Fifteen
I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to sleep in his arms. To feel safe and loved. To sleep soundly because I knew he was there to protect me. You forget the little things a person does for you when you’re separated and when I woke up the next morning, I was rested.
He was still sleeping. I could tell by his long breaths. I just laid there for a few minutes, not wanting to leave his arms and step outside of our little world I found myself in. I knew it was later than I usually slept in. I could tell by the way the light streamed in and when I looked at the clock, I saw it was nearly nine.
I felt Adam start to stir and a moment later, I heard him yawn and stretch before tightening his arms around me.
“Morning.” His voice was deep and rugged in my ear. I’d missed the sound of his voice when he first woke up.
“Good morning,” I said, turning so my body faced his. He was smiling. His dark hair hanging on his forehead and a light shadow on his face. His eyes were looking right at me and I’d nearly forgotten how blue they were. That along with the contrast of his dark hair made for a striking combination and I felt the familiar longing begin to stir inside of me. We hadn’t made love last night. It’d been too long, not since the night before he left on the road trip almost two weeks ago. My body ached for his and his for mine, but I knew it would have to wait until later, not with us downstairs so close to the common areas where Sawyer, Lindsey or Erica could be. We’d waited this long. We could wait a little while longer until tonight.
“How’d you sleep,” he asked, brushing a piece of hair behind my ear.
“Better than I have in two weeks,” I answered with a quiet laugh.
“You miss me pretty hard when I’m gone, don’t you?” His smirk was hot. He loved that I wanted him. That I needed him. He wasn’t fooling anyone though. He needed me just as badly.
“As hard as you miss me,” I said and his smirk grew wider before leaning in and kissing me, neither one of us caring about morning breath.
“What should we do today?” he asked as we cuddled.
“I don’t know. Your unexpected return kinda throws my plans off,” I said and we both laughed softly.
“I don’t want to spoil any hot plans you have with Sawyer or Erica.”
“We weren’t going to do much except grab some lunch by the water and then grab some drinks tonight.”
“Mind if I join you?” I knew he was being playful. He knew full-well I didn’t mind.
“Stop being ridiculous,” I told him, giving him another soft kiss. “What about work though? Don’t you need to do a workout or something?”
“Today’s my day off. It’s back to work tomorrow, so today, I’m all yours.” He grinned then, the right side pulling slightly higher than the left before I felt his hands wrap around my waist, encouraging me on top of him. My breasts were pressed against his chest and I could feel him hard at my hips. Maybe we could do it, if we were quiet, if no one heard us. Our eyes locked and I felt our bodies start to move slowly, his hand sliding into my shorts, cupping my ass with his palm and squeezing. I laughed and then he kissed me before the calling of my name interrupted it all.
Adam sighed loudly as I rolled off of him and stood up.
“We’ll continue this later, Mr. DeLain,” I teased softly before going to the door and opening it. There I found Erica looking around. “You beckoned?”
Her head spun around to see me just as I closed the door to the den.
“What’s going on, Care? I woke up and you were gone and I couldn’t find you anywhere.”
“Sorry. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“Are you feeling okay? Did you sleep in the den?” I could tell she was confused.
“Yeah, I did. Adam came home last night. Surprised me around one o’clock.”
“Wait,” she said, her puzzlement continuing. “Adam’s here?”
“Hey, Erica.” I turned around to see Adam walking out of the door as he slid on his t-shirt from last night over his head.
“Adam…hi,” she said, smiling over at him and even though I knew she was doing her best not to, she’d been staring at him during that brief moment his chiseled abs had been exposed before he’d covered them with a shirt.
“I hope you don’t mind I crashed your weekend with Caroline,” he said and she did that nervous giggle she sometimes got when she was around hot guys.
“Of course not. It’s your place after all…”
“It’s our place,” he corrected her as he put his hands on my shoulders, giving them a little squeeze. His gesture made me smile that Adam had let go of the my and embraced the our.
“You know what I mean,” Erica continued, waving her hand at us.
Just then, we heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Sawyer and Lindsey appeared and I could see the surprise on my brother’s face by how wide his eyes got. Adam looked at Sawyer and it already seemed different, that we both viewed Sawyer in a different light.
“What the hell? Adam?” Sawyer finally said with the hearty chuckle my brother was known for when he was particularly excited.
“Hey, man,” Adam said. “I thought I’d come home early before the next homestand begins.”
Adam left my side and greeted my brother with a quick hug and a slap on the back.
“It’s good to see you,” Adam said and then his eyes drifted to Lindsey, leaning in and giving her a hug, dwarfing her with his tall frame.
When he pulled back, it seemed tense. Not in a bad way it’d once been between them, but simply in a way that they didn’t quite know what to say to each other.
“I take it Caroline talked to you,” Sawyer finally said and Adam nodded.
“She did,” he answered, pausing for a moment. “And I think it’s awesome. I’m happy for you guys.”
“Maybe I should’ve told you,” Sawyer began, his voice seeming anxious. “I just thought Caroline has a better way with words…”
“It’s cool. Really. And I’ll be there for the wedding. You know I will.”
“Only if you can swing it. We know it’s hard for you,” Sawyer said, but Adam shook his head.
“I said I’ll be there and I will. There’s no way I’m missing the chance to watch Lindsey make the biggest mistake of her life.” Adam cracked a smile and I walked over, sliding my hand into his as Lindsey started to laugh, the rest of us joining in.
I watched as Adam and Sawyer’s eyes met. The eyes of two best friends who had known each other since they were little boys, who now stood before each other as grown men with two very different lives. Two friends who had almost been torn apart because of me. As I watched them now, I knew that time was truly behind us. Our lives were moving forward. Everything was changing and I knew we were all ready for it because we had each other.