It was late afternoon when we walked up to his front door, with our long shadows preceding us. A fresh breeze blew off the harbor and the familiar scent of the Back Bay assailed me. Only in Southern California, during an unusually warm winter, could we boast eighty degrees in January while the rest of the country was locked under a massive sheet of ice.
Adam unlocked the front door and opened it for me, guiding me in with a light hand pressed to the small of my back. My muscles tightened under his touch, suddenly aware of how long I’d been craving something more than just a hug or a squeeze of the hand. Now that most of the crappiness from the first dose of chemo had mostly faded, I was only mildly feeling like ass rather than weakly wishing for my own quick and painless death.
I was bouncing back. I’d read about this. With every treatment it would take me slightly longer to bounce back, with fewer and fewer days of feeling good in between. I tried not to think about what lay ahead and instead chose to adopt my new philosophy of living in the now. I vowed not to fret about what might come tomorrow, choosing to accept and appreciate what I had today.
And today I had a very attentive, very hot young man at my beck and call. Tonight we’d be lying in the same bed together and I hadn’t felt his touch in that way in far too long. My heart raced a little with the anticipation. It didn’t matter that I still had that dull headache or that my joints still were a little stiff. I was still alive, goddamn it, and for today, why not enjoy it?
Adam checked his watch when we hesitated in the entry hall. Before spending the night on New Year’s Eve, I hadn’t been here in almost two months, since just after our trip to Vegas and the god-awful fight we’d had when he’d found the painkiller syringes in my bag. I swallowed a ball of nerves stuck in my throat and glanced around. Everything was still exactly the same. The house looked as unlived in and spotless as ever.
“Miss Emilia!” Adam’s housekeeper, Cora, cooed as she came out from the kitchen and greeted me with her usual bright smile, a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
Then she put her hands to my cheeks. “You look tired. I made some dinner. Mr. Drake told me you were coming.”
I raised a brow at Adam. He shrugged. “I texted her when I went out to the car.”
“Dinner’s in the fridge. You can reheat it whenever you want.”
She spoke with Adam, telling him the chef would be here in the morning to make breakfast. He said he needed to prepare a shopping list for her with my diet restrictions.
“Hey, I’m going to run upstairs and freshen up,” I said, interrupting them.
I turned to move past them when Adam caught my wrist while he finished giving Cora instructions to pass along to Chef.
I paused, fidgeting beside him. He glanced at me. “Just a minute, okay?”
Cora brightened. “Mr. Drake has a surprise for you.”
I turned to look at him. He grimaced at Cora, as if she’d said something she shouldn’t have.
She threw her hands up at him and shook her head. “I’m going to go. You are okay for everything tomorrow?”
“Yes, we’re fine. Thank you for everything,” he said, while escorting me toward the stairs.
I threw him a look. “I used to live here, in case you forgot. I know the way to the bedroom.”
There was a small smile on his sexy mouth, which he hid almost instantly. “That’s not where we’re going.”
I puzzled at that, following him up the stairs. I knew better than to ask him what the hell he was talking about. With Adam, all was revealed in due time—his due time. So when we turned left in the upstairs hallway instead of right, which led to the master suite, I mentally scratched my head.
Holding my hand, Adam led me into the guest suite. “Step into my TARDIS, young lady.”
“It’s bigger on the inside!” I said almost automatically, staring around me in wide-eyed wonder at the transformation in the room.
Adam smirked. “That’s what she said…”
I made a face. “Perv.”
The entire time that I’d lived here before, for a month before Adam had left on his hike, the month during the hike, and a month after that when we’d been together before I’d decided to move out, I’d only been in this room a handful of times. The suite was nearly as spacious as the master suite that I’d shared with Adam.
But today it looked completely different. It had been redecorated and, in some cases, renovated. There were different windows—huge ones that went all the way up to the ceiling from a brand new upholstered window seat that lined the entire thing. The room was decorated in two shades of green, my favorite color, and crème—very muted and soft designs with forest green and mint green accents. There was a modern, ergonomic lounge in the corner with a retractable desk, complete with brand new laptop computer. The bathroom, which had been gorgeous before, had been redecorated to match. It had a beautiful shower tiled in jewel tones, but I noticed steam jets had been added and the sunken tub beside it was new. It sat flush against the tile floor and was backed by a new recessed gas-lit fireplace. It was an overflow bathtub, with a lip all the way around it that allowed water to go right to the edge and then drain away any excess.