The Law of Motion (Law Series) (48 page)

"Mistake," he finished softly for me, and I nodded frantically.

"Yes," I sobbed, nodding again. "I tried to stay...confident and strong, but that... I already lived through." I growled, practically shaking as I balled up my fists. "I have memories of it every time I get out of the shower. I didn’t want a three day reminder. "

Adrian stayed quiet like he always did because I rarely ever lost hold over my emotions. He brushed my hair from my face softly, his eyes locked on me. They were sincere, as captivating as the bluish-grey sky around us, and they showed an ancient worry that I hadn't seen since he first found out about Cuba. He was afraid for me, that my captivity was too much. Maybe it was, or maybe just Adrian's presence was like a soothing balm on a burn that allowed me to relax just a little.

"You 
were
 strong, Honeyface," he soothed, ghosting his fingers along my cheek and under my chin. "You walked into their hands knowing exactly what captivity was like. You did it for Juan, because you’re stronger than all of us," he stated, rubbing my hand until it relaxed, and then he kissed each finger.

"Really?" I urged.

"I swear," he said with a nod, placing another kiss to the middle of my palm. “You did amazing.”

I nodded, reaching out to cup his face. He was all things strong and noble, soft and comforting. And his face was fucking beautiful as he gazed up worriedly at me. I knew there was a part of him that was probably raging inside, because he couldn't fix whatever had hurt me, but he tamed it down in order to treat me like fragile glass, and at that moment, I felt a little bit like that.

"I'm sorry," I breathed, bringing his lips to mine.

"Don't be sorry, love," he whispered, kissing me once, before pulling back to look at me. "I know it wasn't easy down there."

I shrugged, sniffling at the same time, but allowed my forehead to fall to his.

"Honeyface," he started tentatively, "who gave you the bruises?"

I pulled back, and he traced a finger around the side of my eye and across my cheek. "Zoe, right after they discovered that my bag didn't have the money...and just before I kicked her ass with my hands still cuffed."

He grinned beautifully crooked, shook his head once, and leaned up to kiss my bruise with a feather light touch. "That's my girl," he chuckled.

I couldn't help but smile with him, because I was willing to bet he'd been tossing that question around in his head since he laid eyes on me. I probably needed to lay his fears to rest.

"No one hurt me," I stated firmly. Even though I wasn’t sure how long that statement would have been true if the guys hadn’t raided when they did.

Adrian gave me a look of disbelief, like he wanted to bring up finding me on a table, but didn’t know if it would make things worse or not. "The table was nothing, it was just meant to scare me. No one did, except for that. I promise, baby."

He studied me for a while and then let out a sigh of relief, "Good."

Two large SUVs with dark tinted windows pulled onto the property at the same time that Victor and Liam came out of the house and walked toward us.

"We're being kicked off the mountain," Liam snickered, giving both of us a wry smile.

"Just until morning," Liam countered. "There's an inn down the mountain in a small town. I've taken it over. Take your crew, get some rest, and come back up here in the morning."

"What about questioning Thompson?" I asked, wanting to face the guy that gave me so much shit. To show him what I was capable of without being caged with a gun in my face.

"Tomorrow," Victor urged, his eyes tracing over my face, lingering in the same spot that Adrian’s had. His face was stern as he turned to Adrian. "She's hurt and tired, Adrian. And you guys need to be off this property for the rest of the clean up. I will need you tomorrow, though."

I would've argued to stay, but he was right. I was exhausted and in terrible need of a shower, so I stood slowly and took Adrian's hand. "Tomorrow," I conceded, pulling him up, just as our whole crew exited the house. I looked up to Adrian. "It'll be fine. Let's go."



             
"Hi, Tia," my godson said with a yawn over the phone. "Auntie Kristen says you'll all be home soon."

