Part 16 (1/2)

Light lingered high in the sky, the air was fresh, and Clare couldn't sit still. She clipped on Ralphie's leash and took her out for a walk around the block. She felt so new, and so intelligent, and somehow in control of her life. As she strolled down the street, she was content to let Ralphie ”read the newspaper” on all the bushes she could find, while she meditated upon the right time to tell Adam that she'd broken off with Jesse.

It would only be mature to wait a couple of weeks after breaking off with one man to start a relations.h.i.+p with another, wouldn't it?

On the other hand, she'd told Marlene today that she'd broken off with Jesse, so the island gossip line would be scorching as the news was pa.s.sed along. Wouldn't it be better if Clare told Adam herself, before he heard it from someone else? Perhaps tomorrow morning she could take Ralphie for a walk on the beach, and if she happened to run into Adam there...

Suddenly she couldn't wait another minute.

”Come on, Ralphie, let's run!” She turned sharply, yanked Ralphie's leash, and sprinted back up the street toward her house. Ralphie galloped along beside her, tongue lolling out of her mouth, a smile on her doggie face. She liked this game.

The moment they were home, Clare unsnapped the leash and led the dog into the living room. ”Here, Ralphie, good girl.” She took a rawhide bone from the shelf and handed it to Ralphie, who dropped to the floor, held it between her two front paws, and gnawed blissfully. ”Dad, I might not be home tonight. Will you remember to take Ralphie out before you go to bed?”

Her father was engrossed in Jeopardy!, but he nodded.

”Thanks.” Clare bent over to smack a kiss on his bald head, then grabbed up her purse and hurried out to her car. Radio blasting, she drove as fast as she dared through the town and out Madaket Road and over to Crooked Lane.

Clare pulled into the drive of Adam's cottage and threw herself out of her car almost before she'd turned the engine off. As the white crushed sh.e.l.ls crunched beneath her feet, she could hear Adam's dogs barking like maniacs. A light by the front door came on, and before she could knock, the door opened, and there stood Adam.

He was in jeans and a flannel s.h.i.+rt. He was barefoot and his hair was rumpled. He had a beer in one hand. ”Clare?”

”Adam.” Her heart was ticking over so fast she was afraid she was going to faint. ”Can I come in? I have to tell you something.”

He looked puzzled. ”Sure.” He held the door open for her.

She entered his house. Lucky and Bella immediately twined around her ankles, wagging their tails, sniffing, whining for attention.

”What's going on?” Adam asked.

”This,” Clare said, and launched herself at him.

She grabbed his face with both hands, pulled his head down, and smashed her lips into his mouth. Her haste, her desire, made her clumsy. They both staggered until Adam ended up with a wall at his back. She pressed her body against his.

Adam pulled his mouth away. ”Hey, hey, hang on a minute. Clare, you're engaged to Jesse!”

”Not anymore. And never again.”

He pushed her away so he could see her face. ”Seriously?”

”Seriously.” She was running her hands over his shoulders and arms and chest; she wanted to touch him all over at once. She moved her hips against his and felt his hardness beneath the denim. ”Oh, Adam, I want to go to bed with you.”

Adam looked wary. ”What, is this rebound s.e.x?” Before she could answer, he said, ”Oh, what the h.e.l.l do I care?” and picked her up in his arms and carried her into the bedroom.

Clare wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his face as he walked. He fell onto the bed with her and put both hands on her shoulders. ”Slow down. Slow down.”

”Can't,” she gasped, trying to unzip his jeans. ”Need...”

They struggled against one another on the bed. In her hurry to get her tee off, she knocked him in the nose with her elbow. He yanked off her jeans and panties. He pulled down his jeans and boxers. She kicked her sandals across the room. They hit the wall with a thud.

The dogs whimpered and panted around the bed, curious and slightly alarmed. Adam wrenched himself away from Clare's arms and strode across the room, naked. Clare stared at his erect p.e.n.i.s and nearly swooned.

”Out,” Adam said firmly. The dogs shuffled out into the hall. He slammed the door. He returned to the bed and paused to stare down at Clare, lying naked on top of his duvet. ”My G.o.d, you're beautiful.”

In one quick movement, Clare was on her knees. She pressed herself against Adam, nuzzling the brown hair on his belly, running her hands down his strong muscular thighs.

Adam groaned and took her by the shoulders and lay her back on the bed, then pushed his knees against her knees, spreading her legs apart. He ran his hand over her body from shoulder to breast to belly to groin, and cupped her crotch with his hand and curled his fingers in the hair between her legs.

Clare grabbed his shoulders. She kissed his neck, his collarbone, and then he entered her, and she let her head fall back, her eyes close, as she felt his length and width and heat press into her. She wrapped her legs around his back, she wrapped her arms around his chest, she turned her head to the side and burrowed her mouth against his arm, biting it slightly as she moaned.

They could not slow down. His thrusts were rapid, hot, hard, almost painful, but she responded in kind, tilting her hips for better leverage, clutching him with her arms and legs as if she were drowning and he was everything that could save her. He shuddered against her, climaxing, and she came, too, in such an intense o.r.g.a.s.m she felt like an animal, a beast, a sea creature squeezing out of its sh.e.l.l, expanding into a world of sensation.

”Wow.” Adam fell next to her, catching his breath.

She turned on her side and nestled her face in his chest, inhaling his strong, fabulously male scent. She couldn't stand to be even this separate from him, so she rolled on top of him and aligned her bare legs to his so she could feel his movements as he caught his breath. She pressed her lips against his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight. Skin to skin, they lay together, clamped, locked, sweaty, dazed.

At two in the morning, Clare and Adam sat in his kitchen, voraciously eating bacon-and-tomato sandwiches, the bread smothered with mayo. They were both still naked. They'd made love again and again, until they were exhausted. Now they chewed and swallowed and chased the food down with beers in silence, their bodies demanding fuel.

Clare finished inhaling her food and licked her fingertips.

Adam handed her a paper napkin. ”Want another one?”

She shook her head. ”That was heavenly, thanks.”

He took her hand and pulled her up. ”Let's get back in bed.” He laughed at her expression. ”I have to lie down before I fall down, that's all.”

They snuggled together, spoon style, sated in all ways, the duvet warming them in the cool night. Bella and Lucky curled up on the rug next to the bed, and soon their snores filled the room.

”That was a rather Cro-Magnon experience,” Adam said to Clare, smoothing her hair down so it didn't tickle his nose.

Claire chuckled. ”It was.” She maneuvered her body even closer to his, her b.u.m resting against his groin.

”Want to talk?”

She closed her eyes. ”If I can. I'm so sleepy...”

”Then sleep,” Adam said. ”We can talk in the morning.”

But in the morning when they woke to find each other naked in the bed, they made love again, and then they both had to shower and dress and hurry off to work.

It was a glorious day. Clare unlocked the door of Sweet Hart's and went around her shop, raising the blinds, organizing the cash register, getting things ready for the day. She moved in a kind of suspended bubble, performing ordinary duties without really thinking about them. She had a thousand things she needed to do. Instead she perched on the tall stool behind the counter, tucked her chin into her hands, and thought about Adam.

The phone rang.

”Hey,” Adam said. ”I miss you.”