Adam, Enough Said (This Can't be Happening) (41 page)

Still, she said nothing. Didn’t even look at me. Then, she opened the door and slid out.

I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel and hissed, “Fuck.”

It was noon.

I still hadn’
t seen Mia and I missed her face.

As soon as
we’d arrived, she’d asked my Lieutenant if she could sit in his office and he obliged, of course. Although he’d been hesitant at first, all it had taken was a few batting of her eyelashes and a pleading, “Pretty please with a cherry on top,” that made him give in.

Just before she’d walked away
, I’d asked her, “Mia, please stay with me?” but she hadn’t. She’d glanced at me, shaken her head, and walked straight to my boss’s office.

My Lieutenant had frowned at me, but I’d given him a look that said, “Don’t ask.”

So
, while I’d sat outside my boss’s office and actually worked on solving cases, my Lieutenant had been in with Mia, doing nothing but fucking around. I could hear when he’d laugh at something she’d said and I could hear every time she laughed too. And when my Lieutenant would walk out of his office with a grin on his face, again, I knew it was because of something Mia said.

I gla
red at the door, again.

“Boy, what’d you do
?” I heard my Lieutenant ask and I glanced up and to my side. He stood next to my desk, staring down at me with a glower on his face.

“He’s a jackass,” my partner answered
before I could and I quickly hissed, “Shut up, Johnson.”

Her brows lifted to her hairline. “You’re not a jackass? See, earlier you told me you were a jackass.”

I groaned and lifted my hands to rub the temples of my head because it hurt like a bitch. And as I did that, Johnson proceeded to tell my Lieutenant all the reasons I was a jackass, which - by the time she finished repeating everything that had happened at the diner - made my head pound harder.

Next thing I heard was my Lieutenant say through a
low chuckle, “Boy, you ain’t
just
a jackass, you’re their motherfuckin’ king.”

I l
eaned back in my chair and threw out, “Got any advice to help me fix this, or are you just gonna talk shit? All that time you’ve spent with her in your office so far, you should know her well enough to tell me how to fix it.”

He looked
taken aback, but it only lasted a second.

His expression turned
smug and he tilted his head to the side and asked, “Jealous?” I narrowed my eyes on his face and he laughed. “Honestly, I don’t got a clue how you can fix this, Bryant.”

“
Just perfect,” I muttered.

“I do!” Johnson chimed in and I rolled my eyes
. She continued. “Next time you go to town--”

“To town?” I interrupted.

That got me a blank stare. “Yeah,
to town
, you know…
downtown
,” she looked down at her lap, met my eyes, lifted her brows, and tilted her head to the side as if saying, “Boy, you know what town I’m talking about.”

I shook my head
furiously and rushed, “Oh, hell no. I’m not talking about this shit with you...or with anyone.”

“Yes
, you are, boy, quit playin’. Next time you go
downtown,
you work that shit so good you make her head spin and I guar-an-
tee
she’ll forget what just happened. And if she don’t forget, she’ll at least be open to the idea of forgiving yo jackass.”

Fuck me.

I stood and muttered, “Thanks for the tip.”

My Lieutenant and
Johnson both laughed their asses off at my expense, but I had to get away.

And there was only one person I wanted to see.

Mia glanced up from her e-reader the second I opened the door, but as soon as I took a step inside, she glanced back down. I walked to her chair - the same chair she’d been handcuffed to the first night I walked back into her life - and touched the side of her face. To my surprise, she didn’t push my hand away.

“
Baby, are you hungry?” I asked in a hopeful tone, but she shook her head, still not looking at me. “You haven’t eaten all day, Mia,” I continued.

“
Doesn’t matter, I can’t eat,” she replied, sounding tired and I knew she wasn’t hungry because of the shit I pulled earlier. I closed my eyes and cursed myself.

I never considered myself to be a very emotional dude, but
Mia had the power to make me feel whatever she was feeling. And right now she was hurting. So was I.

“I apologized earlier, and I meant it, Mia. You have to forgive me.”

That got her attention, but all that got me was a glare that said she didn’t have to do a fuckin’ thing, much less forgive me.

“Fine, you don’t have to eat, but will you at least come with me?”

“No thanks, I’ll stay here. I don’t think we should try eating out in public together ever again.” I stiffened. “Besides, I’m reading something really good right now.” Her voice sounded so small I knew she was lying.

My anger
spiked, but I knew she wouldn’t budge, so I bent, gave her a swift, frustrated kiss on the forehead, and said through my sigh, “I’ll bring you something back to eat, Freckles.”

I really wanted to pick her up and carry her out the damn room
over my shoulder, but somehow I knew that’d only piss her off more.

It was ten o’clock at night and I hadn’t seen her since dinner.

That was over an hour ago when she’d
placed her dishes in the sink and said she was going to take a quick shower.

So I went to find her.

We hadn’t arrived home until nearly seven o’clock, because I’d been working to wrap up a few cases in preparation for taking the rest of the week off - to spend with the wife who would barely look at me. On the way home, I’d also stopped off at the grocery store to buy some pork chops, vegetables and a bottle of Riesling for Mia, in hopes the wine would loosen her up, but that didn’t happen.

W
hen we’d pulled up to the house, and Mia had seen the huge black spot in the driveway where her car had burned last night, her indifferent mood turned into a darkened plague.

