Chapter 14
Adam watched the rental car drive away until it disappeared around the corner along with all his hopes. When he whirled back around, his expression must have been fierce, because his family scattered like roaches running from the light.
After a quick glance to be certain he’d left the window down in the back seat for Kujo, Adam gathered the pages fluttering on the front porch and tromped into the house. As he wandered through the downstairs, he recognized what he should have seen weeks ago… Ash had stopped all the renovations. No real progress had been made since the first week of reconstruction.
He perched on the front of the couch, his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands, wondering where he’d gone wrong. Was she running from some abusive ghost in her past? Or was it, as he feared, that she found his temperament too volatile? It hurt to think she might be afraid of him, but he knew it was the most likely answer. Her abrupt change in behavior a few weeks ago, criticizing everything he held dear, was a bit too deliberate to be real. He recognized her efforts to drive him away, though he refused to be dissuaded.
A motorboat rumbled beside him, and he lifted his head to find Lucky perched beside him on the couch. Her tawny eyes regarded him with something akin to curiosity before she bent her head, butting against his arm.
He let out a bitter laugh as he stroked her fur and she arched into his hand. “I’ve finally got enough antihistamines in my system that I can sit beside you without an allergy attack, and look what good it did me.”
Lucky purred even louder.
“I know you’re not worried about it. You’re the one who got chosen. You’ve got a home with Ash forever. I’m the orphan here.”
On the side table, a buzzing noise caught his attention. A cell phone—Ash’s phone—was ringing. The word “Maggie” flashed on the front.
Maggie—her best friend in New York!
Adam dove for the phone. “Maggie? Is this Maggie?”
“Yes.” The girl’s voice was coated in suspicion. “Who is this?”
“This is Adam. Listen, Maggie… if you love Ash, you have to help me…”
~*~
Ash waited as long as possible before returning to the house for Lucky and her suitcases, in hopes of avoiding an awkward confrontation with Adam. But as she turned on Scott Street, she spied his truck in front of her house, though it had moved into the driveway.
Her palms started sweating, and she felt warm, despite the frigid November air.
“I can’t very well go home without my stuff,” she muttered as she parked behind his truck.
She didn’t notice the paint until she got out of her car. Someone had ruined the beautiful paint job on Grammy’s house. Jet black paint covered an entire lower section of the front wall. And the window trim in that section had been repainted as well… hot pink.
She didn’t notice the painter until she climbed the steps of the front porch. Splattered from head to toe with black and pink paint, Adam stood in the open doorway, assaulting the front door with the same awful paint.
“What do you think you’re doing?” she shouted, belatedly remembering the house was his to ruin if he chose to do so.
“Can’t you see I’m painting?” He kept his eyes on his task, painting a bright pink letters on the freshly blackened door. “There! Finished!”
He stepped back, admiring his work.
Great Scott
New York Inspired Eatery
“Why are you doing this, Adam?”
He turned to face her, his humorless eyes regarding her with a steady stare that looked even more intense with splotches of pink and black paint accenting his face. The modern art on his face, however, did nothing to detract from his strong, masculine allure. On the contrary, he reminded her of a hunky soldier headed into combat.
“You left your cell phone here.”
“I know.” She swallowed, unable to drag her gaze away from his.
He took a step toward her.
“Maggie called, and we had a nice chat.”
She took a corresponding step back.
“What exactly did she tell you?”
He smiled, displaying his pearly whites, and she felt a bead of perspiration on her neck, despite the cold.
“She refused to tell me anything. She couldn’t break her promise.”
Ash let her eyes close, breathing her relief.
“However,” he continued, “she did answer yes and no to quite a few questions.”
Ash hadn’t cursed since she was a teenager, but a few choice words came to mind.
“And all this…” She waved at the black wall and the pink-lettered door. “All this is a result of your little chat with Maggie?”
He crossed his arms, a familiar frown returning to his face.
“All this is my way of saying you don’t need to go back to New York City.”
“Adam, you probably don’t know as much as you think you know.”
“Really?” His arms fell to his sides and he rounded in front of her on the porch, moving like a stalking cat until he trapped her against the wall, which fortunately, hadn’t been painted black. “I’ll tell you what I know. I know you came here with a dream of opening a restaurant. I know you worked hard to get where you are, and you deserve to be happy. I know somewhere along the way you got the mistaken notion that your dream was in direct opposition to mine.”
He paused, lifting a single eyebrow. “Well, am I right, so far?”
She shrugged. “Maybe.”
“I also know you think we’re cousins, and we’re not.” His smile returned—smug, this time.
“I know we’re not really cousins.” She put her hands on her hips, returning a satisfied smile. “You’re adopted.”
Ha! That surprised him!
His eyes narrowed. “Wait… How long have you known?”
“Since Erin told me this morning.” Ash jutted her chin forward. “But you were still wrong.”
“I also know you were happy to find your family, and your family was happy to find you. Everyone in the family loves you and wants you to stay. And--”
“Wait!” Ash couldn’t handle any more. It hurt too much. Knowing Adam only wanted her to stay because she was part of their family was almost more excruciating than if he’d told her he hated her with every fiber of his being. She wanted more, and she had to accept that he could never give it. “The point is you don’t have to do this, Adam. I don’t have to open a restaurant here. I’ll be fine working in New York, and eventually I’ll have my own place. I know the family loves me, and I love them back. I’ll be happy if I leave Romance.” Someday… Hopefully.
