“Three A.M.”
Ethan sat up and rubbed his eyes. “Where the fuck you been?”
“Helping Lacey find the Turner boy. Where’s Holly?”
“In your room,” Ethan replied.
“Why’s the door locked?”
Ethan reached over and flipped on the lamp beside the bed. He pinned Adam with a disgusted stare. “She’s hurting, Adam.”
Adam’s heart lurched. He didn’t like to think of Holly hurting. She’d been upset before he left, but he’d hoped Ethan and Ryan would have soothed any worries she had.
“Why didn’t you and Ryan solve the problem?” Adam demanded.
“You’re hurting her, Adam. Not us.”
“Me? What the fuck did I do?”
Adam felt his anger rising. He wasn’t into playing stupid mind games, and Ethan was fast pissing him off.
Ethan sighed and slid his legs over the side of the bed. “Look, Adam, she’s having a rough time, and you running off at Lacey’s calling isn’t helping matters. She’s insecure and who can blame her with what that fuckhead of a husband did to her?”
“She’s upset because I went to help Lacey?”
“Maybe if you had explained the nature of your relationship with Lacey, Holly wouldn’t feel as she does, but she knows something is between you two, and she knows Lacey doesn’t like her one bit. Lacey’s acted like a jealous bitch at every turn. Much like a woman scorned. Holly isn’t stupid, Adam. Neither am I. Something went on between you two.”
The muscles in Adam’s face twitched, and he pressed his lips together. “What did or didn’t happen between us isn’t any of your business.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Ethan said evenly. “Dead wrong. It is very much my business. I love Holly. And I think you do too, Adam. I think Ryan probably does as well although he may have a hell of a time admitting it to himself. Anything you do that hurts Holly is my business. She’s as much mine as she is yours and Ryan’s. If this relationship is going to work, you’re going to have to pull your head out of your ass.”
Adam blew out his breath in one long sigh. “Christ. Nothing happened between me and Lacey tonight, Ethan. I wouldn’t do that to Holly.”
“I know,” Ethan said quietly. “But she doesn’t know that. Not yet. We haven’t earned her trust. She’s not going to offer that lightly after what she’s gone through.”
“And in the meantime, I’m locked out of my fucking bedroom.”
Ethan chuckled. “I guess you get the couch. I wonder if we’ll have a steady rotation when one of us pisses her off.”
“Good night. Sorry I woke you,” Adam said as he turned to leave.
He eased the door shut behind him and stared down the hall at his locked door. It was nothing a screwdriver wouldn’t fix. Maybe it was time he and Holly had a little time alone.
A few minutes later, he quietly slipped into his bedroom. Holly had left the lamp by the bed on and the soft glow poured over the bed. He set the screwdriver down on the dresser and shrugged out of his clothing.
He walked to the bed and looked down at Holly’s curled up body. Only her face peeked out from underneath the covers. A face that was red and blotchy. His chest tightened at the evidence of her tears.
He gently pulled back the covers and climbed in beside her. He pulled her tightly into his arms, liking the way her soft curves melted into his hard body.
She stirred and opened bleary eyes. They flared in surprise when she saw him.
“How did you get in here?”
“Quite easily actually. Why did you lock me out?”
She looked away. He trailed a finger over a lock of her hair that rested on her neck.
“I just needed some time alone,” she said softly.
“That’s understandable, but you don’t have to lock the door to get your point across.”
She looked back at him again, her eyes troubled, uncertainty lurking in their depths.
He sighed. Ethan was right. He should have just explained his involvement with Lacey from the get-go. Then maybe he’d be sliding his dick into Holly’s pussy instead of lying here with a raging hard-on about to become embroiled in sensitive talk.
He checked his impatience and cupped her cheek in his palm. “Listen to me, baby. There is nothing going on between me and Lacey. I’m sorry if you got the wrong impression.”
Holly shifted and pulled the sheets up higher around her. The gesture looked protective in nature but instead of making her look stronger, it only made her seem more vulnerable.
“I don’t understand.”
Her voice came out soft and breathy, the kind that would make a man instantly hard. If he wasn’t already. She was everything soft and feminine, what a woman should be.
“What don’t you understand, baby?”
She looked away again. “Why didn’t you choose her?”
Adam frowned. That wasn’t what he expected her to say.
“She’s everything I’m not,” Holly continued. “She’s strong, tall, pretty. I bet she doesn’t need anyone.”
Adam leaned back against the pillows, taking Holly with him. He cradled her against his chest, and she laid her cheek on his shoulder. He stroked his hand up and down her arm.
“I won’t lie to you. There was a time when I was attracted to Lacey. I even went as far as to bring her home, introduce her to Ryan and Ethan. But I knew immediately that she wasn’t the one. I didn’t feel a connection with her. Not like I did with you, and it was obvious the others didn’t either. Ryan outright despised her on sight. I still haven’t figured out why. Ethan, well, he was indifferent. I stopped seeing her directly after that.”
Holly stilled against him. He could feel another question coming. One that apparently was difficult for her if her body language was any indicator.
“Ryan said…he said you were a sucker for a woman in distress.”
The light bulb went on immediately. Adam sat up, dragging Holly up with him. He cupped her chin in his hand and forced her to look him directly in the eye.
“Baby, I’ll always protect you, but that isn’t why you’re here. Ryan’s a dumbass. He talks to hear his head rattle, I swear. If you want an explanation as to why you and not her, well I don’t know. I can only tell you what I feel here.”
He clenched his other hand into a fist and thumped his chest. “It’s you, baby. And maybe in time you’ll believe that.”
Her eyes glittered suspiciously in the lamplight.
“I want it to be me.”
“But?” There was clearly a but in her statement. Doubt clouded her voice, and it made him uneasy.
“I’m scared of making the wrong decision. Again.”
“Does it feel wrong?”
She didn’t answer immediately.
“Holly?”
“No, it doesn’t feel wrong. That’s what scares me.”
Adam let out a small sigh of relief. He could fight uncertainty. He couldn’t fight a made up mind. Ethan’s words echoed in his mind. Was he right? Did Adam already love her? It was hard to separate his satisfaction with finding the woman who would complete their family and the idea of love.
He knew one thing. He wasn’t letting her go. If that meant he loved her, then maybe Ethan was right. And he’d try his best to make her love them as well.
He slid his hand down her side and over her hip. “I want to make love to you,” he murmured. “I’ve thought of little else all night.”
She stared up at him, her bottom lip caught between her teeth. He saw hesitation in her expression, but he also saw desire. Was she still afraid of him?
He lowered his head to hers, meeting her lips with his. She tasted sweet. Just like she looked. He wanted to feel those lips around his cock, her wet mouth sucking him deep. He was ready to explode just thinking about it.
“Take your clothes off,” he said hoarsely. “I want to watch you.”