Secret Tastes (Secret Dreams Contemporary Romance 4) (15 page)

"What do you do in the other days?"

Sam shrugged. "I only just moved here. I'm still looking for other jobs to fill in the other days." She didn't want to share her dreams with Bella so she didn't bother telling her she was busy enough with research and planning for her new business.

"Does it pay well?" Bella prodded.

"I'm getting the industry standard."

Bella nodded and the two of them pretended to look around the garden.

"I was really hoping I could attend John's party," Sam said, filling in the awkward silence. "I'm sure it will be a blast."

"Yes. It will be," Bella responded, taking a deep breath and facing her. "Sam, this may be a strange, even unwelcome question, but I just have to ask. How do you think you and Adam are going?"

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, surprised. The question was indeed strange.

"I mean, how do you think things are going with you and Adam?"

"Good. Why do you ask?"

"You know Sandy's a very good friend of mine, right?"

"Yes."

"And you know I've known Adam for a long time, too. I introduced them to each other, and I know all about their dramas."

"What are you trying to say, Bella?" Sam asked quietly.

"There was a time when Sandy and Adam were on a break. He dated another woman then, too. Then he and Sandy got back together."

Heat rose up Sam's face. "Are you saying you don't think Adam will stay with me? That he'll go back to Sandy?"

"I'm not just saying this because Sandy's my friend, Sam. But it's only a matter of time," Bella answered, her voice soft but firm, as if trying to appear calm in front of a child who might have a tantrum at any minute.

"We'll have to agree to disagree," Sam said coldly.

"Oh, Sam. I don't mean to argue with you or hurt you," Bella said. "I've heard you moved here because of Adam. You'll just get hurt eventually. He's not over Sandy."

"How do you know he's not over her?" she asked angrily. "I think it's time you and Sandy face the truth. Adam doesn't want Sandy anymore."

"So why did they spend the night together at Byron Bay when they came for my wedding?" Bella asked in a harder tone.

"What?" Sam asked, stunned.

"This is hard for me to say to your face, Sam. I'm going to admit that I do want Sandy and Adam to get back together. But the way I see it, I'm doing you a favour by telling you what's going on."

Sam gaped at Bella, having a hard time processing what she was hearing.

 
"Even though Sandy's my friend, I do feel sorry for you," Bella continued. "You're trying to establish a new life here for him and… well… he's obviously still stuck on Sandy."

"I don't see that as obvious. Adam and I are doing great," Sam argued, although her mind had started going over things, trying to look for signs that what Bella was saying was true.

Was Adam starting to realise that his feelings for Sandy hadn't gone yet and that was why he was insistent on her not going to John's party? Was it why he was okay with not mentioning to anyone they were together? Were they really together? They hadn't even talked about it yet.

Bella fiddled with her phone and handed it to Sam. Frowning, Sam took it and gasped in shock when she saw the picture on the screen. She stared at it, forcing her brain to focus on what she was seeing, disbelief making her question whether her mind was playing tricks on her.

Sandy was in bed lying on her side, smiling sensually and obviously the one taking the photo. Adam lay behind her, kissing her shoulder, his eyes closed in rapture. His hand was under her lingerie, on her thigh—way up on her thigh.

The picture was date-stamped. Yes, it was taken during John and Bella's wedding, when she was in Melbourne preparing for her move—after she and Adam had got together.

Tears sprung to her eyes as she handed the phone back to Bella. "Thank you," she whispered and hurried back inside.

"Sam," Bella said, running after her and grabbing her arm. "I know you'll have to talk to Adam about this. I don't know how he's going to react but he won't like it that you found out about this from someone other than himself. Please don't tell him I'm the one who told you. John's not going to be happy with me for meddling and it will affect family relationships."

"You should have thought about that before you told me," Sam answered, uncharacteristically snarky.

"Would you rather continue a relationship with him only to find out you were building the proverbial castle in the sand? I'm sure Adam doesn't intend to deliberately hurt you, but history speaks for itself. For whatever reason, he's the one who always breaks up with Sandy. But he also can't stay away from her and they eventually get back together again. Sandy can be immature but she's trying to grow up for him. I believe that one of these days the two of them will figure out what's going wrong and finally sort out their relationship."

