“Well, I was trying to figure out what was best.”
“For you.”
“No.” He shook his head, brows drawn tight. “For us. I only want what’s best for us, Louise. Always.”
Her hands cupped his face, the stubble on his jaw prickling her skin. “That doesn’t work, Adam. You making the choices. It can’t work.”
He said nothing at first. Lay back down, drawing her back in against him, her head cushioned on his biceps. “We’re going to have to trust each other.”
“Yes, but trust takes time.”
He made a noise. It could have meant anything or nothing at all. Annoying man.
“Adam, I’m kind of crazy about you. But you…” She hesitated again, not knowing how to tell him what was filling her head. Her heart. The alcohol had loosened her tongue and it was all there, ready to pour out of her. A torrent of emotion. She should be careful not to drown him.
“But I what?” he prodded.
“Look. Just…don’t disappear on me again. Stay with me. Whatever’s going on, we’ll handle it together. Okay?”
Her husband pulled her in tight against him. Held her so hard her ribs creaked, but she didn’t protest.
“Okay,” he said, his mouth warm against her ear. “I swear.”
Chapter Seven
Day Seven
Adam left his wife sleeping in bed, crept out before she woke. But not in the usual avoiding her, doom-and-gloom disappearing trick. On the bedside table he left a box of aspirin tied with a bow and next to it a glass of water. Sure, the bow was a shoelace, but she would understand. They were okay. And they were going to stay that way.
Whatever Louise was keeping hidden, he would find out about it and deal with it. Keep her safe.
They might have only been together for a week, but he knew his wife. She was a good person. Whatever skeletons lurked in her closet couldn’t begin to stack up against his.
So while it might be preferable for her to tell him in her own sweet time, he wouldn’t be waiting around. If she hadn’t been afraid, it might have been a different story, but she was. His wife was scared of something, and it wouldn’t do.
He found the person he needed lounging against a shuttle, flicking through reports on his com unit. How the man could manage to look as if he had a cocktail in his hand in the middle of the hangar, he had no idea. It seemed a gift peculiar to Nathan Hillier. Because of his dapper ways, many had underestimated him—to their loss.
“We need to talk,” he told the chief.
Nathan cocked a brow. “We tried that. I don’t think I’m up to another scuffle just yet. The rib still hurts. They had to tape it.”
“Don’t be such a baby. And I mean talk about Louise. She needs help.”
The chief straightened and slipped his com unit into a pocket. “What do you need?”
“Information. A full background check.”
“How deep we going to have to dig, Ad?”
Adam stared off into the distance. A storm was drawing closer. He could see it gathering, through the wide hangar bay doors. Heavy gray clouds hung low over the equally gray landscape. A shuttle powered up not too far away, the whine of the engines loud enough to make conversation an issue. Lights flashed red and white as it moved slowly out and mechanics scurried out of its path.
“She got out here,” he said, raising his voice to be heard above the noise. “Got through all those background tests. I’m thinking whatever we’re looking for, it’s not going to be just lying around, waiting for us to find it.”
“All right, let’s bring Bon in on this. Might be useful to have the questions coming from corp security.”
Adam nodded slowly. “Louise isn’t her real name. I’m sure of it.”
The chief narrowed his eyes on him. “Is she your wife, Adam?”
He got what the man was asking him, and there could only be one answer. “Absolutely.”
“Well, all right then. Let’s get to work.”
Something hit Louise’s face. Hard. It smacked into her cheekbone, sending pain streaking through her. Next there was yelling. They’d found her.
She scrambled off the side of the bed in a panic. The sensors tracked her movement and lit the room with a warm glow. Her pulse beat like a bass drum in her head, her heart hammering as she tried to breathe. She’d been fast asleep, what with it being almost midnight, but not now.
Damn.
The side of her face throbbed hotly.
She spun around and searched the space with manic eyes. Nothing. The domicile appeared empty of anyone but her and Adam.
What the hell?
He lay in the middle of the bed, his body coated in sweat, head thrashing from side to side on the pillow. The sheets had long since been kicked off.
A nightmare. He was having a nightmare. His arm lay across her half of the bed.
“No!” he suddenly bellowed.
