More Than Rum (The Maple Leaf Series Book 3) (15 page)

“Let’s get you inside.” He took
one of her hands in his and turned it so her wrist was illuminated by the
floodlights outside his garage. “This needs attention.”

She nodded as her brows
lowered. “He tied me up.” The words sounded as if they had gotten stuck in her
throat. A single tear rolled down her cheek, and Adam knew if he got his hands
on the asshole who had taken her, he’d pound on his face. Repeatedly.

Grinding his teeth, but voicing
none of his rage, Adam led Hope and Olive up the stairs to his apartment. He
cleaned her wrists and wrapped them in gauze bandages. Fortunately, the slices
in her skin weren’t too deep.  

She’d changed into a pair of
Wendie’s sweats that his sister had dropped by. Even in that simple outfit, she
looked like an angel to him. He caught her rotating her shoulder and wincing as
she looked in his bathroom mirror, inspecting the bruise on her cheek.

“What hurts?” he asked.

“Everything.”

“Do you want to get checked by
a doctor? I’ll take you to the hospital.” He made a move to get their coats,
but she stopped him.

“I’m fine. I don’t want to go
to the hospital. I just want to be with you, Adam.”

Without a word, Adam picked her
up and carried her to the couch. He absolutely loved the way she snuggled into
him, as if she truly felt safe with him. He’d triple checked that his doors
were all locked and set his alarm. No one was getting into his apartment. He’d
also called Kevin and Diana, but Hope had already talked to them on her drive
back to Danton. The two cops had gotten in touch with Carrington police and
were collaborating on bringing this bastard and his big boss down.

Setting Hope on the couch, Adam
took a moment to pick up Olive and nuzzle her nose to nose. After releasing
her, he set about starting a fire in the fireplace. He paused when his hand
brushed against something wet on his shirt. He looked down at the same time
Hope laughed.

“Looks like Olive’s spreading
her ‘love’ around again.” She pointed to the dark circle of piss staining his
shirt.

He bent down and gave Olive
another rubbing. He lifted the dog’s all black ear, glanced at Hope and
whispered, “Love you too, Olive.”

After leaving a smiling Hope on
the couch and quickly changing into a new shirt, he returned to the living
room. He arranged kindling, lit a match, got a small crackle going, then added
larger logs. Soon a full blaze was roaring.

Hope’s cheeks were painted with
a rosy glow, and she’d relaxed her arms so her hands rested in her lap. The
flames from the fire danced in her brown eyes, and Adam nearly catapulted
across the coffee table to get to her.

She needs time.
She’d
been through a hell of an ordeal, and she needed the opportunity to process it
all. No one knew that better than him. Being kidnapped, bound, and manhandled
was the very definition of
traumatic
.

A hot flash of anger zipped
through him, and he poked at the fire as if those logs were that asshole’s body.
That fucker was going to pay.

“Adam.” Hope’s voice brought
him back to the here and now.

“Yeah?” He set the poker down
and sat at the other end of the couch.

Hope closed the distance
between them and grabbed a fistful of Adam’s shirt, pulling him closer. “I know
what you want to do to him. To Daniel. But tonight, I just need you to help me
forget. Please.”

He leaned forward and dropped
light kisses on her lips. Slow. Gentle. Not sure what she was up for exactly.
Before he could comprehend what was happening, however, Hope was crawling onto
his lap, her arms wrapped around him. He put his arms around her, resting them
at the small of her back. She was warm and soft and here.

He was not going to blow it
this time. No one was guaranteed a next time. Every moment had to count.

“Take me to your bed, Adam,”
Hope whispered in his ear, causing a blizzard of goose bumps to break out all
over his skin.

“Are you sure?”

“Take me to your bed, Adam,”
she repeated as she looked at him with bottomless brown eyes.

He stood, tightening his grasp
around her and lifting her with him. Reaching to the back of the couch, he
grabbed the blanket he kept there and pulled it off. Guided only by his
internal map, he carefully walked around the coffee table with his eyes mostly
closed, never taking his lips off Hope.

“It’s warmer here.” He threw
the blanket down in front of the fireplace, and Olive got up to investigate.
The pup only had a minute before Adam kneeled and set Hope down on the blanket.
Olive yawned and hopped up onto the couch to settle in.