Sam stared at Bella, hating that she could see the logic in what she was saying. Why
couldn't
Adam stay away from Sandy?

 
"Don't take my word for it," Bella continued. "Ask his best friends, even his mum. They'll tell you of their on-and-off relationship saga. After what happened at Byron Bay, everyone's expecting them to get back together again."

The tears Sam was trying to hold off escaped. She wiped them away, too choked to speak.

"Sam, I'm really sorry. When I heard that Adam asked you not to come to the party, I had hoped he has given you an indication that you two were just on a… short fling. That's why I asked you what you thought. It will be harder for you in the long run if things go on between you and him."

Sam nodded, and turned on her heels.

"Is there something you want to tell us?" Trey asked Adam as they sat in one of their favourite restaurants, waiting for their lunches.

"Yes," Adam replied, turning on his iPad and calling up the financial charts he wanted to show Trey and Dylan. This quarter's results had been their best so far by a country mile. He figured their staff deserved to get an unexpected bonus for their hard work and enthusiasm.

"I'm not talking about business," Trey said.

"Oh?"

"Your mum rang earlier today."

Adam raised an eyebrow. "My mum rang you? Why?"

Trey lifted his shoulders. "First, she wanted to know how Kris and I were going. Then she asked if you've told us about what happened in Byron Bay."

Adam groaned.

"So something did happen in Byron Bay!" Dylan said, looking at Adam accusingly.

Adam rolled his eyes. "Lots of things happened in Byron Bay—there was a wedding, we ate great food, we went to sleep… Of course, my mother would like to make a big deal out of those."

"You slept with Sandy," Trey declared.

"Oh, Christ," Dylan exclaimed, slumping back in his chair.

"I didn't!" Adam asserted.

"Your mum said you did," Trey said.

"What would she know? She wasn't in the room!" Adam loved his mother. But sometimes, she did things that drove him absolutely nuts. Marie's strong liking for Sandy was one thing that now seriously grated on him.

"Someone stuffed up," he explained. "Sandy and I were supposed to get separate rooms but that instruction wasn't given to the resort."

"So did you sleep in the same bed or what?" Dylan asked, his tone laced with disbelief.

"I was going to sleep on the couch but it wasn't long enough for me. Sandy insisted she'd sleep there instead and for me to take the bed. I argued with her about it but she wouldn't hear it. So I relented. When I woke up the next morning, she was next to me on the bed. She said she couldn't sleep on the couch."

"You didn't tell us about this," Trey commented.

Adam shrugged. "I know you'll give me a hard time."

"So you and Sandy are not getting back together?"

"No! I told you, nothing happened. Well, I did touch her a bit, but I was dreaming and I didn't mean to," Adam admitted.

Dylan let out an incredulous laugh. "You fondled her? What exactly did you do?"

A flush crept up Adam's face. "I just stroked her leg and tried to grope her boobs. But I woke up before things got any worse."

"What were you dreaming about? Or, should I say,
who
were you dreaming about?" Trey asked.

Adam's lips tugged upwards in spite of his embarrassment. "Sam," he said with a sigh.

His best friends stared at him—simply stared at him. No words were uttered.

"What?" Adam asked. "What's wrong with dreaming about Sam?"

"You have a thing for Sam?" Trey asked.

"Yeah. I do."

"Does she know?"

"Yup."

"Oh. What does she think about that?"

A full-blown smile split his face.

"Holy hell," Trey breathed. "Have you two slept together already? How come we didn't know about this?"

"Sam doesn't want any fuss at this point, so please don't hassle her about it, okay? We're just trying to see where this could lead."

"This is big," Dylan mused.

"It is," Trey agreed. "Hey, man. You're sleeping with my future cousin-in-law. You better not mess with her," he warned.

"You're sleeping with my fiancée's best friend. You better not mess with her," Dylan quipped.

"Listen to you two," Adam said, narrowing his eyes. "As if your affairs didn't have similar complications when they started."

"Affairs!" Dylan and Trey exclaimed.

