She could feel him fighting with himself about letting go of her, but finally her feet were on the floor again, and she was holding a blanket in front of her, even though there was nothing he hadn't seen by now.
Kerry meant to say, Thanks for offering to make breakfast, but I really do need to go, only somehow the words that actually came out were, "We can't do this again."
"What the hell?" He was out of bed and standing in front of her so fast she nearly stumbled, and he had to reach out to steady her. "You're calling our arrangement quits?"
"No." She couldn't do that. Wasn't strong enough to actually end what had become the most magical, wonderful thing that had ever happened to her. "Just this. Being here. At your house. Or at mine."
He ran a hand over his face, through his hair. "I didn't get enough sleep to understand what you're talking about."
"Hotels. We agreed to meet in hotels. Neutral ground without all of our things, without personal stuff around."
"Fine." He bit the word out, hard and fast. "We'll make sure we stay in hotels from now on."
"Good."
"Great," he said, even though he didn't look like he thought it was great at all.
God, having this conversation shouldn't make her chest clench. And she shouldn't dread getting out the rest of it. But they couldn't move forward until they got one other big thing cleared up.
"Yesterday, at the house, I didn't exactly give you a chance to say no to helping me with it."
"There was no gun to my head. I want to restore it. You want to live in it. So what's the problem?"
She'd seen Adam flirt. She'd seen him tease. She'd seen him care. She'd even seen him angry at her sister. But she'd never seen him--or felt him--be angry at her before. And because it stung, she stung back.
"The problem is that you and I will have to work together on the house."
"You've changed your mind about working with me?"
"No. You're the best. Of course I want to work with you." She was as frustrated as he was, couldn't he see that? She sighed, knowing she was doing this, saying things all wrong. "But if working on the house together ends up extending past all of this"--she gestured to the bed where they'd had such wild, fabulous sex--"it might get messy."
"You like having sex with me, right?"
She nodded. "Of course I do. You know I do."
"Good, because I like having sex with you. And I can't see that changing anytime soon."
"But what if you--" She stopped herself, hoping he hadn't noticed her slip. "But what if some reason pops up where we both decide we're done having sex, and then we have to keep seeing each other because of the house?"
"You're worrying about nothing, Kerry. We're both adults. It's not going to get messy."
"So you're saying that you think we can keep things totally compartmentalized, and that the sex we're currently meeting up for in hotels will in no way impact the work we'll do together on the house?"
His dark eyes held hers for a long moment before he finally said, through what sounded like gritted teeth, "Sure."
"Great," she forced herself to say past the lump in her throat. "I'm glad we've talked through any potential issues." Through sheer force of will, she finally managed to move away. "I should get my dress from the car so that I can head out."
"I'll get it." His words were more clipped than usual. "Go take a shower. Your clothes will be here when you're done."
He had on a pair of jeans and was walking out the door before she could figure out how to say she'd had a great time with him the night before and was sorry that she'd made such a mess of the morning. Which, she figured as she headed into the bathroom, was probably all for the best, given that she couldn't get anything right this morning anyway.
*
Adam needed to get a grip.
But, damn it, the conversation he and Kerry had just had in his bedroom had thoroughly pissed him off.
He yanked open the door to his garage, hard enough that it nearly came off its hinges, then did the same to his car door.
Why did Kerry always have to look for problems?
He grabbed her dress, her shoes and bag, but left her bra and panties because those were unsalvageable.
Why couldn't she just go with the flow?
He slammed his car door shut.
Why couldn't she just let her hair down and have fun for once in her life?
He slammed the door to the garage shut, too.
Why did she keep assuming he was going to be a jerk about everything?
He headed back through the entryway and kitchen, still fuming as he headed up the stairs.
Couldn't she see that she was his friend and he didn't screw over his friends?
Adam stopped halfway up the stairs, cursing again as he finally realized that, while she might have played things wrong this morning, he sure as hell hadn't done much better by snapping at her as soon as she brought up her worries.
Kerry had been clear from the start about meeting at hotels and keeping sex separate from everything else. First it was his family and the wedding that she hadn't wanted to be affected by their hooking up. Now, they'd added in a house.
She was right. Things could get complicated if they let them.
So they wouldn't let them.
He put her bag on the seat of the leather chair by the fireplace, laid out her dress along the back, and put her shoes down beside it, then headed into the kitchen to make some coffee and wait for her. When she came out fifteen minutes later, looking and smelling fresh and beautiful, he didn't waste any time in handing her a cup of coffee--or getting straight to the point.
"I'm sorry."
She had the cup halfway to her mouth when she froze. "You're sorry?"
"Very." His parents had taught him loads of important things over the years, but one of the most important was knowing how to apologize sincerely, and not to feel like less of a man for it. "I like you, Kerry. I like you a lot."
She still seemed unsure about where he was going, but she said, "I like you, too."
"I know we started off all of this"--he gestured up to his bedroom the way she had earlier--"as strangers, but we're friends now. Aren't we?"
