The Power: Building the Circle - Book 2 Page 11

  Lucy blinked. "They're making it easier for us to stand around in your kitchen making out?"

  Adrian nodded, noticing her arms were still around him.

  "How would they know that we want to stand around in your kitchen and make out?" Lucy's cheeks turned pink. "OK, how do they know I keep wanting to stand around in your kitchen making out?"

  "Oh, no. No, Lucy. That's definitely a 'we.' Not just a 'you,'" Adrian said, still screwing with his phone, not looking at her.

  "OK, we. But how?" She asked again.

  "Uh, Hank actually suggested it last Saturday when my mom got all giddy at the sight of you. I rolled my eyes at him, thought he was overreacting. My mother has long lamented my unattached status. Sam's just… different. Like him knowing your name. He had never met you before. That's just how he is. I can be sitting here, thinking about calling him, and then he'll call me and ask why I'm thinking so loudly at him."

  "So, what does this mean?" Lucy asked, still slightly concerned.

  "For Ree's health stuff?"

  Lucy nodded.

  "Absolutely nothing. You'll still get all the care and support needed. Probably forever. I have to operate within the bounds of the non-profit charter. They don't. Hank will ensure that everything is handled properly," Adrian explained.

  "Like your Dad wouldn't cut us off cold if he felt I wronged you," Lucy muttered.

  "He wouldn't, Lucy. Never. Hank has more integrity than any other person I've ever met. The thought would never cross his mind. You could murder me in my sleep. He'd still help Ree. You haven't really met him. That's just how he is. But that's the point of this. It's done. You don't need to see any of us ever again if you don't want to," Adrian said.

  "Adrian, I couldn't see you denying Ree help if we had a falling out, either. I refuse to believe that's who you are," Lucy said.

  "I can't imagine it, either. But now none of us have to worry about it. It's out of my hands."

  "So, what does this mean?" Lucy asked again.

  Adrian's lips turned up a bit at the corners as he finally glanced at her face. "What do you want it to mean?"

  Lucy smiled a small, secret smile without answering. As her lips tilted up to meet his, the energy exploded through Adrian, doing something like a little happy dance.

  ✽✽✽

  As he pulled away from the kiss again, Lucy grabbed Adrian's head. "Stop hedging. Please? I don't want to stop again. Can we make out and get all hot and bothered like functional, consenting adults? Because that sounds like fun."

  "I wasn't going to stop," Adrian murmured in her ear, giving her goosebumps. "I was going to do this," he continued as he nibbled her earlobe and kissed a line down her long neck to her collarbone.

  "Oh. Contributing to the hot and bothered state of affairs," she gasped as he kissed around her jawline and sucked her other earlobe gently.

  Completely unaware of how she got there, Lucy found herself being pulled on top of Adrian on the couch in the living room.

  "Change of venue?" She asked.

  "Seemed like it would be more comfortable," he muttered.

  "Mmm," she said, running her hand up the sculpted flesh of his abdomen and chest under his t-shirt. "I don't understand how you're this fucking ripped."

  Adrian chuckled. "I work out a lot."

  "Yeah, I guess so," Lucy laughed, kissing his jawline and neck, down to the collar of his t-shirt.

  Adrian's hand slipped under her t-shirt, thumb gently stroking the skin at her waist. Lucy froze immediately. The happy, feel-good energy she was buzzing on froze in place as she struggled to breathe.

  Adrian sat up, taking her with him. "Lucy?"

  "Ah, sorry," she said, turning bright red. "Momentary lapse in the hot and bothered status. Picking back up," she tried to laugh, reaching for him.

  He waited, neither pulling away or moving closer. She couldn't budge him if he didn't let her.

  "Can I opt-out of talking about this right now if I promise to talk about it later?" She asked.

  Adrian watched as she wrung her hands, refusing to make eye contact. Refusing to make eye contact was his thing, not hers. Something was really wrong. "You can, but I'm not sure it would be wise. For either of us."

  Lucy nodded. "That's probably right."

  She sat quietly for a minute.