With a quick trip back to the
couch for a pillow, Adam was back on the blanket with Hope. He put the pillow
under her head. The smile she offered him, the way her eyelids slowly blinked,
the way her arms reached out for him—all of it made him feel as if someone had
flipped a switch inside him. As if someone had gripped that red “In Case of
Emergency” lever and yanked it to the ON position.

Because he was on. God help
him. All the way.

Hope grabbed the end of his
shirt and slowly lifted, her palms pressing against his stomach. Her fingertips
were cold, causing his muscles to bunch.

“Sorry.” She bit her bottom lip,
and his ability to think rationally disappeared.

He snaked his hand—his also
cold hand—under her sweater and, while leaning forward to kiss her, he pressed
that hand to her stomach.

She let out a squeal against
his lips and bunched up her legs in an attempt to throw him off.

“Now we’re even,” he whispered
as he trailed kisses along her cheek down to her neck.

“Let’s see about warming all
these hands, shall we?” She took off her sweatshirt and looped her arms around
his shoulders. “Come here.”

Hope pulled him down so his
bare chest rested against the most wonderful bra he’d ever seen. All black and
lace and full of fair-skinned woman. His imagination couldn’t have dreamed up a
better vision.

Arching a bit, she nipped at
his lips, biting at him here and there as she traveled along his jaw, down his
neck, and over his shoulder.

He let out a low groan. “We
still have too many clothes on.”

“Agreed,” she said as she
slowly glided her now warm fingertips down his back, burrowing her hands into
his jeans to cup his ass. “Let’s fix that problem right away.” She traced the
waist of his jeans with her index fingers and brought them together at the
zipper in the front. After undoing the button at the top, she carefully
unzipped his jeans and peeled the sides away from his hips.

He helped by straightening and
shrugging out of the jeans and his boxers. He pushed both aside in a pile next
to their shirts then got to work on her pants. Part of him wanted to snap his
fingers and have all her clothes gone. Another part of him wanted to savor
every moment of unwrapping her as if she were a present.

A really tremendous present.

He got her pants off but took
some time just looking at her in her black, lacy bra and matching panties.
Blood rushed southward in his body, and he felt as if his eyes weren’t capable
of taking in her perfect beauty all at once. He decided he shouldn’t try.
Instead, he should give attention to each and every part of her, working his
way from bottom to top. He shimmied down to her feet and took them, one at a
time, in his grip.

Rubbing the arches of her
lovely feet—with toes painted a gunmetal silver—Adam delighted in the sounds
Hope made. Low moans, breathy sighs. God, she was fabulous.

He focused on her calves next,
anger welling up inside him when he saw the bruises there. “Do these hurt?”

“Not as much as Daniel’s face
is probably hurting right about now. I really nailed him.”  

“You’re amazing.” He continued
up her thighs, his hands touching her every inch, leaving no area unexplored.
She responded to his caresses, making him want to touch her all the more. He
could spend an eternity with her and not tire of having his hands all over her
body. She was a masterpiece, a goddess, a magical spell enchanting him. He
could let everything go in her presence tonight.

All he had to do was make love
to her.

“Adam, please.” Her voice was
low, a little raspy with need as she clutched his shoulders, her fingernails
digging into his skin a bit.

He crawled up the length of her
and gave her luscious mouth some attention. His tongue sought hers as his hands
roamed over whatever they could reach. When she pulled him closer and quickly
rolled him to his back, he actually laughed, anticipating the pleasure that was
sure to follow.

“Oh, you think this is funny?”
she asked as she took his hands in hers and pinned them above his head.

“Maybe.” He reached up and
kissed her until she broke away.

“I’m greatly insulted that
you’re laughing at me.” She pouted and he nearly blew all he had right then and
there.

“I’m laughing with you?” he
offered.

She shook her head, that mane
of silky blonde hair shushing around her shoulders. “Do I look like I’m
laughing?”

He freed his hand and reached
up to grab hold of her hair, winding it around his fingers, tugging gently to
get her to come closer. “No, lady, you do not. Do you plan on punishing me for
my bad behavior?”

