One Night with Sole Regret 07 Tease Me (5 page)

“—better if no one besides her gives me a fucking chance!”

A ringer behind the counter
bonged
to announce someone had entered the store, and Adam turned his head to look at Madison.

“I told you to wait outside,” he said, his tone still harsh from anger.

“I’m not waiting outside,” she said and stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest. “You should trust me enough to hear what you have to say.”

“She’s right,” Phaedra said. “Has she ever even seen this side of you?”

Madison had seen it plenty in the early days of his treatment, but he’d let go of his anger once he’d opened up to her and trusted her with his real feelings. Or maybe all this time he’d been burying his anger for her benefit.

“This isn’t me anymore,” Adam said to Phaedra.

“It looks like you and it sounds like you and it acts like you, so who exactly is it supposed to be, Adam?” Phaedra asked.

“Fuck off, Phaedra,” Adam said. He shoved past Madison on his way out of the store.

Madison started to go after him, but Phaedra’s warning stopped her.

“You can’t leave with those pants unless you pay for them.”

She could have jerked off the pants and gone outside in her underwear, but instead she dug a credit card out of her small purse and extended it toward the woman.

“Charge them for me.”

Phaedra took the card from her hand. “And the jacket?”

“Yeah, whatever.”

“And a black T-shirt.” It wasn’t a question.

Madison hurried out of the store and searched for Adam. She spotted him near the end of the building. His back to the road, he had his forearm pressed against the bricks and was staring down at the cracked asphalt between his boots. His right hand was clenched into a fist, and every line of his body was hard with tension. Madison took a steadying breath and strode in his direction. When she touched his shoulder, his body jolted as if she’d stabbed him.

“Give me a minute,” he said. “I need to cool down.”

“Why are you so upset? Talk to me.”

He shook his head slightly. “I don’t want a counseling session right now, Miss Fairbanks.”

“Talking to me doesn’t mean we’re having a session, Adam. Besides . . .” she said, her chest suddenly tight and achy. She took a deep breath and forced the words out. “I’m not a counselor anymore.”

His head jerked around, and he stared at her with wide gray eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I got fired this morning.”

“What?” He shifted and took her shoulders in his palms. “What happened? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve fully digested it yet,” she said. “It was a shock. And I didn’t want my problem to ruin our weekend together.”

“Madison, baby, you can tell me anything. Anything.”

“The way you tell
me
anything? Or the way you send me outside when you have something to say that you don’t want me to hear?”

His gaze shifted to her forehead, and a muscle in his jaw twitched. “I was pissed. I don’t like you to see me like that.”

“Adam, I
need
to see you like that. I need to see all of you. I love you.”

“I try so hard not to be that guy anymore, but sometimes . . .” He shook his head. “Tell me what happened with your job.”

There was no use in hiding the details from him. “Someone reported me for having an affair with a client. And my boss, well, she seemed to think I’d form a habit of it.”

“So it’s my fault you got fired.” He scowled, his fingers curling into her shoulders.

She shook her head. “Of course it isn’t. I could say I should have been more careful—not let you get close, kept my legs shut—but I don’t regret sleeping with you, and I don’t regret falling in love with you.”

“But someday you might.”

Madison shook her head. “No chance.”

His arms slid around her back, and he hugged her. “I’m so sorry, baby. Will you be able to find another job? I know how much you love your work and how much all the fuck-ups in the world need you. I know I’m not the only one you’ve saved.”

“I didn’t save you. Just helped you save yourself. And I’m sure everything will work out,” she said, more to soothe his fears than to state her true feelings. She’d probably never be able to get another job working with addicts. But Adam was worth any adversity. It was just a job—a job she’d worked hard to obtain, an important job, a fulfilling job, but still just a job. There were countless other jobs she could try, but he was the man she loved, and there was only one of him. “I love you.”

“I love you,” he said against her hair. “Do you want me to contact your boss? Maybe I can set things right.”

Madison was pretty sure Adam’s idea of setting things right would include a lot of yelling and swearing.

“No, it’ll be fine,” she said. “And I don’t want you to blame yourself for this.”