  Adrian counted the seconds, trying to calm the rage that was anticipating some new excitement. He wasn't angry with Lucy, but he suspected that whatever was going through her mind would enrage him. He thought of Hennessy's 9 rating, trying to mentally prepare himself.

  "I'm worried this will change things between us, and I don't want to change things between us," she finally said.

  "OK," Adrian said. "What is it you're afraid is going to change?"

  Lucy blinked at him, looking terrified.

  "How about I say a bunch of things that are all true, and you stop me when I get to the ones we need to talk about?" He asked, trying to make this easier for her.

  Lucy blinked again, then nodded.

  "I'm pretty into you. More into you than I have been in anyone. Ever. The love and care you share with Ree make me feel better about life. I love that you're both feisty enough to not let some strange dude paw through your medical paperwork but also vulnerable enough to cry when that dude buys a bunch of kid's books.

  "I know that you and Ree have had a rough road. Based on what you told me about pets, I've assumed your road has never been easy.

  "I asked Hennessy for your detailed file yesterday after Ree talked about the bad people. Hennessy refused, and he would not typically refuse me anything. He's protective of you. He does not share his background easily. So, he trusts you and wants you to understand that he's familiar with uneasy roads.

  "I know you wouldn't be in this house right now if he thought you were a danger to me or mine, if you were an active drug user, or if you had a recent history of prostitution.

  "Knowing all that, there's not much that you can tell me that would make me not interested in you. That includes telling me you don't want to stand around in the kitchen and make out, or that you don't want to lay on the couch and make out. And also includes telling me you're not ready to go to bed with me yet. All of those things are fine. You can tell me you're just not interested at all and walk away. That would make me sad, but not uninterested in your wellbeing."

  When Adrian stopped talking, Lucy made a little snort through her nose. Without looking at him, she started talking.

  "I am so ready to go to bed with you, it's amazing. That's actually not the problem. The problem is that I've never actually wanted to go to bed with anyone. The problem was a sensory memory that passed quickly and has now left us in this weird place."

  "You've never had sex?" Adrian asked, dumbfounded.

  Lucy shook her head. "No, I've had sex. Sort of. Are we counting involuntary sex?"

  "No," Adrian said as the rage started clawing at his brain.

  "Well then, not much sex. I dated a guy when I was in community college. He talked about it like it was the greatest thing ever. I laid there, thought the whole experience was overhyped. I didn't see him again afterward. I've been busy since Ree came along," she said, somehow humiliated and defiant at the same time.

  They were quiet for a couple heartbeats. "You know, this is really ruining the hot and bothered thing we had going," she said.

  Adrian smiled. "It's just on a break, not ruined. The sensory memory?"

  "Ah," Lucy said. "That's a little harder to explain, but I will."

  She sighed. "I was in foster care after my dad did… what he did. Cycled through a lot of them."

  "Hennessy, too," Adrian said, more to remind her that she wasn't alone than anything else.

  Lucy nodded.

  "One of the homes was a large family. The couple had four biological kids. They had just finished adopting another. The caseworker told me it was a lovely family, good kids. If I fit in, I could probably stay there.

  "My second night
in the house, the eldest biological son came into the room I slept in, stuffed a sock in my mouth, zip-tied my hands, and raped me. He said if I told, he'd kill me. No one would believe me, and he'd kill me.

  "I didn't know what to do. I was terrified. My entire body hurt. There was blood everywhere. Marks from the zip ties on my wrists. When the wife came to wake me the next morning, she asked if I got my period in the night. I said no, and tried to explain. She didn't believe me or didn't want to believe me. David was just teasing, he did it with all the kids, it was like a rite of passage."

  "I was terrified. Hurt and terrified." Lucy sat quietly for a few seconds.

  Adrian squeezed her hand, reminding her that she was safe. Lucy started, roused from whatever thoughts were running through her brain.

  "At dinner the next night, I hid a steak knife. I wasn't going to be a victim again if I could help it. When he came for me that night, I caught him off guard and sliced him good a couple of times. He liked it, liked the pain.