She arched a blonde brow over a
chocolate-colored eye, and suddenly he was hungrier for her than he’d ever been
for anything in his entire life. And he once went three days in the desert
without food.

Without answering his question,
she corralled his other hand above his head and lowered so she could press her
lips to his neck. She nipped then licked the spot with her hot, wet tongue, and
Adam felt as if the flames in the fireplace had somehow leaped into his core.

She loosened her grip and raked
her fingers down his arms, holding his shoulders to the ground now instead.
When her gaze locked on his, he knew he was in trouble.

Sweet, delicious, magnificent
trouble.

Hope had told herself she was
going to take charge tonight and, holy hell, she was. She’d gotten herself free
from Daniel by kicking his ass, and now she was actually going to make love to
Adam like she’d wanted to for so long.

She had a moment where a
version of herself stepped out of her body and took a seat on the edge of
Adam’s coffee table. That Hope crossed her legs—her naked legs—and didn’t seem
to mind that her scantily-clad ass was pressing against cold, bare wood. For
some reason, that Hope also wore glasses and had a clipboard on her lap. She
appeared to be judging the Hope that was sprawled over one hard Marine. Every
few seconds, she angled her head and scribbled something on the clipboard.

Oh, yeah? You want something
to write about? Here you go.

Hope ran her tongue along
Adam’s collarbone and traced a line to his glorious chest. She dropped kisses
on his nipples and let her hair sweep across his abs. She traveled south,
south, south until she arrived at her intended destination, and oh my, someone
was r-e-a-d-y.

Adam let out a low growl when
she closed her hand over his arousal. He was big and her insides clenched at
the thought of having him inside her. He’d be tight in there, filling her.
Finally.

But there was no need to rush.
She wanted to enjoy every moment and make him want that too. She knew firsthand
he didn’t make a habit of enjoying himself. He was broody and pensive and subject
to changes in mood, but tonight she was making sure he was nothing but
pleasured from head to toe. They both deserved this.

When she took him into her
mouth, he let out a shaky breath, and her own arousal skyrocketed. She never
considered that pleasuring a man could be such a turn on. That being in control
could cause such a rush of adrenaline. That pure anticipation could make her…

“Did you just purr?” Adam
asked.

She released him and licked her
lips.

“Holy shit. That is so hot.” He
cupped her cheeks and tugged her up toward his face. “You’re turning out to be
quite the surprise, Hope Stannard.” He kissed her as if he was a starving man
and she was his first bite of food in a long time.

Maybe she was. He’d been home
from wherever he’d disappeared to for a little while, and Hope had never seen
him with another woman during that time. She was pretty sure she was the only
one to get this close to him. She felt as if she were crossing a finish line,
as if a ribbon were stretched across a distance in front of Adam, and she was
breaking through it.

Go, me!

She kissed him back, growing
hungrier for him with each taste. Tightening her thighs around his hips, she
pushed her bottom against him, and he groaned into her mouth. His hands cupped
her face then his fingers slid up into her hair, rubbing against her scalp and
creating the most lovely sensations.

Sensations so different from
the ones she’d experienced from Daniel. She shivered as an image of his hands
on her flashed across her mind. If she hadn’t fought back, what would he have
done to her by now? Where would he have taken her? Would she ever have had the
chance to be with Adam? She shivered again at the grim possibilities, at the
close call.

Adam pulled back slightly, and
Hope instantly hated the distance, small as it was.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” He
rubbed his hands up and down her arms, and her goose bumps faded away.

One look at his concerned face
and she was there, in the present, in his arms. “More than okay.”

He grinned up at her, holding
her hair away from her face as he looked at her with eyes the color of
sun-soaked maple leaves, mostly green with spots of brown. They reminded her of
a hot summer day in the woods.

“As much as I love your
undergarments,” Adam said, “it’s time to lose them, sweetheart.” He tugged
playfully at the waist of her panties, pretending to peek inside them. His
tongue slid along his lower lip as he looked at her, and Hope had never felt
more… edible. A surprisingly good feeling, by the way. One she hadn’t expected.

She rose to her feet, slowly,
gracefully. She hoped anyway. The word
gracefully
rarely applied to her,
but she wouldn’t have called herself badass or sexy either. Tonight, however,
she was accomplishing both. Why not shoot for graceful too? Dream big and all that.

