“Okay, fair point. It’s hard to picture you being anything but self-confident and in control.”
She could only imagine that the look on her face was pure incredulity. Cindy burst out laughing at it, then conceded. “Okay, right now you’re not so alpha as you usually are.”
“Ha, you make me sound awful!”
“No, you’re ours, and we love you. If you have any imperfections, they must fit right in, because we don’t notice them.”
“Crap, Cindy. Do you think I’m doing the right thing? Leaving?”
“That’s not what I meant, and you would know it if you weren’t so wound up. St. Louis needed you, but now you’re needed elsewhere. I think, actually, now that this is happening…”
She paused, gave Myra a searching look, apparently liked what she saw. Myra held her breath.
“I think, what this means is that it’s better for you and Adam to start together. It wouldn’t have been the same for him, coming into your pack.”
Myra frowned. “It happens all the time.”
“Sure it does. But it’s not Adam all the time. Maybe this is what he needed.”
The rightness to that statement made her knees week and Myra sat back down on the bed. “Wow.” She looked at Cindy and smiled. “I’m so glad I have you.”
“Right back atcha.”
She didn’t stay down for long, too jittery. When her phone beeped, she jumped.
Meet me downstairs.
Close, he was so close.
“He wants me to meet him downstairs,” she told Myra, heading for the door. Another beep. “Argh! He wants me to bring my bag. Where the heck does he think we’re going to go?”
“You’ll be fine, you’ll be together, that’s what matters.”
“Yeah, sure. I don’t believe you, but okay.”
Cindy smothered a laugh, but she didn’t fool Myra. They grabbed their things and headed out the door. By the time they’d reached the parking lot, Hillary’s car was pulling in. Her friend jumped out, gave Myra a fierce hug, then shoved her into the car. She practically dove into Adam’s lap, so grateful that he was welcoming her to him, pulling her in harder, kissing her deeply.
She was crying again, damn it, but she was so happy, and so horny and so relieved and still a bit nervous that somehow it would all go wrong. He moved her back over to the passenger seat and pulled her seat belt around, clicked it closed.
“We need to go,” he said, his hand holding hers tightly. “It’s not far, but I need you out of this car.”
“Adam, we have a room, right here.”
“Not good enough.”
“But where are we going?”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it handled.”
“You’ve never even been here!”
“Baby. This is still Hillary’s territory. She knows people out here. I promise you, I’ve got us covered. Trust me.”
Everything within her, except the raging need for him, stilled. Relaxed. “Okay.”
They drove for ten minutes before he exited the highway again, following prompts from his phone. He squeezed her hand tightly enough that it might have gone numb, but she didn’t care, didn’t want him to relax the hold a smidge.
The area was sparsely populated, no houses very close to another. They turned down one lane, then another, then what she assumed was a driveway. She was proved correct only a minute later when they drove up to a pretty little house, its lights on in cheerful welcome. Damn, were they going to have to deal with people?
