Chapter Eight
“Open your mouth, Mia. Let the sound escape.” Mia pushed through the note as she was instructed. “That’s better.”
Mia focused on the instructor’s voice and let the tones come from inside. It had been ages since she’d had a voice lesson and it felt good, cleansing, to sing her heart out, even if she was only doing warm-ups and scales.
With luck, Professor Salica would take her on as a student. She knew he had a full load of students from the college, but he indicated he might take her on privately.
That would make her very happy.
It had been so long since she’d been able to focus on singing. In her heart, she was belting out songs on the Broadway stage; in reality, she was helping students with papers, and faculty members find criticism and data to support their research. She was not living the life she thought she’d live, that was for sure.
“You have a lovely voice,” he said. “It has a wonderful sound in the upper range. Not at all shrill.”
“Thank you.” Mia stepped toward the piano as Professor Salica started to pack his briefcase. “It’s been a while for me.”
“I could tell.” He put another music folder in his bag and Mia felt the disappointment descend. Professor Salica’s face was impossible to read. “I can’t give you a set time every week, but I suppose I can work you in based on your schedule.”
Mia clapped her hands together. “Oh! That’s wonderful! Thank you, professor! Thank you!” She shook his hand.
He smiled warmly. “You may not be thanking me when I ask you to sing something for the fiftieth time.”
Mia was so excited she practically danced out of the studio. She’d could take her time walking back to her car, go pick up Ben from school, and then get ready to take him to his first major league baseball game.
She stepped out of the music building and started down the long path to the library. The weather was perfect, and on this part of campus the view across the bay was spectacular. There was a vacant bench, and Mia took a moment to collect her thoughts. A light breeze, just right for the sailboats she saw in the distance, scooted around her and coaxed the leaves on the trees into making their own music.
It had been a good day so far. She’d had lunch with Noah, hoping she hadn’t misjudged his intentions. He was smart and sweet, and took a sincere interest in who she was and what she did. Yes, he was criminally good looking, but when he left her outside the music building with a light kiss on the cheek, Mia realized she might be leading him on, and that was the last thing she wanted to do.
It turned out his parents and her mother belonged to the same golf club in South Carolina. Her mother made a point to mention him during their last phone conversation, along with the fact that he would be a ‘suitable match’. “You could marry him,” she’d said nonchalantly. “He’s brilliant, and you’d have gorgeous children.”
Suitable, sure, but he did nothing for her. Noah was exactly the type of man her mother would want for her—well-educated, attractive and completely predictable. Sure, he was nice, and he tried to be funny, but it was hard for Mia to see Noah as anything but a friend. There was just no spark. Adam, on the other hand, provided lots of sparks, but she had no idea what expect.
Rising from the bench, Mia headed for her car. Ever since they’d arrived in Compass Cove, good things started happening. The town was like medicine for her and Ben. Everything felt better.
The changes began when she signed him up for baseball, and bought him the new bike. In just a few weeks’ time, there were kids in and out of her yard looking to play. Additionally, Mia couldn’t discount the role Adam and the team were playing in Ben’s life. He’d made friends, he was taking on responsibilities, and as a result, these last two weeks of school were much better than the first.
She didn’t get one call from the principal.
There was one big decision Mia was tossing around in her head, and it was the kind of change that would make her mother nuts. It would upset her more than the move to Long Island. Mia had decided that she was going to talk to an attorney about officially adopting Ben. It was something that she’d mentioned from time to time, but her mom and dad felt that it would be disrespectful to Sara’s memory. Mia thought it was practical, and more than anything else, she knew it was the right thing to do.
She was Ben’s mother. If not biologically, in every other way. Every decision she made, every choice in her life, was done with him in mind. She loved him more than anything or anyone in her life. Because of that, and because of the way people saw her, Mia saw no reason not to adopt Ben.
The drive home was pretty, as always, but signs of fall were starting to pop up everywhere. Cornstalks and pumpkins decorated the front porches on her street, and Nana’s garden was no longer filled with pastel summer flowers, but deeper, richer autumn blooms.