She nodded. "Yes." She seemed almost surprised to realize that it was true. "We're friends."
"I don't hurt my friends." He took the cup and put it on the kitchen counter so that he could take her hands in his. "However long you and I decide to keep having sex, once it's over, I'm not going to hurt you, and I can't see you wanting to hurt me, either."
"I don't want that. I would never want to hurt you, Adam."
He had to smile at the way she said it so sweetly, so earnestly. "Good."
Finally, he did what he'd been wanting to do since the moment he'd awakened and seen her staring at him--he kissed her. Long and deep and sweet, so that she couldn't help but press close and wrap herself around him in that way he absolutely loved.
"I've heard the suites at the Fairmont Olympic are top-notch. How does next week look for you?"
For a moment she seemed surprised by the question, but she was quickly back to her usual practical self as she reached for her phone in her bag to check her calendar.
"It's pretty packed. What about you?"
After checking his own calendar, he said, "Mine is jammed, too. Everything but Thursday night."
She looked at her schedule again. "You know," she said slowly, "I could probably shift my Thursday night meeting without much trouble. Do you want me to try to do that?"
"Does it rain in Seattle?"
She laughed, and the sweet sound of it helped relax the muscles in his chest that had been clenched from the moment she'd jumped out of his bed.
"I'll text you as soon as I know for sure if Thursday will work." She moved back against him and kissed him again. "I have a big wedding this afternoon so I really do have to get going now, but thank you for an amazing Saturday night."
The offer to give her just as amazing a Sunday morning was on the tip
of his tongue, but now that things seemed back on an even keel again, he didn't want to ruin it by begging her to stay, especially now that he knew she had to work today.
"Let me just grab a shirt, and I'll take you home."
"Thanks, but I've already called a cab, which I believe is waiting for me outside." She gave him one more quick kiss, then said, "See you Thursday," and walked out his front door without a backward glance.
Adam had never been with a woman this self-sufficient or independent.
It almost stung a guy's pride.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Kerry had been to hundreds of weddings, but she was enthralled by them every single time. No two weddings were the same. Some were sweet. Some were fun. Some were out-and-out parties. Some were formal affairs. Some mixed together a dash of everything. But at the core of them all was love.
When people found out she'd taken over the family wedding-planning business from her mother, they often asked her if she'd rather be doing something else. But weddings were where Kerry's heart was--in that moment when the groom lifted his bride's veil and tears of joy slid down people's cheeks as everyone gave in to a moment so radiant, so pure that it didn't matter how cynical, how steeped in "reality" they normally were.
But today's wedding was already on her favorites list, and the guests were only just beginning to arrive at the beautiful grounds of the private arboretum on the shores of Lake Washington. The reason was simple: The bride and groom were clearly each other's best friend. Every time she'd met with them, she'd been struck by how wonderful they were together. Over the months that she'd worked with them on the large wedding, she'd seen them laugh and kiss and dance like lovers--and she'd seen how well they worked together to deal with difficult things, too.
Over the years, Kerry's vision of the love she wanted for herself had taken clearer and clearer shape as she'd not only watched so many couples come together, but also paid close attention to which ones stayed together.
Of course, she wanted heat and can't-keep-their-hands-off-each-other passion. But more than anything, she wanted her husband to be her best friend, and she wanted to be his. She wanted him to be the person she whispered all her secrets to in the middle of the night. She wanted her shoulder to be the one he cried on behind closed doors.
The thing was, Kerry had never really been friends with a man before, might never have thought it was even possible until this morning, when Adam had said he was her friend and she realized she was his, too.
She'd been full of angst and worries over everything when she'd awakened in his bed. She'd been so afraid that they had made a huge mistake. But after they talked things through--with Adam ending up being the surprisingly rational, calm one when she hadn't been able to find one single rational, calm bone in her body--she was able to smile again as she thought about him.
How unexpected their relationship was. Adam Sullivan was the last person she would ever have thought she could become friends with. And yet, their relationship was one of the most wonderful she'd ever had.
He not only knew just how to make her laugh, but also precisely when she needed that laughter.
He was easy to talk to about the things that mattered to her, and she loved listening to him talk about what got him juiced up, too.
Seeing him smile always made her smile.
And few things in her life had been as comforting as simply holding his hand.
At first, she'd wanted to keep things straight and clear between them because she'd been afraid of getting her heart broken. But now, there was even more at stake. Because she didn't want to do anything to lose his friendship. Not when he'd come to mean so much to her, so quickly.
Before Adam, her life hadn't been bad by any stretch of the imagination, but in the past two weeks, it had been bright and colorful in a way that she hadn't known it could be. Part of it was the hot sex--of course she knew that had to be a factor. But if she'd been having sex with someone she didn't like, they wouldn't be hanging out and talking afterward. They wouldn't be laughing together.
And they definitely wouldn't be looking out for each other.
As the caterer gave her an update through her headset on their preparations for the post-wedding reception, Kerry knew now wasn't the time to be thinking about her night or her morning with Adam. She had a job to do, and do well.
