Need You Now (Martha's Way Series Book 2) (16 page)

“
How are you feeling?”

“Better,” she answered in a low voice.

For the first time he detected a naked
vulnerability in her tone. It made his heart squeeze. “I’m stopping by Jason
and Minka’s to get your luggage then coming home. Let’s talk.”

S
he sighed.
“Adam, I’m not marrying you.”

“No marriage.”
For now.
“Let’s just talk. Can we do that?”

“Yes,” she answered after a beat.

“Good. See you soon, Liliana.”

After he disconnected the call, Adam ran
his palm over his face.
He felt as if he’d been shoved off a cliff and
ended up under a boulder. A heavy weight bore down on him, making him
more unsettled and off balanced than he cared
to admit. Maybe, just a little spooked.

In a few months he’d
have
a child. And
if he succeed
ed at getting Lily
to marry him, he’d be a husband. Adam let out a quick breath and scraped a hand
through his hair. He rose from his chair, took one last swallow of his beer and
headed for the door, ready to embrace the last thing he ever wanted to be in
life…someone’s father.

Chapter
Fourteen

“No matter how attractive
a person’s potential may be, you have to date their reality.”

Mandy Hale

Tired and weary after her fourth trip to
the bathroom to heave, Lily had hoped the shower would help. It
didn’t. She slipped into another of Adam’s T-shirts,
stepped inside the sunlit bedroom and came to an abrupt halt. There sat Adam on
the bed, with his back against the ecru upholstered headboard, one leg hanging
off the edge with the other planted on the f
loor. He
vibrated tension and looked morose, a complete contrast to the room’s relaxed,
sophisticated atmosphere.

His gaze swept her from head to toe,
rested on her bare thighs,
then
went back to her face.
For a brief moment, she caught a glimpse of the pa
ssion
that existed between them, but it was quickly masked as he brought her
attention to the dress in his hands, the one she wore last night. At some
point, he’d torn it from her
body,
she just couldn’t
remember exactly when that occurred.

“I’m sorry abou
t
your dress,” he apologized, his voice quiet. “It looked good on you.”

Tension filled the room, not the good
sexual kind. More like,
shit you’re pregnant with
my child
kind of tension. It made her uncomfortable. Not quite sure
how to react, Lily walked ov
er and took the dress
from his hands. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Liliana.”

The way his voice rippled her name in
that seductive accent caused her insides to quiver with apprehension and she
clutched the dress for comfort.

“I assume you’ve been to the doctor.”

She nodded
,
 
her
posture rigid.

“I am going to ask Forrest to stop by
later to check up on you.”

“Adam, I’m fine.”

But his fingers were already typing away
on his phone.

He looked her over once more. “You look
pale.” He noted. “Let him check your blood pr
essure
or something.” He put up a hand to stop any incoming argument.
“For my own sanity.”

This made her smile. “Okay, if it will
keep you sane.” She walked over to the battered Ludlow trunk at the end of the
bed and placed the dress on top of a mocha-colo
red
cable-knit throw. “But you do realize Forrest is a family doctor.” She glanced
over at him, a small smile touched his lips and her heart squeezed a little.

“Did you cancel the room you booked at
Martha’s Way?”

Lily shook her head and his jaws
clenched.

“What do you want from me, Adam?” she
asked after a moment of silence. It was time to address the big elephant in the
room. He did say he wanted to talk, so might as well get to it. “I mean, I
won’t keep you away from our child. That was never my intentio
n.”

“Then what is your intention?”

She shrugged because really she had no
clue. “I don’t want to be the one to turn you into someone you’re not.”

“And what is that someone?”

“A father, a husband,” she answered
without a beat.

He rose from the bed, walked t
o where she stood, cupped her face in his hands and kissed
her fully on the lips, rocking her universe and claiming her and their child in
the process. Automatically, her hands thrust into the silky strands of his hair
and Lily opened her mouth to urge him
in. When he
finally broke for air, she leaned into him, craving his touch.

“As of today, we are officially dating,”
he said, with his arms around her.

Caught off guard, her body stiffened and
she squeezed her eyes shut. Once again, Adam was taking over and mentally she
was too weak to fight.
Space.
She needed to put space
between them so she could think clearly. With a little shove, she broke away
from h
is hold and walked to the opposite side of the
room and sat on the bed.

“You said no marriage,” he continued,
“so I will not push. But we deserve a chance to see if we like each other. I’m
asking that we try.”

“Would you have suggested that if I
wasn’t pre
gnant?”

Adam glanced at her and she met his gaze
straight on.

“Probably not,” he answered. “But,” he
quickly added, “It’s not because I don’t like you, Liliana.” He paused. “It’s
because I’m not the type of man a woman dates, falls in love with, or marries
, for that matter.”

“From what I can see, you’re pretty
dateable.”

“You don’t know me,” he answered, his
expression etched in stone.

The words floated in her head and pulled
at her heart. There was something in his voice, if she didn’t know better, she
could label as pain but dismissed it. From the outside
looking in, Adam had the perfect life
,
rich, carefree with
doting parents, and a wonderful group of friends. For the first time, she
wondered if there were more layers to the man she had been sleeping
with.