Ben was in his room, getting ready for the game, and just listening to him Mia expected him to explode. He was beyond excited. Mia, on the other hand, was nervous. It was going to be an interesting evening. Ben would want to sit with his friends, and that would leave her with the other parents who she was still getting to know. The group of adults was predictable. They were married, friends for years, and most were at least ten years older than she was. If she was lucky, it would only be slightly awkward.
“Ben, are you ready?” she called. “We have to meet everybody at the school in ten minutes.”
He came tearing out of his room, down the stairs, and slid in his stocking feet halfway across the living room floor. He smiled when he stopped right before crashing into the couch.
“Jeez! Slow down,” Mia said. “I want to go to the ball game, not the emergency room!”
“I’m ready,” he said. “This is going to be so much fun.” Ben hopped around as he pulled his sneakers on.
Mia hadn’t ever seen him this enthusiastic about anything. She shoved some snacks in her bag, grabbed their sweatshirts, and headed for the door.
When they got in the car, and Ben was all buckled in, Mia tossed him a brand new New York Mets cap. Ben whooped with enthusiasm and they pulled out of the driveway.
*
Adam maneuvered his truck between two SUVs in the school parking lot. Hordes of parents and kids were milling around and he tried to stay focused on the reason he was there. Mia was making him crazy, and he was having a hard time making sense of what was going through his head. He was jealous, borderline possessive, and he had no right to be. But there was a proprietary feeling when it came to her, like she was his, and no other man should have her. He’d seen her having lunch with the tool professor earlier in the day, and he’d had to leave Rinaldi’s before he hurt someone. He’d almost bowled Mrs. Rinaldi right over getting away from the counter. He could still hear her yelling after him that she was going to talk to his grandmother about his bad manners. There were a few choice Italian words in there as well.
Just as he had always been a free agent, he expected the women he got involved with would be the same, preferring a no strings existence. What was worse, he still couldn’t figure out what it was about Mia that turned his brain into Silly Putty. She was pretty, but he’d had more than his share of beautiful women. There was something else. Her hair swept over her shoulders and flowed softly down her back, her skin was flawless, and she had curves where girls were supposed to have curves. Yeah, and they were spectacular curves. Adam still had dreams about exploring every one of Mia’s curves.
His attraction to Mia was powerfully physical, but it wasn’t the usual lust that made him want to screw a woman brainless. No, he wanted to take Mia to bed and make slow, sweet love to her. He wanted to feel her warm against him, to know she was happy and satisfied and safe.
And he knew he was in serious trouble. Because he didn’t know how to be the kind of guy he sensed she needed him to be, and his head hurt just thinking about it.
He looked around as he walked toward the group. It was going to be a nice night. The weather was still on the warm side and a few high clouds dotted the sky.
He found Joe, said hello to him and Susan, and watched as the kids and parents interacted. This was all new to him. Families were a strange entity that Adam never thought about much. Lately, though, he thought about families all the time.
That was another kick in the ass.
Then his mood perked up as Mia’s little Honda pulled into the parking lot.
Immediately, he pictured her face as he’d seen it mid-kiss the day they’d gone out. The way her eyes fluttered shut, her flushed skin, her rosy lips—all of it was burned in his brain. Adam shook off the fog brought on by the sight of her and decided he’d better go over and say hi before she saw him first. The last thing he wanted was for her to run again.
He screwed up his courage and walked toward her car. God, he hoped this wasn’t a mistake. Ben had just taken off to be with his friends and Mia was standing by the open back door. She bent over to retrieve something in the back seat just as Adam walked up. He got a fine view of her ass and then a wonderful view of her eyes when she stood up and met his gaze head on.
“Adam!” She brought a hand to her chest. “What are you doing here?”
“Goin’ to the game.”