Better yet, make some of Adam’s
dreams come true.

Smiling at the beautiful man
stretched out on the blanket, she loved how his gaze drank her in, how he slid
his arm behind his head to prop it up, how the fire caused shadows to dance
over the muscles on his chest and abs.

That was when she saw it. The
flickering light illuminated it then buried it in darkness again.

Adam noticed that she’d
noticed.

He pulled his arm out from
behind his head, the smile gone from his lips, a different look altogether in
his eyes now. He pressed his hand to the spot she’d seen and started to sit up.

“No,” she said. “Don’t hide,
Adam. Please. Let me in instead.” She kneeled beside him, her hand covering
his.

Gently, she tugged on his hand.
At first, she didn’t think he was going to let her move it, but when she didn’t
release him, his muscles relaxed and he gave in. His hand dropped to his side,
his fingers pulling some of the blanket beneath him into a tight fist.

“You don’t have to tell me
anything you don’t want to,” she said, “but please, don’t stop where this night
is headed.”

He gestured down to his still
rock-solid arousal. “Clearly, I don’t want to stop.” He played with the ends of
her hair dangling over him then ran his hand over the eight-inch scar that
stretched from under his armpit down to a little above his hips. He cleared his
throat and met her gaze. “In Afghanistan, I led a team on a mission. It didn’t
go as planned. I was the only one who made it out alive. This is my souvenir.”

Hope understood right away that
the scar was not the only souvenir he’d received. She’d bet her life savings
he’d also left Afghanistan with a heavy load of guilt and debilitating
emotions. She also knew sympathy was not what he needed right now. Empty words
wouldn’t make everything better.

And when words failed, actions
were next in line.

Hope leaned forward and pressed
light kisses along that scar. He hadn’t told her all the details, but for
tonight he’d told her enough. He’d let her in, even if just a little. He didn’t
push her away. And she needed him tonight. Needed him to feel safe, to push the
scary events of the evening away, to bury them. She needed him to show her the
world wasn’t a bad place with danger lurking around every corner.

Maybe he needed her to show him
the same.

She sat up again and pulled the
straps of her bra down her arms, one at a time. Adam’s gaze followed her
movements, relief falling over his features. When she freed herself of the bra,
he grinned and reached up a tentative hand.

“I have to touch,” he said.
“May I?”

“You’d better.” Hope reached
out for his hand and placed it over her left breast.

As soon as the contact was
made, Adam’s lips were on her throat, forging a path down to her breasts. He
sucked her nipple into his mouth, and Hope’s head dropped back. His tongue
flicked and swirled. His hands kneaded and caressed. His muscled body
surrounded hers and soon her panties were gone, and she was naked atop him.

“I’ve never seen anything so
beautiful,” he whispered. “You make me forget the ugly things I’ve seen. The
ugly things I’ve done.”

Her eyes stung at his words.
They were sad and poetic, beautiful and strong. They made her want him even
more.

She reached for her jeans and
fished a condom out of her back pocket. “Unless you have one you prefer.”

He shook his head. “I like a
girl who comes with all her own supplies.”

She rolled on the condom and
with a long, deep kiss, slid herself onto his arousal. They both gasped, but
fell into an easy rhythm almost automatically—as if their bodies had been made
to pair up. He filled her, completely, wonderfully. His hands clamped onto her
hips, securing her in place as he thrust into her. She gripped his shoulders
and matched his movements until they soared off the cliff together, leaving the
world behind them.

She expected a quick drop, but
the high built until she felt Adam’s lovemaking in her every molecule. Muscles
deep inside her contracted, vibrated, melted from his possession of her. When
they peaked and took an all-consuming freefall together, Hope was certain her
body had been reduced to its baser elements only to be reconstructed as
something totally different afterward.

Something better.

She trembled in her own skin
and held onto Adam for fear of floating away. When his arms came around her,
she knew she was right where she belonged.

He slid out of her, but tucked
her in at his side. “Stay.”

She nestled closer and nodded.
Stay.
That was easy. There was nowhere else she wanted to be. Her pooch was comfy on
his couch, a black and white circle of fur. She was just as comfy, but it was
more than that.

