“Excuse me for interrupting,” the chief said.
“We’re in the middle of a session here, Chief Hillier.” Christiana stood, com unit tight in her hand, held before her like a shield. “Mr. Elliot. Good of you to join us.”
There was a vicious red mark on her husband’s earlobe. It actually appeared to be…
“Is that a bite?” she asked.
“Hi.” Adam raised his hand to his ear but didn’t touch it. “Ah, yeah. The chief and I had words last night.”
“Last night? You were asleep in bed with me last night.”
Her husband studied her sneakers. “Actually, I went for a bit of a walk…”
“To the bar?” she asked, already knowing the answer. They’d been doing so well. Or she’d thought they had been. But happy husbands didn’t go out drinking and fighting on the sly at night, now did they? No. Though his father had died. Shit, talk about confused.
“Yeah, to the bar,” her husband said.
“Louise, why don’t we—” Christiana chimed in.
“Wait.” Louise didn’t even bother looking at the woman. Her husband had her full attention. “Explain this for me, Adam. Please. I really want to understand.”
“I wasn’t drinking. But I had some thinking to do.”
“You had some thinking to do. And how did that work out for you?”
The chief sniggered. She ignored him too.
“Adam?” she prompted.
He wetted his lips. “Good, actually. The chief and I… Well, we were just mucking around.”
Nathan Hillier cleared his throat and took a step closer. “If I may? These things do happen now and then, Mrs. Elliot. Men just need to blow off steam occasionally.”
She stared at the man in disbelief. “You tried to bite my husband’s ear off.”
“To be fair, I did crack one of his ribs, princess,” her husband said stupidly.
“Yes, he did,” the chief concurred.
These people—no, this whole situation. None of it made sense. It hurt her head. “Where have you been, Adam? Why are you late to our session?”
“Oh I put him in lock-up so he could think about things. I only just had him released.” The chief took one look at her no doubt cranky face and took a healthy step backward. “I’ll leave you two to sort it out now. I think that would be best.”
“And with all this thinking, did you reach any conclusions?” she asked her discomfited-looking husband. It was quite a feat. Nothing much seemed to spook Adam, but his lips were pursed and his gaze was all over the ground. “Adam?”
“Yes.” His eyes met hers. “I did.”
“Well?”
“I’m yours.”
Louise canted her head. “What?”
“I’m yours, princess,” he repeated. “A hundred and ten percent. That’s what I figured out.”
“Huh.” Her throat felt swollen and her eyes sore. She didn’t know whether to be mad or cry or what. “I see.”
Adam watched her steadily, his gaze not wavering in the least. He braved a smile. It turned into a wince when he remembered his poor, cracked lip. “So whatever we need to sort out, we will. Between ourselves. What do you think?”
“I think you’re going to drive me to drink.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
He held a hand out to her and she took it. Because what else could she do? She was crazy about him. “Okay.”
“But we still have—” the counselor began, and was silenced with one swift look from the chief.
“I’ll handle this,” Nathan assured them. “You two kids run along.”
Thank the gods.
The door slid open and she stepped through it with her beaten-up husband by her side. Maybe they would be okay. She wanted them to be okay. Yes, the situation was messed up, but their marriage mattered to her. He mattered to her. In truth, she hadn’t realized how much until he’d stood her up again.
They wandered side by side out of the beige office and into a busy hallway. There were lots of official-looking people striding to and fro in suits or the gray corp uniform. Rose and Taka waited at the end of the polished stone passageway. Not what she needed. Hadn’t today been enough of a trial already?
The woman’s face was tight with tension. Her hands worried the folds of her long, colorful dress as she watched Louise approach. Taka gave Louise brief smile.
“Hi, Louise,” Rose said. The woman gave a nervous grin but it quickly fell from her face. “Look, I owe you an apology for my behavior the other night.”
Louise didn’t know what to say, so she kept her mouth shut. That, and she’d kind of had enough surprises for one day.
“And I was wondering if you’d like to come to dinner with me,” Rose said. “It’s ladies night at Hali’s. You could meet some of the other wives. If you’d like?”
Taka gave his wife an approving nod, love shining in his eyes. Adam just shrugged, but there seemed to be something hopeful in his, both the blackened and the normal.