Her face was a mix of shock and confusion. Her eyes darted around and it looked like she was looking for a way to escape. Obviously, he made Mia a lot more nervous than he thought. Lucky for him, she was trapped. But in the interest of fairness, he explained. “Susan had one ticket left, and she offered it to me.”
“Of course she did.” Mia shook her head, seeing the set up plain as day. Lucky for Adam, now that the shock had worn off, she looked happy to see him.
“I was glad. I’ve wanted to spend some time with you.”
She closed the car door, engaged the alarm, and nodded, seeming to regain her composure. “You did? You could have called.”
“I know, but every time I sit down to call, it’s too late.” She nodded and Adam couldn’t tell if she believed him or not.
“Your team must be flying from the win over the weekend.”
“Yeah. The boys worked really hard for it.” He walked with her toward the group of parents and tried to read her mood.
“Kelvin’s been on Cloud Nine since Saturday,” she said. “He’s such a nice kid. I really like him.”
“I agree. Nice family, too. His mom is something special.”
“I don’t know his mom,” she responded. “But I imagine she is quite special if she was able to do such a good job with him under such difficult conditions.”
Like you, Adam thought, imagining how difficult it had been for Mia raising her sister’s child on her own. He didn’t know anything at all about her parents, other than what he’d been told, but from his vantage point, Mia had been flying solo for a while now, and the kid was lucky to have someone who loved him so much.
A few people walked by them, and said hello, but he could see she still wasn’t completely comfortable. This had to be hard. Feeling protective, he was glad he came. Sliding his hand to the small of her back, they started moving toward the bus.
“You don’t mind that I took the ticket?”
Just like the other day, her body turned ever so slightly and pressed into his. It was the smallest amount of contact, nothing more, but Adam couldn’t help thinking she wanted to be close to him. Her eyes met his at the same time she bit her bottom lip, shook her head.
“Not at all,” she said quietly.
Adam felt like he’d hit a home run.
*
Mia climbed up the bus steps after Ben, who bolted to the back with his friends. She continued down the aisle, found a pair of unoccupied seats and settled in next to the window with Adam right beside her. How did this happen? One minute she was nervous about being the odd one out, now she had an impromptu date with the most gorgeous man on the planet.
She’d been thinking about him constantly, even with all of Noah’s attentions. She thought about the way Adam kissed her, touched her. The romantic in Mia, the person who lived in the fantasy worlds found in books and movies, always wished to be swept away on a wave of passion. Adam did that. The one kiss—that one long, beautiful kiss—finished Mia off. If he prodded her even a little bit, she would have done anything he wanted.
Staring out the window as they pulled out of the school parking lot, she had to get her imagination under control. If she didn’t slow down, she’d be planning an imaginary wedding.
“Mia?”
He was leaning back in his seat and smiling at her. He looked perfect in his jeans, T-shirt and open, button-down shirt. It was like he walked out of J. Crew, and the miracle of it was he was sitting there smiling at her.
“Hey,” he said. “Nice side trip?”
“Yeah, sorry.” She stared down at her hands and began twisting her fingers. Yup, she was nervous. “I was thinking about Ben,” she lied.
“Really? I was hoping you were thinking about me.”
Mia’s eyes flew open wide. Did he read minds, too?
“I… well, I was surprised to see you, so naturally…”
The look of amusement in Adam’s eyes made Mia want to crawl under her seat. She was no good at this and he made her so nervous. But here she was with Adam, who seemed to enjoy watching her make a fool of herself.
“I should have told you I was coming. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not a problem. It’s nice to have someone to hang out with.”
He rewarded her with a grin that was sexy and playful, and a little bit dangerous. Mia felt her insides go all squishy when he took her hand in his.
She needed to talk about something or she might just melt in the seat. There had to be something she could talk about so she could stop thinking about the way his fingers were winding around hers.
“Someone at work said the pitcher on the Mets who’s starting tonight grew up in Compass Cove.”
Adam nodded. “Sam Lucas. He was a few years behind me in school. Got an arm like a cannon.”
“Wow. Your high school produced two professional athletes?”