"We will,
Juanito
," I sighed, stretching my legs out on the bed in our hotel room and straightening the robe I'd put on after my very much needed shower. "I'm not sure when, but we're trying really hard to finish up. Are you getting in bed?" I asked, missing the little routine we used to have before all the shit started.

It was a Saturday, and since Doc had an art class on Sunday mornings Juan would spend the night with me normally. About this time I would read to him until he nodded off.

"Not yet. I’m waiting up to talk to my mommies." He audibly yawned again, fighting sleep, and I looked up as Adrian came out of the bathroom after his shower.

             
I bit back a swoon and a groan at the sight of him in just a towel wrapped low on his hips. Water still glistened on his shoulders and arms, and his hair was a tumbled wet, sexy mess. The two day stubble on his face, the blue and grey mix of his eyes as he scanned through his phone and set his clothes on a chair, and the flexing and rolling of every muscle as he innocently moved about the room was just killing me.

             
Sometimes, he reminded me of that beautiful, untouchable man that I first
really noticed
helping me grab something that wasn’t within my reach when I first met him—unknowingly sexy. And then there were times he was the sweet man that stumbled over words because what we had was so new and unfamiliar that it made him nervous. The part of him that only I got to have. When he noticed I was on the phone with Juan he smiled sweetly, crookedly, lovingly, and patiently.

"Well you should have Auntie Kristen call them before they fall asleep ok? Night-night, little soldier," I told him. "Be good until your mommies and I get back okay? 
Te amo mucho Juanito
."

"Okay, Tia,
te amo tambien
," he muttered wearily on the other end of the line before Kristen took the phone back and hung up to call Ross and Tawny.

I let him finish what he was doing,  padding into the bathroom to brush my teeth as he called Jackson to discuss a meeting time at the top of the mountain. By the time I came back in the room, he was sitting on the side of the bed, setting the hotel phone back in its cradle.

"He sounds like...this shit didn't affect him," I stated softly, walking to him to stand between his legs.

His hands immediately landed on my waist, and he looked up at me, his brow furrowing just a touch. "He kinda freaked out on me when you weren't at the motel room," he sighed with a grimace, "but he calmed down once Ross got him home. Tawny says he's dealing with it perfectly. He's a little...clingy."

I took a deep breath and let it out. My worst fear for Juan was that there would be irreparable damage from his kidnapping. I knew what it was like, though his experience came nowhere near what I'd gone through. Thank God. I never wanted my godson to have fears of anything. It had taken me a very long time to work through my fears. It had been painful, scary, and downright nerve wracking. Without Adrian, and everyone else there for every single fucking step, I'm not sure I'd be as comfortable in my own skin.

             
I ran my fingers through his soft, damp hair, sighing softly with contentment. "Clingy, I can handle. I might be a little clingy right back when we get home. Maybe I’ll talk Doc into letting me have a camp out with him in the tree house." I said with a grin and a bite to my bottom lip.

Adrian chuckled; wrapping his arms around me and pulling me flush to him. He set his chin on my stomach and gazed up at me. "Sounds like fun. I may have to crash that party."

"Should I sneak you in?" I teased him.

"Want me to come in through a window, Honeyface?" he snickered, his hands starting to travel over my back, over my bottom, giving it a squeeze, and down the backs of my legs.

"Why does that sound like something you've done before?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at him when his cheeks tinged pink. "Adrian Harris!" I gasped in false shock, my mouth hanging open.

He huffed an embarrassed laugh. "Once or twice, okay? But I almost got caught by the girl's father. Scared the shit out of me, because he had quite the extensive gun collection..."

I laughed, because I couldn't help it, and I knew he was being modest so I wouldn’t feel jealous. His past was no secret to me when it came to women, but he was mine now. I didn't doubt it. In fact, I trusted his love for me completely. It was a crutch I leaned on in order to make it through life. Without it, I wasn't sure I'd have made it through my most recent captivity.

His hands skimmed the back of my neck and the unthinkable happene
d
I stiffened, and flinched away from his touch. It had been almost two years since I shied away from him but it was such a knee jerk reaction that my heart raced.