Adam stepped back like she’d slapped him in the face. He blinked rapidly, swallowing hard as both hands rose up to grasp at his hair. “Do you really mean that? Would you be happier in New York?” His mouth twisted. “Because, I thought maybe…”
“What?” She panted shallow breaths, barely daring to hope. “What did you think?”
His hooded eyes found hers and connected, pulling at her like a magnet. In a flash his hands were on the wall on either side of her head, caging her in. He bent down until their eyes were level. He was so close she could feel the heat radiating from his chest. “Ash… I like you a lot. And I thought maybe you liked me a little bit… even though you said you didn’t.”
She breathed in his scent—clean and male—and her heart sped up, hammering against her ribs.
“I do like you a little.”
His brows arched, and his dimples flashed. “Just a little?”
A grin fought its way onto her lips. “Okay, maybe a lot.”
“What if I told you I don’t want you to leave Romance?” The air from his lips tickled her skin.
Her hands rose of their own accord to rest against the hard planes of his chest. She felt his heartbeat, as rapid as her own. “But what about your dream, Adam?”
“Ash…” His lips brushed against hers, a gentle tease that left her hungry for more. “You are my dream.”
She wanted to believe him… she truly did. Especially since she wanted him to kiss her—to really kiss her. But she knew Adam was the kind of man who would sacrifice his own happiness for others. Wasn’t that why he started painting the house black and pink just to make her happy? “I thought you wanted to have a home for kids.”
“Oh, I do want a home for kids.” His mouth caressed hers, just for a tantalizing instant. “Our home—you and me.” Another peck. “Our ranch, in the country.” The briefest of kisses. “Our kids.”
She made a futile attempt to push him away. “I can’t think when you’re kissing me.”
“Compared to kissing, thinking is highly overrated.”
For an instant, he flashed a teasing smile, and then his lips were touching hers again. Harder. Seeking more. His fingers traced a fiery path along her jawline and buried in her hair, crushing her face against his. Her limbs trembled as he deepened the kiss.
When his mouth pulled away, he held her close, his forehead against hers.
“I will never hurt you, Ash,” he panted. “I promise you. Never.”
“I know.”
How can he be so demanding and yet so tender? So forceful and yet so sweet?
“Ash?” His lips nipped at hers, sending tingles down her neck.
“Yes?”
“I might want a lot of kids.” He raised his brows, an unspoken question.
“I’ll agree to have four.” When his face fell, she poked his ribs and grinned. “We’ll adopt the rest. Or foster. However many you want.”
In an instant his arms wrapped around her waist, hugging her against him and lifting her into the air. She squealed as he spun around, sending the earth spinning.
“Annalee Scott Hendrix… I love you!”
“I love you, too, Adam… uhhh… Hang on—I don’t know your middle name.”
“It’s—”
“Wait, let me guess. Your middle name must be Grumpy, right?”
“Very funny. It’s actually Virile.”
“Or maybe Conceited or Deluded?”
“Could be Crazy, because you drove me there. Or Lucky, because you’re mine.”
“No, Lucky is the cat’s name.” She pushed back, studying his face, and he let her slide to the ground. “Weren’t you in the house with Lucky earlier? Why aren’t you having an allergy attack?”
“Antihistamines.”
“Oh.”
“That, and Kujo ate her.”
“What? Is Kujo in the house with her?” Ash strained her ears for the howling sound of her terrorized cat.
“Relax. Turns out they were friends at the shelter. Believe it or not, all that barking and screeching is a game. Last time I looked, they were curled up together in a sunny spot, sound asleep.”
“I guess that proves opposites really do attract.”
“What’s your proof? Kujo and Lucky? Or you and me?”
“I would say ‘you and me’, but in some ways we’re more alike than different.”
“Hmmm…” Adam cocked his head to the side. “I don’t know. You’re proud, stubborn and argumentative—pretty much the opposite of me.” Her elbow nailed him, and he gave an exaggerated grunt. “Maybe we should add violent to that list.”
“I guess we can eliminate Funny as your middle name, so tell me what it is.”
“Adam Carlton Walker. Carlton was my uncle’s name—our uncle’s name.”
“Okay, it’s still kind of weird that we have the same uncle. Are you positive it’s legal for us to be together?”
“It is.” He waggled his eyebrows. “I checked to be sure.”
“Adam Carlton Walker, can I tell you a secret?”
“I can’t wait.” He grinned, flashing those sexy dimples that made her knees go weak.
“I hate black and pink.” She touched the paint on his face, “But it looks good on you.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “Anything else I should know?”
At his question, her mouth went bone dry. “Adam, there’s so much I haven’t told you about me—so much you don’t know. I’m damaged.”
She tried to turn away, but he pulled her against him and wrapped his arms around her, as unyielding as chains.
“There’s only one thing I need to know about you, Ash... You’re not damaged—you’re beautiful.” His hand came up and caressed her face, as soft as a feather. “You’re the flower that grows from a crack in a rock. You’re the candle that burns even brighter in the dark. You’re selfless and caring. You’re generous and kind. For the first time, in a long time, I know what I want, and what I want is you.”
“How can you be certain you’ll never change your mind?”
“Because you’ve helped me find something I lost... something that’s been missing… something that’s been gone so long, I can’t even remember having it before.”
“What’s that?”
His sultry dark chocolate eyes gazed deep into her soul.
“My smile.”
As if to prove his point, his lips curved into one that took her breath away. Then he kissed her so thoroughly her heart stopped beating. But she didn’t mind... Compared to love, living is highly overrated.