In Blood and Worth Loving (21 page)

“Thank you.”

He shook his head. “No thanks necessary. Anymore questions?”

“Yes.
Adrian
told me he was around two hundred.”

“And?”

“And that would make him…and you old enough to have lived during the Trail of Tears. Did you?”

She watched his jaw clench before he lowered his lids. “Yes. We’re old enough.”

“Did you?”

He shook his head. “That’s not something I want to discuss, Brandi.”

She squeezed his hand. “I didn’t mean to resurrect painful memories, Conner.”

“It’s all right. It’s only natural to be curious. That was a difficult time for us as a people and as a family. We lost many of our tribe and family during that time so it’s not something we like to talk about.”

Which probably meant
Adrian
wouldn’t want to talk about it anymore than Conner did—provided she saw him again.

“Would you like to dance, Brandi?”

Slow dancing with Conner would probably totally unsettle her. She shook her head. “I’m not really in the mood.” She feigned a yawn. “It’s getting late and I have an early day tomorrow.”

He glanced at his watch and nodded.

They didn’t speak on the drive back to her apartment but it was a comfortable silence.
 
He refused her offer of coffee and they stood at her door to say good night.

“Call me if you need to talk again or if you’re afraid or concerned about anything,” he told her.

“Thanks, Conner.”

He bent and kissed her cheek. “Good night, honey.”

“Good night.”

Alone in her apartment, she undressed, removed her make-up, and slipped into bed. She lay wondering what
Adrian
was doing and who he was with for a long time before she fell asleep.

Had
Adrian
contacted her immediately after her dinner with Conner she would have been more willing to believe that he actually had real feelings for her. The next morning she received flowers from Conner along with a thank you card.

Thanks for last night. Call me anytime you need me. Conner.

She sighed. Why couldn't
Adrian
be half as considerate?

Doug called her that morning at work to ask her out on Saturday. Although she was tempted, she declined. “I wouldn't be very good company.”

“It's going to take awhile, huh?”

“What’s going to take awhile?”

“Getting over whoever is standing between us. What’s his name?”

There was no point in dissembling. Besides, she didn’t want to start their relationship with secrets between them. “
Adrian
.”

“Do you love him?”

“I’m not sure what I feel for him. I just know that he’s not good for me and I need to forget him. I just need a little time. So next weekend, I’m going to need you to take it slow, Doug.”

“By slow I’m assuming you mean platonic.”

While Doug was a considerate lover, it would be a while before she was ready to sleep with another male and not compare him unfavorably with
Adrian
. “Yes. Are you going to be okay with that?”

“Not really,” he admitted. “But you’re worth waiting for, so I’ll deal with it.”

He was so understanding. He was worth three of
Adrian
. Why couldn’t she feel half the passion for him she felt for
Adrian
? “I’ll see you next Friday at six, Doug.”

“Not before then?”

“I just want to work things through in my head for the next week. I want to be mentally ready to enjoy our weekend. I need some alone time until then.”

“Does that mean you don’t want me to call?”

“No. Call me after the weekend.”

“I will and I’ll look forward to seeing you next week.”

“Until then.”

She hung the phone up and sat staring at her desk trying to assure herself that spending the weekend with Doug would not be a mistake. She had been relatively content with him once and she could be again.
 
It was just her luck that relative contentment paled in comparison with what she knew she could share with
Adrian
.

The day seemed endless. Brandi was prepared to go home and spend the night reading. Several coworkers convinced her to go out for dinner after work instead. Since she had walked to work that morning, she had several drinks before she had a salad followed by steak and roasted vegetables. After enjoying coffee and a slice of decedent chocolate cake, Steve, the designated driver for the night drove everyone home.
 

The drinks helped relieve some of her tension. She arrived home feeling so relaxed she thought she could get right to sleep after a quick soak. She kicked off her shoes in the small entrance hall and padded barefooted into the living room. In the doorway she stopped.
Adrian
, eyes glowing, turned from the living room window to stare at her.

Her heart raced with a combination of joy and anger. She clenched her hand into a fist and remained where she was.

“Who was that?” He demanded.

No how have you been or nice to see you again. Nothing had changed with him. “Who was who?”

“The man who walked you across the parking lot.”

She bit back the urge to snap that it was none of his damned business. “A coworker who was the designated driver for the night.”

“Not your boyfriend? You do know he’s gay?”

Did she detect a hint of jealousy in his voice? “Yes, I know he’s gay.”

 
He glanced at the roses Conner had sent, which sat on one of the end tables. “So you’re dating Conner?”

She blinked at him. “Dating…no!”

“But you’ve been out with him?”

“Not in the way you’re making it sound.”

“How many ways are there to go out with a man?”

She compressed her lips. Damn him. After nearly a week of silence, he showed up uninvited with a tree-sized chip on his shoulder. “I’m tired. I want to take a bath and go to bed so if you could get to the point of your
visit
.”

His nostrils flared. “You’ve been drinking.”

She shrugged. “I’m over twenty-one. I can drink if I like.”

He bared his incisors and crossed the room to stare down at her. “I know you’ve talked to Rayna.”

“So?”

“So what if you’re pregnant?”

She sucked in a breath and turned away.

He caught her hand and turned her back to face him. “I hope you enjoyed drinking tonight because you’ve had your last damned drink.”

She bit back the urge to tell him she’d do whatever the hell she liked. He was right. Until she knew she wasn’t pregnant drinking had been a bad idea. But hell would freeze over before she admitted that to him. “What do you want,
Adrian
?”

He took a deep breath before he answered. “Are you pregnant?”

“We met a week ago.” She tugged at her hand, which he still held. “It’s too early to tell.”

He lifted her hand and pressed her palm against his chest. “Do you want to be?”

“No.”

His fingers tightened on the hand he held against his chest. “No?”

The uncertainly she heard in his voice and the hint of hurt she saw in his eyes touched her. “You haven’t exactly gone out of your way to make me want to have your baby,” she told him.

He lowered his eyelids, shielding his expression from her. “This is a difficult time for me.”

He sounded vulnerable. The last of her resentment melted. She leaned into him, linking her free arm around his neck. “
Adrian
?”

He raised his eyelids.

His expression revealed none of what he must be feeling. She sighed. “I can’t handle this.” She pulled away from him. “Please leave.”

He stared at her, his lips compressing. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “My leaving isn’t one of your options,” he told her in a cold voice.

She balled her hand into a fist and hit his shoulder. “I am not in the mood for any shit from you, Adrian! I don’t care if this is a bad time for you! You’ve gone out of your way to make sure each time I see you is a bad time for me!”

He stepped back from her. “That wasn’t my intention. I didn’t intend to…”