All I Ever Need Is You

  Before she could respond--or even begin to untangle her overexcited synapses into thinking of a response that might make the slightest bit of sense--his secretary beeped him on the intercom.

  "Jay Jones has arrived for your eleven o'clock meeting, Adam."

  The sound of the buzzer yanked Kerry back to reality. One where she'd been about to ask--to beg--Adam to pretend that it was already Friday night.

  "I have a meeting soon, too." She backed away from him so quickly that cool air rushed between them.

  "I'll walk you out."

  She nodded, calling on her poise as she said good-bye to his employees on her way out of the building. After opening the front door for her, he stepped outside with her and closed it behind them.

  She couldn't read his expression as he gazed at her, his eyes dark and intense. "Anything you need before Friday night, call me."

  "The plans for the gazebo look great, so we shouldn't need to go over them again."

  "I'm not talking about the gazebo or the wedding."

  She'd known that, and knew he deserved her being just as direct as he was. "I'm not going to change my mind about meeting you on Friday." She wasn't going to wimp out, wasn't going to let nerves take away the only chance life had ever given her to focus solely on pleasure with no emotional repercussions. "But if you need anything before Friday--"

  "Nothing is going to keep me from you, Kerry." His eyes darkened even further. "Nothing." With that, he leaned forward, and her heart nearly leapt out of her chest as he lightly pressed his lips to her cheek and whispered, "See you soon."

  It was the kind of kiss friends gave one another. It should have been sweet. Perfectly innocent.

  But, oh God, just the barest brush of his lips against her cheek was hands-down the hottest thing she'd ever experienced in her entire life.

  Just minutes ago, when she'd made the decision to sleep with him, she'd been so confident, so rational, so certain that everything would be okay. But as she walked back to her car, her legs were a heck of a lot less steady than they'd ever been before.

  If the brush of his lips on her cheek could turn her insides to mush, what would a real kiss do to her?

  The question should have scared her. Should have made her spin around and tell him to forget the whole thing.

  Instead, Kerry couldn't stop smiling.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  "Give me the sander." Adam's brother Dylan stood above him on the deck of the new boat he was building, holding out his hand. "Either your workmanship is slipping, or you've got something on your mind."

  Adam looked down at the wood he'd been working on and knew his brother was right to take the tool away. He'd planned this Friday off weeks ago to help Dylan finish sanding the sloop, but work like this took a hell of a lot of concentration. And lately it seemed he could concentrate on only one thing. One woman.

  Kerry Dromoland.

  And the night they were going to spend together.

  Dylan replaced the sander with a Coke for each of them, and they went out to the dock to drink it in the sun. Sitting on a couple of deck chairs, both of them kicked their feet up on the low table between them. Seattle was famous for rain, but when the sun came out, there were few places on earth that could rival its beauty. Particularly right here outside his brother's boathouse, golden rays glinting off the blue water as seagulls swooped down to catch fish.

  "So, who is she?"

  Adam shook his head. "You're getting to be worse than Mom. Marriage is obviously doing a number on you."

  "The best damned number in the world," Dylan said with a grin. "You shouldn't knock a wife and kids until you try them."

  "Kids?"

  Dylan's grin became even wider. "We were going to try to keep it on the down-low for a few more weeks, but you dragged it out of me. Grace is pregnant."

  "Congratulations." Adam raised his Coke to toast his brother, his grin just as big. "Adam Junior is a pretty good name, don't you think?"

  Dylan laughed. "I'll make sure Grace puts it on the list."

  "First tell her how happy I am for you guys. Then put my name at the top of your baby name list."

  "What are we so happy about?" Rafe asked, surprising them both on the dock. He'd always been able to sneak up on them, even as a kid. No wonder he was such a great private investigator. No one ever saw him coming.

  Dylan didn't even make a pretense of trying to keep things on that down-low he'd mentioned. "Grace is pregnant."

  "Incredible news." Rafe pulled Dylan into a hug. "Although I've got one piece of advice. You'd better tell Mia soon. Because if she ends up being the last to know, you're--" He slid a finger across his throat.