“Adam.” She crawled back onto the bed, wary of his waving hands. “Adam, wake up.”
With eyes shut, he shuddered, mouth gaping, gasping in air as if he were choking. As if all the oxygen had been sucked from the room.
“Adam. Baby, wake up. Look at me.” Louise straddled his chest, pinning down his thick shoulders with her hands. Muscles flexed and strained beneath her—he could easily hurt her again without knowing. His big hands gripped her shoulders painfully and his blue eyes stared at her without comprehension.
“Hey. It’s all right. You’re safe,” she crooned, ignoring the pinch of his fingers digging into her. “It’s okay. You’re home in bed with me. Look at me, Adam.”
He blinked, rapid-fire. “Princess?”
“Yes. It’s me.”
Adam sucked in a breath through clenched teeth and his hands fell from her, back onto the mattress. “Shit. I’m sorry.” His body tensed beneath her. “I’m all sweaty, I’d better go—”
Louise tightened her thighs against his hips and bent over him, pressing him back onto the bed. “Don’t even think about it, buster.”
He made a noise in his throat. It sounded vaguely aggrieved. Too bad.
“Shhh.” She kissed the side of his face, set an elbow by his head and kissed him some more, nuzzling the strong line of his cheek and jaw. The salty sweat on his skin soon coated her lips. “Just relax.”
Slowly, slowly, his breathing eased. The gentle push of his rib cage against her breasts calmed.
“That’s it,” she whispered.
He skimmed his hand up her arms, gave her a friendly, dismissive pat. His face remained the picture of unhappiness. Even with all the bruising, there could be no mistaking his frown. “I’m okay. I’m sorry I woke you.”
“I don’t suppose you want to talk about your nightmare?”
“No. Thank you.”
“So polite,” she said. “Do you get these nightmares often?”
He looked at her in the low lighting, blue eyes like the sky after a storm or something equally poetic. She didn’t have words for how wonderful she found him. Nor could she tell him that she understood. That she used to have nightmares too. Lying to Adam left a bad taste in her mouth. It coated her tongue and slid down her throat. Someday soon it might choke her. She hated it.
“Adam?”
No response. Fine, he didn’t want to talk. So she kissed him again, the side of his mouth, the corner, brushing her lips over his, carefully avoiding the cut on his lip. She moved on to the curve of his jaw and the hollow of his cheek before returning to his mouth. “Everything’s all right.”
Again and again she kissed him, gentle and soft and sweet. His mouth was firm and his breath warm. He breathed out and she breathed in, his lips opening the smallest amount to her.
“I’m all right,” he murmured. His cock bumped at her inner thigh, tenting his soft sleeping pants. “It was just a bad dream. It’s not a big deal.”
“Okay,” she said. “We don’t have to talk about it.”
“Princess…” He sighed, opening his mouth fully to her, letting her tangle her tongue with his. Oh yeah. She canted her head and kissed him deeply, thoroughly. Gave him all the love and care she had in her. Every ounce of warmth and affection and deep and abiding lust he inspired in her, she returned to him tenfold. He was so potently male. Her hormones hit hyper-drive at the mere scent of him. She wanted to rub herself all over him, touch and taste every part of him. It was kind of scary how much he got to her. But this remained the physical, the down and dirty. No problem—she could keep her secrets separate from this. Not her heart—he already had it. But the secrets would stay safe. They had to. His life depended on it.
He pushed up her tank top and his fingers found her stiff, aching nipples and teased them just right. Everything inside her pulled tight. Only Adam got her this hot this fast. She ground herself against his erection. Sex had always been a good thing, but only with Adam had it had become great. Earth-shattering. Heavenly. He knew exactly how to touch her and how to read her subtle cues.
Things spiraled out of control and became more frantic.
Their teeth chinked together more than once.
She pushed down Adam’s pants sufficiently to free his cock, and his fingers found her beneath the loose cotton bed shorts she wore. A habit from warmer nights in stuffy apartments on Earth, but then her husband was furnace hot. Adam always warmed her.
He eased a finger into her pussy, sliding it inside to tease her. Two fingers. He thrust in and pulled out with gentle sucking noises. She was so wet. Three fingers and his pinky played over her anus, making her ass cheeks flinch and clench.