She was content. Despite her
ordeal with Daniel, despite how long it’d taken her and Adam to get to this
point, she was happy in this moment.

The sound of Adam’s steady
heartbeat in her ear calmed her, made her feel safe. Making love with him had
been like being served a slice of heaven. A slice of heaven drizzled in
chocolate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Maybe it was more like ten
scoops.

****

Stretching, Adam felt the
slight pull of his scar—the one he’d shown no one. Not his parents. Not even
Wendie. They knew he had one. They knew how he’d gotten it and so did Orion,
but that was it. No one had actually seen it.

Until last night.

He’d thought the firelight had
been dim enough to conceal it. He should have known better, but having Hope
take charge, having her naked on top of him, was too much to resist. And shit,
he was so glad he hadn’t resisted. Making love to her had been the best thing
he’d ever done. He’d been released from his body, and more importantly from his
fucking head, long enough to truly enjoy himself. To truly enjoy Hope.

And where was she now? The
other side of his bed was messed and that pillow certainly smelled like Hope,
like cinnamon. He took a few inhales from the pillowcase and closed his eyes,
remembering the soft curves of her body, the hot kiss from her lips, the sounds
she made when he’d been inside her.

But where is she?

Suddenly, his mind came online
full blast, remembering that Daniel—fucking Daniel—was still out there, free
and clear, and no doubt wanting to get his filthy hands on Hope.

My Hope.

Adam ripped off the blankets
and jumped out of bed. “Hope?”

Each silent second that ticked
by made his heart beat faster. He’d promised to keep her safe, and now she was
gone again.
Dammit.
He threw on a gray T-shirt and black running pants
and jogged out to the living room on bare feet.

“Hope?”

Her coat and boots were gone,
but her purse was on the floor by the door. The blanket they’d made love on was
a tangle of fleece on the floor in front of the fireplace, and a little pile of
woodchips littered the floor near his stash of logs.

Olive.

Adam ran to the dining room and
peered out the sliding glass doors. He let out a shuddery breath when he saw
Hope and Olive galloping around in the snow in his backyard. Was she crazy?
Cavorting out in the open like that.

 He yanked on socks, pulled on
a fleece sweatshirt, grabbed his knit hat, and slid into his boots in under
sixty seconds. He had to get her back inside. He had to call Kevin and Diana to
see if they’d caught Daniel. He had to plan his next steps if they hadn’t.

He went through the workshop to
get outside. His boots crunched on the snow, and Hope and Olive turned to look
at him. The smile that bloomed on Hope’s face nearly melted him and all the
snow in a ten-mile radius.

“Morning,” she said.

Olive bounded over, hopping
through the snow like a spotted rabbit. Once she got to the shoveled patio, she
shook off and immediately attacked the laces on his boots. She let out a few playful
barks then chased her tail until she fell over.

“What are you doing out here?”
His voice came out harsher than he’d meant, but his heart was still racing over
not finding her in his bed when he’d awakened.

Hope stepped onto the patio and
stomped snow off her boots. Reaching up on her toes, she caught his lips in a
kiss that made the whole yard spin. “I’m out here living life, Adam.”

“But…”

A gloved index finger pressed
to his lips. “It’s dangerous out here. Daniel could be watching us right now.
Maybe he’s even gotten his big boss in on it.” She shrugged, her hair shushing
over the shoulders of her ski jacket. “I let him get to my head about going to
Black Wolf Tavern, but that’s done now. Danton is my home, and I’m going to
wander it freely just as I always have.”

Adam crouched to pick up Olive,
who was climbing up his running pants. He wrapped his free arm around Hope’s back
and pulled her in closer. “Can you let me wander it freely
with
you?
Just until that asshole is caught?”

“Once he’s caught, you don’t
want to wander with me?” Her lips turned down at the corners.

“Hell, Hope, I want to stick to
you like glue forever if you’ll let me.”

Her eyes opened wider then a
smile stretched across her face, her cheeks pinked by the cold morning air.
“I’ll let you.” Her nose was cold against his cheek, but her mouth was fiery,
warming him instantly.

Until he felt something icy
cold sliding down his back.