  "He eventually overpowered me. When interviewed later, the parents told police they heard me screaming, but thought we were 'just playing.' He had raped me again and stabbed me six times with the knife I had taken from the dinner table. There are scars on my abdomen."

  Adrian could actually taste the rage. His vision was red. He didn't move. Didn't try to talk. Wasn't sure he could, even if he wanted to. The new energy, the rage, and his nature were in accordance. Aligned. For the first time in his life, Adrian intended real harm to another human being. If he found this person, Adrian would kill him without hesitation.

  "David is the bad person Ree talks about. He teamed up with another foster kid that had lived with them when David was younger to stalk me. They showed up at our apartment one day, tried to hurt us. The off-duty cop that lived next door heard us screaming.

  "In retrospect, I'm confident this is why I was so… harsh when you and I met. It was similar to meeting John, David's former foster brother. He was all about listening, interested in Ree, wanted to be a friend, wanted to help. When I came into the apartment and found you on the couch, I really thought two crazy fuckers were going to jump out and kill me. I wondered if Ree was already dead. There was no off-duty cop next door. It was 4:30 in the morning. I was certain I was about to die."

  Adrian sat quietly for a minute or so, processing and trying to decide how to move forward. He had to put the rage down. The rage couldn't get near her. He would not hurt her. The rage had to stay away. At that conscious thought, the energy that was the rage, clawing at his brain, disappeared.

  Well, that's new, Adrian thought. Since when is it obedient?

  Voice calm and neutral, eyes forward, speaking carefully, Adrian asked, "May I see them? The scars? I won't touch," he promised.

  Lucy stood, pulling up her tank top to show her flat tummy. The scars were staggered in a horizontal line, a little higher than her navel. "You can touch. Not sure why the touch triggered me earlier."

  "Do they go through to your back?" Adrian asked, tone still neutral.

  She turned so he could see her back. "Two did, the rest, no."

  ✽✽✽

  Lucy counted to thirty in her head. Then to sixty. He still hadn't spoken. Reacted. Touched her.

  Does this make me damaged goods? Why did that fucking happen? Why did I freeze like that? This hasn't bothered me in years!

  "Adrian?" She asked quietly.

  With one smooth movement, he had pulled her back to the couch and directly into his lap. "Thank you for telling me. Thank you for showing me."

  "What are you thinking?" Lucy asked in a small voice.

  Adrian sighed. "I think he was trying to kill you, inflicting as much pain as possible. I think he should be in a mental institution. I think you're amazing. And, I think if the opportunity arises, I will kill him. Doing so violates my oath as a doctor. Still, I have that whole horrifically wealthy family thing to fall back on when they take away my license to practice medicine, so there's that."

  That actually made Lucy laugh, which made Adrian almost smile.

  Chapter 9

  "I'm sorry I ruined hot and bothered time," Lucy said as she kissed the corner of his mouth. "Mostly, I'm sorry for myself. There is a serious lack of the hot and bothered type of enjoyment in my life. Except for the water jets in your shower. That frisky one caught me by surprise."

  And then Adrian was laughing for real. "I wondered how that bottom one got angled to hit my thigh."

  They were both laughing as Lucy rearranged herself to be facing him, straddling him on the couch.

  "Lucy, there's no rush-" Adrian started before her mouth took his for a dance.

  A few minutes of kissing and necking later, Lucy was tugging at Adrian's t-shirt. "Off," she grunted. "I showed you mine."

  "I can't decide if you're trying to escalate things or if you just want to pet my muscles," Adrian laughed.

  Lucy grinned. "Little bit of both."

  "That's fair," he said, pulling the shirt off.

  As her hands wandered and their mouths did the do-si-do, Adrian slowly inched his hands up Lucy's torso, over her shirt to her breasts. She jumped and gasped a little when he squeezed her nipples through her clothes.

  "So much better than the showerhead," she teased, mid-kiss. "There's none of this zingy zappy happy feeling running amok without you."

  That gave Adrian a mental pause. Can she feel it? Can she feel that other energy running rampant?