“More than that. There’s a catcher on the Cubs, who played in high school with Sam. A couple of guys made it to the NHL, and there have been a few Olympic hopefuls.”
“Jeez! Is it in the water?”
He laughed. “You aren’t the first person to ask that.”
There was a break in the conversation, and feeling a little more relaxed, she brought up another topic.
“You know what? I saw your grandmother. She was at the library for a board meeting.” That was what they needed—some common ground. And, with luck, she’d get to tease him a little.
“She mentioned it.” He kept her fingers securely in his. “Did she grill you about our date?”
“I wouldn’t call it grilling. She wanted to know if you behaved yourself that day we went to lunch.” No matter how hard she tried, Mia hadn’t been able to call it a date.
Mia chuckled when she saw Adam’s eyes narrow. The things she could have told his grandma.
“What did you tell her?” he asked.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Yes,” he said. “I would.”
Mia giggled again, took her hand from his, and said nothing. She could have some fun with this. And she discovered, much to her surprise, she could flirt.
Adam ran a hand through his hair and stared at her. She decided to try to ignore him, but even when she wasn’t looking his way, she could feel his gaze. Skimming a book she’d brought along for the ride, she glanced up every once in a while. His eyes were piercing and so very blue, Mia had to fight the urge to let herself get lost in them. Happy for the distraction, she went back to her book.
Of course, Mia hadn’t factored in that Adam was better at games than she was. He’d had a lot more practice. He let her pretend to read for a minute or so, then he leaned in and began whispering in her ear.
“Did you tell her what happened in the kitchen? When we were alone?”
His voice was warm and intimate. Oh, God. Her heart jumped to her throat and fluttered uncontrollably.
“Did you tell her how I touched you? How I kissed you?”
Every inch of her was on fire remembering how it felt to be held like that, kissed like that. She remembered his strength, how he tasted, and she remembered how aroused he was and how it felt pressed into her.
Mia sighed, and this time he was the one who was amused. Adam not only knew how to play games, he knew how to play dirty.
Drawing in a long breath to compose herself, she tried to shake the images out of her head. But then, as if to say he didn’t want her to forget, Adam took Mia’s hand. She looked first at their hands and then at him. His eyes were fixed on their linked fingers, and he was concentrating on the slow, gentle circles he was tracing with his thumb.
“I lied. I told your grandmother you were a perfect gentleman.” Mia could barely hear her own voice.
“I know. She told me.” He locked onto her eyes and smiled. His dimple seemed more pronounced and the sparkle in his eyes was just another way of letting her know he had the upper hand. Mia decided she would throw him off the bus for being a sneak, if she could get away with it.
“And, by the way,” he said. “She knew you were lying.”
The realization that he’d played her made Mia shake her head and laugh once again. “I hate you.”
Adam touched his lips to the top of her head. “No, you don’t,” he said. “That’s why this is so damn scary.”
*
Adam was surprised the nosebleed seats weren’t so bad. They were toward the front of the upper level, so everyone had a good view. The kids sat in the front rows with parents at each end and rows of adults behind them. Mia managed to get a seat almost directly behind Ben and Adam claimed the seat next to her.
The ride to the ballpark should have taken an hour, but with the traffic it was over an hour and a half. They had a nice conversation on the way in and he discovered she’d led a pretty interesting life. She also had a lot of nerve, although he guessed she didn’t think so.
Coming back to the seats, he hoped she wasn’t angry with him for buying her food. She was Miss Independent, and here he was carting back half a dozen hot dogs, three with the works, drinks, peanuts, Cracker Jack, and a plate of garlic fries.
But hell, she needed to eat and so did Ben, and there was nothing like eating hot dogs at a ball game. He scanned the crowd and saw Ben having a great time with his friends, and one row back was Mia sitting quietly, reading the program, and occasionally exchanging a few words with Susan.
He took a long look around and wondered why he didn’t come to games more often. He loved the whole scene. The food, the music, the way the park smelled and sounded was something that just screamed “good time”.
