Tempting Adam. Dorie Graham
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head at Kamira, sending her a smug I-told-you-so grin.
“He sounds like a commercial,” Kamira laughed.
Adam grinned. “Lauren’s cooking makes me want to endorse the good times.”
Reaching over, he clasped Lauren’s hand. “You are a remarkable cook. I hope the woman I marry knows her way around the kitchen.”
Lauren’s grin faltered as the warmth of his hand enveloped hers. She wiggled her fingers in an effort to free herself from his grip, but he didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he carried her hand to his lips for a quick kiss.
“Now that you’ve gotten rid of Jeffries, maybe you should find a real man.” He released her.
Kamira leaned forward. “You could both be open to a serious relationship.”
Lauren stared at her, speechless. How could she say such a thing?
“Right.” Adam swatted away a mosquito. “We learned to swim, ride bikes and drive together. Why not learn about love together?”
He dropped his hand to Lauren’s knee. “You’ve worked so hard, Lauren. You deserve a little happiness.”
Her gaze swept from his hand to Kamira, who waved her spoon enthusiastically. “She sure does.”
Heat crept up Lauren’s neck and along her knee beneath his hand. He gave her leg a squeeze, then busied himself again with his dessert. What was wrong with her? He’d touched her a million times in the past and she’d never thought twice about it. Kamira’s wild speculations had her reading more into his friendly gestures than was there.
Of course Adam wasn’t her secret admirer.
“So, Adam…” Kamira licked a drip of chocolate off her spoon. “Tell us what kind of woman you’re looking for. Maybe we can help. I see a lot of women in the course of the day.”
He pushed his bowl away, then sat back, gazing into the distance. “I think for a substantial relationship, I want a substantial woman. Substantial in spirit and body, too. Not a big woman, necessarily, but one with a little more meat on her bones.”
Lauren raised her eyebrows. “You mean you’re done with all those ultrathin model types?”
He grinned. “Well, I wouldn’t object, as long as she didn’t mind getting pregnant.”
His head bobbed as he continued to stare into the night, as though the woman of his dreams might materialize if he looked hard enough. “I’ll want some kids along the way.”
“Hold on,” Lauren blurted. “I thought you were going to wait awhile before jumping into marriage. Now you’re talking babies?”
The thought sent a wave of shock through her. Adam with a wife was one thing, but with a baby? She couldn’t quite bend her mind around the idea.
“C’mon, you know I like kids.”
“No, I don’t. When have I ever seen you with kids? I can’t even picture it.”
He cocked his head and laughed. Though she’d heard that laugh countless times before, for some reason it wrapped around her and sent gooseflesh skittering up her arms.
“Come to think of it, I guess you haven’t.” He shrugged. “I liked us when we were kids. Don’t ask why, I just know I want kids, a bunch of them.”
“A bunch?” Lauren blinked at him. To think she’d thought she’d known him all these years.
“Well, we’ll start with a couple, then see.”
Frowning, she turned to Kamira, but her housemate grinned broadly. “I can see Adam as a dad.”
Lauren gaped at her, then rounded on him. “What do you know about caring for kids? They’re lots of work. You’ve got to feed them, and play with them, and…and feed them.”
“I’ll read up on it. Hopefully my wife will know a little about all that.”
“Read up on it? They don’t come with manuals, you know.” She folded her arms. “You can’t just decide all of a sudden that you want a wife and kids.”
“Why not? I told you I wanted more in life. And that’s what I want…eventually, anyway,” he said.
His smile faded and he shifted in his seat. “She’ll have to be the stay-at-home kind of mom, though. None of that palming the kids off on the neighbors.”
Lauren stared at him a moment, a mixture of surprise and compassion swirling through her. “Adam, your parents didn’t palm you off on us.”
“Sure they did.”
She straightened. His parents had traveled a lot. He’d probably spent more time at her house growing up than at his own, but she’d never known this had bothered him. Having Adam around had always been a way of life.
Needing to soothe him, she touched his arm. “Good thing for me they did, then. Who else would I have whomped all those times in Crazy Eights?”
“I was the Crazy Eights champ. Your memory’s flawed.” The corners of his mouth lifted in an easy grin.
“Well, maybe…” She again had that feeling of a shifting hologram. Adam the Dependable morphed into Adam the Sexy.
An unprecedented wave of desire rippled through her. She swallowed. As with his laugh, it was as if she’d never before experienced the charm of that grin. Sure he’d used it to cajole her into giving him his way hundreds of times before, but never had the mere curve of his mouth sent her pulse speeding.
Damn Kamira and her imagination. Damn this new Adam. His pupils dilated and he tilted his head. Did he feel it, too?
Lauren blinked, hoping the old Adam would slide back into view, but the new Adam remained, exuding sensuality. How had she not noticed before?
“I’ll get that.” Kamira stood, bowls in hand, her gaze intent on Lauren.
The wall phone in the kitchen pealed. By the look on her housemate’s face it wasn’t the first ring. “No. I’ll get it. I’m sure it’s Elliot. I’m supposed to have that marketing plan done.”
Without a backward glance she hurried inside.
ADAM PULLED INTO his driveway. His house loomed above him, dark against the blackness of the night. Why had he bought the monstrosity?
His footsteps rapped against the hardwood floor as he entered. He flicked on a light and the great room he’d once so admired stretched before him, still and devoid of life. He dropped into a leather chair set by the tiled fireplace.
“Honey, I’m home.” The words echoed through the structure.
He leaned back his head and closed his eyes. The silence pressed in all around him. He used to think he wanted peace and quiet.
He’d have stayed longer at Lauren’s, but she had her usual work she’d brought home. Besides, she’d seemed tense tonight. He could have sworn she’d breathed a sigh of relief when he’d hugged her goodbye. Sure, she’d come clean on the secret-admirer thing, but something else was bothering her.
She was keeping secrets.
Dinner had been enjoyable, as usual, in spite of his slip of the tongue. But something had changed when she’d come out on the deck. She had acted even more uncomfortable, or distressed somehow.
Moments from the evening drifted through his mind. Had he imagined it, or had she… Words escaped him. His stomach tightened. If he didn’t know better, he’d say she had reacted to his touch earlier. They’d danced together, even wrestled each other, but never before had there been…what? A feeling? An awareness?
And you think I’ve never thought of you in that way?
Was that what had rattled her? Surely she knew he’d never act on such passing instincts.