  Dylan suddenly looked nervous. "I'd better call Grace to figure this whole spilling-the-beans thing out. Because if Mia or Mom hears the news from one of you first..."

  As soon as Dylan got up to head back into the boathouse, Rafe took his seat. "I was just about to give you a call. You free tonight for dinner?"

  Adam knew he had a hell of a poker face. Which was good, because he was about to use it. "Nope, I've got plans."

  "Blonde or brunette?"

  Adam gave his brother the laugh he was looking for. "Trying to live vicariously through me?"

  "Hell, no." Rafe didn't look even remotely interested in being single again. "Brooke is the best thing that ever happened to me."

  "You know I'm happy for you. For all of you. But every time you guys say stuff like that..." Adam mimed being sick.

  "You'll understand one day," Rafe said, absolutely serious. "And too bad about dinner. I told Brooke it would be a long shot getting the four of us together tonight."

  "Who's the fourth?"

  "The wedding planner."

  Though Adam felt his poker face slip, he needed to be absolutely sure. "Kerry's going to dinner with you tonight?"

  "Hopefully. Brooke is probably on with her now to see if she can make it on such late notice, since we didn't know we'd be able to get into town until this morning." Rafe shot him a rather assessing look. "You sure you can't push back your plans a couple of hours so that the four of us could talk more about the gazebo?"

  Adam made a show of thinking about it. "You know what? If it will make your blushing bride happy, I'm happy to change my plans. Why don't you let me make us a reservation for the Four Seasons restaurant? I'm pretty sure I can pull a few strings to get us in."

  Both of their cell phones rang thirty seconds later. Rafe got up to take his call from Brooke just as Dromoland Weddings & Events came up on Adam's screen.

  Kerry didn't say hello, just barreled straight in. "I'm so sorry, but I can't meet you tonight after all. Not because I want to back out on our plans, but because Rafe and Brooke just asked me to have dinner with them. With the wedding coming up so soon, and they're so rarely in town, I couldn't say no."

  "I'm glad you said yes. I'll be there, too."

  "You will?"

  "Rafe said they want to have dinner together so that the four of us can talk more about the gazebo plans."

  "They do?"

  "I'm pretty sure they're trying to set us up."

  "They are?"

  Kerry was always eloquent and poised. The fact that she was barely able to string words together right then meant that she was surprised and more than a little flustered.

  "My entire family is hell-bent on marrying me off." Adam glanced over to his brother, on the phone with his fiancee, almost certain that Rafe and Brooke were working on taking their scheming up a level now that they knew both Kerry and Adam would be at dinner. "If I had to guess, I'd say they've decided you'd be a perfect addition to the family."

  Her horrified silence said more than words ever could. Finally, she said, "You're joking, aren't you?"

  "I'm sure Brooke will be calling you back any minute now to let you know that I'm coming, too. And if you listen real close, you'll hear the sound of gleeful matchmaking behind every word." Literally five seconds later, he heard the familiar click on the
line that meant Kerry was getting another call.

  "That's her now," Kerry confirmed.

  "I'll see you tonight. Both during--and after--dinner."

  "After?" Her earlier horror quickly turned to breathlessness. "You still want to meet after dinner?"

  He could hear every one of the second thoughts she'd been having in her question. "I do, but that decision is still entirely up to you."

  Because even though he'd never wanted a night more, he wouldn't let himself push her into anything she didn't want to do--he'd never forgive himself for taking something she wasn't ready to give.

  He expected her to hang up to take Brooke's call, but she surprised him by saying instead, "I told you I wouldn't back out."

  That should have been good enough for him. Any other fool would have taken her promise and run with it. But Adam wanted more from Kerry tonight than a promise to show up.

  "I don't want you to meet me upstairs in the hotel suite after dinner because you gave your word. I want you to meet me because--"

  "I want it." He could hear her breath catch slightly before she added, "And I want you."