“Alyssa?” Adrian started carefully. “Are you
sure
you’re alright, Honeyface?”

“I’m fine. I don’t know why that happened.” I sighed, brushing his hair from his forehead so that I could place a long, slow kiss there. "God, I missed you," I moaned, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and another around his head when he buried his face into my stomach, just holding me. "I had dreams about you when I was gone, and it just made shit so much worse," I admitted softly into his hair.

His hands skimmed down my backside again—only this time, they traveled underneath the edge of my robe. As he slowly brought them up to cup my ass, he pulled his head from my torso. Testing to see if I really was ok.

"Tell me about them," he commanded in a smooth, velvet voice, his eyes darkening when he discovered that I was bare underneath.

"You were kissing me," I whispered, already reacting to his touch, "touching me."

"You had dirty dreams, baby?" he asked, a naughty crooked smile curling up on his lips.

"Mmhm," I said with a nod. "I did," I breathed when I didn’t get the urge to pull away; when he tugged the knot open on my robe.

"Did it make you wet for me?" he asked, his voice like liquid sin and warm honey, dripping with want, sex, and carnal knowledge.

"It made me
cry
for you," I whispered the truth and nodded at the same time, which only caused his eyes to darken even more. The blue was almost nonexistent at this point.

He dropped the terrycloth belt to the floor and gently opened my robe, letting it hang loosely on my shoulders. With a flat hand, he pressed it to my stomach and ghosted it up between my breasts to my neck and back down. He was taking his time on purpose, teasing me. He wasn't even kissing me yet, and I was aching for him to the point my legs were almost shaking.

"Did you come in your dream?" he asked, and my stomach tingled and clenched at the way that sounded, but I shook my head no. "So..." he sighed dramatically as his brow furrowed in concentration, using both hands to glide up my upper body, purposefully skimming his palms over my hard nipples, to push my robe off of my shoulders. It pooled silently at my feet. "Do you 
want
 to come, love?"

"Yes," I breathed, a sound barely escaping me, because I needed to feel him, "Please..."

He leaned in to drag his nose over my skin from my bellybutton, around each nipple, and up my neck to my ear, where he finally opened his mouth. A long, deep moan rumbled from him when he laved his tongue over the soft spot behind my ear, sucking lightly. My fingers gripped his shoulder and wove themselves into his hair to hold him there.

"I… couldn't sleep… in our bed without you," he admitted in a whisper, his breath pushing softly against the wetness he'd just left on my flesh, causing me to shiver. "It seemed...wrong, baby."

"Adrian..."

"Shh," he chided gently, shaking his head, because he didn't want to have that conversation. From the look on his face, he only wanted me. "I want to finish that dream for you," he added in a rasping whisper, switching to the other side of my neck and leaving another long, slow kiss.

"Then you really need to kiss me," I panted, tugging his hair so that he would look up at me. "
Really, kiss me
."

Long, talented, pale fingers traced up my spine, almost tickling me from the small of my back, all the way up to my shoulder blades. His other hand slipped into my hair at the base of my neck, weaving firmly and pulling me closer. My forehead thumped to his, our eyes locked. There was need, want, relief, and a glimmer of relaxation that shifted between us, before I nipped at his top lip, and then the bottom. Teeth and tongues slid lightly over skin, as I dragged my fingers slowly down his chest, caressing each pec, each ab, and each vee just above the towel he was still in.

Tugging at the terrycloth, I exposed him, only to crawl into his lap, straddling his thighs as he covered my mouth with his own. Adrian pulled me closer, trapping his arousal between us, and a deep, breathtakingly erotic moan rumbled from his chest. He turned my head, moving us farther up on the bed and deepening the kiss. Our tongues swirled together as I loomed over him, pushing at him to lie back, but he had other ideas in mind, and he pulled me down with him.