into focus. “Adam,” I ventured. “W-w-what are you doing in here?”
Stepping around the arm of the sofa, he sat down beside me. My heart began to race in both fear—and anticipation—of what was coming next. I noticed Adam had changed clothes; he now wore all black—black leather jacket, black low-hanging jeans, black T-shirt that clung enticingly to the lean muscles of his chest. He looked dark and dangerous. And, I hated to admit, sexy as hell.
“Shhhh.” Adam’s tone was low and mocking. “You don’t want to wake up your houseguest, now do you? After all, your ex-lover probably wouldn’t approve of my being here.”
“He was more than a lover, Adam,” I snapped, glancing to the staircase. It was clear Adam knew exactly who Julian was, so I added, “How did you know who he was anyway?”
My uninvited guest chuckled as he shucked off his jacket, the scent of leather…and Adam…wafting my way. “I certainly hope you don’t allow just any guy who happens upon the island to sleep in your bed,” he chided.
“Seriously, Adam,” I said. “How did you know?”
“Maddy, Maddy, so naïve,” he tsked, draping an arm casually on the back of the sofa. “Do you really think I wouldn’t have thoroughly checked out your previous, uh, suitors?”
A flare of anger blazed through me. Was there anything Adam didn’t know about my life? Irritated, I hissed, “What are you doing here? I know I locked the doors, so how’d you even get in?”
He held out a keychain with several keys attached. “Madeleine, do you really need to ask?” He jangled the keys softly. “Nothing on this island is off-limits to me.”
I swallowed hard, the implication of his statement not lost on me. As if to punctuate his meaning, Adam stood, kicked off his shoes and pulled his shirt over his head. His sculpted bare chest, bathed in silvery moonlight, held my eye. At least until he casually threw his shirt to the floor, flipped open the top button on his jeans, and then dropped back down to the sofa in a crouch.
I gasped as he crawled up the sofa toward me, trapping me in a cage created by his arms. I curled my knees tighter to my chest, but he reached out and adjusted each one—none too gently—to either side of his body. With one arm, muscles taut, holding him up, and his other hand on my knee, he whispered, “So Madeleine, who invited your friend to my island?”
“Not me,” I answered, biting my lip, my eyes drawn to his flexing chest muscles as he lowered himself until our bodies were pressed together. “It was Ami,” I continued. “Uh, she’s in Los Angeles. She told him I was in danger,” I breathed out, excitement mounting as Adam trailed soft, warm kisses along my jaw and down my neck while I was speaking.
“Ami, huh?” he mumbled distractedly against my skin. “In California, eh? Crazy girl.”
This was a side of Adam I’d not yet seen, and though it frightened me, it also thrilled me. I knew I should make him stop, make him go—after all, what right did he have to break into this place?—but I couldn’t do it. The danger, the wrongness of it all with Julian just up the stairs. I had to admit, those things excited me.
I ran my hands along Adam’s bare skin, up his back, to his broad shoulders. God, I felt so small beneath him. He lifted up just enough to begin unbuttoning my pajama top—from the bottom up. Warm fingers grazed the skin of my abdomen, lighting tiny fires in their wake. Adam seemed more fixated on getting my clothes off than in discussing why Ami might be in LA. And at this point, so was I.
“How chivalrous of… Julian, is it?” Adam didn’t wait for an answer, though his fingers stilled at the second button from the top. “How chivalrous of Julian to rush all the way out here to my island to rescue you.”
“Adam,” I said, my breath quickening as he undid those last two buttons, “we both know I don’t need rescuing.”
“Oh, I beg to differ,” he murmured darkly.
My top gaped open and Adam pressed his chest to mine, skin to skin. He felt so good that I forgot about Julian sleeping upstairs, forgot about Ami and whatever she was up to. I just wanted Adam, all of Adam.
Arching up, our hips met, and I felt how very ready he was. “I want you, Adam, so much.”