We were quiet a moment and I actually allowed myself to relax against him. That was until he flexed his fingers against my back and an involuntary shiver rippled over me. Adam tensed, as if he’d felt my reaction, and I quickly looked at his face for confirmation. His dark eyes glittered in a way I’d never seen before.
I gulped.
He studied me a moment and I found myself pressed even tighter against him. My fingers curled into his shoulder. His next words almost blew me off my feet. “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Els,” he said, his voice thick with emotion.
My eyes grew round with shock at his announcement, my heart beginning to thud against my chest. Adam thought I was beautiful? No, not just beautiful… “the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen”.
Wow.
Okay.
My chest began to rise and fall a little rapidly. “Adam…” I replied softly, unsure whether he meant that in a strictly platonic sense or if he was finally opening his eyes up to see I wasn’t a little girl anymore. For a start I had boobs now.
“I worry about you all the time,” he confessed. “You’re so sweet and kind, too kind sometimes. I worry someone will hurt you and I won’t be there to stop it.”
It was true I had a tendency to look for the best in everyone, and I had a bit of a hero- complex (I wonder where I’d picked that up from), but I wasn’t incompetent. And I was a woman now. I could take care of myself, and I told him so.
Adam frowned. “That’s not what I mean. You get a lot of male attention, Ellie, and sometimes it’s difficult to weed out the wankers. For instance the kid you came with tonight.
He flirts a lot… with everything that has tits and a pair of long legs.”
Glowering at the insult to Liam, I tried to press back. “Liam is a nice guy.”
“Liam is after one thing. I should know—”
“Right, you’ve been hogging her enough.” Braden was suddenly standing beside us, grinning. “I want a dance with the birthday girl.”
Adam tightened his hold on me and then as if it occurred to him what he was doing, he threw Braden a grin and let me go. We shared one last look and then he was gone and I was in Braden’s arms.
What the hell had just happened? Had Adam Sutherland… was he… was that more than friendly advice? The way he touched me, the things he’d said, the way he’d looked at me. It had felt different. My heart was racing, a bubble of giddy hope starting to float up inside of me. Poor Liam was forgotten as I got lost in my longing and fantasies.
“I’m proud of you,” Braden told me gruffly, bringing me out of my head where I was already picking wedding dresses and deciding who would be my maid of honor. I guessed it would have to be Allie since I’d known her the longest.
I smiled at my big brother, feeling my chest expand at his declaration. “What for?”
“For many reasons. For getting into Edinburgh Uni. For taking care of Elodie and Clark, and for being a good sister to Hannah and Dec. And for being a great wee sister to me. It’s been a tough year, Els, and I’m grateful for all your help.”
I hugged him close for a second, my heart hurting all over again for him. After falling for and marrying his Australian wife, Analise, Braden had filed for divorce when he walked in on her and his old school friend ha**ng s*x in one of Braden’s empty developments in New Town. The bitch had put him through the ringer for the last nine months of his marriage and then she’d cheated on him with his friend. It was the ultimate betrayal. Worse, our dad had been the one who’d cottoned onto it and he’d set Braden up to find the traitorous couple. That was dad’s way. Rather than pulling his son aside and letting him down easy, he’d let Braden walk into that. Braden didn’t seem to mind. In fact he was grateful to our father. I, on the other hand, thought he was an insensitive arsehole. Then again, I didn’t exactly have fluffy feelings toward Douglas Carmichael at the moment (or ever).
As if he’d read my mind, Braden sighed. “Dad’s sorry he couldn’t be here, Ellie. I’m sorry too.”
“Don’t apologize for him.” I turned my face away, screwing it up to stop the tears. You would think after eighteen years of complete neglect I’d be over the hurt by now.
Unfortunately, the hurt never went away. I just couldn’t understand what Douglas found so unloveable about me that he’d deliberately shun me time and time again. It was my eighteenth birthday for God’s sake and he couldn’t get up off his rich arse for half an hour to pop into offer me birthday wishes.
Braden sighed again and I heard him curse under his breath. He had a fairly good relationship with our dad now and I didn’t want to be the cause of any problems between them so I gave him a squeeze and smiled at him. “I’m fine. I’m more than fine. I’m surrounded by friends and family who care about me, Braden. And that’s all I care about.”
We shared a smile and another hug seconds before the music changed to up tempo again, and mum and Clark descended on us. I had a dance with the two of them, giggling as they pulled out moves that hadn’t been seen in at least two decades.
As the night continued on, I mingled with friends and family but my eyes kept wandering through the crowds in an attempt to find Adam again. My stomach was a riot of butterflies, and I couldn’t get his voice out of my head.
“You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Els,”
I smiled at something Allie said to Liam and watched it crack him up but I had no idea what the conversation was about. My head was stuck in rewind.
When the room began to feel too hot, I ordered a bottle of water from the bar and slipped out of the back of the room and found directions to the exit. It was the fire exit and it led out to the back of the hotel where all the rubbish bins were stored. I crept outside quietly, sucking in a huge gulp of air and enjoying the peace. It could give me a moment to wrap my head around what had happened and if what I thought had happened had actually happened.
I felt a giddy smile start to stretch my lips when a grunt followed by a moan made me freeze. The large wheeled bins were situated between me and an alcove of the building, and the sounds were coming from there. My heart picked up a little bit as I guessed what the sounds meant and what I’d stumbled upon. When another grunt sounded I covered my mouth with my hand to keep in the giggle that was threatening to erupt.