Bent not Broken (322 page)

“Let’s go back to the room,” he says.

I throw my head back and laugh. “Nuh uh…you promised me the French Market. I want to get a few things for a day behind closed doors.”

He groans, runs his hand through his hair, and springs from his chair. “I’m going to pay,” he bites out.

“She’ll bring the check, Adrian.”

“We don’t have time for all that,” he says as he huffs away. I can only laugh.

I really don’t want to waste time outside of our hotel room either, but I can’t help teasing Adrian and making him follow me like a lost puppy through the French Market. It’s priceless. I look at different breads like buying the wrong one would be tragic, all the while knowing exactly which loaf I want. What’s really priceless is that each time I bend over I can feel Adrian move in closer as if protecting my virtue from a wandering eye. I’m not a novice. I know how to bend and move when I’m not wearing underwear since I’ve been at it for years. Well, except for that one time in my kitchen with Adrian. Now I have to wonder if that was really an accident.
Things that make you go hmm…

When the vendor asks me if I’d like the mozzarella sliced, Adrian and I answer simultaneously yet in complete contradiction to one another. I laugh and confirm my response for the vendor and turn to Adrian. “Adrian, we have to have the cheese sliced so that it’s easy to eat once we’re in the room.”

“You didn’t get the bread sliced,” he practically whines.

Trying to placate him, I lean in and run my hand up and down on his chest and croon, “That’s because the bread is better torn from the loaf.”

“Only you can make tearing bread sound hot,” he says with another groan. He leans in and whispers, “I’m hard as a fucking jackhammer, Celeste.” His voice deepens but doesn’t getting any louder. “You can stop being a tease and go back to the room with me now like a good girl, or I can punish you later like a naughty one.”

“Excuse me?” I barely breathe out, searching his turbulent blues.

“You heard me,” he says, his voice sandpaper. His hand comes up to play at my waist, slipping down and teasing a little bit.

My entire body melts into his. I’m shocked at the way he speaks to me sometimes, yet I’m turned on beyond anything else. And he knows it. I just got played.

“Mmm hmm, that’s what I thought,
mimi
. Tell him to hurry his ass up.” He grunts. I have to say I’m loving my new nickname.

He barely closes the door behind us when I hear the bags being tossed on the ottoman and feel my hand being grabbed. I can barely register those two things before being turned into his arms and his mouth is relentless on mine. I groan and bring my hands up to run through his dark brown mess that I’m about to shear for him. His kiss is impatient and rough before he releases me only to push me toward the door with a gentle command. “
Mimi
, put your hands on the door and bend over.”

I gasp at that mind-blowing command, which renders my brain useless so that I comply instantly and rapidly. Putting my hands on the door, I bend over slightly, but he grabs me by the hips and pulls me back so that my torso is parallel to the floor. I moan, I’m already beyond turned on. I can’t even imagine how amazing he’s going to make me feel. When I hear his zipper, I rub my thighs together in anticipation.

My skirt is pushed up around my waist, and his knees nudge my legs further apart. “Spread your legs,
mimi
, I’m taking you fast and hard.” On another groan, I immediately cooperate.

I feel him at my entrance, but he stops. I push back and feel him retreat a little, only keeping the slightest contact. “Adrian,” I breathe.

“Is that what you want? You want me to take you that way, don’t you?” I can only groan in response. I have no words.

“I want to hear you say it, Celeste.”

I turn my head, noticing the full-length closet mirror across the room from us and almost come undone at the sight of us. His gaze follows mine, and he smiles lasciviously at us. I swallow hard before I rasp out. “Take me, Adrian, fast and hard, please.”

He touches my womb with his first thrust, and I cry out with abandon. Holding tight at my hips, he never relents. I just hold on for the ride.

I can feel him nearing his climax, and then his thumb finds its way to my nub and works me so that I find mine first.

Grasping both of my hips again, he chants, “Mine…never…ever.” He says those three words over and over as he spills himself into me before finally stilling and draping himself over me to plant kisses along my spine.

Straightening, I turn my head and he takes my mouth tenderly with his. He may have been rendered almost inarticulate but I understand. He’s mine, and I’ve never ever had it this good either.

