Goddess Secret (16 page)

She ran back in the house with her gift and put her stuff back up. She walked upstairs to freshen up her hair and makeup and then sat quietly in her room for a few minutes, feeling relieved that she’d remembered when she had.

Once she felt her smile returning, she walked back downstairs and grabbed the gift. She made her way over to Rose’s house and knocked on her door.

Rose opened the door and smiled at her like she was one of her own grandchildren. Then she wrapped her arms around Legacy and squeezed her gently.

“I’m so happy you’re here, Legacy. I know Dinny has been itching to see you.”

“Happy birthday, Rose.”

“Thank you, dear.” Rose stepped back and smiled at her.

“He’s out back. I’ll show you the way.”

She nodded and followed behind Rose to her backyard.

When Legacy walked out, she gasped. The garden was beautiful. There were roses of all different colors and styles everywhere. They grew along vines, on bushes, in clusters, and made canopies all over the yard. There were several intimate tables set up throughout the grounds for the party with benches disbursed that looked as if they were always a part of the garden. There were white balloons grouped together and tied up at various places and centerpieces made with fresh flowers and candles.

Adin was at the back of the garden on a ladder, hanging up white garden lights. Even though it was fall and not hot outside—but it wasn’t cold either—Adin had on a t-shirt and shorts. From the view she had, she could tell he was sweating.
Holy hotness, Batman.

“Dinny?”

Adin twisted around, but his eyes slid past his grandma and landed right on Legacy. He smiled exuberantly before stepping down and coming over.

He stood beside her, but looked at his grandma, which was good because she couldn’t take her eyes off him!
Yum.
The sweat on his body reminded her of his wet physique when they went swimming over the summer. But he looked even more stunning now. And the
smell
! She wanted to bury her face in his wet t-shirt. It was intoxicating.

“I’m finished.”

“Everything looks so beautiful, Dinny. Thank you.” She stepped over to hug him.

“I stink, Grandma.”

No he
didn’t
!

Adin opened his arms so he’d barely be touching his grandma.

“You’ve been working in the yard. You’re supposed to stink. I’ll go get you some water,” Rose said, and walked back into the house.

She looked over at Adin and saw sweat sliding down his brow. Her body started trembling, and some very naughty thoughts flew through her head. She smiled as she stepped up to him, but he stepped back.

“I don’t want to get you dirty.”

She raised an eyebrow, knowing she could go so many ways with the dirty comment. “You won’t,” she whispered, stepping toward him again.

He kept his hands on his hips, so she slid her hands onto his waist just above where his hands were. He smiled down at her as she stretched up on her toes.

“I stink, sweetheart.”

She inhaled and shut her eyes. “You have absolutely, positively no idea how
wrong
you are,” she whispered as her lips touched his.

She kissed him softly, barely taking the side of his upper lip between her lips. She moaned as she tasted the sweat on his face.

“Oh my…” She only meant to think the words, but they slipped out anyway. He tasted much better than he smelled. She tilted her head to the other side and kissed and tasted him again, squeezing his waist.

Adin squatted down so she didn’t have to reach as far. He moaned as she kissed around his lips and breathed in his scent. She could tell by the way his muscles were tensing that he wanted to wrap his arms around her and was trying very hard not to. He didn’t want to mess up her clothes.

Like she cared about that!

She slid her hands up his damp chest and into his wet hair as she started kissing him fully. When she pressed herself up against him, Adin finally dropped his hands from his waist and grabbed hers instead. He pulled her tighter against him and kissed her back, matching her intensity.

Then he pulled away. “My grandma’s coming.”

She heard the door open and stepped away from Adin.

“Here you are, dear.” She handed him his water. “Sorry it took me so long. The ice machine was jammed.”

“No problem, Grandma.” Adin smiled as he took a drink.

“Why don’t you show Legacy around while I run over to Dot’s house?”

“Okay.”

“Legacy, make yourself at home.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Rose walked back inside, and Adin turned back to Legacy, taking hold of her hand and guiding her into the house.