Adam made his way down the aisle and Mia smiled when she saw him coming back. It turned him inside out. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he liked her. If he got involved with her, he knew it wouldn’t be easy and casual. It would be work, it would be real, but he didn’t doubt for a second she would be worth the effort. It was more than just a physical attraction between them, and it was the more that had him so edgy.
He couldn’t decide if it was her vulnerability or the sweetness that had gotten to him first. Then again, maybe it was the strength he saw in her, the intelligence. Maybe it was all of it.
She liked him well enough, and unless he was blind she was attracted to him, but she didn’t trust him, yet. Which was probably why she was still hanging around with the professor. He wondered what he could do to change that. Then he looked at her again, and the way her tongue was gently playing over her lips, and he realized trust or not, he still wanted to get into her pants.
A few other women were watching when he sat down with Mia, with Susan taking special interest. His former celebrity status kept people interested. It pissed him off. Every year or so, he turned up on a People magazine list, or an old picture of him with some model popped up. He ignored most of it. Adam knew he wasn’t the same guy as the one being reported on in the tabloids. But it still bugged him that some people were more worried about his life than their own.
“Did you buy enough food?” she asked, surveying the pile he had in his hands.
He examined the tray himself and nodded. “I think so.” He nudged Ben’s shoulder and handed him a hot dog with the Cracker Jack. The kid’s eyes lit up and he said thank you.
“He has a drink already?” Adam asked.
“I just got him something. You didn’t have to buy all this.”
“Uh, yes. Is it a problem?” He hesitated, then handed her a hot dog and a lemonade…and waited for the reaction. Mia pressed her lips together when she looked at the plastic cup, then she blushed and smiled. Yeah, that’s what he wanted. He wanted her to think about the last time they were together. God knew, he thought about it all the time. Compete with that memory, professor.
“Umm, are you sure you don’t want the lemonade?” she asked.
The smokiness in her eyes and the parting of her lips sent a shot of electricity through Adam’s body. If he had flustered Mia at all, she’d regrouped and had gone on the offensive. Removing the straw from the wrapper, she popped it into the cup, wrapped her luscious lips around the straw and pulled the drink into her mouth. She licked her lips again and glanced up at him through her lashes. Was he drooling? He had to be drooling.
“It’s good,” she said softly. “Not too sweet.”
“I’ll have a taste later.” Holy shit. Their exchange was pure seduction and all they talked about was lemonade. Did she know what she was doing to him? Time to change the subject. He cleared his throat and focused on the tray in his lap that was now doing double duty hiding his hard-on.
“I didn’t know if you liked ketchup or mustard, so I brought you both.” He held out the small foil packets.
“Thanks.” She took the ketchup. “What did you get for yourself? A case of indigestion?” She paused and looked at the pile of seasoned potatoes he’d been looking forward to all day. “What is that smell, by the way?”
“That smell is the aroma of garlic fries.”
“Garlic fries?” She looked again and took a sniff. “Are they good?”
“Heaven. A ballpark staple out west. Although they give them a different twist here. Never had them?”
“My parents didn’t let us have any kind of junk food, and we never went to baseball games. Anywhere.” Turning her gaze toward him, she smiled. “Aside from that, I never had the nerve, or the desire, for that much bad breath.”
He grinned as he picked up one of the fully loaded dogs and took a healthy bite. He pointed to the tray in his lap. “You want one of these?”
“No, thanks.” Mia took a bite of her hot dog and the two of them settled into an easy silence while they watched the teams take batting practice.
*
Mia’s heart warmed as she watched Adam guide a very sleepy Ben to the car. There went her ovaries again—pop, pop, pop.
It was almost one o’clock in the morning and all the kids were wiped out. The game was four and a half hours long and went fifteen innings. Thank God, the Mets won and both she and Ben had the day off tomorrow.
Her boy slumped against the door when it closed and went right back to his dream world. He looked so content. It was a good night on a lot of levels.
