the middle of it now, aren’t we?”
“Yes. We are. And I can’t stop thinking about you, either.”
Yes. Yes. Adam let out a long breath, feeling the relief all the way down to his marrow. He had no idea where this was going, what they were starting, but it felt good. So damn good. He kissed her again, pouring out all of the feelings he had inside of him but couldn’t say right now. One step at a time. One step toward something spectacular with Tess.
His Tess. Somewhere along the way she’d become his.
“Adam.” Tess broke off the kiss, and there was something else he couldn’t decipher in her eyes. Another secret. She took a deep breath, her hand hovering between them with her indecision. And then she reached out and grabbed his hand and tugged it down until it rested against her belly. “Another something neither of us was looking for.”
Adam’s brain wasn’t catching up. Numbers. Equations. Algorithms. That stuff came so easy to him but this was indecipherable. Like an equation where he didn’t know if he was solving for X or Y. He struggled, scouring her face for a clue. Any hint at what he was supposed to understand.
And then it clicked into place and one plus one equaled...three.
“A baby?” he whispered, his fingers flexing against the slippery fabric of her dress.
“I know it’s not what you wanted,” Tess said, her tone apologetic, her expression wary but determined. Her hand splayed across her abdomen in a gesture that could only be read as protective.
No, this wasn’t what he wanted. Family was a problem for him. He didn’t have any luck with family; he had no idea how to be a father. But it wasn’t fear that had settled in his belly. No, he wasn’t afraid. He was confused and scared...and happy. And that made no sense at all but it was the truth.
“I didn’t know that I wanted it,” he answered, realizing that he was speaking in damn riddles when he needed to be clear. “Until now.”
“Really? Are you sure?” Tess asked, her green-gold eyes warming with cautious optimism.
Was he? Wasn’t the answer in the fact that he’d hired her to find Roan and Sarina in the first place? That he’d finally acted on the undeniable compulsion he’d had to find his brother and sister? That he’d lain awake at nights tossing and turning with frustration and an emptiness that he could not name? It was a family-shaped hole in his soul and he was ready to fill it.
“Yes. I’m sure.” Adam linked their fingers together over her belly and kissed her, soft and full of promise. Laughter bubbled up between them and the heat rising from the tangle of lips and tongues transformed into warm, lazy presses of lips to cheeks, eyelids and mouths. “I’m going to be a father.” He pulled back, gazing down on her, a million questions swirling in his mind. “How? When? How do you feel? What did the doctor say?”
“I’m guessing that it was the night on your deck. My birth control was no match for the antibiotics I had to take when I was sick,” she said, her voice full of her own speculation. “We’ll go next week and you can ask all of the questions, I promise.” Tess answered, her smile dimming as her hands skimmed up the lapels of his jacket, her fingertips lightly brushing against his cheek, tangling in the hair at the nape of his neck. The wariness was back in her eyes, matching the deeper shadows along the edge of the alcove where they stood. “Right now I need to tell you some things. I need to tell you the truth.”
Unease pooled low in his belly, subduing the joy of the moment and he knew that this was going to be a night of secrets revealed. But he was determined that they would survive whatever was coming. He had a future with Tess and a baby to protect, and he would save them and their future—he’d failed with his own brother and sister but he wouldn’t let history repeat itself. Not with this new chance at a full life of his own.
“What is it, Tess? I have to know everything if I’m going to protect you. Protect us.”
“Adam, you have to understand that I didn’t know you before.” Tess lightly pressed a finger against his lips when he tried to speak again. “Before I knew what kind of man you are. Before I knew that you’re