Her retribution was her firm grip stroking his cock. Her thumb toyed with the sweet spot below the head.
“Shit,” he hissed. “Princess.”
“In me.”
“Mmm.”
She lined the blunt head of his cock up with her entrance, pushed back slowly, steadily, until he was seated fully within her. Until she had taken every inch of him and the pleasurable, slightly overfull feeling had her in its grip.
They hadn’t tried this position before, nose to nose and chest to chest with her on top. She rose up then pushed back, relishing the feel of his cock driving into her. Over and over she rose and sank back onto him, faster and harder, more and more. Being in control felt awfully good. She ended up sitting upright astride him, riding him as she wished, and he let her have her way. His hands roamed over her hips and ass, belly and breasts, curved over her shoulders. Need rode her hard and she took it all out on him. She hadn’t meant to need anyone, never again, but Adam had snuck through to the heart of her.
The tension and heat bubbling up inside her became an insurmountable wave, washing over them both. Her husband gripped her hips and held her down on his cock as he finished inside her. Every nerve ending in her seemed brimming with life. Every last thing seemed magnified. It overwhelmed her. But Adam lay beneath her, the length of his body so solid and hard but also her soft place to fall. To lose him now would kill her. His heart beat strongly beneath her ear. It would all work out. Everything would be fine, this time.
It took her a long time to raise the energy to peel herself off him. “I think we’re both going to need a shower.”
“Mmm.” Adam threaded his fingers through the back of her hair, drew her down to him and kissed her soundly, several toe-curling times. She never wanted it to end. But it did. “What’s that red mark on your face?”
She opened her eyes to find the unhappy face back in full force. His dark brows were drawn straight in a pissy line. Unease unfurled in her gut.
“Did I do that?” His face scrunched up, eyes incredulous. His big hands lifted her off him and set her aside. “Fuck!”
Her post-coital bliss evaporated in an instant. “Adam, it’s nothing. You were asleep. You didn’t know.”
With athletic ease, he rolled off the mattress and stormed toward the kitchen. He thumped a hand against the ice-dispenser with brutal disregard. If the kitchen comp failed to acknowledge the request, she wouldn’t blame it. He returned shortly with a tea-towel packed with ice, heavy footsteps stomping across the synth-wood floor.
Smack, smack, smack
went the soles of his feet.
She wanted to smack him upside the head. Seemed they both had a temper.
He crouched on the mattress beside her, mouth tight, and gently pressed the ice pack to her cheek. The rush of cold felt good against the hot spot.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For ruining my after-sex happy?”
He grunted, one hand holding the icepack while his other hand cradled her jaw. “No. For hitting you. Keep still.”
“Nothing to forgive. It was an accident.”
“I’ll sleep on the couch from now on.”
“Like hell.” Louise pushed the ice pack away and dealt him her mightiest glare. One, she hoped, that would make his big testes wither in fear. “I mean it, Adam. We’ll deal with this.”
Her husband watched her with worried eyes. Dark hair stuck out every which way on his head and stubble lined his handsome face. His concern for her was obvious. How he cared for her. He made her want things—dangerous things. Made her want to spill her whole life story into his careful hands, to tell him everything and hold nothing back.
Gods.
Suddenly it occurred to her—it had been seven days. A week since she’d stepped off the shuttle to find him waiting for her, and her new life had begun. She grinned, feeling the ache in her cheek at the motion. “Happy anniversary. We made it a whole week.”
Adam hung his head, but not before she caught the reluctant smile creasing his eyes. “A week? That is something.”
“If you try to sleep on the couch, I’ll follow you.” She strung her arms around him, rested her un-bruised cheek on his shoulder. “I’ve gotten used to having you there. You keep me warm.”
“Ah.” He rubbed the side of his face against the top of her head, gave her arm a light squeeze. “All right then.”
Chapter Eight
Day Eight
The bastard had left the bed once she’d fallen asleep, made good on his threat to sleep on the couch.
Asshole, cock-sucking sonofabitch.
Louise stabbed her small spade into an innocent mound of dirt and turned it over with more zeal than care.
Asshole.
Gods, when she got her hands on him. As if she couldn’t recognize the imprint of his big, fat, dumb head in a couch cushion.