  CHAPTER FIVE

  "Rafe, Brooke, it's lovely to see both of you!"

  Kerry didn't hug all of her clients--her mother had been adamant that it wasn't professional behavior--but she'd always been so comfortable with Rafe and Brooke that moving beyond handshakes had happened quickly.

  "You're always so gorgeous," Brooke said as she admired Kerry's wrap dress.

  "So are you," Kerry said, wishing, not for the first time, that she had even a tenth of Brooke's curves.

  "Thank you so much for meeting us on such short notice. I hope you like this restaurant. Adam chose it, and he's usually spot-on when it comes to good food."

  Tonight they would be dining at the five-star restaurant in the hotel where Adam had reserved the penthouse suite for the night. Which meant that the whole time they were having dinner with his brother and future sister-in-law, Kerry wouldn't be able to forget that they'd be taking the elevator up a little while later.

  Her brain came to an abrupt halt as her entire body suddenly came alive at the sight of Adam moving across the hotel lobby straight toward them. Her pale Irish skin meant she'd long ago had to learn how to keep her blushing to a minimum. But tonight, her self-control was just shaky enough that she felt the heat Adam always made her feel move across her cheeks.

  "Kerry. It's good to see you again."

  How did he manage to be better and better looking every time she saw him?

  Instead of shaking her hand, he bent down to give her a soft kiss on the cheek, and she couldn't keep from breathing him in. He smelled like he'd just come out of a shower. It was all her brain needed to immediately run away with naughty visions of what he'd look like with warm water running down his naked muscles. That would have been enough to fluster her, but when she added the knowledge that, in a matter of hours, she was going to find out just how good he looked naked...

  Oh God.

  How was she ever going to make it through dinner in one piece? Especially when she needed to keep her nearly exploding lust for Adam a complete and total secret from his brother and his brother's fiancee?

  Fortunately, she had a little time to compose herself while he pulled Brooke into a bear hug and swung her around. Brooke's laughter rang through the otherwise hushed lobby, especially when Rafe growled, "Move your hands any lower and even being my brother won't save you."

  "You know I love it when he gets all possessive like this," Brooke teased. "Say something totally inappropriate, Adam."

  But before Adam could open his mouth, Rafe took his fiancee back into his arms and kissed her.

  "Everyone in my family is like this," Adam told Kerry in a low voice. "Even my parents."

  Though she knew her cheeks were hotter than ever at the way Brooke was clearly melting in Rafe's arms, Kerry resisted the urge to cover them with her hands. "It's very romantic."

  When Adam made a sound that bordered on disgust, she was surprised to find herself smiling. Honestly, there was something incredibly refreshing about a man who didn't try to pretend about anything. Adam was quite obviously a man who wasn't trying to pull anything over on anyone. He believed what he believed and didn't care what anyone thought about those beliefs.

  Even better, that knowledge that what she saw was what she'd get with Adam made her feel like she could breathe again.

  At least, until they sat down and she realized he hadn't been kidding about the matchmaking. Because after barely ten minutes of wedding talk, it seemed all Brooke and Rafe wanted to do was prove to Kerry just how compatible she and Adam were.

  It didn't help, of course, when she and Adam ordered the exact same meal, down to the wine they preferred.

  "Kerry, last time we met," Brooke said, "you were telling us about that hike you found just outside of the city. Adam loves to hike, and I'm sure he'd love to know about it, too."

  "I sure would," he said, looking perfectly relaxed about the setup in progress. "Tell me all about it."

  Clearly, he'd been down this matchmaking road many times before. And just as clearly, she could see that grinning and bearing it was the path of least resistance.

  Deciding to take a page out of his book, she smiled at him and said, "It's straight uphill for four miles, but if you don't care about being able to breathe, the views are absolutely heavenly."

  His eyebrows went up. "Are you talking about Mount Dickerman?"

  "You know it?"

  "It nearly killed me the last time I did it." He looked more than a little impressed. "One surprise after another, aren't you?"