Shit, it was all on her. The woman was trying. Admitting you were wrong never came easy. And these people were important to her husband. Her husband, with whom she had the worst feeling she might be in love.
“Sure, Rose. I’d like that.”
Louise might have been a tad drunk. A smidgeon. Every time she turned around, Rose had shoved another drink into her hand. Apparently Louise had been meant to drink for both of them, because Rose—cue the whispering—might be pregnant! So exciting. She’d met lots of other women. Twenty? Fifty? Who knew? Their names were a blur in her fuzzy, fuzzy head.
“Shit.” She stubbed her toe on the coffee table, peering about in the darkness.
“What are you doing?” A low, warm glow lit the room and her husband sat up in bed. His dark hair stuck out every which way. He sat there bare-chested. Did he have any clothes on?
She meant to ask, but instead what came out was, “Oh, it’s you.”
“Were you expecting someone else?” Adam frowned at her. There were so many bruises on his face. Bruises he’d gotten wandering off in the middle of the night instead of talking to her. Marriage was hard. Much harder then she’d been led to believe.
She shrugged. Fuck him, anyway.
Actually, what a good idea. She felt as horny as hell. Her last coherent thought had been the need to get home to Adam and have it out with him—to have him. Fast and slow and vice-versa. Whatever, however—but now.
Louise kicked off her shoes and headed for the bed. The buttons on her plain white blouse were fiddly. Her fingers pulled clumsily at them. She climbed onto the mattress and knelt beside him. “Help me undo these.”
“Princess, how much did you drink?” Adam’s fingers whipped through the buttons in no time.
Happily, she shrugged off the shirt and pushed his hands down to the button and zip of her pants. “Some.”
“Ah.”
“I had a very trying day.”
“I see,” he said. Hands pushed her onto her back and the whole world spun in a wonky fashion, light dancing in a dizzy blur. “Lie down before you fall off the bed. I’ll get your clothes off for you.”
“Okay.”
He slid her pants and underpants down her legs. She lay as docile as a doll while he undressed her, hands fussing with the clip of her bra. The cool air gave her goose bumps. “My husband’s an asshole.”
“Is he now?”
“Yep.”
“That’s nice. Where’s the bloody clasp on this thing?”
“You can fly a shuttle and you can’t work a bra?”
“Quiet. Got it,” he said, and the bra loosened about her.
Finally, she lay there naked with Adam hovering over her. She slid her hands up his forearms, fingers trailing over all the dips and bulges of his muscular shoulders. He was so yummy. His eyes so bright—a clear, clear blue, like the sky back home on a good day. The most perfect thing she had ever seen. “You have the prettiest eyes.”
“Thank you. Did you have a nice time with Rose?”
“Mmm-hmm. We talked about lots of things.” She traced his mouth with a finger, smiled when he tried to nip it with sharp teeth. “All your little quirks.”
“Louise…”
“And your hijinks.”
“Let’s not go there right now.” Adam’s mouth descended on hers, kissing her over and over, hotter and deeper and harder and…wow, her head spun. Again. “You taste like tequila.”
She blinked dazed eyes at him and gave a lazy smile. “Yeah, I drank margaritas with… I can’t remember her name. But she was really nice.”
“Was she?”
“Yep.”
Adam’s eyes crinkled. “Oh princess. I think you’re going to hurt in the morning.”
“I hurt right now.” She threaded her fingers into his dark hair and scratched at his scalp. Tried to push him down her body but he evaded her easily, laughing at her, low and mean. “Adam. Go down on me.”
“Where’s your manners?” he asked, rubbing his mouth over her collarbone.
“Please.”
“Good girl.” Adam tossed off the sheet and dragged her hips to the edge of the bed. He already sported a nice-sized erection. Tasty. She tried to grab hold of him but he caught her hand and knelt between her legs. “Later. You wanted me to lick you, remember?”
“Right. Get to it,” she ordered. Adam’s hand landed on the fleshy side of her thigh and she yelped at the sting. “Hey!”
“That’s for calling me an asshole.” He fed her legs over his shoulders and nudged the lips of her sex with his nose. His breath felt ticklish, warm, delightful.
“You behaved like one. Not telling me what was going on. Oh yeah, like that.” She moaned as he dragged his tongue up through the seam of her pussy. Sparkly stardust and all sorts of good things flowed up her spine, lighting her up from inside. “More.”