"In case you've forgotten, we're both getting married," Trey said dryly.

"You know what I mean," Adam retorted.

"Why does your mum think you're getting back together with Sandy?" Dylan asked.

"You know my mum, for some reason she's in love with Sandy. She wants us to get back together."

"So that night when Sam pretended to be your girlfriend when you had dinner at your parents', that didn't work?"

"Oh, I think Mum believed I was going out with Sam. But she still prefers Sandy," Adam answered, scowling.

"When did you and Sam get together?" Trey asked.

"About five weeks ago, when her folks were here."

"That long ago?" Trey exclaimed. "I can't believe you haven't told us. We thought you were still pretending to be a couple and all this time it was for real?"

"Well, we haven't discussed yet if we're officially a couple or not. We wanted to keep it quiet for a while so we could let our relationship develop without all of you guys stickybeaking into our business."

"You're not being quiet now," Dylan teased.

"No," Adam conceded with a smile. "I really like Sam."

Dylan raised an eyebrow. "Just like?"

Adam sighed deeply. "More than like, I think."

"Oooh," the other two exclaimed as one.

"Does she know about the Byron Bay debacle?" Trey asked.

"No! Even if nothing happened, I don't think it's a good idea for her to know. I still slept in the same room with Sandy, and I still touched her—even though I thought Sandy was Sam. I just think it would be too hard to explain so it's better if she doesn't know. What do you guys think?"

"That is a hard thing to explain," Dylan agreed. "But if Sam finds out, you'd be in a worse position."

"I know," Adam replied. "But if the situation were reversed and I found out that she slept in the same room with an ex, and that she tried to fondle him while she was dreaming, I'd probably flip out. I'm just scared that our relationship is too new to be able to survive something like that."

"Just hope and pray she doesn't learn about it from someone else then, or you could be in real trouble," Trey commented.

The thought of destroying Sam's trust scared Adam. "Once I know Sam is secure in our relationship, I'll tell her," he vowed. He just didn't want to do or say anything that could jeopardise their fledgling relationship.

*******

Adam was in the middle of a video conference with three of their programmers when his apartment's intercom buzzer sounded. Excusing himself, he went to check who the caller was.

"It's me," the voice said.

"Hey, babe," he said, his heart hammering from excitement that Sam was there unexpectedly. "Come on up."

He considered postponing his staff meeting for a later time but decided against it. Trey and Dylan would rake him over the coals. They were on a tight deadline with all of their existing projects.

He held the door open, waiting for Sam to arrive. It wasn't a good time for him, but he didn't mind being interrupted by her. Hopefully, she could wait around until he finished work for the day.

The elevator pinged and out walked Sam. His brows furrowed at her tired expression.

"Hey," he said softly as she got closer.

"Sorry to come unannounced. I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"I don't mind," he said, his frown deepening at her cheerless countenance. He was about to give her a kiss but she walked past him to enter his apartment.

Something was wrong, and he wanted to know what it was. But he had to finish his conference call first. "I'm in the middle of a meeting. Do you mind waiting for about half an hour?"

"Oh, yeah, sure. Take your time."

Sam wandered to the kitchen, leaving him to go back to his office. He licked his lips, trying to alleviate the need to kiss her. He took a step toward her, then turned around and hurried back to his meeting. The sooner he finished it, the sooner he could give his full attention to Sam. Something was bothering her and he didn't want any interruptions once they started talking.

*******

Adam turned off his computer. The meeting went well, and now he could spend the rest of the day with Sam.

He stepped out of his office and noticed she wasn't in the living room or the kitchen. She must be in his bedroom.

His lips curved into a smile, already imagining how he would make her feel better after what appeared to be a bad day for her.

"All done, baby. I'm all yours," he said as he stepped over the threshold. He found Sam staring out the window, and her large overnight bag—the one she'd used to bring some of her stuff over to his apartment—was sitting on his bed, full.

"What's this?" he asked, unzipping the bag and peering into the contents. His uneasiness turned into full-blown fear when he saw what was in the case. They were her personal belongings that she'd brought over for when she stayed with him overnight.