“How could I? It’s your fault.”

She jerked away and glared up at him in disbelief. He had to take at least a little credit for her ending up without a job.

“Maybe if you weren’t so damned sexy,” he said, “I could have kept my hands to myself.”

He slid those hands over the curve of her ass and crushed their lower bodies together.

“Maybe if you weren’t so damned sweet,” he said, “I could have kept my lips off you.”

He kissed her jaw. Her lips. The tip of her nose.

“Maybe if your heart wasn’t so big, I wouldn’t have been so tempted to win it for myself.”

He cradled the back of her head in one hand and pressed her face to the crook of his neck. She wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled closer. He felt so good. So solid. So strong against her. She knew everything would be okay. There was a reason they’d met. She was sure it was so they could spend their lives together.

“So it
is
all your fault, Miss Fairbanks,” he murmured. “It’s your fault I fell in love with you.”

She smiled against his chest. “Well, when you put it that way . . . I’m happy to take the blame.”

Chapter Four

Torn with indecision, Adam fingered the ring in his pocket and stared in through the glass of the shop where Madison had gone to collect her purchases. He didn’t think the time was right to ask her to marry him. Not when she’d just dropped that bombshell on him. Even though she’d played down losing her job as if it wasn’t a big deal, he knew it was a big deal. Once her jobless situation had time to sink in, she was going to be devastated. And he wanted to be the one to hold her and kiss her tears away when she shattered.

Fuck.

When had he started having tender thoughts like those? Sometimes he couldn’t believe the syrupy bullshit that filtered through his mind and came out of his mouth.

This woman had him all sorts of out of his head. And though he’d responded to Phaedra’s words with anger, what she’d said about Madison not liking him for who he was had bothered him. The man Phaedra had once known was all sorts of wrong for the sweet counselor who owned his heart and he knew that, but he was a new man now. A good man.

Oh, who the fuck did he think he was kidding? Maybe only himself. Everyone around him still saw him the way he’d always been, and maybe they were the ones who were right about him. Maybe it was only a matter of time before he embraced his darkness again. And if that happened, he knew he couldn’t stay with Madison. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but he couldn’t drag her down into the darkness, into his pit of shit and misery. He wouldn’t be able to stand it if she started to hate him. He’d rather die than earn her hatred.

When Madison stepped out of the store wearing her sexy as sin leather pants, any thoughts of darkness were completely obliterated by her light. Maybe there was a place between his shadows and her radiance where they could exist together in harmony. He had to believe in her, in them. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t care where life took him. All paths led to death eventually, and he’d glimpsed his mortality more than once, so dying didn’t scare him. It never had. But losing her did. He couldn’t lose her. She was his light. His everything.

“So how do you know that woman, anyway?” Madison asked, trying to appear nonchalant, but looking like she was about to explode.

Adam tugged her closer and began to unsnap the mother-of-pearl fastenings of her cutesy pink and blue plaid shirt one by one. Her eyes widened, and she slapped a hand over her chest to halt his progress.

“
What
are you doing?” she asked.

Avoiding your question.
“Helping you change,” he said.

“Here?”

“You can’t wear this shirt with those pants. It’s bad enough that you’re keeping the boots.” He moved his hands to the hem of her blouse and unsnapped it from the bottom up until the only snap holding it shut was the one under her dainty hand.

“Adam!”

“What?” He took her chin between his thumb and forefinger and kissed her. “I’m just trying to help.”

“Sure you are. I’ll be right back.” Clutching the front of her shirt closed with one hand, she raced back inside the store.

He chuckled and shook his head. She was still a good girl. And maybe that was what he found so appealing about her. No matter how hard he pushed her into his darkness, her core was intrinsically light. He doubted he’d ever truly corrupt her, but the prospect of failure didn’t stop him from trying. Just like she never stopped pushing him to be a better man. He wondered if either of them would ever really change the other for better or for worse.

Madison strutted out of the store a moment later, shoving her plaid shirt into her sack of purchases and wearing a tight black T-shirt that made Adam’s jeans snug in the crotch. Damn, the woman made his blood run hot. He’d just had a taste of her and already he wanted more. His latest addiction, Madison Fairbanks. No one would ever convince him to give this one up.

