He smiled. “I wouldn’t mind kissing you some more.”
I grinned. “I think I can handle that.”
CHAPTER12
MICHAEL
I satat my desk in the office a few days later, thinking about all the new things I’d learned about Adam. I was still struggling with my feelings about my duty to protect him, but every day that passed weakened my resolve infinitesimally.
While he was safe in the studio with the rest of the band, I came to the office to work on finding his father. It was becoming increasingly difficult to get any work done with him so close. All I wanted to do was watch as he worked and kiss the fuck out of him—and that didn’t help my productivity.
Contemplating how to find his father, I started with what I knew and tried to piece together what I could from the records of the university she’d attended.
“You look busy,” Jesse said, striding into my office with two cups of coffee. “I’m surprised you’re not with Adam.”
I looked up at my friend as he handed me a cup. “He’s in the studio. Thought I’d get some work done here. Thanks,” I said, lifting the Caramel Macchiato. “I needed this.”
He smiled. “What are you working on?”
I took a sip of the hot coffee and sighed. “His mother. Trying to find a link to anyone with the name Steven that might have gone to college with her.”
Jesse nodded. “Can you access the university records?”
“Yeah, they have an alumni website, and the school’s database isn’t hard to tap into. It shouldn’t take long to narrow down a list of Stevens.”
“Is he still okay with you trying to find his father?”
“Yeah,” I said, taking another sip of coffee. “He’s apprehensive. But I get it. All his life, he’s been abandoned by people he cared about, except for the Bradleys.”
Jesse took a seat. “I guess my baby brother is on that list.”
I smiled, not wanting to verify that. “I would suppose so. But Adam’s over that.”
“It’s going to be awkward when they’re in the same place. You know he’ll be at the game when Fallen Angel plays halftime.”
I nodded slowly. “I’m no expert on relationships, but it looks to me like the anticipation of seeing him again might be worse than the reality. I’ll be there for him afterward.”
Jesse looked at me and narrowed his eyes to study me over his coffee. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you had feelings for our rockstar.”
My face heated, because he was right. And after everything with Nate, if he knew what had happened between us, he might take me off his detail.
“He’s a friend,” I said, leaving it at that. “Have you heard from the police?”
“Yeah. They claim they’re having a hard time finding his mother.”
“Do you think they’re actively looking for her? Or is she that good at hiding?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. That’s why I have Dreamboat on it. He’s available right now, so he’s doing some checking around.” Jesse went to stand. “Before I let you get back to work, I think you should use the fact that he’s now a millionaire as a segue to suggest he look into moving to a more secure building. I can’t believe he’s still living in that apartment complex.”
I smiled, thinking about the night we’d argued over cleaning it up. “Yeah, maybe we’ll go look this weekend. I’m taking him on the haunted pub tour, but other than that, I don’t think we have any other plans.”
Jesse smiled at me.
“Don’t look at me like that. You’re the one that said we needed to look like boyfriends. So that’s what we’re doing.”
He held up his hand. “I know. You just seem different. That’s all.”
Iwasdifferent. And I wasn’t about to tell him just how different things were. How we’d grown closer every single day, and kissing him and holding his hand was as natural now as breathing.