The entire
bottle of wine hadn’t helped her mood.

When I’d asked, “Baby, you still mad at me?”

She’d answered, “I’m not mad, just disappointed.”

My already heavy heart sank.

She hadn’t given me the silent treatment, but she definitely hadn’t been Chatty Kathy, far from it. I’d much prefer her fighting than indifferent, just as I’d prefer her angry than disappointed. Disappointed was much, much worse.

The first place I checked was the bedroom, but she wasn’t there. I walked into the bathroom and steam and the scent of coconut welcomed me. I took a deep breath. It was obvious she hadn’t been out of the shower long, but she wasn’t inside. When I turned, I noticed the clothes
she’d been wearing earlier strewn across the end of the bed, as was the towel she used after her shower.

I frowned.

Where the hell was she?

I walked out of the room, down the hall
, and froze outside the first guest bedroom. Through the crack in the door I could see her sitting on the edge of the bed next to the night stand and my heart skipped a beat. A dim lamp was turned on and I could also see a glow coming from the small TV.

She was in a small
, sexy, white tank and some silky looking hot pink shorts that made her legs look long. Her hair was down and it looked wet. I watched as she picked up a bottle of what looked like lotion, put some in her hand, put the bottle back on the table and applied the stuff in her hand to her face. When she was done, her body slumped and she just sat in place and stared down at her lap.

She looked
so damn beautiful, but she also looked extremely unhappy.

My gut tightened
.

After a minute or so, she sighed, stood from the bed, turned off the lamp, pulled back the covers and crawled in bed. When she curled up on her side,
I thought about going in to ask her why she chose to sleep in the guest bedroom, but there was no point. I already knew the answer.

She
didn’t even want to be in the same room with me.

And I had a feeling that if I went in there later, I’d feel tears on her pillow, just like I had six years ago.

I’d made the biggest mistakes of my life back then, but I refused to repeat it.

So, I turned and
walked away. Then I showered. After, I threw on some boxers-briefs and went downstairs. Grabbing a beer, I moved to the family room, turned on the TV and sat down in my recliner.

Chapter
Thirty

Mia Bryant

I slowly came awake - then my eyes flew open and my heart thudded hard against my chest when I felt myself being lifted in the air.

“Shhh…
Baby, it’s me,” I heard Adam’s calming voice say low and soft. I threw my arms around his shoulders and buried my face in his neck. He smelled good and I breathed him in.

Coc
onut. Like me.

“Why are you carrying me
?” I asked in a whisper, just as he turned our bodies to fit through a doorway.

He didn’t answer
and I lifted my head to look at him just as he deposited me in his bed. I’d completely forgotten I’d fallen asleep in another room.

He climbed in behind me, wrapp
ing his arm around my waist. His fingers pressed into my stomach, dragged me closer to his chest and threw a leg over both of mine.

“I won’t sleep without you
,” he rasped. “Never again, Mia. Be pissed at me, be disappointed in me, be sad, but do all that stuff while you’re in my arms. I need to feel what you’re going through. You hurt, I hurt.”

Oh
my God!

I let out the breath I’d been holding
since the moment he started talking. I still didn’t understand how he could be so sweet and so bossy at the same time, but I really, really liked it, even though I was still upset with him.

But that was love, wasn’t it? I would
not have all these winding emotions if I didn’t love him. You couldn’t control who you loved and I absolutely, unconditionally loved Adam. Always have and always will.

I moved, but Adam’s arms tightened
enough that I couldn’t change positions.

“I just want to face you,” I told him, and his arms loosened
straightaway. I turned in his arms, snuggled up to his side, rested my head on his shoulder, wrapped my arm around his waist and threw my leg over his. The arm he had around my back squeezed tight and I felt warm, and safe, and loved.

“
Don’t touch her or any other woman again, Adam. Only me…or your nieces.”

His free hand lifted to my face, he tilted it to his and he bent to
kiss me.

“Never again,
Baby. I promise and I’m damn sorry,” he whispered against my lips and my body relaxed against his.

I wanted to tell him I loved him so
much, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the words out loud. It was too soon and I wasn’t ready for the responsibility of what those words meant.

Not yet.

“Mia,
Baby, let’s go. I can’t help you get your case dismissed if you show up late to court,” Adam said at my side and I glared at him.

He
smiled and I decided I really wanted to know why men didn’t have to do shit to get ready in the mornings. No face lotion, no make-up - for Adam, no fixing his hair.

Lucky bastard.

“I can’t very well go in there looking like I’ve been hit in the face with a wrecking ball, now can I?” I retorted as I finished up my last coat of mascara. I was running late, like always, but I still had like…ten minutes before I was supposed to be inside.

“Freckles, you coul
dn’t look bad even if you tried, but since I have you here, let’s go over this one more time: if you see Missy inside, do not go redheaded terrorist on her ass, do not go she-devil on her ass, do not go flaming bitch on her ass, and whatever you do, do not claw her eyes out no matter how much you want to, okay?”

I gasped
, threw my makeup bag back in my purse, opened my door, jumped out of his truck, turned and glared.

“I might just go
do all of those things on
your
ass for calling me those names,” I snapped and slammed the door. I walked around to his side where he met me at the back. He threw his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to his side.

“
I just so happen to love them all, but redheaded terrorist is my favorite, Baby,” Adam advised.

I
sighed. “You’re a jerk.”