The groom's mother had been one of her mother's clients, a widow who had found love for a second time twenty-five years ago, and Aileen Dromoland had hinted on the phone that she might drop by. If ever there was a wedding to get right, it was this one.
Kerry always wanted her mother to feel that her daughter had done right by the company she'd worked so hard to build. So since it wouldn't do to let either the bride and groom or her mother down, she corralled her focus and got back to work on making sure all of today's moving pieces worked in perfect concert with each other.
The crush of guests arriving to take their seats began in earnest now that the ceremony was scheduled to start in less than fifteen minutes. Kerry had already checked in with the bride, her bridesmaids, and her parents, and all of them were relaxed and happy in the final minutes before the wedding began. The groom and his crew were also equally at ease, and she gave silent thanks that everything was so well on track.
Ushering an older couple to their seats came as second nature to her, and she enjoyed her chat with them about the gorgeous Seattle weather and how lucky they were to be there today. More than three hundred people would be attending. The groom was a prominent financier, and the bride owned one of the best beauty salons in the city. It stood to reason that their guests were an uncommonly good-looking and successful bunch.
Still, she couldn't help but think that none of them were quite as good-looking as Adam. Perhaps she was biased, she thought with a little flush of pleasure she couldn't quite contain, given that she had firsthand knowledge of just how gorgeous he was head to toe, clothes on and off.
A message from the florist popped up on her iPad, and she realized she'd lost focus again. It was so unlike her to daydream while on the job.
Then again, it was also extremely unlike her to meet up with a gorgeous, totally unsuitable man for wild sex.
Giving her head a shake, she turned to greet another guest. But her greeting stuck in her throat when she realized she was looking at her favorite face, the one she couldn't seem to get out of her head no matter how hard she tried.
"Adam?" Her tongue felt all tied up, probably due to the way her heart and stomach immediately started jumping around whenever he stood this close to her. "What are you doing here?"
He held up his invitation. "My friends Jodi and Paul cordially requested the honor of my presence at their wedding and reception this afternoon."
"You're one of their wedding guests?" She usually knew the guest list like the back of her hand, but the bride and groom had made theirs months ago and, amazingly, had stuck to it with so few changes that she hadn't thought she needed to review it.
He grinned as he said, "You're their wedding planner?"
She couldn't help but smile back. And why shouldn't she? After all, it wasn't a crime to be friends with Adam Sullivan. It was only the sex part that she didn't want anyone to know about.
"When I mentioned I had a wedding this afternoon, why didn't you say anything?"
He looked a little chastened as he admitted, "I might not have exactly remembered the wedding was this weekend. But if I'd known I would get to see you here this afternoon, I definitely wouldn't have forgotten."
"Figures you'd almost forget about your friends' wedding." The only reason she held back her eye roll was because they weren't alone. But she planned on letting it loose on him in a big way once it was just the two of them again on Thursday night. "Although I don't know how much you'll see m--"
The caterer said something to her through her earpiece, and she cut herself off to quickly answer another question. At the same time, the iPad she was holding was buzzing with one message after
another, all of them potential fires that needed to be put out, so she quickly typed a half-dozen messages back to keep everything on track.
When she looked up again, she was surprised to realize Adam was still standing in front of her. "I forgot you were still here."
He put his hand over his chest. "Ouch."
For a moment she couldn't tell if he was teasing or not, but then she realized he was working to fight back another grin. "Honestly, it's a really nice surprise that you're here," she told him, and she meant it. Maybe she should have been worried that he would do his best to distract her in his far-too-charming way, but the truth was that she was too happy about seeing him again to care. "And I also want to apologize in advance for the next zillion times I can't give you anywhere near my full attention today."
"Don't apologize for doing your job." But he gave her a look she knew too well, one that promised he wasn't even close to done having fun with her yet. "And I won't apologize when I steal you away from it all for a dance later."
She opened her mouth to remind him that she was there to work and not party, but before she could get a word out, he pointed to her iPad. "Looks like a dozen new messages have come in for you in the last thirty seconds, so I'll go take my seat."
With a soft kiss on her cheek, he was heading off into the crowd and being heartily greeted by pretty much everyone, male and female.
Kerry knew she'd already been thinking about Adam Sullivan far too much. Far too happily, too, despite the fact that they could never be more than friends with really great benefits. And yet, as she took care of a dozen last-second details before the ceremony began, she didn't do anything to squash the extra spring in her step or the extra-fast beat of her heart.
*
Adam made sure to take a seat where he could see his friends standing in front of the officiant and observe Kerry at the same time. She looked so professional, and utterly in control of every detail, as she stood just to the side of the last row of guests.
After the huge number of family weddings Adam had been to during the past couple of years, he knew a thing or two about them. Enough to know that putting on one this big was a massive undertaking. Odds were she was being given a dozen different updates from her staff and contractors through her headset, but she didn't look the least bit stressed out.