Page 69 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
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Nora was delightedto find that Adam snored. It was not a heavy sound that would keep her awake, but a soft fluttering that somehow managed to be endearing. She woke before him and spent several minutes listening to him, smiling to herself all the while, knowing that she would enjoy teasing him about it. It was the sort of intimate detail that seemed fitting to know about somebody she felt so strongly for.
After a few moments of admiring how Adam’s messy curls fell across his forehead, Nora determined that she was going to have to get herself dressed and head to work. She was just debating whether to wake Adam or to leave him a note when her conundrum was solved for her by a quiet knock on the bedroom door.
The sound roused Adam, and he was fully awakened by Nora pulling the star-embroidered comforter off the bed to wrap around her still naked body as she padded across the room.
Cracking the door, she was relieved to see Drew’s face peeking in instead of somebody who might be more scandalized by her state of undress. Then again, the Greeks ran naked in the original Olympics, so maybe they wouldn’t even notice.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning,” Drew said, taking her disheveled appearance in stride. “I was just stopping in to see how everything went yesterday, but it seems like I shouldn’t have worried.”
Nora felt as though she should blush, but when she glanced over her shoulder. Adam was sitting up and rubbing sleep from his eyes, and she could not bring herself to feel any embarrassment. Instead, her face split in a broad grin.
Turning back to Drew, she said, “I have so much to tell you, but unfortunately, I have to get going to work right now.”
“That’s the other thing I stopped by to tell you. You don’t have to go to work today. The whole city is shut down for a blizzard.”
“A blizzard?” Nora almost dropped her blanket in shock and was forced to readjust. “But it’s barely November, and it wasn’t on the radar, was it?”
Drew shook his head. “No, but you know Chicago weather, and Odelle is always complaining about how the meteorologists at work make everything up anyways.”
It still seemed rather odd to Nora, but she brushed it off, saying, “Thanks for coming to tell me. Let me get dressed and then we can have breakfast or something.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Drew shook his head, eyes glinting mischievously. “You look rather busy, and I’m going to see Thad right now anyway. We can meet up for lunch.”
Nora winked at him before shutting the door and turning back to Adam. He was sitting up with the sheets draped low around his hips, looking transcendent in the morning sun that streamed through the skylight. His tanned skin glowed, and Nora noted with pride several marks across his neck and chest that were clearly shaped like her teeth.
She wasted no time climbing back into bed with him.
“I have the day off,” she murmured against his lips after giving him a good morning kiss.
“Good,” Adam growled, pulling her with him so they were both lying down again. “We still have a lot of catching up to do.”
“Mmhmm,” Nora responded absently, kissing her way down his neck.
“I’m sure you have a lot of questions.” Adam’s hands carded gently through her hair. “And I want to make sure you have all the answers you need to be comfortable with this.”
Nora responded by showing him that now was not the time for questioning by doing something very different with her mouth. His hands shifted from caressing her hair to fisting it desperately, and it was a long time before they picked up the threads of their conversation again. After all, Adam insisted on returning the favor, and Nora was of no mind to object.
* * *
Although Adamand Nora didn’t get out of the bed for the majority of the morning, she did end up asking him all sorts of questions to satisfy her endless curiosity.
She was lying on her side, pulled tightly to Adam’s chest with her head tucked under his chin, when the gold ring on the hand intertwined with hers caught her eye. She had noticed his habit of fidgeting with it when he was anxious but had never gotten around to asking about it.
“Where is your ring from?” Nora inquired, lifting their hands to her eyes to get a closer look. Now, she could see that there were tiny stars made of sparkling stones set around the gold band.
“Oh.” Adam pressed a kiss to the top of her head as he paused. “That’s my wedding ring.”
Nora jumped slightly before melting back into his body once more. “Then why do you wear it on your right hand?”
Adam shifted behind her. “Well, I’m not married anymore. I’m technically a widower, but I can’t bring myself to not wear it at all. Besides, if I ever did find you, I didn’t want you to see it and think I was unavailable.”
“Not to mention you wouldn’t want to give other women the wrong impression,” Nora tried to joke, but the end of her sentence rose as if she were asking a question. She would be lying if she said she didn’t want to know if there was more to his romantic history than her.
Adam was silent for a moment.
