Page 52 of Slide

He hadn’t said the words out loud, but they hung in the air all the same. She squeezed her eyes closed for a moment, then finally sat up, forcing a smile. “I’m first in the shower.” She dove off the bed and raced to the bathroom.

Adam didn’t say anything, but she felt his eyes on her as she crossed the room and shut the door behind her.

~ * ~

“I love this song.” Lucy turned the stereo up, and Adam must have like it, too, because he let her. She was counting that as a win. The man was a control freak, in all things—some ways that were frustrating as hell, and others…well, she kind of loved, like a lot.

They’d avoided conversation that veered toward heavy since they left the hotel, and Lucy was fine with that. They both had their reasons for being content with this short-term deal. Okay, content probably wasn’t the right word. Accepting, maybe? And weirdly, it made her feel better knowing she wasn’t alone in her feelings for him, that it went both ways. It also made her feel extremely sad, but she wasn’t going there. She was done being sad. They had today and tonight, and she wanted to make the most of every minute.

Her favorite part of the song started and she tilted her head back and belted it out along with the lead singer. She sounded like shit, but it wasn’t like this was the first time Adam had been subjected to her singing.

She heard him chuckle beside her and turned her grin his way. “Don’t even lie. You love the sound of my voice.”

His gaze moved over her bare legs. “When it’s screaming my name, it’s the sweetest fucking sound in the world. When you’re butchering the chorus line to one of my favorite songs? Not so much.”

She ignored the way her belly dipped and slugged him in the arm. “Good God, you’re an ego maniac.” She snorted. “When you jerk off do you call out your own name?” She screwed her face up, giving her best Adam-come-face impersonation, and lowered her voice. “I’m so hot. That’s it Adam, you’re the man. Bring it home, big boy…Adaaammmmm.”

“I would never call myself big boy.” He smirked. “Nice to know you think I am, though.”

“I said nothing of the sort.”

“Yes, you did. You just said it.”

She rolled her eyes. “I said you thought that about yourself.” He totally was a big boy. Shit, she could still feel him between her legs from this morning.

“Are you saying I’m lacking in some way?”

“I didn’t say that either.”

“So what are you saying?”

“Oh my God!” She threw up her hands. “Fine, yours is the biggest, finest piece of man meat I have ever encountered. Better?”

“Much.”

Adam put on the turn signal and turned off onto a gravel road.

“Where are we going?”

“Thought we’d stop for lunch. My aunt and uncle used to live few miles from here, before they moved to Chicago. I camped down here a time or two with my cousin when we were younger.”

The road was lined with trees, leaves swaying in the breeze. It was idyllic. “Is this where you brought girls?”

He shook his head. “Nope. Never brought anyone down here. It was our spot. Mine and my cousin’s. We’d fish, drink the beers we stole from my uncle, and just…” His gaze turned faraway, heavy. “Shoot the shit, yanno?”

“Yeah, Joe and me always had an easy relationship like that.” She grinned at Adam. “Well, until I got boobs and he went from being my friend to my bodyguard.” She chuckled. “Scared away every boy I ever liked.”

“They love you.”

There was something in his voice, something that made her want to reach out and touch him, place her hand on his cheek and brush her thumb over his skin. “They do. But it can be suffocating sometimes.”

“If I had a sister, I’d be the same.” He cleared his throat. “I wouldn’t like you with someone like me, for example.”

“They’d have a problem with any guy I went out with, which is why I’ve always tried to keep that part of my life to myself. I’d die an old maid if they had their way.” She twisted in her seat more. “And anyway, what’s wrong with you?”

He was a loyal friend. He’d stood by Joe and Hugh when everything was falling apart. Yeah, he fucked around, which had never really suited him, not the man she knew, the man she saw when he was with the people he cared about. He’d always loved to be around her family when they’d been younger. Had spent a lot of time at their house. If he’d open the hell up and let the demons out, whatever they were, she knew he could find the happiness he desperately wanted. He could deny it until he was blue in the face, but that’s what he wanted. And if he ever allowed himself to have that happiness, she knew he’d be one hundred percent loyal to the woman lucky enough to get through to him. She shook that thought off. The idea of him with someone else hurt like hell.

He offered her a self-depreciating smile. “More than you know, baby girl.”