She shrugged into her new leather jacket—the creamy leather hugging her gorgeous figure—and met his eyes.

“Better?” she asked.

“Better for riding,” he said, “but I prefer you naked.”

“Hey, this ride was your idea.” She planted a fist on one hip. “I thought we’d be naked most of the afternoon.”

“Well, shit, why didn’t you say so? Get on the bike so we can head to the hotel and ditch these clothes.”

“Oh no you don’t, Adam Taylor,” she said. “I didn’t buy this outfit so you could immediately strip it off me. You promised me a ride.”

“I was planning on taking you for a ride in the hotel bed.”

Her sack of clothes smacked him in the chest.

“I’ll take
that
ride later. The only way you’ll be between my thighs now is with me on the back of that motorcycle.”

Well, if that didn’t conjure up all sorts of erotic images . . . 

“Are you sure you’re not too scared to ride?”

He was teasing, but she looked grievously offended.

“Of course I’m not scared. I’m wearing leather.” She tossed her mass of curly hair behind her shoulders and straightened her spine. Which made her tits jut forward in a most distracting way. “You can’t be scared when you’re wearing leather. It’s not possible.”

He laughed and hugged her tightly. She always lightened his mood. Made him smile. Made him laugh. Made him crazy with lust. He never imagined he’d end up as one of those guys who would love a woman more than anything else in his life, one of those guys who’d go down on one knee and ask a woman to spend the rest of her life with him. He released her abruptly—not sure why his heart was thudding so hard—and busied his hands by handing her a helmet. Not the ring. He wasn’t quite ready to do that.

“So are you going to tell me about Phaedra now?” she asked as she pulled the helmet on over her curls and fastened the chin strap.

“I’m not wearing enough leather to be brave enough to tell you that,” he assured her.

“I won’t get upset. I just want to know. You can tell me anything. Remember?”

Defenses instantly high, he stiffened. “We used to get high on coke and fuck for days. Is that what you want me to say?”

“Is it the truth?” She held his gaze and no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn’t turn away. And for some reason, though he was an expert at hiding secrets, he couldn’t lie to her.

“Yes.”

“Then that’s what I want you to say. When was the last time you fucked her?”

“A couple years ago.”

She smiled. “Right answer.”

She grabbed his arm and used it to lift herself on the bike behind him. When her arms went around him and she pressed securely against his back, the tension drained out of his body. That was it? She wasn’t going to go ballistic about his past with Phaedra? Maybe he really could tell her anything. He’d already told her more than anyone else in his life, but he’d become so accustomed to hiding his reality from those he cared about, that it had become a habit. A bad one that he needed to break.

“You aren’t mad?” he asked.

“Why would I be mad? She was your past; I’m your now. And I will continue to be yours in the future.”

She was his. For now and always. He lifted a hand to squeeze her hand into his chest.

“I gotta say, I do think she’s an incredible bitch.” Madison gave him a squeeze and added, “If I were a violent person, I would have slapped her.”

Grinning, Adam started the bike, and they entered traffic. He had no destination in mind, he just wanted to ride. They headed out of the city, off the interstate and onto a lonelier highway. From the way Madison’s body molded against his and her hands explored his chest and belly and eventually the thickening length of his cock, she was obviously more relaxed on the bike now than when they’d left the airport. Maybe the leather actually had fortified her bravery. She was always hesitant to try new things, but once she let go of her natural reserve, she enjoyed their adventures together. But if she kept teasing him through his pants like that, there was no way they’d make it to the hotel before he had to get her naked and add “fucking on a motorcycle” to their list of adventures.

Adam’s cellphone buzzed in his pocket. Seeing that the only person he cared to talk to at the moment had her hand in a most compromising position, Adam ignored the text. Besides, he was driving. He couldn’t very well check his messages. A minute later the phone buzzed again. And again a few seconds later. He decided it must be an emergency if someone was so insistent. He pulled off the main road onto a side street and eased to a halt beneath an enormous oak tree. The shade might offer a bit of relief from the relentless heat and humidity, since they no longer had the cooling breeze of their ride to make wearing leather in June bearable. Madison unzipped her jacket almost at once and began fanning her throat with one hand. Her other remained in his lap.

