I haven’t felt like me this entire week — and that’s a good thing,” I added noting his change of expression. “I just know that I’m happy and it feels weird to be this happy. Am I making sense?”
“You’re making perfect sense because I feel the same way. I don’t know what’s going to happen when we get back to New York but I just know that I want it to happen with you.”
“What if this is like a crazy vacation sex fueled pheromone thing?”
His brow furrowed and he laughed.
“Seriously. What if you just think you’re falling in love with me because we’ve had all of this crazy good sex and we’re in a tropical paradise?”
He kissed me. “I was crazy about you before we landed in Barbados. I knew I was falling in love with you before we started having all this crazy good sex. Now, I’m pretty sure there’s a well-documented sex on the third date rule…”
“We haven’t been on any dates, Adam.”
“I don’t know about that. There’s the plane…” He held up one finger. “Dinner on Monday.” His middle finger joined his index finger. I shook my head at him and he continued. “And the Red Cross makes three.” He wiggled three fingers at me.
“None of those were dates.”
“Really? Do you always hold hands with everyone you sit next to on a flight?”
“Wait. You’re not supposed to do that?”
Adam tickled the lo
ok of mock confusion off of my face. “Dinner was definitely a date.”
“I thought it was a professional dinner.” I grinned.
“Did we talk about work?”
I shook my head and kissed him. “The Red Cross was definitely not a date.”
“Hey, I didn’t say they were all good dates, but I enjoyed myself.” He tightened his arms around my waist.
“Okay, you’re making very valid points but even you have to admit this is fast.”
“Hey…maybe we’re very efficient,” he said with a shrug and kissed me. “That’s why we work so well together.” His words about us working together made my face fall. He caressed my cheek with his palm.
“What’s it going to take for you to stop thinking about the Barbados project until we absolutely have to?”
“A miracle.” I gave him a sad smile. I was serious. I wanted nothing more than to forget about everything else in the world and lose myself in this man knowing there was nothing I could do to affect Matthew and Vittoria’s decision. But I’m just not wired that way.
His large hand slid up my back and he pulled me close so that my head was resting on his chest. He heaved a deep sigh and I could feel his chest rise and fall beneath me.
“Adam?”
“Yeah?”
“You never talk about your parents.” I felt him tense underneath me. “You talk about your brother a lot, but you never mention them.”
He sighed again. “Our relationship is…complicated and it’s not my favorite subject.”
“Well, I’m becoming an expert in complicated relationships, but I understand if you’re not in the mood to share.” I planted a kiss on his chest.
“I want to tell you. I want to share everything with you, but I’ve never really talked about this with anyone outside my family.”
“Adam. It’s okay, really. You don’t have to.”
“Kimberly, I don’t want to have any secrets from you.” He pulled me into a kiss. An idea popped into my head and I climbed out of the tub. “Where are you going?”
I toweled off, making sure my feet were completely dry and carefully shimmied across bathroom floor.
“I’m taking a page out of the Adam Price playbook.” I smiled at him and the last thing I saw was his befuddled look before I clicked the light switch, plunging the bathroom into darkness. “This worked for me.”