****

AFTER SPENDING MOST of the day feasting on bread and cheese and each other, Adrian and I finally leave the room for drinks and dinner downstairs. When we enter the elevator, he turns to me and runs his hands up my thighs until he gets to my hips, looking down and back up to my eyes. “This dress is much more acceptable,” he says of my full-length turquoise ensemble.

“You like?”

“Yes, all the other guys have to use their imagination, but I know exactly what is waiting for me underneath all this,” he says running a finger under the neck of my halter-top. He straightens a bit and rewraps me with my brown and turquoise paisley scarf until hardly any skin is showing. I just laugh at him and roll my eyes. “I wouldn’t want you to catch a chill.”

“Thank you, Adrian. You’re so considerate.”

“Damn straight. So I made a reservation at the restaurant after we have a drink, but I’m rethinking that. How about some Bar Bites instead?”

“I’d love that.” The Carousel’s Bar Bites are phenomenal, and if you order enough, they make a nice meal.

When the elevator dings, he takes my arm in his and leads me to the Carousel. It’s making one of its legendary revolutions so that we have to wait a moment before sitting. Once I’m up on my red and white-striped seat, Adrian sits beside me and turns so that he’s facing me with his feet resting on my stool. I reciprocate.

“Good evening, folks, what can I get for y’all tonight?” the bartender asks.

“Hi, I’ll have the Goody, please.”

“Can’t go wrong with a classic, can you?” Adrian asks. “Hendrick’s Martini with an extra cucumber, please.”

“Coming right up. Are you ordering from the grill tonight?”

“Yes, sir,” Adrian responds.

“I’ll give you a minute to look at the menu then,” he says as he hands us menus.

I give it a cursory glance, but I always order the same thing. “What are you thinking?” Adrian asks me after a minute.

“I’m going to have the Crawfish Pie and the Mini Monte Po-Boys.” I’m proud that I show enough restraint to keep from licking my lips.

He gives his menu a quick glance and says, “I’m gonna have the po-boys and Blue Crab Beignets.”

“Oh, those sound delicious. I’ve always wanted to try them. You won’t mind sharing will you?”

He laughs. “What’s mine is yours, babe, you know that.” He picks up his coaster and spins it before tossing it back down. “Speaking of…we need to talk about a couple of things. While I was running my errands, I met with Louis and made sure that I left everything in trust to the boys should I not make it.” My heart drops to my toes, my stomach lodges in my throat, and tears spring to my eyes. “You’re the guardian, and I would’ve left it to you but I know you have a shitload of money and wouldn’t have any use for it. I figured the boys were the best bet. They can access it when they’re in college.”

“Adrian…” I try to say something but all I can think is “should I not make it” and that makes me want to lose it.

He reaches out and cups his hand around my neck, bringing my face close to his. “I don’t like talking about it either, but, Celeste, it’s a real possibility and I just wanted to do right by the boys. I really don’t want to talk about it anymore if that’s OK with you.”

I just nod.

He places a chaste kiss on my lips and relaxes his hold a bit. “It’s not a lot, but it’s something. I want them to have it.”

I just nod again.

The bartender places our drinks in front of us, and Adrian orders our food. I pick up my Goody and take a delicate sip, letting the delicious mixture of rums and pineapple and orange play on my tongue for a moment before swallowing. Perfect—the perfect mixture, sweet yet tangy. I lick my lips to get the little that remained behind and take another small sip, delighting in it before looking over at Adrian.

He’s grinning his Cheshire cat grin. “Damn, that was sexy.”

Thank God I didn’t have anything in my mouth because I start giggling uncontrollably. Finally, wiping tears from my eyes, I say, “Adrian, may I just say that I love that you are turned on by just about everything I do.” My laughter dies and I run my hand up his jaw, back and forth for a minute, loving that scruff that he’s about to shave off. “How did I get so lucky?”

Giving me that half-grin of his, he grabs my hand and pulls it to his lap. “We’ll see how lucky you feel tomorrow at the airport. You get to meet my parents.”

In all these years, as close as my and Tripp’s fathers are, I’d never met this branch of the family tree. Apparently, the falling out between them had occurred when the boys were young. Tripp said the last time he’d seen Adrian that Adrian had been in diapers. “I’m sure they’re not that bad.”