“Why did we stop?” she asked. “Need a rest?”

“You know what I need,” he said. “Or your hand does.”

Said hand gave the bulge in his pants an appreciative squeeze.

“But someone keeps buzzing my phone.”

Adam pulled his phone out of his pocket, hoping it wasn’t who he thought it might be: his father. He did not want to deal with the old man this weekend.

Adam was surprised to see several messages from the band’s lead singer. And for once Jacob wasn’t ripping him a new one for being late or some bullshit. Adam smiled and chuckled as a photo of Owen mooning a rather offended-looking cow loaded on his screen.

A cow? Did they even have cows in New Orleans? He could only guess why Owen had his pants around his knees.

Where the hell are you guys?
Adam texted.

Owen said he heard of some in-the-sticks Cajun restaurant I had to try. We stopped for some entertainment in a pasture.

Dude, that’s just wrong.

Not THAT kind of entertainment.

Is Kellen with you?

He’s with that redheaded chick. Owen and I thought we’d blow off some steam. And avoid Lindsey for a couple of hours.

Heat rose up Adam’s face, and he peeked at Madison. He should probably tell her that he might have gotten some chick pregnant, but that news was sure to put a damper on their good time this weekend.

His phone buzzed again.

Do you want to join us for an early supper? You’re not too far from us.

How did Jacob know that? Adam started to type the question when he remembered he’d been convinced to add an app to his phone that let his circle of friends locate him whether he wanted to be found or not.

I thought you were mooning cows.

Another picture came through of Owen climbing a split-rail fence with an incredibly offended-looking bull racing up behind him.

Adam laughed, and Madison’s fingers dug into his shoulder when she lifted up to look at his screen.

“What in the world?” she asked.

“Owen and Jacob’s idea of an entertaining afternoon.”

He flicked backward to the picture of Owen mooning the cow, and she laughed. She laughed harder when he showed her the second picture of the angry bull chasing the band’s bassist.

“I don’t think that bull appreciated Owen making a m
oooo
ve on his woman,” Madison said.

Adam snorted and shook his head. So his woman told lame jokes, so what?

I think Owen is tired of insulting bovines.
Jacob’s next text came through quickly. He always used a voice-to-text app, as if he couldn’t be bothered with typing.
Join us. You can bring your girl. We won’t embarrass you.

There was a pause, and then Adam’s phone received a single word text.

Much.

Adam was sure they’d embarrass the hell out of him, but he wouldn’t mind it too bad. He missed the camaraderie of the band’s early days. Back before his troubles with addiction tried to destroy his friendships. He was grateful those bonds hadn’t been completely severed and was more than ready to strengthen them again.

“Do you like Cajun food?” Adam asked Madison.

“Sure do. The spicier the better.”

“Do you want to join Jacob and Owen for a late lunch? They say the restaurant isn’t far from here.”

“I guess so.”

At Adam’s request, Jacob sent him directions and by not far, Jacob meant twenty miles away on a completely different highway, so Adam had a bit more time to enjoy the feel of Madison at his back, the breeze against his neck, and the bike rumbling between his thighs. Life was good. He couldn’t stop grinning.

It turned out the Cajun restaurant was an old camper that had been converted into a portable kitchen. The picnic tables surrounding the little eatery were mostly full. Considering that there were only eight tables, the crowd wasn’t excessive. But the pile of crawdads in front of Jacob bordered on obscene.

“Are you going to share any of those?” Owen was asking as Adam directed Madison to the table with a protective hand on her lower back.

Jacob slapped Owen’s hand and, as his mouth was full, responded with a grunt of denial.

“No one comes between Jacob and his crawdads,” Adam said.

Jacob paused in his feasting long enough to nod at Madison and smile at Adam, but he wasn’t distracted enough to miss Owen’s attempt to sneak another crawdad from his plate.