Page 68 of The Last True Hero

Eighteen

SOMETHING HAD CHANGED.

Adam realized that two seconds after he woke the next morning. He'd half expected Mia to be wrapped around him—last night she'd come perilously close to tempting him to break his promise. But there was no sign of her in his sheets beyond the scent of her and the imprint where she'd lain. Mia smelt like a woman. The soft musk of her natural body odor, the soap she used in her hair—chamomile—and that hint of warm linen....

Fuck. Adam scrubbed his face with his hand as his cock woke up. It had been half-hard when he woke, but now it was alert and ready for action.

Only one thing missing....

"Behave," he muttered, rearranging himself in his underwear. He'd stripped his jeans off sometime during the night, thanks to the heat.

Inside the washroom the shower turned on. Adam couldn't stop himself from turning his head that way. Mia. Wet. Naked. His mind supplied a generous image, and he groaned. Now he was losing the battle within his own head.

Would that be so bad?

She'd made it clear last night that she didn't expect anything more from him than sex. No broken hearts. Just a memory.

He hadn't realized how much the thought of that tempted him.

She knew he was keeping a secret. She'd been okay with that.

In the light of day it was easier to work his way through this mess. Adam rolled out of bed, still not entirely certain what he was planning. All he knew was that he wanted to see her, and that not having her was starting to hurt more than he'd expected.

The door to the washroom cracked open half an inch. Adam rapped on it with his knuckles. "Mia?"

"Come in."

If she was naked, he was not going to be able to stop himself. But when he nudged the door open, she was still wearing a shirt. His shirt, he realized. The black cotton hung down the back of her thighs, caressing the rounded curves of her ass, and highlighting her dark skin. Her panties lay discarded on the floor.

It looked good on her. It was also a little confronting to realize that a part of him wanted to see her in his shirt every morning for the rest of his life.

That thought was notjust friends. Even with benefits.

"We need to talk," he said.

"I thought we did enough of that last night."

Mia's face remained carefully neutral as she waved her hand under the water spray, testing the warmth. Her black hair was a riot of gorgeous curls. Most of the time she tried to tame them, either by knotting it all back or braiding it. He liked it like this. Fresh out of bed in the morning. He could almost imagine wrapping his fist around a handful of it and pinning her beneath him.

"I'm just having a shower," she murmured, grabbing the soap off the bench. "I'll be out shortly."

And suddenly he couldn't keep this up anymore.

"Here are the rules," he grated out. "One fuck. No holds barred. And we don't talk about it afterward. No messy emotions. No future. No expectations. Just a memory to warm ourselves with forever."

Mia dropped the soap. "What?"

Those dark eyes blinked in surprise.

"I know what I said last night. I changed my mind." Adam took a step forward. "Jake left for the market an hour ago. I heard him and Ellie shifting around in there. We're shut in here until they return, and we have maybe an hour to kill."

Mia swallowed, her eyes darting here and there. "Well, yeah, I'm not saying no, but... why the change of heart?"

"I'm tired of fighting this," he said, instead of admitting that he knew walking away from her without being able to hold her, just once, would make him regret this moment for the rest of his life. "And I keep thinking that maybe we could handle the fallout from this."

"Okay." Suddenly she looked nervous. "I would really like it if you could just make up your mind though. You pull out on me now and Iwillkill you."

"It's made." He reached over his shoulder and dragged his black tank over his head. "You were right last night when you said we could both be adults about this. The truth is, we want each other. It doesn't have to go any further than that. We can share a bed like last night, so we can share our bodies. Like adults." Rational adults. And if he walked away after they got her sister back, and Jake kept his mouth shut, then she'd never know his secret.