didn’t matter when it came to Adam and his huge heart. He took responsibility for the people in his life, carried so much of their burden as his own and this would be a blow she couldn’t bear to see him take.
Adam’s strength, his need to take care of everyone, was what made him survive the childhood in Franklin Thornton’s house. He had needed to get through it so that he could find his family someday. He had needed to succeed at school and in his company so that he could take care of his employees. He’d paid for her to do anything necessary to find his siblings because he carried the guilt of having let them down.
If she exposed Franklin, she would hurt this man.
A man she wanted to protect because of what he did for everyone else.
A man she was falling for.
In frustration she grabbed the files on the table and shoved them back into the box. She couldn’t believe that she was seriously contemplating giving up on her father for the son of the man who destroyed him. But Adam was a decent, good man in spite of what had happened to him. He was sexy and funny and smart and he needed her. He wanted her.
And no one had ever made her feel like she was enough.
That just having her in their life would be enough.
Tess squirmed in her chair, her stomach clenching with nausea that made her gasp with the intensity of the feeling. She checked her watch and realized that it was midafternoon and it had been many hours since she’d eaten a bagel along with her coffee.
Heading to the kitchen, she took a mental inventory of the contents of her fridge: leftover Chinese, cold pizza, yogurt, eggs. The eggs made her smile, thinking of the omelet Adam had made her when she was sick. It had been surprisingly decent; nothing that was going to get him on the Food Network but it was good, filling when she’d needed it.
She opened the fridge and grabbed the carton of eggs, butter and cheese and placed them on the island counter. Tess shifted to the coffee maker, popping in a cup and turning it on to perk while she threw some bread in the toaster. Soon the smells of melting butter and coffee filled the air as she worked at the cooktop and her mouth watered at the thought of breakfast for supper. It was one of her favorite things to cook, remembering many meals with Mia where bacon and eggs filled their bellies.
Her mouth watered again and her stomach rolled with another wave of nausea. Tess leaned heavily on the counter, breathing in deeply through her nose and pressing a trembling palm against her stomach. A cold sweat broke out between her shoulder blades, streaking down her back and her arms and along her scalp.
Tess turned off the burner and bolted to the bathroom, flinging up the toilet seat as she fell to her knees in front of it and emptied everything out of her stomach. She heaved, every muscle straining as she wretched, her nails digging into the palms of her hands. Finally, minutes that felt like an hour later, she slumped back against the side of the tub, legs extended on the tile floor. The chill of the porcelain seeped through her leggings and made her shiver.
It had to be the sickness back again but even during the worst of it she hadn’t felt this bad, hadn’t thrown up like she drank too much of the grain alcohol fruit punch at a fraternity party.
Tess stood and moved towards the sink, splashing cold water on her face. She felt better but not completely settled so she dried off and opened up the medicine cabinet, reaching for the Tums when the box of tampons caught her eye. She paused, shaking her head at the random thought that skittered across her brain and reached for her phone. It was crazy. Impossible.
Tess tapped the app that tracked her cycle and the dates on the display made the ball of anxiety in her gut expand to rivers of ice running under her skin.
She closed the app, slid her finger across the screen and searched for Mia’s number. She was visiting for a long weekend, out running errands, and Tess might be able catch her in time.
She pressed the number for her sister and when she answered, asked for what she needed and settled in to wait.
The quickness of