Big hands slid beneath her butt and cupped a cheek each. His thumbs opened her pussy to his mouth. There were soft flicks of his tongue dancing across her labia, followed by harder strokes this way and that. No rhyme or reason. He played her to perfection, her husband. Her hands twisted in the sheets. “Mmm, Adam. You’re so good with your mouth.”
With a wet sound he drew back and gave her a critical look. “Not good enough if you’re still talking. My wife. My lovely, lovely wife.” His hands spread her ass cheeks sufficiently to raise awareness, and his thumb rubbed over her tight, puckered back entrance. He watched her all the while, mouth glossy with her juices. “What was it you called me?”
“I said you had pretty eyes.”
“Hmm. Before that.” The pad of his finger teased her rim, round and round, back and forth. It made for a surprisingly pleasurable threat. All those nerve endings fired to life. He watched her carefully as her back arched and she sucked in a hard breath, shoulders tensing. “I can’t quite remember what you said.”
“Adam,” she pleaded. “Please. Make me come.”
His finger pushed lightly against the tight opening, again and again, but went no farther. “Okay.”
He lowered his head and gave her pussy a long, enthusiastic French kiss. Her eyes rolled back into her head. So fantastically good, it went on and on. He made her mindless. His tongue licked through her folds, testing and teasing her. The constant pressure of his lips moving against her almost sent her into orbit. He was truly stellar at giving head. The muscles in her belly leaped and her thighs tensed. Every atom in her focused on what Adam was getting up to between her legs.
And the finger teasing her asshole. Slipping in a small way and drawing back gently. It all felt so wonderfully good. Everything else fell away. When he fastened his mouth to her clit, she came apart with a hoarse cry, body convulsing in his grip. Explosions behind her eyelids. Fireworks. She might never move again.
Gods, what a day.
“There we go,” Adam whispered, picking her up in his arms and depositing her back in the middle of the bed. His big, warm body came over her and she opened her eyes to find him staring back at her. “Better?”
She nodded, still dazed. Her limbs lay forgotten, floppy and listless.
“Good.” He parted her legs with one of his own and she took the hint, making room for him between her thighs. Right where she wanted him to be. His gaze never wavered as he reached down, fitted his cock to her and pushed. Her pussy clenched at him greedily.
“Hmm, yes.” Louise wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down until his chest hair brushed against her breasts. The hard heat of him inside her felt perfect. The way he filled her and stretched her exactly right. His scent covered her—soap and clean male sweat. She wanted to wrap herself around him and soak him up.
And there was the musky smell of her cum on his face. He didn’t mind getting dirty with her, a fact that filled her with glee. Such a beautiful man, her husband.
He moved slowly, surely, the thrust and retreat of his body inside hers gradually bringing her back to life. Sensation spread through her like liquid heat racing through her veins. All the while he stared into her face, watching her every reaction. It was as if he were studying her. Gauging what stroke of his talented cock had her catching her breath and writhing beneath him. Then he would do it again, and again, gazing at her all the while. Helplessly, she stared back at him. Caught up in whatever built between them. Unable to fight it even if she wanted to.
“Princess, play with your clit for me. Make yourself come.”
“I don’t know if I can again so soon.”
“Shhh. Just try for me.”
With a jerky nod, she fumbled her hand down her body. Her slick clit felt hard and ready. Adam’s body bumped her hand, adding to the pressure.
“Good girl.”
“Don’t stop,” she pleaded, voice breathy and weak.
“I won’t. You can trust me.”
He didn’t stop. Her body tightened, tensed, as she came again with her fingers sliding over her clit. Adam snarled and hammered into her, over and over. He clutched at her as he came with his face buried against her neck.
When he rolled to the side he took her with him, keeping their sweat-covered bodies tight against each other, guarding her against the chill in the air. Eventually, Adam pulled the blanket up to cover them and nestled her in against him. It took a long time for her head to stop spinning. The noise in her heart wouldn’t quit.
“Adam?”
“Mmm?”
She took a deep breath and held it, busy trying to find the right words. Her mind was a mess.
“What is it?” He rolled her onto her back and loomed over her, eyes serious.
“What happened last night?”