Had he confided in her? Or had she somehow stumbled upon the damning information?
When no more information was forthcoming, I sat up suddenly. Adam’s hand fell away from my hip. I searched for clues in his perfect features. I willed him with my eyes to share. My mind screamed: What was it?
Adam, perceptive as always, sighed, “Maddy, I’ve already told you more than I’ve ever told anyone. You do understand why I can’t give you any more details, right?”
I shrugged. “It’s not like I’d run and tell the world, Adam. I just told you I wouldn’t write—”
Adam cut me off and sat up. “Why would I even put you—or myself—in a position like that?”
“So it’s a matter of trust?” I accused, stung. “You want me to trust you, but you don’t trust me. At all.”
“Oh, you trust me?” he shot back dubiously. “Because as I recall in Boston, you said you thought you trusted me, but then you refused to even tell me what the fuck was going on when you found out about a phone call from four fucking years ago!”
“I did tell you!” I yelled, outraged.
“Only after I chased you down and pried it out of you,” he yelled back.
Leaning his head back, he closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. In a lowered voice, he asked, “So which is it, Maddy? Do you trust me? Or not?”
How had this turned into a conversation about me?
“I trust you, Adam,” I said quietly, casting my eyes down. And I did trust him. To a point.
I continued, “I know you’re just trying to protect us both, but”—our eyes met—“if we are ever going to have a chance, eventually, Adam, you are going to have to trust me enough to tell me the truth. All of it.”
He took my hand and pulled me to him, and then he eased us down into the pillows as he reached up and turned off the bedside lamps.
“Maddy, Maddy. Eventually, huh?” he asked, the playfulness back in his voice. “You’re willing to wait?”
I nestled into him and nodded. “Yes, I can wait, for now. But eventually, yeah.”
His fingers ghosted over the thin strap of my cami, sending a warm shiver through me. Despite being extremely tired, a part of me desperately wanted to stay awake. All the heightened emotions were fueling my desire to feel physically close to Adam. I hooked a leg over him and pressed myself to his firm body, eliciting a surprised, shaky exhale of air from him. Encouraged, I ran my hand down his chest until I reached his abdomen.
Adam placed his hand over mine. “Maddy, don’t start something you aren’t willing to finish,” he said in a husky, low voice.
I really was too exhausted to enjoy much of anything if I continued down this path, literally and figuratively. It had ended up being a trying day, and we were both in dire need of some sleep.
Adam must have sensed my reticence, because he said softly, “We should sleep, for now.”
“Yeah, I guess,” I agreed as I moved my hand back up to rest on the smooth planes of his chest. “Will you stay though?”
I didn’t want to sleep alone, not tonight.
“If it will help you sleep better, of course,” he said.
Propping himself up on an elbow, he leaned over to press his lips to mine. We kissed—oh so slowly and gently—until I was positively dizzy. Pulling back, Adam said in a low voice, “Oh, Maddy, the things I’m going to do to you.”
He caressed my cheek, his hand drifting down to my neck, over the swell of my breasts, a brush of fingers across my stomach, and then lower, lower, until his hand rested dangerously close to… A moan escaped my lips, and I asked breathily, “When?”
Adam plopped back against the pillows, chuckling. “Oh, I don’t know,” he said slyly. “Let’s say…eventually.”
I huffed, feigning indignation, and tried half-heartedly to roll to the other side of the enormous bed. But he easily caught me in his arms and eased me back to lie against him.
We’d reached an impasse, of sorts, but, for this night, I was fine with where we were.
“Good night, Adam,” I said, closing my eyes.
“’Night, Maddy.”
Chapter 13
I woke up only once in the middle of the night, entangled in Adam—stretched across his bare chest, his arm draped over my shoulder, I tilted my head back just enough to watch him sleep. He seemed so peaceful, so at rest. Wishing for Adam to find that kind