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“Lux—”
Adrianna jumped in. “I went looking for him. He was gone. All of you were. I told your father. Instead of helping me get to Cam, he got in the way.”
Lux halted midway and shot her an incredulous look. “Father? Why would you tell our father? You could have contacted Cam directly or me or Chase. God, this is so like you…”
Cam wanted answers too, but that wasn’t the moment. Not with the set of young eyes watching them all with curiosity.
“Stop. We can talk about this after we’ve settled down.” His gaze drifted to the child, hoping all the adults would get the hint.
Luciana sighed.
“He means when I’m not around,” Bronwyn whispered out loud.
Chase laughed and mumbled for Cam’s ears, “Yeah, this little smart-ass is definitely ours.”
He glared at his brother. “Can we all sit down and talk about this?”
Neither of the women made a move and Chase’s eyes danced with mischief.
Adri cleared her throat. “Bron should eat something. If we get her something to eat, she can watch some TV and we can talk.”
Cam nodded. “Lux, why don’t you order us all something to eat? I’ll show Adrianna the guest room.”
“I bet you will,” Chase said. Cam was dying to punch the smirk off his brother’s face.
Except it made Adrianna laugh. “Are you ever going to grow up?”
Chase shrugged. “Growing up is overrated. My brother grew up and look at how boring he’s become. Now you—” he pointed at Bron “—look like you’re a lot of fun. How about you and I go watch some TV in the family room while these adults find us something to eat?”
Bron smiled and nodded.
Adrianna stared after Bron.
“Don’t worry. They’re the same mental age anyway. I’ll go order us some dinner.” Lux walked away to the kitchen.
“Come upstairs. I’ll show you the room you and Bron will be staying in. The driver will bring your things upstairs.” Cam started walking but Adrianna waited a few seconds before following him. He breathed a sigh of relief once she started moving again. She wasn’t going to bolt. There was no way she’d leave Bron behind.
Still, the tight air between them was something he couldn’t take for much longer.
•••
Adrianna was both delighted and freaked the hell out.
Once everything was explained, everything took a whiplash kind of turn. It all had to do with Bronwyn. She won over both Chase and Luciana.
Maybe it was what Adrianna's grandmother used to say about the call of your blood. She would always say there was an affinity to people who shared your genes. That something in you recognized them, even if you didn’t know their name. That had to be the case here.
They had been in New York for a week and already her daughter lived a completely different life. Cam and his siblings bought her all sorts of expensive gifts that would take Adrianna years to give her. Just earlier today, Luciana brought a catalog of children's furniture so Bronwyn could choose before she called the interior decorator.
It sent Adrianna straight into their home gym where she ran for forty minutes straight. It wasn’t the Canton harbor side trail or the cobblestone streets of Fells Point, but it gave her peace, which lasted until her daughter intercepted her to show her the huge iPad Pro her father had gotten her. Adrianna loved the smile on Bronwyn's face as she told her of the new software to help with her stroke precision and the sketching apps Cam downloaded for her. Yet, she couldn't help the apprehension growing every minute they spent in New York.
It was too much, too fast, too intense. She needed air, lots of it.
“Adri?” Cam called out from behind her. Just the sound of his voice rasped over the walls of her belly. She turned around fast, only to find herself a few steps from him.
“What’s up?”
His eyes lingered a little too long over her running capris and she fought not to fidget. She also wasn’t going to linger on his bed head or the way his jeans hung loose. And she wasdefinitely notgoing to notice the way that white T-shirt clung to his arms and torso. Nope, she was going to keep her eyes above his shoulder. Just nowhere near his kissable mouth.