“Are you still hung up on that cheating
asshole?” he asked when she didn’t speak.

The question surprised her so much that
she almost laughed. “It’s been over a year. I think it’s fair to say I’m over
the whole disaster.”

“I’m your rebound,” he remind
ed her.

From the bed, she glanced at him and was
surprise to read the seriousness on his face. Maybe that night on the beach he
had been, but somewhere along the way he’d stopped playing that role. “You’re
not my rebound,” she said gently.

He shoved his fi
ngers through his hair then came to sit next to her, his thighs brushed
against hers. His hand reached for hers and netted their fingers. “I will stay
committed to you.”

She chuckled because he didn’t have a
clue how fast he made her heart race. “You make
it
all sound like a business deal.”

He shook his head, a small smile tugging
at the corners of his lips. “No, this is the start of our story.”

Had it been up to her, Lily would have
never opened herself to another man again. Been there, done that with Nate
, the two-timing bastard. There was no need to end up with
another engagement ring in the ocean. And this time, there would be no Adam to
turn to, make love to; he’d be the reason for her heartbreak. Not that she was
afraid to take a stab at love again, ma
ybe just
afraid of getting hurt all over. The pain would be more intense this time
around, and it scared the crap out of her because there wasn’t one person in
the world she wanted more than the man holding her hands.

Loving him terrified her.

Still, she w
as
more afraid of the idea of walking away without giving them a chance.

With their fingers laced together, she
glanced at her left ring finger and exhaled. Maybe there were no right moments,
right guys, right answers…maybe sometimes one just had to say wh
at the heart was feeling.

“All right,” she said quietly. “I will
date you, Adam.”

She just had to stick to her initial
decision and not let him convince her into a loveless marriage. But hell, at
least there’d be guaranteed great sex.

* * * *

Adam tried
to
focus on anything but the relief that hit him like a gush of cold air. Only his
mind went flying to how hot she looked and how easy he could have her naked.
With one swift movement he could tear off the small barrier of clothing between
them and jump he
r. Shit. Semi-hard, he jerked upright
and released her hand. He needed to have another talk with his conscience.

“You said you’ve been to the doctor,” he
repeated the words from earlier; baby talk should do the trick.

Her eyes narrowed. “Yes.”

“Ultrasound
to
make sure…” His voice trailed off the last words. Just the possibility of not
discovering a heartbeat gave him agita.

“All done.”

“By yourself?”

Staring at him, she shook her head. “No.
One of the nurses stayed with me. She’s a friend.”

But her voice tr
embled and Adam cursed himself for letting her go through such an ordeal
technically alone. “From now on I go to all doctor appointments with you. Is
that understood?”

She gave him a faint smile. “I live in
New Jersey, Adam. How do you intend to do that
from
here or wherever you may be?”

“I’ll be there. Just tell me and I’ll be
there.”

She held his gaze. “You’ll drop
everything to be by my side for our child?”

“Yes.”

She stood up and came to stand in front
of him. His friends’ words echoed in his mind. Du
ring
the drive back to the house, the sudden thought had hit him like a snowball
made of granite
—
no more sex between them. He needed to quench his desire to
own every inch of her and connect on a deeper level besides the physical
intimacy.
Whatever the fuc
k that meant in guy-land.

Just to be on the safe side, he took a
step back but Lily was already pressing her sweet sexy body against him. She
kissed his ear. He could hear her breath as she did so, making things more
intense.

“Let’s use the next few days t
o discover each other.”

Her voice carried implications as she
wrapped her arms around him. For a brief second, he thought about going at it
once more. What was once more? He sucked in air and released her arms from his
neck. A frown crossed her face.

“We h
ave one
rule though.”

Her head fell back. Eyebrows squished
together, lips pursed, she gave him
a look. “So no more any-strings-
attached-but-exclusive
rule
. That’s out the window,
right?”

“Right.”

“But there’s a new rule to us dating?”

“Yes.”

She rolled he
r
pretty brown eyes, tucked a handful of hair behind her ear and laughed. She
never looked more beautiful to him. And everything about her was screaming take
me. He ached for her. This was going to be harder than he thought.

“Liliana.”
He tried to sound cu
rt but failed.

She cleared her throat. “Oh boy, I’m
scared. You look serious.” One delicate hand touched her flushed face. A sigh
slipped through her lips. “Okay, give it to me.”

“No more sex.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “What?”

“Liliana.”
He reached for h
er hands but she swiped him away.

“Don’t call me that.”

“That’s your name.”

“Yeah, but…” she let out an exasperated
sigh. “When you say it in that sexy Italian drawl, I immediately get wet. And
now you’re saying no sex.” She paused, crossed her arms over h
er chest. “What do you mean no sex?”

“Sex will cloud our judgment.” Yeah,
even in his own ears his excuse sounded weak.

Her teeth caught her bottom lip, mulling
over his words.

So he decided it was the best time to
lay the ground rules. “We’ve been having
sex for over
a year now and barely know each other. All I’m asking is for a chance for us to
do that.”

Who the fuck was this person talking?
Adam wanted to know. And while at it, he’d like to get his balls back.