They started down a hallway, and Adin glanced over at her. “I’m going to take a shower before I show you the rest of the house. This is my room,” he said when they reached a door. They walked in, and he shut the door behind them. Then he dropped her hand and walked over to his closet while she stood by his bed.

“This is a big room.”

“Yeah, each of the bedrooms is like a master suite.”

Adin walked out of the closet and into the bathroom, putting up his clothes and making sure he had a clean towel in there. Then he walked back out and stepped over to her.

“I’ll just be a few minutes.” He shrugged and leaned over to kiss her forehead.

Oh hell no. She wasn’t ready for this sweaty Adin to disappear.

She grabbed his t-shirt when he started to pull away and stared into his eyes. She pulled him back up to her, and his breathing spiked. His lips found hers, and they kissed slowly.

She realized that she needed to let him take his shower so he’d be ready when his grandma returned. She pulled away from him and sat on his bed.

“Don’t be long.”

Adin sighed, raising his eyebrows. He glanced at his bathroom and back at her on his bed. She liked that the decision to leave her alone on his bed was a tough one. He leaned over her and kissed her again. “Okay.”

He dashed to his bathroom and showered quickly while she watched television. When he came back out, he had on jeans and socks, but no shirt. No shirt! He was drying his hair and left the towel draped over his shoulders when he walked into his closet to get a shirt.

When he walked back out carrying the one he’d selected, he came over and sat on the bed beside her.

“What are you watching?”

“You.” Nothing on TV looked half as interesting.

Adin’s eyes flashed to hers, and he smiled while taking the shirt off the hanger. She leaned toward him, not taking her eyes off him. Right before her lips touched his, he let go of his shirt, twisted around so that he was facing her, and put his hands on her face as they started to kiss. She grabbed the towel, pulling him tighter against her, but he broke away from their kiss to look into her eyes.

Adin stared at her intensely. His eyes were burning with desire, and his lips were still parted. He slowly shifted his position so that he was leaning over her, and she had to tilt back to look into his eyes. His lips nudged hers repeatedly as he walked his hands on his bed along her body until her head landed on his pillow. He hovered over her with their lips touching, and she pulled the towel off his neck, dropping it to the floor.

Adin rubbed his lips on top of hers, hesitating, and she panted. She didn’t know if he was hesitating because he wasn’t sure about engaging in this kind of activity on a bed or if he was trying to maintain some level of control—they
were
at his grandma’s house. Regardless, he was driving her
crazy
.

She slid her hands around his back and clung to him. He released some of his weight he’d been holding up, allowing himself to press against her. His lips were still caressing the tops of hers, so she separated them even more and slipped her tongue between his lips.

He finally gave in and kissed her.

She glided her hands up his back and into his wet hair. Adin shifted his weight so that his balance could be supported by his elbows rather than his hands, and he slid his fingers along her sides and clutched her while their kissing intensified.

Having Adin on top of her, kissing her, was an experience unlike any other. The first several seconds was sensual, but it became very heated. They both clung to each other like magnetic objects. Since their legs were staggered, she wrapped the one on the outside of Adin, and he slid his hand down the length of her body, grabbing the back of her bare thigh and thrusting himself even harder against her.

She moaned as Adin broke away from her lips and started kissing her neck. She kept one hand in his hair, running her fingers all over his head, and she slid her other hand down his back, squeezing him against her.

She turned her head so that her lips were at his ear and panted while he kissed her neck. Feeling her breath in his ear was apparently more than he could handle. Adin moaned, and the hand that he had wrapped tightly around the back of her thigh started to slide under her skirt as he continued to rock against her. She gasped when his thrust hit her just right, and he groaned in response as he did it again and fisted the side of her panties.

The doorbell rang.

“Ugggh.” Adin groaned in her ear.

She shared his irritation.

He moved back on his knees and looked down at her.

“You are so beautiful,” he whispered, and his eyes were still burning.

She was too busy trying to catch her breath to say anything, so she just smiled. Adin sighed, shutting his eyes.

The doorbell rang again.