“Well, my mother is lovely but a complete lush. But she loves me like crazy even though she’s never been able to stand up to my father. Anyway, I imagine she will be quite dramatic tomorrow even if it’ll be too early for her to have indulged.” He releases a deep sigh. “My father, on the other hand, he loves taking cheap shots at me and the fact that I’m headed to war won’t stop him from trying to make me look bad in front of everyone.” He takes a swig of his martini as I try to process this. Raising his brows, he says, “So fair warning.”

“Consider me warned. They do know how amazing you are, right?”

“Amazing?” he asks with a bitter laugh. “I didn’t go to law school, Celeste. For some reason that’s the standard in our family, so I’m considered subpar in their eyes. I’m definitely not considered amazing.”

I narrow my eyes at him, forcing him to frown at me. “Adrian, I think it’s time we both learned and accepted that our families have mixed up priorities when it comes to us and that their opinion of how we live our lives doesn’t count. We’re both on that slow road there. We proved that yesterday with our eloping. We just need to fast forward to the part where their disdain and rejection don’t hurt anymore.”

“I think we’re almost there because I didn’t even consider their feelings yesterday, and the only reason we’re not telling them now is because I don’t want the drama before I go. I don’t want that lingering feeling following me to Iraq. I want the sweet memories of these last few days to follow me. I also don’t want you having to deal with any fallout on your own.

“And then there’s this simple fact. You and our boys—y’all make me feel more loved and more accepted than anyone needs or deserves. I feel full to the point of bursting when I’m with y’all. I never knew what I was missing out on, not having unconditional love, and I want to make sure I never
have
to know.”

I lean in and pull him down to kiss me. When the carousel spins, it takes me a minute to realize that it’s not just me who feels like I’m floating.

****

HOLDING THE CLIPPERS in my hand, I try to work up the nerve to shave his head.

“Baby, just do it. It’s just hair; it’ll grow back. I know you like to have something to tug on, but my hair grows fast,” Adrian says as he holds the towel around his neck and peers at me in the mirror.

I give him a rueful smile. “I know. It’s just…I was thinking about the first time we met. You were still active duty and had a high and tight, remember?”

“Yes, I came to see y’all when y’all were stationed in DC and I was passing through to report to my next duty station. Best idea ever to stop and catch up with Tripp.”

I blush because it was then that I’d been so attracted to him, but I’d also been married, of course. “I felt so guilty over my reaction, but I couldn’t help it. I’ll never forget it either. I walked into the room and you were facing away looking at some of Tripp’s plaques, and I felt a little…hum. When you turned around as Tripp was introducing you, it was instantaneous. My entire body sang. No thought. My body just knew that it was attracted to everything about you.” I shake my head, staring at the clippers as if they held all the answers. “Once you’d gone on your way, I was able to put that physical attraction out of mind and carry on. I wasn’t harboring any feelings toward you. Then, when you moved back home and after Tripp died, I got to know you, and it got harder and harder not to imagine myself with you. I’d always find my thoughts drifting there.” I hear him laugh and my head snaps up to catch him grinning.

“Not just sexually!” I say with a laugh. “Men, I swear. What I’m telling you is the physical attraction I could ignore. It was everything else about you that made ignoring you impossible.”

He clears his throat. “It wasn’t like that for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean I loved you as soon as I spoke to you. Have you not noticed that about yourself? How people tend to fall in love with you immediately? First of all, you’re gorgeous. That draws us in, of course. But that ability of yours to make the person you’re talking to feel like the only person on the planet seals the deal. You listened to me like you were born to listen to me. That’s what you do. You’re completely selfless like that. So, it was different for me because I fell for you in every way possible almost immediately.”

I lay the clippers down and sit sideways in his lap, running my hands through his hair one last time. Staring into my blues, I kiss him softly. “I hope you never get sick of feeling that way, Adrian, because you and our boys are the most important people on this planet and I’m never going to let you forget it.” I promise.

I pretend the head I’m working on doesn’t belong to him. I’m nervous but excited. Excited that I’ll get to see him as I first met him. Nervous that I’m going to screw up his hair. He assured me that making him look like a Jarhead was a no brainer. I trim the little hairs on his neck and ears and step back to admire my work. Damn, I did a good job.