  Rather than lift her shirt up, he pulled the straps of her tank down, so the tank still covered her torso but freed her bra. Hands running up her body then down her back, kneading tension as he went, Adrian checked for any sign of hesitation.

  When nothing but happy sounds followed his hands, he bent his head to kiss down her chest to her breast. With no sign to stop, he pulled the left cup of her bra down to kiss one nipple while his right thumb stroked the other.

  Lucy let out a pleased little moan. She seemed to grind her hips against him on pure instinct. Adrian forgot to breathe for a second. Lucy gasped at the feel of him through his cargo shorts.

  Alternating breasts, his ministrations continued as her breathing increased.

  "Uh, Adrian?" She whispered. "Maybe upstairs?"

  He nibbled a little harder than before, making her jump against him just enough for him to get a hand under her ass. That hand pushed her up to her knees, bringing her chest closer to his face. With Adrian still kissing, sucking, and nibbling, Lucy was unprepared for his fingers to rub that perfect spot between her legs, just so. Through the hard seam of her jean shorts, the motion was just enough to send her spiraling over the edge, gasping in surprise.

  "I blame the pecs," Lucy said, coming back to herself, body relaxed and head resting on Adrian's shoulder. "I was turned on by the pecs, which made me easy pickings for that. The six-pack, too. Pretty muscles. I feel like it shouldn't be that easy for you to make that happen. So, I'm blaming the pecs. And maybe the medical degree. It's a little humiliating how quickly that happened, but I'm pretty OK with it. Hot and bothered time for the win," she rambled before falling silent again.

  "Adrian?"

  "Hmm?"

  "You should do that again."

  She could hear the smile in his voice. "OK. We should go upstairs, though."

  ✽✽✽

  "Really?" Lucy looked at him skeptically.

  "Bath time," Adrian said.

  "Why is it bath time rather than bedtime?" Lucy asked.

  "Several reasons, really. I'm assuming there are no traumatic experiences tied to a bath."

  "That's true," Lucy confirmed.

  "It's fun, it feels good, it allows playtime. You can explore - we can explore - without being embarrassed because the bubbles hide things. It'll be highly enjoyable, even if we don't have sex," Adrian explained.

  "We're not having sex?" Lucy asked, sounding disappointed.

  "What's your middle name?" Adrian asked.

  "Lee," Lucy said, baffled by the non sequitur.


  "Lucy Lee? Really?"

  "Lucinda Lee, actually."

  "Lucinda! Fuck Hennessy and his privacy shit. That's amazing," Adrian laughed. "He could have told me that."

  "What is happening right now?"

  "Oh. Yeah. Distracted. Get in the tub, Lucinda."

  "You're serious about this?"

  Rather than answer, Adrian dropped his shorts and stepped out of his boxer briefs.

  Lucy blushed. Well, OK then. I guess we're taking a bath.

  Lucy pulled off her clothes, stress radiating from her. Hot and bothered time was great, but the bathroom lights didn't hide much. Adrian was about to get a good look at her scars.

  "Into the tub, Lucinda," Adrian said, with a playful swat on her ass. It startled a giggle out of her.

  ✽✽✽

  "I admit it. This is really, really nice," Lucy said, reclined next to Adrian in the tub.

  "Mmm. Sit forward for a second," he said, sliding behind her and pulling her back against his body.

  "Bath time cuddling? Really?" She asked with a tense giggle.

  Slowly and gently, to avoid startling her, Adrian began kneading out the knots of tension in her neck and shoulders, hands sliding smoothly in the foamy bathwater. Down the back of her head to the trapezius muscles in her neck, then across the shoulders, and back to her neck.

  Lucy groaned. "You are an incredibly handy guy to have around. This might be the most luxurious experience of my life."

  It's a bath and a neck rub. Family dogs are generally treated better than this. At the thought, the rage swirled within Adrian just a second before quieting back down.

  Kissing her neck, nibbling at her ear, he inched his hands around to cup her breasts, thumbs circling her nipples again. This elicited a different type of sound as she shifted against him.

  As her breathing picked up, he slid a hand down her belly and paused. "Can I touch? Is that OK?"