  For a moment, as he looked at her with a mixture of respect--and desire--she forgot there was anyone in the room but the two of them. Thank God the waiter came to remove their starters just then.

  "Excuse me."

  With as much poise as she could muster, Kerry left the table and headed for the ladies' room. She desperately needed a few moments alone to take a few deep breaths and settle down.

  After locking the powder room door behind her, she closed her eyes and leaned back against the door, deliberately not looking at herself in the mirror. She didn't need to see how flushed her cheeks were, didn't need to confirm that her eyes were bright and sparkling.

  The truth that she hadn't wanted to admit to herself--but now could no longer deny--was that she was filled to bursting with anticipation and need. Desire for Adam had grown from moment to moment, hour to hour, day to day, until she could hardly stand it. When she'd thought she was going to have to cancel on their night together, she'd practically wanted to scream with frustration. And now he was close. So close that still not being able to touch him was the most frustrating thing of all.

  Combining all of that with nerves that just wouldn't quit--how could they when she'd never done anything even close to having a one-night stand before?--and she was a total mess. Top to bottom, inside and out.

  Somehow, some way, she needed to tamp it all down until later tonight, when she could finally let herself go for a little while. Just long enough to find out if Adam Sullivan lived up to the late-night fantasies she'd been having about him all week.

  Fortunately, she soon felt settled enough to return to the table. Unlocking the door, she was just stepping out of the hallway and into the restaurant when her phone buzzed in her bag.

  After a lifetime in the wedding business, she was trained never to ignore a call. But it wasn't a panicked bride texting. It was Adam.

  YOU LOOK BEAUTIFUL TONIGHT IN YOUR DRESS

  Her heart jumped even faster as she stared at the compliment. He wasn't suddenly turning romantic on her, was he?

  AND I CAN'T WAIT TO STRIP IT OFF YOU

  She would never have thought it possible for her knees to go weak at the same time as laughter bubbled up and out of her. But Adam, it seemed, was turning everything she'd ever known, or expected, completely on its ear.

  And when she looked up and straight i
nto his intense yet laughing eyes, she realized what he was telling her--that it was okay to be nervous, but that she didn't have to be.

  Because he would never lie to her or pretend to be someone he wasn't.

  He would stick to every last part of their agreement to have fun in bed without ruining it with the threat of emotional entanglements that would never, ever work out for the two of them.

  And most of all, he would make sure she had fun tonight, weak knees and all.

  *

  Adam loved Brooke like a sister, but little sisters could be seriously annoying sometimes. Especially when they got an idea in their heads that they refused to shake.

  So while Kerry was in the bathroom clearly trying to regroup from the matchmaking onslaught, he turned to Brooke and Rafe and beat them to saying what were, no doubt, going to be the next words out of their mouths. "Kerry is beautiful. She's intelligent. She runs a successful business. And I like her a lot."

  "I knew it!" Brooke exclaimed as she grabbed Rafe's arm in delight.

  But Rafe was already shaking his head. "I don't think my brother is done just yet, sweetheart."

  "One day," Adam continued, "she's going to find a guy who is perfect for her. And I really hope she does, because she deserves the kind of relationship that the two of you have found."

  "That guy could be you!" Brooke insisted.

  But they all knew better, knew that Adam wasn't anywhere close to looking for forever with anyone. All of his siblings had been ready when true love came. Brooke's childhood crush on Rafe had turned into a much more mature love when they'd found each other again as adults. Mia had fallen in love with Ford all those years ago, and when he'd come back into her life last year, the love that had never gone away had rekindled, brighter than ever. Their oldest brother, Ian, was clearly meant to be with Tatiana, even if he'd mistakenly thought he was no good at marriage because his first had been such a mistake. And Dylan had taken one look at Grace and her young son and known they were supposed to be his.

  Adam was the odd man out. Which was perfectly okay with him.

  Unfortunately, his family was having a hell of a time accepting that he liked flying solo. That he preferred it that way. And that even when a great woman like Kerry Dromoland came along, they would never be anything more than friends with benefits.