He shook his head, but then jumped up, grabbed his shirt, and put it on as he ran out of the bedroom.

She got up and walked to the bathroom to make sure she was presentable. Of course her hair needed brushing, and she looked all flushed. She grabbed his brush and raked it through her hair and then fanned herself to try and make the redness go away. When she felt the blood easing out of her face, she left Adin’s room to join him.

He was talking to a caterer while helpers were bringing in food when she walked up.

“Everything goes out back, but put the cake in the refrigerator.”

“Yes, sir.”

Adin looked over at her and smiled. “I should probably give you a quick tour before everybody gets here.”

“Yeah.” She couldn’t hide the disappointment she felt. That had been the first time they’d been together that she didn’t feel as if she needed to push him to his sexual limit to get him going. He was more than willing to forge ahead on his own.

He rubbed her back and kissed her forehead before leading her off to show her the rest of the house. When they got finished, his grandma returned.

“I thought it was supposed to be cool today,” Rose commented when she came back in.

“Oh, is it hot outside?” Adin asked her.

“It’s the strangest thing. At first it was cool, and then it felt like a heat wave blasted through the air. Then it was cool again.” She shrugged. “I guess Mother Nature got a little overheated.” Rose cracked a smile, and her eyes flashed to Legacy and then back at Adin.

Heat raced to Legacy’s face and she looked down while Adin chuckled briefly. Legacy thanked her lucky stars when the doorbell rang because Rose walked away. “I guess I’m not as controlled as she thought,” she murmured.

“Hmmm…” Adin started, stepping in front of her and wrapping his arms around her. “Neither am I.”

She laughed lightly, still feeling embarrassed, and glanced at him. Then he leaned over and kissed her gently.

“It was my fault, sweetheart. I should’ve exercised more self-control.”

“Actually, it was my fault.” She smiled. “I didn’t expect you to smell or taste as good as you did when I saw you outside, and then after you took a shower, I was still too worked up.”

“Really?” Adin smiled. “You liked the sweaty smell? I just thought you were being nice.” He chuckled.

“
Like
isn’t a strong enough word.” She raised her eyebrows while she looked up at him. “Let’s just say that the next time you do any yard work, I want to help.”

“Mmmm…if you were there helping me, we probably wouldn’t get anything done.”

“Oh, I think we’d get plenty done—just not any yard work.”

Adin chuckled and leaned back down to kiss her again, and she clung tightly to him.

“Cool it, you two,” Rose said in a playful tone, coming from behind Legacy. “It’s starting to get hot again outside.” She laughed.

Legacy stepped away from Adin, and he was glowing.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“So, er, she knows what I can do?” she whispered.

Adin nodded.

Great. So his grandma knew she was the reason the weather got hot earlier. Well, it wasn’t entirely because of her, but Adin couldn’t help that. Rose acknowledging her ability was still a little uncomfortable since she was alone with her grandson when it had happened.

“I hadn’t noticed the weather getting hot as much as it did over the summer. I figured I was getting better at being with you.”

Adin stroked her arm. “You don’t have to get better at being with me. You’re already perfect.”

She laughed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Legacy, you don’t need to worry about that. You’re doing really well. I think you’ll experience a lot of crazy weather patterns while you’re going through your change. It’s only normal, sweetheart.”

“Normal?”

He chuckled. “Normal for you.”

She stared at him and smiled. When the doorbell rang, he answered it, and a crowd of people came in. Within minutes, more guests started to arrive, and they continued coming until Rose had a house full.

Adin’s mom was one of the last ones to show. She came in carrying boxes, and Adin quickly helped her with them.

“The box on top has all the cups, plates, napkins, and forks. Take it out back.”

Adin took the box and headed out back. Myrha set the other box on a table and looked over at Legacy. “This one has some old pictures of Adin and his grandma,” she whispered, and she stepped over to her. “He doesn’t know I scanned them and made an album to give her.”

“I’m sure she’ll love it.”

“I hope so.” She smiled. “I’m glad you could make it, Legacy.”