With his hands shoved down into his pockets, Adam approached her. Cars were pulling out around them and Mia knew she should say thanks, get in the car, and go home. Instead she folded her arms and held her breath.
“I think he’s gonna sleep for a week,” Adam said.
“He was so into the game. I had no idea he’d love it so much.”
He edged nearer to her. “What about you? Did you have a good time?”
Mia looked away. His question had so many answers. The game was fun. Meeting new people was fun. It was the Adam part of the evening that made her dig a little deeper. Did she have a good time? The answer wasn’t that hard. “Yes, I did. I’m glad you took the last ticket.”
“Yeah? I really wanted to see you.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I’m sorry we haven’t talked. I get distracted with team stuff.”
“It’s okay, I think you made up for it.” There was no doubt that he had. Making such a big effort to spend time with her and Ben was more than she ever expected, and he’d been so sweet. He taught her how to keep score, and they had conversations about food and books and their lives. It was one of the best times she’d ever had. Even now, with the shadow of a beard and his clothes rumpled from the long night, he made her heart flip.
Adam took another step closer, crossing into her personal space. “Did I? It wasn’t torture?”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“Good. Let me take you to dinner Saturday. Just the two of us. Can you get a sitter?”
“I think so,” she whispered. Hopefully, Nana was around. If not, she’d go through her entire contact list to find a sitter.
He was standing so close she could feel his warm breath. It was getting to the point in the goodbye that she needed to decide what she wanted, and Adam’s eyes were asking how this was going to go.
Mia knew exactly what she wanted. Her insides churned at the thought of his touch. It was all she’d thought about for weeks. This time though, instead of backing away, Mia pressed into him and let her hands feel the hard muscle of his torso as they moved slowly and settled on his chest. The heat from his body chased away the chill in the air, and thawed a heart that had been cold too long. Mia had hoped the feelings would go away; she didn’t want to get caught up in a situation that was hopeless. But she couldn’t help herself.
Adam took her face in his hands. He was being so gentle, Mia almost cried. First, he dropped a kiss on her forehead, then her nose and then he softly kissed her lips. He took it deeper, reaching around and pulling her close. His mouth moved over hers, consuming, taking everything she would give him.
“God, you taste so good.”
“Adam,” she purred as his lips nipped at her neck, then moved along her jaw. He stopped just below her ear and nuzzled. Mia didn’t know she was capable of such lovely sounds, but apparently, she was.
“This scent here, this sweet scent, is all you. I dream about it.” He kissed her just behind her earlobe.
Mia was dizzy and just about to lose her balance when Adam turned her, putting her back against the car. His hips pressed against her and Mia felt him. He was big, hard, and the tension in his body told her that he wanted her, which was completely surreal. His one hand laced through her hair and gently held her head, and his other hand slipped around her waist and settled on the skin at the small of her back.
Even though he was more man than she could handle, Mia fell into the moment. They were standing under a lamp post, which allowed Mia to see all his features clearly, including his slightly crooked nose, a small scar on his chin and his eyes, his gorgeous eyes that were dark and focused on her. This time there was nothing sweet about the kiss—it was mind-blowing. His mouth covered hers and his tongue played, drawing Mia into the heat. He held her close and she completely surrendered, losing herself in the smell and feel of him. His hand slid into the back of her pants and the softness of his touch was too much. She had no thoughts in her head, all she felt were his hands, his lips, his tongue, and his body pressed against hers. Mia clutched his shirt and held on, afraid she would fall, as every part of her went soft and pliant.
When he broke the kiss, Mia could feel his heart hammering away under her hands and she was barely able to catch her breath. This was what she’d been missing. This mind-numbing, sense-stealing passion was what had been absent from her life. Everything burned. Everything. Good Lord, how did people survive this?
Resting his forehead against hers, Adam blew out a breath. “Still hate me?”
Mia felt a smile pull across her face as one of her hands came up and touched his cheek. They locked eyes and Mia felt her heart trip and fall. “More than ever,” she whispered. “More than ever.”