“Why don’t you?” Adam crunched on another carrot, unfazed by her candor.
“Maybe I do.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
Was that jealousy in his voice?
Sadie just smiled at him. Truth be told, she hadn’t dated a man in years. Plenty of jokers had asked her out—it could hardly be helped in her profession. Guys saw her on the stage and created an image of who she was, and seldom did that idea ever match up with the truth. Nobody wanted to know the real Sadie, but none of that mattered. She had a good thing going with her music and didn’t need a broken heart for songwriting inspiration.
Adam’s gaze lingered a little too long on her hands, so she pulled them onto her lap.
“Why do you always hide your hands from me?”
“Nobody wants to look at my unmanicured, callused fingers.”
It was a side effect from playing guitar. Her fingernails were a little longer on her right hand than her left, and when she didn’t put lotion on them, they looked terrible. Especially after recently playing for a long period of time since the indents from the strings remained on the pads of her fingers.
Adam touched a deep scar on the side of his face. “Do you think something like that would bother me?”
She rested her elbows on the table. “I just figured guys liked girls with pretty hands.”
“I like your fingers just fine.”
She held her middle finger up, an elfin smile on her face. “Do you like this one? It’s my favorite.”
He grabbed her finger and gave it a playful shake. “Do you ever think about having kids?”
It was an odd change of topic, and she pulled her hand away.
“I just mean the whole thing with Silver and Logan got me to thinking about kids, I guess.”
“Do you?”
“I can’t.”
She arched her brows. “If Logan and Silver bring home a child, they’ll have proved you wrong. If you want kids, you can have them. They don’t have to come out of your body. I’m undecided. I’m really into my career right now. Maybe someday.”
“What if you meet someone who isn’t human?” His cheeks mottled with a pale red, and he cleared his throat. “You might meet a Shifter.”
“Or a Chitah. Or maybe a Mage,” she suggested, letting the comment hang in the air for a few seconds. “I can’t plan my life; all I can do is live in the moment. If I meet someone I can’t have children with, then maybe that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Or maybe we adopt. Or maybe I’ll decide I don’t really want kids and my life is enough.”
“Would your man be enough?”
Sadie leaned forward, her forearms resting on the table. “I don’t know, Scratch. I’ll give you the scoop when he gets the courage to ask me out.”
“Maybe he already has and you turned him down.”
She chuckled. “Then he didn’t try hard enough. Whoever wants me is going to have to fight for me.”
Adam gave her a crooked smile. “They sure as hell are going to have to fight the Cross brothers.”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said, reflecting on how much she loved her family and their protective nature. She’d never had anyone look out for her like that, and even if it seemed a little overboard, it’s what made her adore them that much more.
“You must add a whole new level of stress to their lives.”
“Trust me, I know. I can’t even get into a car that isn’t equipped with airbags.”
He rested his chin in the palm of his hand. “So much for taking you out on my bike.”
