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Adam sounded proud, something that made my shoulders rise just a little, more so when Jess’s face stretched into a sulky expression.
“That does not sound like a fun job.”
“It’s the best job,” I informed her shortly. “I got to save lives and feed the need for the adrenaline rush at the same time. There’s nothing like it.”
“Well…” Adam interjected with a slow drawl that told me he was teasing me. “Except for running a life flight.”
“Yeah, well…” I slapped his stomach playfully. “You take it where you can get it, old man.”
“That’s what she said,” drifted across the lawn and I bared my teeth at my idiot brother.
Jess’s eyes were bouncing back and forth between the two of us like a cat watching a laser dot. “Well…congratulations then.”
The look she was giving me, when she finally looked at me, told me everything I needed to know: the last thing she wished me was congratulations. Death seemed a more likely contender.
Grams caught my eye, where she sat on the large sofa on the deck, with Teagan beside her. She gave me a wicked grin and drew a gnarled index finger across her throat in a slashing motion that made me work hard to clamp down on the snort that threatened to erupt. I could only imagine Grams would slash this woman’s self esteem to ribbons with her sharp-as-hell tongue if left alone with her for thirty seconds. Right now that seemed like a pretty entertaining idea.
“Right, then.” Jess looked disappointed Adam had kept me firmly anchored to his side and hadn’t stepped forward to touch her at all. “Give me a call sometime, Adam. I’d love to take you for coffee or lunch and catch up. I’m in town all the time for work.”
“You know, I don’t think that would be all that appropriate.” Oops, it seemed that was me. “You know, inviting another woman’s husband for lunch without her…kind of a morally gray area.” I tipped my flattened palm like a scale and she wrinkled her nose at me in obvious distaste.
“I’m not inviting him to do anything inappropriate,Madelyn. I just want to catch up.”
“I’m sure he appreciates the offer.” I smiled, when what I wanted to do was give her a black eye. “It’s just thatIdidn’t appreciate the obvious offer for a nooner, since I’m a little quicker to pick up on those things.”
Her jaw dropped at the same time Adam turned his head away and coughed so hard, I was sure he was laughing.
With a huff, the woman whirled and marched away from us, straight for Hailey, who was watching us with obvious interest and a devious smile on her face. The woman was up to something, I was certain of that…I just wasn’t sure exactly what.
Looking across the lawn, I noticed Kennedy pulling a sleepy Teagan from the sofa, where she’d fallen asleep with her head in Grams’s lap.
“Ready, then?” Adam leaned right into my ear to say it and, not expecting it, I shivered.
I sure as hell was ready for something, but that wasn’t what he was offering.
A weak tinkling started up, growing quickly as people caught us eyeing our escape and decided to get another kiss out of us. It made Adam sigh in a way I hoped wasn’t unhappy, and he turned me toward him with a “C’mere, Beckman.”
I loved that.
He took my face in both his hands, something I’d begun to think was his signature move, and leaned in. He was gentler and more reserved than I was, as every one of my attempts over the course of the afternoon could have been classified as an attack.
That was Adam, in everything he did: controlled. Reserved. Calculating and cautious, assessing the risk vs. reward, and I wondered what it would take to make him wild. Lose control.
While that would have been a useful personality trait in my prior line of work, I was the thrillseeker: balls to the wall. Heart racing, stomach flipping while I waited for jump clearance, welcoming that spike of adrenaline that came from the freefall.
Everything about Adam was a freefall.
Adam was a purposeful kisser, with soft, full lips that moved gently against my own. He took his time. He didn’t rush in like me, opting to drive me to the edge of madness before he progressed to the next micro-step.
The crowd grew restless and someone hollered, “Come on, Beckman. Kiss her like you mean it!”
I suspected Steve had put someone up to it.
With that Adam anchored one arm at the middle of my back and his other hand slid into my hair to support the back of my head as he dipped me backward into what was a deep arch. I gasped in surprise, and he caught my lower lip in his teeth, tugging and nipping before opening his mouth against mine to let our tongues tangle and slide in a wet battle for dominance.
It was a point he wasn’t about to concede, and he won because I couldn’t hold in the breathy whimper that escaped when he kissed me like that, like he’d been dying to taste me and was drinking his fill.
There were a few subdued whoops from the peanut gallery and my heart sank when I remember Jess was watching.
